How to Survive Vacation with a Toddler: Getting There

This is the second post in a series about my tips for making vacationing with a toddler a success. If you missed the first post, you can find it here.

The aspect of our trip that gave Wes and I the most anxiety beforehand was the actual process of traveling there and back. You see, Sarah Parker went through a phase from around age 6-10 months where she would scream bloody murder any time we were in a moving vehicle, so our nervousness was justified. The only way to make her somewhat content (but still not happy) was for someone to sit in the back with her- that someone being momma. At this point when we looked toward the coming months of road trips and vacations, it seemed like the task of getting there was going to be impossible. We thought back to our road trips last year with our two-week old who literally slept the whole ride there and burned with jealousy for our former selves. Happily, Sarah Parker began slowly growing out of this phase just in time for our trip, but I still knew that riding 5 hours would be hard on her. So, just like with packing, I devised a plan to try to keep any major meltdowns at bay.

What I Planned

I thought that the best tactic would be to mix familiarity with novelty. The months before our trip we had been slowly weaning Spark off of needing me in the back seat with her, but for this trip I decided that it was best for me to sit with her and help her find ways to be entertained. I keep a few toys in our car under normal circumstances, and so I decided those would be my first items to grab if and when the baby got antsy. My next approach was to offer items out of what I lovingly dubbed the "Bag O' Fun".

This bag was a wonderful gift to us! You can't tell in the picture, but it is monogrammed with SP's initials. I was so excited to use it for the first time, and can't wait to watch Spark use it in the years to come. For a similar toddler-sized bag, look here.

Again, inside the Bag O' Fun I added a mix of things Sarah Parker was familiar with, and new things that she hadn't seen yet. Here is a glimpse at what was inside.

The books I packed were old favorites- ones that had extra entertaining value because they popped up, or had slide bits.  I purchased the Color Wonder markers (those are the kind that only marks on paper!) and puzzle new for this trip. 

                                              

And then I had a very special pocket that contained the big guns: bubbles and Play-Doh (notice that the Play-Doh is white...I'm not that crazy!). Now, I know these aren't conventional options for car rides as they both could potentially cause a mess, but I was completely willing to risk that as I knew these were Sarah Parker's favorite things to play with. And when would she ever get to do either of those things in the car? It sounded exciting to me, and I knew she would love it too! I decided only to open this pocket if things got really dicey.

Spoiler alert: it did. 

What Really Happened

We decided to leave around 5:30 am with the hopes that Sarah Parker would go right back to sleep. She ended up not falling back to sleep until 6:30, but was quiet and still sleepy up until that point. We played her favorite nursery rhyme CD on loop for most of the ride, so she was happy just listening to the music at first.

She slept until we stopped for breakfast around 7:15 and ended up not sleeping any more for the rest of the trip (insert big eyed, shocked emoji here). She was generally happy for the rest of the trip. She quickly went through her usual car toys, and enjoyed the activities in the Bag O' Fun. I pretty much let her play with anything that entertained her! 

Our Blankie and Sis were with us all of the way!

Yes, this is my daughter wearing funky shades and chewing on an empty bottle of Gas Drops. You do whatever is necessary to keep a toddler entertained for five hours of being strapped into a car seat. 

The Play-Doh and bubbles were hands down the biggest hit. When she was at her wits end, I whipped out one of those and it would make her happy when most of the other toys would just make her content. She didn't have to play with these things long- just enough to get her to calm down.

Of course, there were a few break downs that even bubble and Play-Doh couldn't help. As I previously mentioned, Spark was running on very little sleep. She did a remarkable job, but towards the end she was sleepy and cranky. For those moments, Wes downloaded some of Spark's favorite nursery rhyme videos on the iPad. I always feel guilty letting Sarah Parker watching these videos, but for this ride it really was a necessity. I would only let her watch two or three songs at a time to calm herself down and then direct her attention elsewhere.

What I'll Do Next Time

I definitely will be using the same approach next road trip, but with a few changes. Sarah Parker really was too young to fully appreciate the markers and puzzle. In hindsight, it would have been best to fill up that bag space with something more age-appropriate. She played with the puzzle pieces and the markers, but not in the way she was "supposed" to. Knowing what I know now, I would have packed stickers instead of markers and would have swapped the puzzle for some shoestrings (Spark LOVES playing with these) and other, smaller toys. Everything else in the bag was a hit- especially the bubble and the Play-Doh, so I will certainly be including them in the Bag O' Fun for future trips. Sarah Parker's joy was worth more than the risk of making a mess! I also hope to use the iPad less and less on these trips. As I said earlier, we didn't end up using it much, but I would still rather her not look at it at all. As she gets older and is better able to keep herself entertained, I hope to keep the iPad turned off on road trips! All things considered, Sarah Parker did a great job and had some fun before the REAL fun began!