December 2010 Moms
EVM1216
member
Long car trip alone with LO?
EVM1216
member
A week from today I have to make an 8 hour drive alone with DD. I'm going on an interview in my hometown at my alma mater (with me luck) and My mom and ILs are going to watch DD since DH has to work/go to class all nights on those days.
We've done this trip before, but it has always been the 3 of us, so one of us has always been in the back seat to entertain DD. I plan on leaving at 5:30 am in the hopes that DD will fall back asleep and sleep until 8:30 or 9:00. At 10 or so we will stop for a meal and stretch our legs for about an hour. I am hoping that after a big meal the road will lull her into a nap for an hour or 2. However, that probably won't happen, so I need suggestions for keeping her busy while I drive.
Oh, and to be more challenging, we can't afford any cool electronics to distract her.
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Re: Long car trip alone with LO?
Alas we don't own an i anything for her to play with. I do like the sticker book idea and she loves to color. So that will work until she hurls everything on the floor, LOL.
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Good luck on the interview AND the drive! That's a long drive, mama.
I've done a few solo roadtrips with DS to visit my family. Usually it's a 3 hour drive, so nothing like yours. The last time it took us 5 hours of driving, 6 hours total (including 2 pit stops) to make the normally 3 hour drive. It was awful. We were both a cranky mess by the end.
It's definitely best to travel during naptime. It's great that you are going to stop for an hour. I would suggest maybe even adding another stop, since your driving time is 8 hours. I think my DS can only handle about 3 hours in the car at a time.
I recommend bringing a few books, bubbles (they have no-spill ones at Target for $2), stickers, and a small toy for him to play with. That's what I do. In emergencies, I play vidoes on my phone. Not sure if you can do that on yours. I also have a kids' CD that I play and sing along to.
We traveled with DS and also don't have any fancy electronics to give him either so I know what you mean. We do have our iphones but don't love him playing with those. So on our last long car trip, his "big" gift was Teach Me Elmo from Amazon (no sounds, just stuff to do - button, zipper, etc.). You could also make a small board like Jilly mentioned. We brought some neat texture flashcards (DK's My First series) and some cheapy $1 books from the Target $1 aisle. I wanted to gift wrap them all (for an extra minute of fun) but ran out of time. When we got stuck in terrible traffic that added a couple hours, I pulled our several sheets of stickers and he had a grand old time putting them all over himself. I'd recommend giving her a piece of paper to put them on though and make sure she can't reach a window.
Good luck on the interview!!!
I used to have a dvd player in my car for the frequent long trips we took, but one day it broke right at the beginning of a trip. I popped in an old sesame street alphabet cd (kids songs, etc.) and Miles not only listened to it the entire three hours on repeat, but he didn't want to get out of the car when we got to our destination.
To this day, he begggggs for me to play him different cds on the car ("peeeze, mama, elmo cd!" (sesame street cd) or "happy know it cd!" (the first song on the cd is "If You're Happy and You Know It"). I was shocked, and others who ride along with us are too, with how entertained and satisfied Miles is with simply listening to a kids cd (no video, no glitz). Maybe try that?
https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-19180-My-Discovery-House/dp/B004MWJLHK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346341746&sr=8-1&keywords=leapfrog+house
This always takes up a good 45 minutes...although now that he has had it awhile, it has lost its luster in his eyes.
He can listen quietly to his Music Together CD's as well for long stretches of time. It's so weird that they know what is kids music and what isn't. Do you have a way to burn cds? Maybe a friend has a copy of a cd she can loan you?
We took a seventeen hour car trip with Jackson this summer. And his attention span was super short. I would:
Good luck! Sometimes I think traveling alone with LO might be easier than with the husband. One baby is enough right? ;o)
WOW! Awesome ideas everyone! I appreciate it. Looks like I get to make a fun run to Target this weekend.
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