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If you've flown with two children....
....how was it? How long was the flight?
We leave this Saturday for a late summer family vacation - a week at the beach on Cape Cod. Our current plan is to bring the Roundabout on the plane, just as a means to keep Elizabeth from running the aisles. She's 18 months old so I think confining her to the carseat makes a lot of sense and should encourage sleeping. We'll bring coloring books, puzzles (her latest obsession) and a small DVD player for Sarah. Our flight to Boston is fairly long and then we'll have the drive to the Cape. Should be a long day but hopefully we'll survive the journey and have a fantastic time once we get there.
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Re: If you've flown with two children....
*raises hand*
Two legs--4 hour flight to LA, then 17 hour flight to Singapore. The LA leg wasn't bad. Sam got a little crazy toward the end, but nothing too bad. We had books, puzzles, sticker books, coloring books, etc. Hannah didn't do much of anything and was a great passenger. (Of course she was sitting with DH!)
Singapore leg--Well, this one was at nighttime, so they both slept for 2/3 of the flight. Totally the way to go! They had movies and video games, so Sam was very well occupied. Hannah slept a lot more than Sam did. She was behind Sam and I with DH. In the morning when everyone else had woken up, DH kept falling asleep, when Hannah was getting restless and wanting to run down the aisles. Of course she was back there with him, so I couldn't keep an eye on her very well. I griped at him to wake up a few times, and finally had to emphatically tell him to wake his @$$ up because I couldn't watch Hannah from my seat, which was huge.
The things you've listed are great diversions. Also bring some brand new toys, so it'll keep their attention longer.
About the Roundabout, Annkiwi and Rayskit10 (or MGR, can't remember) posted about a product called a CARE harness. They slip around the seatback, then you thread the airplane seatbelt through some loops, and it works as a 3 pt. harness. We got some for our trip. Unfortunately they were ill-fitting on the business class seats on Continental (they just barely fit, after we tugged and pulled it to get then on), and didn't fit the Singapore Air business class seats at all. But for coach seats, they're awesome. You might want to consider getting one for Elizabeth. Much easier to just carry it in your bag, instead of lugging a car seat.
Good luck!
i do not recommend a car seat for an 18 mos old based on my experiences. all it does is encourage them to kick the seat in front of them. even if they don't kick, they will put their feet up and push. i saw this several times which is why we never flew with truitt in a seat at 18mos+. we do have a cares harness. i would not say the cares is what makes the seat the most secure but the lap belt nice and tight keeps them in place and the harness gives the illusion of being strapped in like a car seat. this has worked very well with my willful 2 year old more than once. also, in a car seat you can not put the tray down for eating or drawing. you will probably want the tray down to put the dvd player on as well.
one thing that truitt really enjoyed was stickers. we let him stick them all over in the sky mall catalog and he really thought he was getting away with something.
also, what works for us is not boarding when they call for pre-boarding UNLESS we are gate checking a stroller/carseat. this last trip, we gate checked mathis' seat and the joovy, so we did preboard. if we didn't have taht big gear to deal with, we would have waited til the last minute so truitt would spend as little time in the seat as possible.
mathis has been easy up to this point, so i have no comment on him
we did this a few weeks ago. We brought our Marathon. It easily fit in the seat with the extender. We liked being out to "lock him in"... Honestly he was a royal PITA on the way home. He did not want to be in the seat. I wish we had picked a red eye so he would have slept. I brought a portable DVD, snacks, sticker book, magnadoodle, etc. What finally made him happy was ice... his seat was wet, but he was quiet.
We brought an umbrella stroller all the way to the gate. That worked really well. I put Lila in my loveydud wrap. She was great on the plane...
I agree with V. Get on the plane the last possible second and try to get seats near the front. The less time on the plane the better!
Not sure about BRU, but I think USA Baby does and perhaps Right Start might.
right start does. i saw them there the other day.
if you do decide to take the seat, have your DH get on first and install it and then get on later. you don't want to be waiting in the aisle with 2 kiddos while the car seat is getting hooked up. the cares harness is easy,t ho