I once had a co-worker tell me that after his kid was born, they didn't leave the house for the first couple years. They didn't take vacations, trips, outings, visits to grandma's house...nothing. Why? Because of all the shit you have to take along for the kid. I remember thinking, "oh it's probably not that bad; you're exaggerating." After my kid was born, I certainly did feel like there was a lot of stuff to remember to take with you, even for just a trip to the store or a visit at someone's house. But it was manageable and really not that big of a deal.
Fast forward to our first road trip with our one year old. Wow. So. Much. Stuff. I think I spent $200 on stuff for the kid: food and snacks (perishable and non-), baby-proofing equipment for the hotel, drinks, hand wipes, sunscreen, meds, toiletries. And then I had to organize everything in two totes. And I had to make sure the diaper bag was stocked. Also, don't forget the pack n play with mattress, umbrella stroller, baby carrier, bag of 1,000 diapers and wipes, my own suitcase, cooler for perishables.... *ragged breathing* I thought packing a suitcase for myself was just about the worst chore in the world. This took my hatred of packing to the next level, because it forced me to plan ahead of time and buy shit ahead of time and start the packing process ahead of time since I was packing for a small army of one. If you know me well, you know I'm the person who's still packing at 2am when the flight is at 8am and I've accomplished nothing despite the fact that I started packing at 7pm because I thought drinking would make the chore more tolerable but oh look it just made me too drunk to get anything done. Yep.
So our strategy was to leave in the evening after dinner so that we could eat at home as usual, put the kid in his jammies and head out with the hope that he would ride for an hour or so and then fall asleep. We ended up getting out of the house about an hour past what we'd planned (no surprise there), but it worked out pretty well because he rode just fine until he fell asleep. We drove about halfway, until about 2am and then checked into a hotel to get some sleep. (Aside: I had never booked a room before at 2am, and it wouldn't actually let you do it online, so I had to call on the phone and book the room! On the phone! Whaaaaa??) We successfully transferred the sleeping kid from the car to the hotel room, but of course the little booger woke up when we took him out of his car seat. Luckily, he only stayed awake for a few minutes-- confused by the hotel room since he had fallen asleep in the car and also fascinated with the light on the thermostat. Eventually he did fall asleep, and we got a taste of what co-sleeping is like with a one year old. For me, it wasn't too bad because in his perpendicular position, I had the head side, and the hubs got the feet end.
The next day, we ate a nutritious McDonalds breakfast in the room while my kid ran around exploring all the new, unfamiliar ways to hit his head on stuff in the room. Then we were back on the road for several more hours of driving. Again, the kid rode like a champ. It's challenging to find ways to "entertain" a toddler who can't yet form words or sentences, but lots of singing and handing snacks over to him seemed to do the trick. Plus, my kid likes staring out the window at the other cars and trucks anyway.
The journey home was a little different in terms of time of day we departed, but I couldn't have asked for a better experience with the nugget. We left after a late lunch and pretty much decided we were going to drive straight through. No joke, the kid fell asleep like 20 minutes into the ride, despite having had a nap like three hours earlier. He slept until I made the judgment call to stop for dinner while there was still daylight and wake him up so that we didn't have to deal with an alert, hungry child at 9pm while searching for an open restaurant in BFE. Probably the best mom call I've made to date. We woke him up, ate some dinner, ran around the parking lot of Wendy's for about 20 minutes, changed into jammies and got back on the road. It didn't take too long for him to fall asleep again, and he slept until we rolled back into town and got home around 1am.
I don't mean to brag, but I'm gonna, because the idea of traveling with a one year old scared the shit out of me. My kid's first time on an airplane was GOLDEN. My kid's first road trip in a car was GOLDEN. I know I've probably jinxed myself for future travels, but I've gotta say it--hell, shout it from the rooftops: MY KID WINS THE GOLD MEDAL FOR TRAVELING THIS YEAR. Let's hope this winning streak continues! *fingers crossed*
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