October 25th, 2011

Surviving the toddler road trip with Stickers.

Spencer has logged quite a few miles for a tot not yet 3 years old, almost 10 thousand traveling miles, and that is excluding daily driving and local trips. He is a relatively easy car rider, but does get the car seat blues. We choose to make our car trips pretty low-fi; I don’t want to share my phone and I don’t have a safety case for the iPad. I worry he would toss it around a bit too hard in the car. Also, he uses you tube a lot and it isn’t 3G. I can only imagine that you tube not working would make the iPad more trouble than benefit. So, how on earth does a tech savvy toddler endure a road trip? The same way they did 10 years ago, the liberal application of books, toys and stickers. Lots and lots of stickers.

Cookie has some stickers on his bum.

I can’t stress the stickers enough. That is really what saved us the last few trips. Stickers are just so versatile, for just a few dollars or less, multiple sheet packs can be purchased at Target, Michael’s, Walmart or the dollar store. I particularly like the animal packs that Target carries in the party supply section.  Variety is key.

There are a bunch of different ways Spencer uses stickers in the car. Well, mostly sticking them on things, but DIFFERENT things: stuffed animals, books, faces, hair. My personal favorite is the desperation sticker attack. Toddler being fussy or just plain loud? Stick a sticker on him somewhere hard to get to, shoulder blade, back of the neck, upper arm behind the elbow and the toddler becomes magically quiet while trying to get the sticker. Also fun is just letting the toddler stick stickers on your hand or whatever.

You know when else stickers work great? Restaurants. Stick them to the table. Peel them off the table. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. After about the 3rd restaurant meal in a row, crayons and a paper menu don’t hold very much interest. Bonus: stickers are light. It is really easy to keep a sheet or two in my bag. And much better than crayons at a restaurant with tablecloths.

An easy way to build up a stash of stickers is to ask for them every time you are at a place that hands them out. Target gives them out, so does Trader Joes and sometimes other grocery stores. I found out that my Payless has them. TJs is the best because they normally give a strip with about 6 or 8 stickers, I rip it in half and give some to Spencer and stash the rest in my purse for an emergency.

Even if your child is difficult in the car, stickers are worth a shot. It might just buy you 5 minutes of peace. And sometimes, when driving in tricky traffic, a few minutes of quiet is a sanity saver.

July 23rd, 2010

On the Road. Again

A few months ago, I bought a ticket to Bloggy Boot Camp in San Francisco. I figured that my husband could get the weekend off, drive us up there, we could make a weekend of it and he could watch Spencer while I was at the conference. Well, that is sure not the way it is happening. Luckily, my lovely sister was due for a visit out and she is going to just make the visit in San Francisco instead, we are going to make the weekend of it and she is going to watch Spencer while I am at the conference. The only problem is getting to there.

I have discussed my hatred of driving on this site before, but I made it to LA and back. And yesterday, I made a 2.5 hour drive, just me and Spencer in the car. Of course, 2.5 hours is not 6 hours, but I refuse to let my fear of driving keep me from going. And yesterday’s drive went well. Traffic was light, and except for some motorcycle jerks and an excruciating red jetta that wanted to play some sort of lame passing, tailgating, then refusing to get over game, it went really well. I think this is mostly due to me new used car. Saying it is a better freeway driver than my old car is a HUGE understatement. This one has some get up and go. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that people think I am a jackass BMW driver and get out of my way when I come up behind them. They can’t tell I’m just a mom-wagon from their rear view mirror.

So, in short: San Francisco here we come! In August. And if anyone has tips for solo traveling with a one-year-old in the car, I’d love to hear them in the comments.

July 7th, 2010

Vacation: From Home to Boulder

Cue the vacation photos!

At a desert rest stop, first day on the road.

The view out the window sure changed when we got to Colorado.

The creek that runs through Boulder was high.

Took the Coors Factory tour in Golden. I felt like I was in the opening credits of Laverne and Shirley.

First time in the pool!

We had fun swimming.

At the capitol in Denver. It was sweltering and a quick visit.

At the Colorado State Train museum

Riding the rails.

Rocky Mountain National Park

That's high!

Moose!

Babywearing at 8000 feet.

Alluvial Fan at RMNP

Next up: Ft Collins, Steamboat Springs and the drive home. I bet you can’t wait!

June 14th, 2010

Travels with Baby: Lessons Learned

• Change the baby’s diaper every time you stop the car, even if you just changed it 1oo miles before.
• Bring a lot of toys for the car and then add a few more.
• Hotel carpet is disgusting.
• Adding a sock to a toy can turn it in to a whole new toy.
• A baby will start crying at the most inconvenient times, like when you are driving over a bridge in gusty wind surrounded by big trucks.
• Unless your bladder is going to explode or you are going to run out of gas, don’t stop the car when the baby is sleeping.
• People will ash their cigarettes on your baby in a stroller. No joke. Happened more than once.

We’ll be applying these to the Colorado trip. We leave in a week. Yikes.