After the 6 hr drive home from Connecticut I definitely have a few travel tips to anyone who has no choice but to be restrained in close travel quarters with a toddler.
1- Be organized. I packed Sam her own tote bag which was always within arms reach. It contained snacks, juice boxes, a few new toys & DVDs.
Next to that was my own tote since I tend to get ancy on long car rides too. It was nice to not have my stuff mixed in with hers, when one of us was in desperate need of relief it was found with minimal digging. (most of the time, I still have no idea what happened to my tootsie rolls.)
2-Buy a portable DVD player if your car doesn’t already have one. And if your car does have them but you fly a lot it might be worth buying a portable one anyway. Ours has two adjustable straps on the back so it can attach to the headrest on our car, grandma’s or the rental…I’ve even rigged it onto the back of the tray table on the plane. Basically wherever Sam is, it is. Here’s the DVD player
And no, I don’t think I’m a bad mommy AT ALL for letting her turn into a zombie baby & watch TV in the car or plane. I thinks it’s a lot worse for her & me to both be super stressed out & pissy from the long trip.
3- Music assortment in the door, ready to go. I don’t know if all kids are like this but mine stops crying in the car 90% of the time when we put on one of her CDs. Especially Laurie Berkner’s Buzz Buzz
For me my sanity was well preserved by finishing up some old projects that had been sitting around forever just begging for 1 more hour of TLC. I started these mittens from the Stitch ‘N Bitch
4- Let the kid chip in. We took a break & let Sam take a shift at the wheel. And although I appreciate her willingness to help she drives angry & it’s a little uncomfortable.
In the end let me say this year in comparison to last was a great success. The crying was somewhat minimal, traffic was bad but not AS bad & in the end I have only one thing to say.
I’ve put it in a letter.
Dear Laurie Berkner,
My daughter Samantha loves you. I do not.
She stops crying when we put on your Buzz Buzz CD. Your songs haunt my dreams.
Love, Samster Mommy
Great tips! Samster driving and your letter are hilarious!
My daughter's name is Meadow and I call her Meadster quite a bit:)
Great tips! I meticulously pack a bag full of small toys that don't get a lot of air time at home, and pre-portioned snacks and sippies to hand back to both kids for our long drives.
And I have a small tip to add: this past summer when we were getting ready for a 9-hour drive to the beach, both my husband and I were completely unimpressed with the average customer rating on portable DVD players. So instead we got a $40 converter plug so we could plug in our laptop in the car, and we set the laptop on top of our traveling cooler set between our seats(or a console between the 2 front seats would work if you have one), and that way both our front-facing kids could see the movie. 🙂 It was way cheaper, and since we only have a drive like that once or twice a year, and pretty much never fly, it just made more since for us! 🙂
And we have a parent-brain penetrating CD too. It's short passages of scripture set to music, and one night when we were lying in bed, I looked at my hubby and said, "I really hope the kids are learning those verses at least a little…because I can't stop singing them. EVER." 😉
Could you please post a photo of that cute blanket?
Too funny! My little monster (Madison, she'll be 10mos on Friday) stops crying every time we turn on her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cd and she hears "HELLO EVERYBODY". It's the funniest thing.