Finally back home

As some of you figured out, I’ve been away at a conference for the past few days. I left bright and early on Thursday morning (drove up with my father, as we were both attending classes – yes, I had to be up before 4 am), and the Hubby, Little Dude and my mom joined up with us Friday night, bringing two wonderful teenagers with them, to watch Little Dude while the four of us went to the final banquet.

Overall, it was a good conference. We went last year, too, when Little Dude was just under three months old, so it was fun to show everyone how much he has grown.

As for traveling with Little Dude, it was a huge difference from what we had experienced five months ago, when we took a brief version of our annual vacation.

I love my son, and I was so excited to see him after being away from him for two days and one night. He was so wound up and overstimulated though, from being in new surroundings with lots of people and seeing mommy again, that his mood quickly went from very excited and pleasant to the “I’m not happy and you can’t fix it,” mood.

That first night, he was up until midnight. Last night, he finally went back to sleep (woke up after being asleep for one hour), just after 11 pm.

He did sleep in a bit, both mornings, and we got him to take a pretty good nap yesterday (I remembered reading that sometimes rocking a child in a dark bathroom with the vent on would help them go to sleep, and it worked beautifully for his nap!). But, if we tried to put him in his port-a-crib while he was awake, a lot of screaming and crying would commence. In fact, my parents had a room on the other side of us, and my mom walked over the first night to try her hand at getting him to calm down, as she could hear him. (That first night, when he was down he wanted to be held. When he was held, he wanted someone else or to be down. It was incredibly frustrating.)

So, after this trip, I’ve made a few observations about traveling with a toddler.

#1 – Walking your toddler up and down the halls will wear him or her out. Eventually. However, when you are doing this at 11 pm, strangers may judge you to be an unfit mother for allowing your small child to be awake that late. Some mothers and fathers will just nod at you knowingly.

#2 – Walking a semi-happy toddler up and down the hall at odd hours is preferred by your neighbors over allowing the child cry it out in your room. However, they may still judge you if they see you out there.

#3 – You and your significant other may begin to snarl at each other, like two, caged, alpha dogs, when the toddler will not go to sleep. There may be a lot of, “I told you this wasn’t a good idea,” and, “next year I’m staying home with him, while you go to your conference.” Ignore these comments for now. Next year is a long ways away and your child will have changed yet again – possibly becoming very upset at the idea of missing the chance to play in a hotel pool/water park.

#4 – Your parents will only fall for you throwing the heavily-odored diapers in their room trash once. They may double-team you at their door if you try it again.

#5 – If you child’s appetite isn’t the best for the few days you are away from home, do not worry. Eating habits will improve when you return home, and your child will not waste away in the meantime.

#6 – Hotel staff may be slightly suspicious of your need for additional towels, but their attitude may improve if you explain you are putting the extra bath towel under your toddler’s portable high chair to protect their furniture and facilities.

#7 – A brand-new toothbrush can double as a cleaning device for bottles, baby silverware, pacifiers, etc… And you can get a complimentary toothbrush from most hotels, if you are in a bind.

#8 – For safety issues, pack duct tape.We should have, and we forgot. But it could have doubled to cover open outlets, latch the refrigerator and microwave doors (which they so conveniently located right at the eye level of a toddler – and yes, he found the buttons on the microwave pretty quickly!), and secure drawers and cords. We did okay and Little Dude was heavily monitored, but duct tape would have made life a bit easier.

#9 – If you can afford it, or have young family and friends that would just like to get away (thank you M and N!), bring an extra set of hands or two. Our two young friends  (one was a cousin of mine, the other was a young lady I used to babysit and who babysits Little Dude sometimes) just enjoyed bumming around with us, getting fed whatever they would like, and overall, it didn’t cost us a fortune. They both considered it a small “working vacation,” which really didn’t entail a ton of work for either.

10 – Let your toddler push some buttons. If your toddler can reach the elevator buttons, guide them to the correct buttons and let them push it. You’ll enjoy the smile you receive when they realize they made the button light up.

That pretty much sums up my last few days… Little Dude is napping (a much-needed nap at this point), Supercat is following me around for some extra lovin’, I’m working on the piles and piles of laundry, and the Hubby took off to check on a few things with his nephew.

Anyone want to come over and help fold the laundry once it comes out of the dryer? I’ll smile at you a lot and may sing your praises to everyone else around me…