Traveling with a Toddler

This week we are in Colorado for Margaret's skating competition and then to spend some time with her cousins.  Margaret competes on Saturday in Colorado Springs and then we are going to Keystone to hopefully go skiing.  This meant we had to fly with Josh for the first time since he was three months old.  We were supposed to fly to Curacao in December but that trip was cancelled because of the passing of Margaret's grandmother.  So this was the first time we had to take a long trip with Josh since he has really been mobile.

Margaret's parents purchased our tickets using their frequent flyer miles which meant we got to use their premiere status.  Boy was that necessary.  Not only did we bring enough stuff for a small army but we got the bulkhead row of seats which provided extra space.  We decided to carry on our new carseat which is meant to be used on an airplane and is supposed to be very portable.  Let me say, it is NOT.  It was very heavy and bulky and only because Margaret has small hands were we able to get it installed on the airplane.  If we did not have the extra space of the bulkhead it would not have fit at all.

Our flight took off at 5:50 which is nearly Josh's bedtime.  Our hope was Margaret would feed Josh during take off (so he wouldn't be bothered by the changing pressure) and then he would fall asleep and we would put him into his carseat.  It didn't quite work out that well.  Josh was not at all interested in sleeping initially.  He eventually got tired but then couldn't get comfortable in the carseat.  At night he sleeps on his stomach so going to sleep on his back was not what he had in mind.  He has slept in the carseat but only while driving.  After much crying, a bottle, some cheese and Margaret feeding him several more times he did finally fall asleep and we successfully transferred him to the carseat.  He slept for about an hour and a half which at least gave us some time to rest.  He woke up when we were close to Denver and was fussy but not too impossible to handle.

We finally landed, got our bags and got our rental car.  Fitting all of our stuff and the carseat into the car was not easy but Margaret figured that out (as she always does).  We were concerned Josh would not sleep well or the time change would be very difficult for him but after Margaret fed him he went to sleep and slept until around 7 (mountain time).  Seems he has adjusted well to the time change, we just hope it stays that way.

I find traveling stressful and doing it with a toddler certainly doesn't make it easier.  Hopefully we will come up with a better plan for the flight home and it will go a bit more smoothly.

Ready to fly

Checking out the in flight entertainment