Traveling with Nathanial

One of the things I am learning about motherhood and raising a child is that it is a different experience for everyone. Duh, right! It took a while for this to sink in for me, so I'm going to stop posting in general terms like "Traveling with a Toddler" because every experience is going to be different depending on the toddler.

But, in regards to Nathanial, we have found that it works best to travel around the time he sleeps, but it nap time or bedtime. In fact, it seems that traveling at the start of bedtime, leaving for instance at 8:00 p.m. works really well. He sleeps until we get where we are going and if we are lucky we are able to put him straight into his Pack 'n Play. (Brief note about the Pack 'n Play - they are great and we love ours...but it's really not the same as him sleeping in his crib. He just doesn't sleep as well. But, we can't transport our crib now can we?)

So today we traveled around his nap time. He slept for a little over an hour and when he woke up, we stopped at McDonald's for a snack and then walked around a nearby Target to stretch our legs. Visiting Target as a tourist and not as a shopper is a very different experience! This one was packed...I couldn't believe it. Anyway. We did purchase Nathanial a sketch pad there for him to finger paint on as well as some crayons, which he has developed quite a taste for. Literally. Blue wax in teeth...yuck!

He did okay the rest of the way, but he was certainly ready to finally enter the condo. He ran around like a mad man. I also realized that those plastic things that cover the electrical outlets work! Without them there, Nathanial wanted to stick his fingers in those things. I had to have a very stern talking to with him and I forsee time-out in our future over the electrical outlet issue. So, if you are traveling with a toddler, you may want to consider taking some electrical outlet covers...

The condo in which we are staying has a huge jetted tub. We tried to take a communal bath with all three of us. Nathanial hated it! We have to get him over this fear of water. I have no idea where it came from.

Tomorrow I have a scrapbooking class in the morning. We'll have lunch. Then, we'll try out the waterpark. With our toddler...who is scared of water...yeah.

I'm so relaxed!!! It's great!

Peace