follow up to traveling alone with toddler

MrsNJSwimmer · April 2011

Well, we made it! (might be long)

It was a good call to leave super early while he was still asleep and drive halfway there. We spent the morning with friends of mine and he got to play with a big puppy! When we were driving to another friend's house, DS fell asleep, so I called her and told her we were skipping out to drive straight on. He slept for about1.5 hrs of the 2.5 hour trip, but we stopped when he woke up and I took a potty break at a rest stop and he had his "lunch" milk. I fed him more food when we got to the hotel.

Hotel manager was super accommodating, letting us check in early and even helped me get the bags out of the car and unload them in our room! There was a Walmart down the street, so we went there in the afternoon, but he was getting antsy, so we didn't stay long, just got some bananas and cereal bars for him, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal dinner (church wasn't available for research until later).

He played (dad packed an awesome bag of his toys) while I got changed, then we drove there. He started playing shy when he saw all the people, and my dad started rubbing his back - he fell asleep. So my mom had to make me a plate since he was asleep on me and there wasn't really any place to put him down. After everyone else ate, I handed him off and ate the rest, and he started to wake up, so I gave him his milk and tried to feed him some, but he wasn't really interested. Then we went to the church, and he was running all over the place, crawling up and all around the altar, oy. But my mom was trying to keep him out of trouble when the pastor got there. On the way out, I asked the pastor about someone watching the children during the ceremony, and he said his daughter would do it - that they have a crying room and she could take him there.

So we went back to the hotel, got a bath, and went to bed. The next morning, I put him in his space saver high chair seat to drink his milk while I got washed up (and shaved!) for the day. Then we went out to the hotel breakfast and brought stuff back to the room so I could finish packing and making sure we had everything for the day. We ended up making 2 trips to the car (b/c I forgot the bridesmaid dress!), but he was fine for the ride to the bride's place to get ready - it was just tough keeping him from touching all the curling irons and mimosas in wine glasses, etc, but the jr bridesmaid helped me out while I was stuck getting my hair done. Then we had to go back to the hotel b/c I forgot my makeup, and LO was getting cranky, so I wanted him to get a nap in the car, which he did. Then we drove back to the bride's place, I got dressed, I got him in his nice outfit, and we headed to the church. By now, it was pouring. Managed to get my parents to help me with his diaper bag, etc and get into the church. He hung out with us in the pastor's office until it was time to walk, then the pastor's daughter took him. I didn't hear him most of the time (I guess b/c of the music), but he cried the whole ceremony. I felt so bad When I went to pick him up, they asked me if I could hear him, and they told me they tried everything they could to get him to stop crying, even changing his diaper (which I'm sure made it worse, b/c he doesn't like it when I change his diaper, lol). So then we had to dash back out to the car and head to the picture place.

I got lost going there, and when we finally found it, the rain was even worse - it was horrible trying to balance a 25lb kid, umbrella in the wind, and a floor length dress! but we got inside and my parents helped with him some while we were doing pictures, and then we just had to get back to the car in the same conditions. He wasn't really happy at this point, since he had only taken a 30 min nap, and he fell asleep on the way to the reception. I really hated to wake him up, but we had to go in. He was super clingy though, so when the bridal party was introduced, I had to carry him in with me. He did good though - he drank his milk and danced and played and had a lot of fun. The way back to the hotel was tough b/c of the driving rain and it being so dark, but we made it. I skipped his bath and we just played and went to bed.

The next morning was the same, but we went swimming after breakfast, and then I packed everything up and then we took a couple of trips out to the car. He was really good. Slept most of the way to my mom's house and then we had "easter dinner" there with my parents and my gram. He ate really well! Then he just played in the living room and later we went to visit a neighbor who loved seeing him. We left to go to another hotel about 7, and he slept most of the way there.

I had strategically packed only what we needed for that day into a few smaller bags, so I didn't need to take everything in. So we only needed one trip, then we did bath and bed. For some reason, he didn't sleep well, and at 11:30 he was up screaming. He seemed to be chewing on stuff, so I gave him some advil b/c I looked like his teeth hurt. He was back asleep about midnight, but then I was awake. When he woke up in the morning, he was really thirsty, so I gave him his water to drink until I got the high chair out and his milk ready. I put him in that, not realizing he drank most of the water. SO then he drank his milk fast. I got dressed and we went down for breakfast, brought some more things upstairs to the room and then started eating again. Well, too much too fast for him, I guess. His nose was running like a fountain too - and up came all the milk. So I got him changed out of those PJs and into a spare set I had in that bag. We cuddled for a bit, then he wanted to sit back down, so I cleaned up the chair and he sat back down, eating some of my apple. And back up came everything else. I cleaned up again, but his shirt only had a few dots on it, and I just let him play - he wanted to eat more, but I wasn't goign to chance it. I got everything packed and watched some tv with him. He started falling asleep on me, so I went and checked out and we headed home. He was asleep not 5 minutes into the car trip, and slept the whole way home (which wasn't great for my bladder which was about to explode before we hit baltimore, but hey, all for the kid, right?), which was good for him. I think it was all the post nasal drip that caused it b/c he seems to be fine otherwise.

He has been very happy to be home and have his routine and all his toys back. A successful trip, which was def helped out by planning well. I told DH I'd kill him if I ever had to do this again by myself.