Traveling with a Toddler

Everyone seems to panic when it comes to traveling any length or distance with a toddler.  I’m certainly no exception.  I’ve been diligently “googling” toddler car trip games for months because we’re preparing to embark on a 12-hour drive to Dallas in a few weeks.  Remarkably – the most common suggestions I’ve found for toddler entertainment include a portable DVD player, lots of Disney movies and traveling between the hours of 7PM and 5AM so as to encourage sleeping. 
Our plan right now is to drive several hours in the evening after dinner (hoping the boys will doze off and we can just dump them into bed at a hotel a few hours down the road).  We’ll be taking our portable DVD player and our fair share of Disney movies also, but I wanted something more for the boys.  You know, something that might require some brain power or possibly the use of a muscle (or two).  So I’ve put together some road-trip activity kits for the drive.  My hope is to distribute these kits over the course of the 24! hours we’ll be spending in the car on the way to and from our destination.
I’m hopeful that each activity kit (including the enclosed movie) will by us a minimum of 2-2.5 hours of entertainment.  I’ll have to report back to you on how that goes! You’ll notice that some of the items are more age appropriate for John (2.5 years) and some are more age appropriate for Nathan (11 months).
So here we go!!!!

Bag #1

• There’s a Mouse About the House! by Richard Fowler
  
• 2 Magnadoodles (one for each boy)
  
• 2 cans of Play-Doh
  
• Golf tees & toy hammer for ‘nailing’ into the Play-Doh
  
• Mickey’s Storybook Surprises DVD
  
• Toy phone
  
• Clothespin color matching activity (see this post for more detailed information)

Bag #2

• Kung Fu Panda DVD
  
• Toy camera
  
• Big Machines Lap Book (including lacing cards)
  
• If I Could Drive A Tonka Truck book
  
• LeapFrog Fridge Phonics
  
• 2 Toy Trucks

Bag #3

• TAG Junior Reader & Books
  
• Handy Manny Green Team DVD
  
• Toy telephone
  
• Handy Manny coloring book & crayons
  
• Homemade zoo animal “I Spy” jar
  
• Stickers
  
• Mickey Mouse First Look & Find book

Bag #4

• Disney Princesses CD Storybook
  
• Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel DVD
  
• 3 cans of Play-Doh
  
• Play-Doh activity mat & finger puppet molds
  
• Clothespin color matching activity
  
• Toy remote control

Bag #5

• Ratatouille DVD
  
• No-spill bubbles
  
• Toy keys
  
• Mickey Mouse coloring book & crayons
  
• Feelings Lap Book
  
• Homemade transportation themed “I Spy” bottle
  
• Disney Pixar CD Storybook

Bag #6

• Magic Nuudles
  
• Good Night Scout electronic storybook
  
• Find the Duck illustrated by Stephen Cartwright
  
• Disney Music Player Book
  
• The Incredibles DVD

Each activity bag is packed in a 2.5 gallon ziplock bag and the 6 bags are in a paper shopping bag with a handle.  We’ll also (obviously) have lots of snacks and drinks packed for the kiddos including dry cereal, cookies, granola bars, juice, water, shelf stable milk.  More on the snack side of things in a later post!
Happy Traveling!

See my post-vacation review of these activity bags here....

Color Matching & Hand Strengthening

So as I’ve been looking for car-friendly activities for little ones – I came across this great post on a color matching clothespin activity.  I had to adapt it a little for John and for the car, but I really like the outcome! 

First I headed to the local hardware store and found awesome “mickey” paint chips.  I got two of each color – one for cutting up and one for using to match the clothespins against.  Using the small craft clothespins you find at an art store I cut out two strips of the color and glued them to each side of the clothespin.  John has loved matching up the clothespins to the paint chip cards and remarkably after only a few attempts he developed the fine motor skills to do it all by himself!  Check out the finished product below!

Missing In Action

So as you may, or may not, have noticed - I've been missing in action here on the blog the past few weeks.  We've had quite an interesting couple of weeks here at the Garcia household.  Matt accepted a new job and will be starting on May 2nd for a company based locally.  This means he'll be getting up and heading to an office on the weekdays - BUT - he'll be home for dinner every.single.night!  This will be a big change from the massive amounts of travel he was doing with his previous company.  We're sad to see him move his office out of the basement but thrilled at the prospect of having Da-da home every evening to play with us.

Also of note is that Nathan-man has been under the weather recently.  After a few days with a fever we headed to the pediatrician to diagnose "a virus" - meaning...go home, give him Tylenol and fluids.  He'll be fine.  Fast forward 2 days later to see a 10 month old with a 105.3 fever even after both Tylenol and Motrin.  Of course this occured at 1AM so the doctor's exchange told us to head to Children's Hospital.  (Nathan's first trip! - he held out much longer than his brother)  After they ran just about evey test known to man short of a lumbar puncture - which they seriously considered! - they sent us home with a diagnosis of "a virus" and directions to return to the doctor if he was still running a fever 24 hours later.  Well, of course, Nathan woke up 24 hours later with a temp of 104, so we headed back to the doctor.  Final diagnosis ---- wait for it ---- mono!  My 10 month old has mono!  I didn't even know babies could get mono...  Recommendations: Tylenol, Motrin, rest and fluids.  Good news is he's starting to feel better.  The fever has gone down quite a bit, he's getting plenty of rest and recovery and is finally interested in eating again. 

I've been busy putting together some activities for the boys to sustain them on the long trek to TX next month for Chris and Steph's wedding.  We'll be spending a wonderful 12 hours driving over the course of 2 days so activities aplenty are needed.  (I'll be posting my travel ideas and activities in a future post.) 

 Last, but not least, John has been busy with art projects galore.  Here are a few of our favorites...

Foam Easter Eggs hanging on our window curtains

Butterflies made with clothespins, pipe cleaners and coffee filters