it's a new year now

The week after Christmas is always a melancholy one for me. The rush of the holiday season is over, and with it all the wonderful times with family and friends. All we as moms are left with is the clean-up and the exhaustion that inevitably comes with so much change in routine. I prefer to take down all the Christmas decorations right away, first thing on the day after Christmas, but this year we went to Homer the morning after Christmas, so nothing got cleaned up until the day after we got home. As soon as it was all packed away and the needles vacuumed up and everything put back in it's normal place, I felt much better. Things felt normal again, like we could just relax back into our old routines.

And that's how it was for a day or two, until we decided to try potty training Riggs starting New Years Day. There is nothing normal or routine about learning something as big as to stop peeing in a diaper whenever you please and rather stopping whatever amazingly interesting thing you are doing to run to the bathroom to pee on the potty instead. It's  b i g  people. 

I feel Riggs' pain, and I know it's hard, but it's happening. I know he's ready. He know's he's ready. And yet it's still a lot of work. I'm not sure why, but this is such a big deal for me. I'm struggling with patience like I never have before, and I feel defeated half the time. Yesterday he didn't have a single accident, and today he's had three (including poop in his underwear...boo). I feel like the hardest thing for me is the balance between asking him if he has to pee every five minutes, having him try every time the timer goes off, and trusting him to tell me when he has to go. It's so tough!

Also, we haven't left the house, have barely gone outside (and he had an accident outside) and have had no screen time for the last three days. Not going outside has been the hardest on all of us I think, but the thought of taking snow clothes on and off every twenty minutes sounds awful to me and I guess it all comes down to what I'm willing to put myself (and Riggs of course) through. We have church tomorrow, a thirty minute drive from our house, and I'm not sure how it's going to work. I'm pretty much dreading it. Anyway, send good potty training vibes my way and any (and I mean any!!!) advice would be greatly appreciated and even cherished (haha).

My biggest questions are how long to expect before he tells me he needs to go 95% of the time? How do I approach going out in public? And what about long car rides? Help!

Some pictures of what we've been up to lately: