It has been little by little that the baby gates and ex pens have come down for miss lilah charm. I think she was just over one when I started letting her stay outside her ex pen while I was gone at work (I work short days and took all precautions but was still on such pins and needles those first few weeks!) at that point we still kept the baby gate up for one half of the house and still had a potty pad in her ex pen area as well as the bathroom. She never used the one by her house (naturally) after the ex pen gates began to stay open all of the time so eventually we took that one down. I do keep all of the bedroom doors shut while we are gone and of course am careful about our windows and to make sure the bathroom door is stuck open for her potty pad. She will occasionally 'potty relapse' (lilah is 20 months old) at the far desolate end of the house at the end if the hallway (a statement a bit laughable because our house is so small) and if that happens the baby gate will go back up and remind her that is not an option. She does great these days and I am glad we started slow with our expen and baby gates preventing a lot of bad habits from forming
have you tried the washable pads for your little guy? Or maybe a different style of pad holder? Good luck! He is young still and I am sure it will go great
