Travel logistics with a toddler

Recently, our family traveled to Mexico for a week.  In another post, I'll show pictures and tell all the fun things we did.  In this post, I'll highlight our gear and travel decisions made with a toddler, since the original plan for this blog was about life with a baby/child.

Mexico is the third country that Rachel has been to, and her first non-English-speaking country with a different cultural feel.  I also believe it's the first time in a long time flying an airline other than Southwest, who are awesome to fly with when it comes to kids/babies/families.  What to take?  What to eat?  Will she sleep?  Will the plane ride be ok?  Will she eat enough?  Will she go potty there?  Will she accidentally drink tap water or get sick somehow?

CAR SEAT
We took our own car seat, and we also checked it with our luggage rather than having her sit in it on the plane.  We haven't actually tried that option yet, but we don't think she would like being strapped into her car seat on the plane.  Maybe if we had a 3-4 hour flight that included nap time or overnight from place A to B... but so far it seems like too much hassle to take it through the airport and security.  It is recommended that you don't check car seats so they don't get bumped around and it's safer to have Rachel on the plane in her car seat... but we think it's more work.

United airlines, by the way, allowed us each to have a bag free and allowed one extra checked piece of luggage for free for children's gear.  So we flew there with 2 bags, one stroller, and one car seat checked with no issues.

POTTY
Rachel did a great job of using the potty while traveling around airports/planes, exploring in Mexico, and at our condo.  We didn't take anything special - just extra clothes and wipes wherever we went.  Overall, we have been really happy with potty training and Mexico was not exception.

SLEEPING
We elected not to take our travel crib with us.  At home, Rachel had been sleeping on the floor on one blanket with other blankets on top.  She's big enough to climb out of her travel crib now, unless we zip her top closed.  So we didn't bring anything except 2 blankets from home.  The first 2 nights, she was up a few times and had trouble getting to sleep most nights for a little while.  She woke between 3:30am-5:30am every day we were there.  Thankfully, we were able to snuggle quietly with her for a little bit before handing her off to Grandma so they could visit in the early morning while we slept a little longer (Thank you Grandma!!!).  We wondered if having the crib might have been better... but who knows?  She napped in her carseat, in the ergo carrier, on her blanket on the floor, and on our bed at different times.  Interestingly, she also tended to nap a short morning nap many mornings as well as an afternoon nap, probably because she was so tired from waking so early.

SUN and SAND
We took 2 swimsuits, 2 'sun suits', sunscreen, sunglasses, swim diapers, and sun hats.  Rachel did ok wearing sunscreen, but the sun suits made way less sunscreen necessary compared to regular swimsuits, and we were happy to have them.  She did not do well wearing sun hats or sunglasses consistently.  She also managed to accumulate a LOT of sand on her every time we went out, and we showered frequently to rinse off everything.

STROLLER
We debated about taking a stroller or not.  Because I'm pregnant, and because Rachel is becoming less of a fan of her carrier, we decided to take the stroller.  It was tricky on cobblestones and Rachel doesn't love being in it, but it was helpful.  We even took it to the Coba ruins, which was a challenge to push but we were glad to have it because we walked a lot there.  We took our black graco 'regular' stroller.  It is a hand-me-down to begin with and getting worn out, but it served us well.  We checked it as regular luggage also on the way there, and gate checked it on the way back because we had a long layover and a longer day (so we thought Rachel might sleep in it in the Houston airport).  It did well as checked luggage (better than our Chariot fared previously).

CARRIER
We took the Ergo carrier and used it some, but Rachel fights it unless she is really tired now and always wants to be held without the carrier ('just carry me plain').  Still, we love this carrier and love that it packs small and can go front or back.  I can still use it quite well at 26 weeks pregnant, which is great, because our hiking backpack is not very comfortable anymore.

EATING
Was no issue at all.  We found lots of stuff for Rachel.

So, all went well, and we wouldn't have done anything differently.  This was a good prep for future, bigger travels that we are trying to plan for next winter.

Stay tuned for pictures and videos of the Mexican trip.

Rachel cracks us up

Rachel tired on the 3 person chair after a long run

Rachel is 29 months old, and gets funnier to us all the time.

M: "Rachel, do you want to go ski another run or do you want to go down to the library?"
Rachel: "hmmm.... let's review the option.  Do I want to ski again or go to the library...  I choose library."

Rachel and Daddy skiing through the trees

Friend: "Rachel, what do you want the baby's name to be if it's a boy?"
Rachel: "Well... Donner.  But it's going to be a girl, actually, and the baby will be called Blitzen."

(She has actually told several people now she is having a baby sister named Blitzen! and I think most people think we are actually having a girl and that we are actually going to name her Blitzen.)

Saturday we drove up to Keystone, did a few runs, and then Rachel and I returned to town in hopes to go to the library while Jason skied.  Rachel fell asleep in my arms in the gondola, and then slept peacefully in the wagon all the way to the car!

Can you find Rachel sleeping in this mess of ski gear?

Sadly, moving her from the wagon to the car woke her up, so her whole nap was about 20 minutes.  But that's what we get trying to do what we do.  She did sleep on the car ride home, which proved to be a fine drive without any I-70 craziness.

See this video of Rachel entertaining herself on I-70 in car seat.  She can show you how she likes to start every word with the letter 'F' right now, just to be interesting.  Eg. "Can we fay food-night to this fenguin?"

Sunday we had a visit with some of the Oliver family.  We went to Jeannie's house (Ray's cousin) to meet Lin Oliver(Jeannie's brother/Ray's cousin), Debbie Oliver and their 3 boys.  This was my first time meeting these folks and now think I have met the entire Oliver family.  We had a lovely brunch together.

Rachel, Lily and Kelsey have a tea party

Lily and Rachel look at baby chicks

Oliver boys eating brunch

Rachel looks at chicks with Jeannie Ray

Other Oliver/Ray/Butler folks

All the crew

Snow, ski, and silly adventures

This blog will mostly be about the adventures of Rachel as she grows into a 2.5 year old, and snow.

Rachel and our next door neighbour sledding in our back yard

video = long story by a toddler

Pregnancy
First, a note to say that the baby is almost 24 weeks and doing well.  According to a patient of mine, I've 'really blossomed lately'.  This is a nice way of saying that I'm now large and showing and starting to waddle.  I had to go buy a new round of maternity pants today.  Thankfully $5 pants at Goodwill are great!

Rachel is insistent that she is having a baby sister, and is quite adamant about this fact.  At school her teacher told me she thought I might have a boy and Rachel said, with some attitude,  'Actually, it's a girl.'

Funny things about Rachel lately
Now that Rachel is sleeping well consistently, healthy for the most part, and thriving, we can enjoy her more. Also, potty training is going quite well.  (Except for here, when Rachel was tired and frustrated after going pee on her potty and decided to stop for a break and snuggle on the floor.  Oops!)

Rachel is really fun lately and curious about many things.  I don't think it will be too long before she is asking why about everything and saying embarrassing things like 'why is that lady so fat?'.

Example: Rachel eats chicken bone/cartilage chunk at dinner and says "oh... that's a seed!" and puts hands the half-eaten slimy drumstick to Mommy.

Example: Last night at snack she threw her apple sauce across the table and I was upset and said snack was over and it was time for bed and she needed to be more co-operative.  So tonight, she sits down for snack and says "Mommy, I'm going to be co-op-er-a-tive."

Sunggling under 100 blankets with Mommy and Rachel

Rachel is enjoying numbers and counting.  She knows all her shapes and colors down pat.  She knows most of her letters.  Have favorite words to spell: Blitzen and Donner.  She's pretty into the clock and time.  She can put her own underwear, pants, socks and shoes on.  She's not that into coloring lately, and puzzles are not quite as cool as they were two months ago, but still fun.  She's even trying to learn the days of the week, months of the year, and some of the countries on the map of the world.  She can fold small towels quite well, sing funny songs, and recently got her first pair of scissors in a care package from Grandma.

In this next video, you may need to turn up your volume to hear Rachel say 'January, February, March... uncertain months... we love Nana!'

Consequences
One fantastic cognitive development that is very helpful is the understanding of consequences.  For the last month or so, threats have become meaningful and useful.  We can look at a visual schedule of bedtime routine and say 'if you don't put on pajamas, you don't get snack' or 'if you don't brush your teeth, you don't get your bedtime stories'.  This is now meaningful, motivating, and can get things accomplished more quickly without as much fuss.  Unfortunately, it's hard not to make food the reward all the time.  Stickers and stamps are a fantastic reward, and Rachel gets stickers for many, many things in the house.  We are trying to make hugging and being help my Mommy a reward and not a given also, but that is harder.

Losing Battles
Rachel is also testing us more and more.  She will get frustrated and hit me.  She will throw things and do things she is not supposed to in order to get attention.

Tonight we went grocery shopping, and she was 'helping' me unload the cart in order to pay for items at the register.  She picked up the yogurt containers, held them off to the side of the cart, and looked at me suspiciously.  Nervously reaching I said 'please give Mommy the yogurt and help me pay for them' and she pulled them further away.  I panicked a little and started saying 'Rachel, don't drop the ...!!!' just as she dropped the yogurt to the floor and watched it explode and make a mess on the floor.  I was proud that I didn't react very strongly and quietly talked to her about it after she watched the helpful cashier clean it all up.

Also, I am starting to be too slow for her.  This is a little embarrassing. But if Rachel is sitting with me and leaps up and runs away, I can't grab her as quickly as I used to.  My belly is too big and I'm too awkward and my pelvis has been pretty sore.  So it takes me a second to get up and get to her, and by then she's often where she shouldn't be or doing something she shouldn't do.  This makes me a little nervous about the future of being larger and slower and then also attending to a newborn and losing Rachel completely.

Snow
It's finally been snowing around here.  Yay!  The rest of this blog will be pictures of recent snow, as well as videos of Rachel getting on and off the chair lift and skiing with Mommy and Daddy.  Mommy tends to have Rachel lean back too far on Mommy's thighs and go faster, while Daddy tries to coach Rachel to take her own weight and make a pizza to stop.  Rachel just wants to ski down to the next pole and give it a hug.

Snowman in yard in the evening after my big exam

Skiing with cousin Kelsey

Riding the gondola with Daddy

My 'edgie wedgie' to help my ski tips

Hugging a pole with my Daddy while skiing