Potty Training Regression?

I was so excited to announce earlier this week that Oliver was pee trained! For over a week, he let me know when he had to pee. He'd walk up to me and tug on his undies, or he'd simply walk into the bathroom and set up his potty seat.

Starting Tuesday night, everything changed suddenly. First, he peed in the kitchen. It was no big deal. It was normal for him to have an accident about once a day, but he'd usually stop when he started and then run to the bathroom. This time, he peed everywhere! I told him it was a "sneaky pee-pee" and wasn't a big deal. We cleaned it up and all was well. Half an hour later, we were up in my bedroom reading books for bed time. Oliver peed on our bed. Hmmm.

Well, all day yesterday, I had to bug him to go on the potty. He'd hold it for three hours, and I'd say every 5 minutes or so, "Do you want to pee-pee on the potty?" He still doesn't say, "No," yet, but he'll look away instead of saying yes. If I try to force it and put him on there, he freaks out. That's not good, so I don't ever put him on there unless he says, "Yes." Once, I tried bribery and sat him up there with a cookie. He still freaked out at me. He went to the potty when I repeatedly asked him over and over, but he also had multiple accidents. I'd catch them as soon as they started and ran him over to the potty. I'd say he had three, which is way more than he had all week long!

Today, it's kind of the same thing. He'd gone all morning without peeing, so at 7:30am, I tried to convince him to go by asking him questions like, "Can you get on the potty all by yourself?" He didn't want to. I don't want to pressure him too much or make it a power thing, but he's also little and forgets, so I need to ask. Anyway, about ten minutes later, I catch him making his pee face. I ran him over to the potty, where he peed, and I made a big deal out of it. Still, I was concerned and thought, "Why didn't he want to go on the potty?" Half an hour later, he started to pee on the floor in front of my husband, who ran him over to the potty, where he finished.

We went to the coffee store today. Oliver seems to love public potties and figuring out how they work. He eagerly went pee-pee in there and flushed it.

I made a big deal out of it again, but I'm wondering about the regression. I definitely don't want to confuse him, so I want to continue with the training, but I also don't want to force him, and I don't want to plead with him to go to give him a power trip. I'm wondering if I should just let him have accidents, or if I should continue running him to the potty when he starts to go.

He definitely understands the concept of using the potty, and he's definitely able to hold it (like I said, he holds it long enough to set up his potty seat and everything). Honestly, I think it's just lost its novelty. I'm hoping being consistent will teach him that it's just a regular part of our daily routine, and it's not a big deal. I think I'm going to stop asking him if he has to go all the time, or at least not make a big deal out of it when I do ask him. Hmm, we'll see how this goes.

Update: Maybe I worried for nothing. All afternoon, Oliver has been willing to use the potty. He even sat down on it all by himself and pooped for the first time! This morning, I read about potty training regression, so I know it's a real thing. I guess we'll see what happens!