Potty Training

I don't know why, but we decided to start trying to potty train this weekend. Part of it was the fact that Paul would be home four days in a row to help, but otherwise Nathan was showing some signs - not all that they say to look for, but some. And - I'm just tired of diapers. And not looking forward to having two in them at once.
Actually, Thursday was the day that gave me the idea to try. Gross story:
It was a gorgeous day. When Nathan woke up from his nap, he wanted to play outside with the kittens. This is not a game this fat Mommy can play (involves crawling under the deck, usually). So I let Nathan run around outside while I sat inside next to the picture window and read a book.
Nathan's diaper had come off - I can't remember if I took it off, or if it got caught on something and fell off. But either way, he was pantsless. He had been running around giggling at the kittens, but then he started knocking at the door, "Mommy. Mommy! Mommy."
I thought he was playing, and besides I was at a good place in the book, so I didn't get up to let him in right away. I just answered back, "Nathan, Nathan!" After a minute or so I got up, and found that he had peed while waiting at the door. I felt bad, because had I immediately gotten up, we could have made it to the potty. We went and sat down anyways, then he went back out and played.
Not two minutes later, he was back at the door, knocking again, "Mommy, Mommy!" This time, I actually jumped up immediately and went to the door. I opened it and he held something in his hand out to me. What the.....
So apparently this time, he'd POOPED outside. I directed him inside and told him to go throw it in the toilet. He flushed it, and seemed pretty pleased with himself. I told Paul that evening when he got home that we were going to do a trial run of potty training this weekend to guage how "ready" Nathan was. The main reason we thought he was ready is because when he did run around without a diaper (which is more often than I care to admit), he could hold it for several hours at a time.
We decided since we really had no plans to go anywhere, and we live in the country, we'd try to naked method (which some "professionals" recommend, but I know it grosses other people out). Friday and Saturday were kind of hit and miss - he'd start going, then stop and realize what he was doing, and we'd rush him to the potty to finish. We had a tiny turd victory about noon, but a major turd disaster just before bedtime (he stepped in it).
Sunday morning, Nathan surprised me at church. I asked if he wanted to go with me to the potty. I needed to go, and I knew he'd throw a fit if I left the room. He said, "Potty! Potty!" So I took him to the bathroom (where luckily they have a potty chair), and he went! He stayed dry the whole time we were at church, even with a diaper on.
Yesterday (Monday), we had no accidents. He pooped at naptime, before he fell asleep. But no puddles to clean up.
This morning, I tried putting underwear on him (I thought the boys I babysit might appreciate that). I don't know if I waited too long to ask, or if he thought they were a diaper, but he peed in them within 20 minutes. I put on another pair, and asked him after a half an hour, and he went in and did a full "dose" in the potty. But he didn't want to put the pants back on.
I don't know if this signifies he's "ready" or not, but I know now I'm even more ready for him to be potty trained! Originally we thought we'd use this as a trial to guage, and then if he didn't act ready, we'd go back to diapers and not worry about it for another month or two. But I think we're going to stick with it. Even if he's only half potty-trained, it's still half as many diapers as I have to change. It will probably take us a year to get there, but oh well. (And I'm not delusional about staying dry at night.... I KNOW that's going to be a long time!)