Life Lately and Potty Training

Life has been rather quiet lately, and I have been feeling cooped up.  We are working on potty training, so we have tried not to go out and about too much in efforts to remain consistent.

Tuesday was Eliot's third birthday (ahhh!), and since we already had his party, we wanted to do some little special outings.  I took him to his soccer class in the morning where he behaved the worst he ever has (go team...).  Afterward, we had lunch at Qudoba so he could get guacamole and chips, which he thinks he gets every week after soccer.  Then we went to Target to pick up some groceries, a birthday toy, and a birthday bag of Cheetos.  After dinner, we drove out to get him a donut for dessert.  During this car ride, Jack screamed the whole time, Eliot tried to comfort Jack, and our dog yelped and whined (he has been in a lot of mysterious pain lately, so we brought him with us to avoid having him stressing out with us leaving--that plan backfired).  It was stressful to say the least, and I think we were all ready for bed when we got home, but, ya know, maybe car rides at night just aren't a good idea anymore with Jack.

Potty training has been going the best it has yet.  It is our third attempt.  Chris asked me a few times if we were the worst parents ever since our almost three-year-old refused to use the potty.  Before I had kids, I honestly figured I'd have my future children potty trained by two or two and a half.  Three seemed so late.  But, really, kids are so different.  Eliot is a smart boy.  He is independent and has to know how everything works.  When I tried to take away his diapers and put him in underwear last time, he would have nothing to do with it because he was afraid he'd have an accident.  He got really upset about it, so I decided to wait a few months.  I wanted to keep it all positive.  We didn't need crying over potty training.

This time, though, he was fine with the underwear once I got it on him.  He had a couple of accidents until I made him sit on the potty for 40 minutes after drinking.  And he used the potty!  Ever since, we've had just a few accidents (maybe one a day?), but he has used his little froggy potty and also the big potty.  He knows what to do, but I'm not sure that he understands when he has to go or quite how to hold it yet.  The more we practice, though, the more he will get it.  And we're certainly on the right path.  I'm really excited for him, and he gets so proud of himself whenever he uses the potty.

I've been taking the boys out together by myself lately a bit more.  Trips to get icecream.  A quick park visit in the cold.  Off to the grocery store.  With a new baby, I felt like I was in "survival mode" and had an excuse to do nothing by myself.  But when does having a baby cease to be an excuse?  When is it simply the new norm?  Jack isn't a hard kid, and Eliot listens fine enough most of the time.  The hardest thing about taking the two around town is getting Jack's dang carseat in and out.  I suppose two kids serves as an "excuse" for many things (like having a cluttered house or ordering pizza for dinner or having a pile of laundry in the hallway--which I currently do, by the way) depending on the day (whether or not they're being difficult), so I'll take the good days and the adventures with just mom when I can.