Traveling with a Toddler & Baby
We recently travelled to Osoyoos with our 3 year old and 9 month old which was a total of about 10 hours in our car. Yep, that's a ridiculous length of time trying to keep both of my children entertained and comfortable. Here's what I did.. C's first road trip was to Oregon at 9 months and we learned what worked and what didn't. One things for sure, I wanted this to be a electronic-free trip. Side note: I am not against iPads or iPhones, its just a last resort for my Husband and I. So after some blog reading and Pinning, I put together a road trip pack for the Kids.
Here's what I packed: - Their favourite books: I packed the books we read every day and that I knew they enjoyed. - Fresh fruits: I packed C's favourites, apples, bananas and easy-peel mandarin oranges. - Goldfish coloured crackers: I chose the coloured crackers so I could talk about colours with my kids. - Organic Presidents Choice Fruit and Veggie Squeezies: The best thing about this is that both of my kids can enjoy a squeezie! - Organic Presidents Choice Num Nums: Both my children love these rice crackers and they always seem to be the remedy for restless kids. - Water: I packed water in their own reusable bottles! Baby H is at the point now where she wants everything her big brother has, water bottle included. You should see how proud she is when she drinks from her own big girl cup! - Toys: I asked C to choose the toys he wanted to bring and on this trip, he chose 4! For baby H I brought her binkies and Sophie theGiraffe as she loves chewing on them.
What we did: For most of the trip I sat in the back, in between my kids. I find face to face interaction to be the most beneficial as it engages them both with whatever task we're doing and they seem to listen better too. At the beginning of the trip, C was busy with imaginative play and enjoying his toys while Baby H had her first nap of the day. When the kids started to get restless and believe me, they did; I read their favourite books to them. Board books are relatively short but I always make a point in mad-libbing to add excitement to the story and to change things up. I like to emphasize certain words to promote speech and to add movements to certain words like swaying my arms to imitate a tail going back and forth in one of C's favourite books. We sang lots of kid-friendly songs and some hits of the 70's and 80's, too! We played eye spy which was a lot of fun because there was so much to see during the drive. C especially enjoyed the baby cows and mini-waterfalls. Thankfully both of my kids can fall sleep on their own and stay asleep easily while in the car, which was a good 1.5 to 2 hour nap. We made stops every 45 to 1 hour to get the kids up and moving, for potty breaks/diaper changes (no accidents, yay C!)and in one case during this trip, to simply play in the snow.! Now that our trip has come and gone, I can proudly say that my kids did very well! There were some temper tantrums but that was expected. Being cooped up in a big metal car is tricky business and not very fun, especially for 5 hours at a time so it's completely understandable. I'm just so thankful that they had fun and that we got to enjoy this time together. Since it was our first road trip as a family of 4 and baby H's first trip, ever; I overpacked. Here's what else I packed that was of big use to my family: - Extra plastic bags: I used these as garbage bags, recycling bags, dirty clothing and as food storage. - 2 sets of extra outfits for both kids: At the end of this trip, I used all sets because of food and drink spills. I'll remember to pack more on our next trip! - Extra packages of Baby wipes: These not only clean baby bums but they work perfect for cleaning spills, cleaning sticky fingers and faces and as great facial refreshers! - Portable toilet - Blankets: Great for keeping warm and an impromptu picnic outdoors if the weather permits. We used our blanket as a fort at one point during our drive!
- First Aid Kit/Extra diapers and wipes: Just in case!
