To Annie: From her story on how to get baby pictures taken without tears.
To: Margaret and to Darian, both of which will be flying their 11 month and 12 month babies all the way to Seattle. Good luck my mama friends.
So we took a three hour plane trip from Baltimore to Dallas with our 10 month old son. Not sure how sitting still for a 10 month old baby was going to go. Especially for a child who naps solid 1.5-2 hour naps and then flies around the house like a spinning top while awake. How would he possibly be able to stay within the confines of two laps (approximately 4 ft by 2 feet) for three hours. But he did. Miraculously. And even had a little nap thanks to his blanket and learning to sleep forward-facing. One of our trade secrets for this trip. Cheerios.
Edible: Baby can eat them. Always good to have a "toy" that you can eat. And really, I think they are pretty healthy. Better than other options we've been given at recent restaurants. Cheez Whiz or Fruit roll-ups. Seriously.
Easy: You don't have to refrigerate Cheerios. In fact, if they are stale, baby doesn't even seem to mind. Although, I'm not really touting that you should feed your baby stale food. That's not nice. But you get my drift. They last FOREVER.
Time-manager: You are on a plane. You have three hours to kill. Most of this three hours (at least with Gabriel) can be spent trying to eat a container of Cheerios. It takes FOREVER and it's wonderful.
Musical: Once they are in a container, they are an instant instrument. You can sing, he can shake OR he can shake and you can sing. Or he can sing AND shake.
Educational: You can use them to count. I guess. If you'd like.
Interactive: I don't know about you, but Gabriel loves to play around with Cheerios. In fact, if you put any more than three, count 'em 3, cheerios in his tray, he likes to play with them like they are a video game console more than eat them. They go flying every where and it's fun. Especially if you aren't the one who has to vacuum, say if you are on a plane. Sorry flight attendants. But it was either that or mushy baby food!
Clean-messy: which brings me to this point. They are a bit messy, but not really. You can pick them up, sweep them, vacuum them. Whatever is easiest. What you don't have to do is mop them, scrub them, etc or find them mashed into your hair, his hair or either of your articles of clothing with say avocado or mashed up bits of broccoli.
Aside from that. Other things that worked: The table tray which he put up and down no less than 100 times. Watching the trucks at take-off (Thank you Barney's book about trucks). Milk. Milk. Milk. (Stored in individually portioned ziplock bags). And lots of little things stuffed in the front seat pockets that we would put in and he would take out over and over and over. And flirting with all of the other passengers beside, in front and behind us.
What I'd like to know is... what are the tricks for sharing a hotel room with a toddler. Any tips mama friends?
This is awesome, thank you Stephanie! So glad the trip went well!
ReplyDeleteSharing a hotel room with an infant is less than awesome...the things that have made the experiences more bearable for me are:
ReplyDelete- extra blankets and towels around the pack'n'play to block out light when they're sleeping
- I've never been successful at doing this, but I always want to find some kind of barrier or room divider to use so the little one isn't distracted by me when trying to fall asleep
- taping hotel drapes shut so the light doesn't come in when the fan turns on
- books, magazines & a small light handy to browse through when you are chained to the room while they nap and sleep
- a fridge in the room is a necessity...as are a variety of healthy snacks for all of you
- if you know other people in the hotel, you can turn on your baby monitor and hang out in their room so you can actually speak during nap/bedtime...
Good luck! How long are you in Texas?
So a couple of things we have tried... One, create a barricade with chairs and blankets to block the light and then used a white noise maker app to cover up any clicking of keys or whispers. Another thing we tried is moving the crib or baby playpen into the bathroom (nice and dark and quiet). However, then you cannot go to the bathroom until morning, so timing is key! Although I suppose we could always sneak out to the bathroom on the ballroom floor in our pjs, toothbrush in hand.. So far this seems to be the most successful option! So long as the bathroom is big enough! I'm getting close to booking a room with a suite in the future though, for sure!
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