Traveling with a Toddler

So I have been on two trips by air in the last month and about to embark on one trip by car.  Crazy I know, it took me two years to recover from the last time I flew.  Anyway, as I am sitting here on the plane listening to Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse, I am thinking about those life lessons I have learned by traveling with a toddler.  Seriously, life lessons.  Like:

*Be patient.  It will eventually be your turn.  It may not be easy to wait, especially when you have a certain little 3 year old who has decided that her listening ears have taken a temporary hiatus to China while you are standing in the VERY.SLOW.MOVING security line.  You are having visions of being carted off to TSA jail (is there such a thing?) while your 3 year old is giggling because it is yet another adventure.  Now this did not happen to me, but I seriously thought they were going to say something.  Whom ever invented those ribbon things that herd humans like cattle through security, did not take into consideration the height of children.  There is nothing more embarrassing then trying to carry all of your things because by this time you have taken at least 3 things out to try to entertain them and trying to keep them on the right side.  Today as we were going through security here in El Paso, Gracie was just itching to dart off.  I could see that look in her eyes that she wanted to just GO. She kept touch the ribbons and go on either side back and forth a million times.  I could see the TSA agents just looking at her…mostly with humor in their eyes.  But it is unknown whether they were smiling because she is so cute or if they were thinking how my day was going to be flying with a 3 year old.  I just said in my previous blog that she has my impatience.  At least I can control mine.

*Your child is not the perfect traveler (and neither are you), however, there is always another kid that is worse then yours.  It is inevitable.  When a person sees a toddler or baby coming down that aisle they are thinking “Oh NO!  There is going to be a baby on the flight!  Where are they sitting?  Is it next to me? Oh I hope not.”  Then as you are sitting in the row behind them you hear the longest sigh and you hear their thoughts which are “What in the world did I do to deserve this?'”  You know what’s worse then that, seeing 1st class passengers having the same conversation in their head but you know it is 20 times worse then the coach class peeps.  I have been blessed with a great traveler.  She does not like it when the plane is sitting at the gate, she is more into it when we start moving, but every time we land every one is always impressed with how well she did.  I have no tricks (well, ok, maybe my iPod loaded with her favorite shows.)  But all in all, I am just blessed.

*Less is more, electronics are your friend.  When we flew to Jamaica back in May, I packed Gracie’s backpack full of little activities for her to do.  She slept most of the way.  So this time (both trips), I packed one of each: book, coloring book, a toy, and a blanket.  Along with a few crayons, this fit nice and tidy in her backpack.  Well, the doll had to be carried (which eventually landed in my carry on bag), but I cut back a lot.  She used each thing at least once.  My life saver was my iPod.  I am not kidding.  Spend 10 bucks in your child’s favorite cartoons and you are golden.  It does have a time limit considering the battery will go dead, but you can maximize this by doing playlists.  Most of the time you are going to have your laptop with you anyway since the baggage men do not grasp the concept of fragile when dealing with suitcases.  So you can recharge on layovers or even in flight if you want to dig your layover out.

*Along with less is more, safety vs. convenience.  Yes, you read that right.  Nine times out of ten you are going to go with safety, but with the car seat on the plane I had to ask myself; Car Seats are handy on the plane, but are they worth it in the airport?  Not for me.  I tell you what, I about lost my mind trying to deal with that stupid car seat.  I even bought this luggage carrier to help cart it through the airport.  Even then, I felt like it was big and bulky.  Then there was the hooking it into the seat (I should have gone to yoga class before hand to learn the correct names for the positions I had to manipulate my body).  Then getting Gracie to understand that she had to sit in it like she does in the car even though it’s not the car and the car is the only place to use a car seat.  This little conversation was actually the easiest part, but that I partly because Gracie is smart.  Or she knew that I was about to loose my mind! ha!

As far as the car trip goes, we are currently 125 miles outside of El Paso with our trip starting in Pinehurst, NC.  Yes folks, we drove from North Carolina the most western part of Texas.  If you know anything about geography you will know that Texas is one of the biggest states in the US.  This trip was 27 hours, more then a day, and a whole lotta time in a car.  But I do have to admit, Gracie once again surprised us on being a great traveler.  She has been on long trips before.  We drove to California last May (that was a 10 hour drive).  The same stuff applies as on the plane with the exception of course being using the car seat.  We ended up getting her a new one since our other one didn’t arrive in time, but that was ok due to the fact that she was close to outgrowing her car  seat in just a few pounds anyway.  She mostly just looked out the window, slept, and watcher the iPod (seriously, throw the “I don’t want my child watching tons of TV out the window” and save yourself some sanity.)  We wanted to push through and get home in 2 days but we got way to tired and stopped in Abilene last night and had a very short drive today.  We are currently 110 miles out of El Paso and should be home in just about an hour!  Just remember traveling doesn’t have to be a nightmare and can remind you of the those life lessons we seem to forget.