Ummm....I think you forgot to give me the manual????

So Jesse and I decided to bite the bullet and potty train Jackson this past week. All signs were pointing to him being ready and he seemed very excited about the potty! We went and got big boy underwear, a potty, pull ups...the works! Then reality set in....
First off I don't think we realized that although Jackson may have been showing signs of being ready and was successful at doing his business when set on the potty, he certainly wasn't ready or old enough to have the appropriate bladder control or ability to pull on and off a pull up or underwear. Now I know that kids don't get potty trained overnight and by no means was I putting that sort of expectation on Jackson but after the first day of full on potty training we discovered that perhaps our excitement of Jackson potty training early was clouding our judgement on if he was truly "ready".
I have never felt so uncertain or questioned so many things in my life than I have since being a parent. "Am I feeding him the right thing?", "Should he be saying sentences by now?", "Is he sleeping enough?", the list just goes on! And now the newest question "Have I royally screwed up my kid by attempting to potty train him too soon???" Every book says something different, every parent will have a different take on it and every single moment of every single day I am left wondering if the choices I am making are the right ones....being a parent is HARD! There are even moments that I want to pick up the phone, call my old midwive's office and say "ummmmm was there anything else in there...like a manual???"
So for the time being we have made the choice to pull back on potty training and going about it at a much slower pace. We are leaving his potty out so he can choose to sit on it if he wants (which he does) and he has picked up the sign for potty and we encourage him to sit on it fully clothed and do his business (which he sometimes chooses to do). We'll see....obviously there isn't a manual and I"m sure till my dying day I will wonder every day if the decisions I'm making for him are the right ones but all I can do is love this crazy little kid and hope I don't screw him up too bad :)