Making Summer Travel Plans with a Toddler in Tow

As summer makes its arrival, plans for travel are on the mind.

It used to be so easy. One suitcase. Go where we want and we’re off.

Travel and luggage

Nowadays, it’s not so easy with a toddler in tow. There’s the additional suitcase and car seat. There’s the need to plan the schedule accordingly, factoring in an appropriate time for meals and rest so we don’t wind up with a cranky and restless toddler. Extra time must also be taken to plan the itinerary so that it includes kid-safe and -friendly activities.

And, if you’re traveling internationally, there’s the additional time needed to get all the legal documents ready. Fortunately, we’re set with the passport. We took care of that from an earlier trip to Canada a year ago, but it wasn’t easy at all. It was a last minute kind of trip. I was also traveling with my toddler alone (without my spouse) and additional documentation was needed to indicate approval from my spouse to travel with my child. It’s simply a precaution taken to reduce child abduction scenarios and related situations of that sort from happening.

Make sure you check the regulations that come with visiting another country in advance. Not only is there the passport you need ready, but in certain country, it also requires a notarized letter indicating permission from the other parent. You may find it helpful to read this article on “How to Travel to Canada With a Minor Without the Other Parent.”

While traveling with a toddler means there will be additional luggage to carry, more time needed to plan and research and, of course, more expenses, the experience of traveling together are always everlasting and priceless.

Saying Goodbye to Diapers and Baby Bottles

The  months leading up to my son turning 3 are happy ones. I have purchased the last box of diapers for him. I know it’s the last purchase I’ll need because he’s managed to control his bladder — staying dry in his underpants during the day and overnight for weeks now.

Diapers

Why I bother to purchase another box of diapers even though he’s shown weeks of positive progressive with potty training? Just in case.

At least I know going forward I can take diapers off the shopping list.  Diapers don’t come cheap. Even when purchasing them on sale, it can cost anywhere from $0.20-0.30 per diaper, depending on the brand and size. When you are using several diapers a day, it can add up quickly.

I don’t know how some parents succeed in potty training their baby in a week. We started toilet training shortly after he turned 18 months old. It has been a long journey of various phases. We had periods where he would be willing go to toilet when we asked him to go, periods of denial that he has to go when he does, periods of when he would alert us he has to go, but by the time we get to the toilet it’s too late, periods of when he would only alert us after the fact, and then periods that were a mix mash of everything in between.

After this long journey, we’ve finally reached a point of consistent progress. Whew! It’s really a very proud moment for me as a parent. And, a sign that my baby is growing up.

Another major biggie to report is the baby bottles are officially gone. I thought my son would never give up on the baby bottle for milk, but he finally did it.

I’ve tried numerous times to get him off the bottle with great resistance. He wouldn’t accept it with a normal plastic straw, so I tried using the soft flexible straw available on the Sesame Street cup I wrote about in a previous post.

I started offering milk with the special straw during the afternoon feeding. Once I knew he accepted it, I made every effort to continue with the straw for future feedings. The morning feeding received more resistance so we went a couple of days with the morning feeding on the baby bottle and the afternoon with the straw. Gradually, each day I encouraged him to use the straw and soon after he was off the baby bottle entirely.

Just remember to never go back to the baby bottle once you have them off it. It may be hard at first to do it for “every” feeding, so start slow. Just make sure you maintain the “no baby bottle” policy for the specific feeding you have already been successful with.

As I look back, I am happy to see such progress, but it also is a bit sad to know my baby is not really a baby anymore.

Rehashing Your Content Leads to More Opportunities

Sometimes the research, time, and effort put into writing content deserves more. This was the case when I recently wrote a post about my visit to Orlando with my family to attend a wedding.  There was so much to share from that visit that I did not want it to end simply with a blog post on my WordPress page.

Switching over to HubPages, I decided to rehash the content to share the information with readers there as well. There I created the Hub called: Things to Do Outside of Disney Theme Parks in Orlando.

Less than a month later I received notice that my hub was entered into the HubNuggets weekly contest. It made it in as one of six contestants for the Travel section. Whether I win this contest or not, it has simply taught me that the time taken to rehash or re-purpose content is not pointless.

If you also enjoyed reading my Hub on “Things to Do Outside of Disney Theme Parks in Orlando,” please vote for it. Votes are accepted until January 4, 2012 at 12 pm PST.

Update on 1/4/2012: Thank you to all who voted. My Hub is a winner of the contest!

Toys, Toys, and More Toys!

If you have children around the house, there’s bound to be toys, toys, and more toys.

There are the toys that you buy when your child doesn’t let go of it in the store. There are toys that you see are educational and that can help them develop, which you also end up buying. There are toys your child receives on his birthday or when friends and relatives come over to visit. And, of course, there are the presents (mostly toys) your child receives around the holidays, such as Christmas.

With so many toys, it gets me wondering whether children can really get through playing with all of them. From observing my own child, a young toddler, there are days where he can go through playing with 10 different toys in a day, whether he only spends a couple of seconds on one or several minutes on another.

The point is each toy has a different value. Toys are what help children learn and discover about the world around them.

Encourage your children to play with different types of toys to help him learn and discover everyday.

Over the holidays, my son received a unique puzzle as a present from close friends. He absolutely loves it and so do I. It’s a five-layer wood puzzle that helps children discover and learn about their body. Read up more about this toy from my HubPages site.