This is why we don't travel very often
We finally arrived home last night after a whirlwind week-long trip to visit our families for Thanksgiving. Traveling with littles usually makes for some excitement so what normally would be a short few-hour trip turned into an all-day "adventure" yesterday.
We got a late start in the morning but were still hoping to make it back by early afternoon since we had lots to do when we got home and were rather tired from the past week and hopeful for an early bedtime.
After only 30 minutes on the road, there were frantic cries of "I have to go potty!" from the two-year-old in the backseat. We breathed a sigh of relief when we spotted a McDonald's in close proximity, But the relief was short-lived as this McDonald's turned out to have the most incredibly obnoxious automatic toilets ever. Their random volcanic flushing nearly scared the whits out of Kathrynne. And we won't even begin to discuss the tremendous amount of coaxing to get her to actually utilize them. For sometime afterwards, she kept shivering and talking about the "scary toilets."
Once we survived the toilet ordeal, Kaitlynn woke up from her nap in real apparent pain - which we could only attribute to teething. We were in the middle of nowhere by this time and had nothing to console her. We tried what little ice we had, we tried stopping and nursing, we tried the binkie. Nothing was calming her down and we both felt terrible to see her suffering so much.
We finally came upon a little town and pulled in to the gas station hoping against hope they might have some Children's Tylenol or Motrin or Orajel or something to give her some relief. Of course this small-town gas station didn't have anything like that but they did point us in the direction of this dilapidated little drug store. I thanked God they carried Orajel and tried not to wonder whether it had been sitting on the shelf for ten years or more.
The Orajel quieted Kaitlynn for a short time and we were able to make good headway - that is, we drove for more than twenty minutes without a single stop! It wasn't long before she was crying again. This time, though, Kathrynne was really agitated by her little sister's incessant crying and soon they were both crying.
I had about exhausted my creativity and energy at this point and after multiple stops at every 20 minute interval, I was really getting anxious to get home. So we just decided to keep driving and hope they would calm down eventually.
They never really did quiet down, but we did finally make it home. Oh I was never so happy to drive up into our driveway! Never mind the things I'd planned to do in the afternoon and evening and never mind the early bedtime I'd been hoping for. We were home and that was all that mattered.
I took lots of pictures while we were gone which I'm anxious to share and have more blog fodder swirling around in my brain than I'll probably ever have space to post about. However, our home currently looks like a "stuff bomb" exploded in it and Kaitlynn is still really struggling with the teething thing. As soon as I dig myself out from under this massive mountain of laundry and get everything unpacked, I hope to be back to more regular blogging.
How was your Thanksgiving, by the way?
We got a late start in the morning but were still hoping to make it back by early afternoon since we had lots to do when we got home and were rather tired from the past week and hopeful for an early bedtime.
After only 30 minutes on the road, there were frantic cries of "I have to go potty!" from the two-year-old in the backseat. We breathed a sigh of relief when we spotted a McDonald's in close proximity, But the relief was short-lived as this McDonald's turned out to have the most incredibly obnoxious automatic toilets ever. Their random volcanic flushing nearly scared the whits out of Kathrynne. And we won't even begin to discuss the tremendous amount of coaxing to get her to actually utilize them. For sometime afterwards, she kept shivering and talking about the "scary toilets."
Once we survived the toilet ordeal, Kaitlynn woke up from her nap in real apparent pain - which we could only attribute to teething. We were in the middle of nowhere by this time and had nothing to console her. We tried what little ice we had, we tried stopping and nursing, we tried the binkie. Nothing was calming her down and we both felt terrible to see her suffering so much.
We finally came upon a little town and pulled in to the gas station hoping against hope they might have some Children's Tylenol or Motrin or Orajel or something to give her some relief. Of course this small-town gas station didn't have anything like that but they did point us in the direction of this dilapidated little drug store. I thanked God they carried Orajel and tried not to wonder whether it had been sitting on the shelf for ten years or more.
The Orajel quieted Kaitlynn for a short time and we were able to make good headway - that is, we drove for more than twenty minutes without a single stop! It wasn't long before she was crying again. This time, though, Kathrynne was really agitated by her little sister's incessant crying and soon they were both crying.
I had about exhausted my creativity and energy at this point and after multiple stops at every 20 minute interval, I was really getting anxious to get home. So we just decided to keep driving and hope they would calm down eventually.
They never really did quiet down, but we did finally make it home. Oh I was never so happy to drive up into our driveway! Never mind the things I'd planned to do in the afternoon and evening and never mind the early bedtime I'd been hoping for. We were home and that was all that mattered.
I took lots of pictures while we were gone which I'm anxious to share and have more blog fodder swirling around in my brain than I'll probably ever have space to post about. However, our home currently looks like a "stuff bomb" exploded in it and Kaitlynn is still really struggling with the teething thing. As soon as I dig myself out from under this massive mountain of laundry and get everything unpacked, I hope to be back to more regular blogging.
How was your Thanksgiving, by the way?
posted by Crystal Paine at 11:43 AM
36 Comments:
We travelled quite often, so our boys learned to be good travellers (besides they didn't have a choice but to be happy! HA!). I think if you guys travel more often, your girls might actually learn to cope with travelling. Who knows? ;^)
I would tell you to always come prepared to travel, but from the attitude of your blog, it wouldn't do me any good to tell you that. ;^D
Hang in there! 8^D
How was my Thanksgiving? Not nearly as eventful as yours. Although I forgot that sampling lots of sweets while pregnant tends to trigger a lot of nausea in me. Everything just looked so good! Traveling with littles can be a challenge, can't it?
This reminds me of a trip that my family once made to the doctor an hour away with some sweet neighbors in tow. I was 6 or 7 with a very bad case of bronchitis that wouldn't let up. My younger sister was 2 or 3, and our neighbor's daughter was 5-ish. We had successfully made it to the doctor, and were on our way home. I was feeling miserable, and my Mom was driving. Out of the blue, the neighbor's daughter started throwing up. We had to get home in time to pick up the neighbor's son from school, so all we could do was dole out barf bags and hang our heads out the windows. But then we realized that my sister had been quietly occupied stuffing little tissue balls up her nose, thinking it a great pastime until she realized that it made breathing difficult. So our neighbor leaned over the seat and carefully picked out all the tissue with her little finger, and told my mom, "We're making memories, here...making memories!"
I can definitely sympathize with you!!!
Also, I read once that the scary toilet problem can be solved by wetting (spit) a piece of toilet tissue and sticking it to the sensor. It won't flush until you remove the tissue. This really does work!
Praise God you got home safely!!! What an ordeal - it brings back memories of some of our trips. I nearly sang my self hoarse as it was the only thing that would comfort my oldest - then a young toddler!!!
Blessings,
Heather - Doodle Acres
Well, at least you'll have some memories! We had a really great Thanksgiving. This was the first year that I actually was prepared well ahead of time (thanks to your homemaking tips!) and wasn't stressed out getting ready for company. I was just able to enjoy my family.
Wow, it is posts like this that remind me how human we all are! I tend to think that other ladies in bloggyworld are perfect- they get up early every day, their kids are spotless little angels that never cry, their homes are perfect, and dinner isn't pizza every Tuesday night.
Thank goodness you all got home with your sanity intact! Just another reminder to me that life isn't always perfect, but it is always perfectly blessed! :)
I came here to leave you a comforting comment about the fact that my 3 1/2 year old DD still HATES the "automatic flushing toilets" (as we call them). We, too, have had to find facilities elsewhere that were not quite so modern. Whoever invented those things did not have a toddler! Anyway, I'm leaving with what I hope will be a cure for the problem (read comment 3). : )
Here's a cure for the potty problem - stickers or post-it notes! Just slap one over the sensor eye and it won't go off until you're ready.
Of course, I didn't read that particular tip until after my own girl was old enough not to freak out, so I never got to personally test it.
(She's 9 and still hates them, but doesn't freak out over them, thankfully.)
Our Thanksgiving was great! The weekend after was not so great :( My littlest ended up in the hospital because of a viral infection-turned respiratory distress. I'm glad it didn't happen during the holiday though!
Sometimes driving with littles is difficult, isn't it? I'm glad you all survived :)
What we do is put a hand over the sensor when we walk in the bathroom stall, then let the child exit the stall before telling them to plug their ears and then remove your hand to let it flush. Hope this helps!
Susan in Manitoba
Ours was not as eventful as yours! But we did get to enjoy time with family. My morning sickmess was a constant friend however. which put a damper on having seconds! As for traveling, my kids are super! I don't know if it is a personality issue or the fact that they have had to be on the road a lot. (Out of state family that we visit a few times a year). Also, I am a major "overpacker" when we go somewhere. I pretty much am a mobile mini Target.
My what a crazy trip that was! My 5 month old baby brother got his first two teeth when he was 4 months. Driving in a car with a fussy teething babe is not very much fun.
Mt Thanksgiving was good. Have a great day!
Ashley
A piece of toilet paper (I spit on it) will cover the sensor on automatic toilets too - and it's always available.
Have you considered that Kaitlynn may get carsick? Oragel makes a tummy soother liquid that's herbal(ginger,etc.) and young children can take.
Oh my! Sounds like quite the drive home! Elena has had some few tough episodes with driving as well and it is no fun at all. I always feel so sorry for her. Teething is tough. Have you tried homeopathic teething tablets? Some people say that they work really well. Elena has had mild success with it. But other friends say that they work great. It's hard for me to see how much they help Elena because she doesn't get to fussy with it in the first place. She just wakes up a lot in the night. :-)
We have tried the Post it note over the sensor and it does work. My daughter used to be afraid to use the automatic toilets, but not anymore! We had tried the hand thing, but it seemed like if I would move just a little bit, it would go off. I hope this helps! Get some rest!
Sounds like quite an adventure! I'm glad you're all home safe and sound. We had a very nice Thanksgiving. I can't believe it's almost December already!
I feel your pain! In a few weeks we will make our third trip to visit my husband's family this year and it's 18 hours ONE way! We learned through trial and error that it is worth EVERY ounce of sleep lost to drive straight through the night while the little ones sleep. Borrowing a car DVD and watching DVDS is the only way I can stay awake all night to help my hubby stay awake!
I have done my share of impromptu puppet shows and singing until we're hoarse too! I try to pack everything we could possibly need and plenty of surprises/kids' music CDs/new little toys/fun snacks to pull out when the kids get extremely cranky. There are few things worse in this world than having your air conditioning go out in late August, with 5 hours left to go on a hot afternoon and two screaming kids who won't go to sleep!
It will get better! We had 4 children in 4 1/2 years. Some of our family lived 5 hours away. The youngest is now 7 and traveling is actually fun now!
The toilet story cracked me up! We headed to Illinois to be with my husband's family. We stopped at usual gas station stop for gas and bathroom break. Being a busy holiday travel day, the line for the women's restroom was out the door and around the corner. They had three stalls, one was out of order though, the other two each had a young girl and mom in it, trying to convince their girls to brave the automatic toilets. It made me smile. I guess at least it is a common problem. :)
dearest Crystal, always take a potty chair on a road trip, they can go in the car, there is usually some way to put it on the floor of the back seat, or between van seat rows, and especially with a little girl with a dress on, it usually isn't a big deal, a short stop at a non crowded place and you are done
love you!
Penny Raine
www.pennyraine.com
Bless your heart! When road trips get consumed with crying, they are no fun at all. I'm glad you're home safe and sound! I know how it feels to need a vacation from your vacation! Ha!
Your post made me laugh (sorry!), but it brought back lots of memories! LOL Our boys are now 13 and 10 and we went back home to Iowa for the holiday and had a great time. But, it's funny because on the way there dh and I were talking about how much easier it is to travel with our boys at their ages now -- we actually have some fun, interesting conversations! However, on this trip we got to talking about some 'interesting' trips we took when they were younger and we talked specifically about one when our oldest was a baby and we were stopping every 20-30 minutes over an 8 hour road trip! UGH -- that was the longest trip ever! So, your post brought back memories of that! :) But, hope that also encourages you -- it WILL get better and easier! :)
Debi
You had me laughing when i read about the scary toilet! Reminded me of a bathroom experience we had while traveling in the States last spring. The toilets were loud and the hand dryers just about sucked your hand into it! :)
Traveling with crying babies is hard! Mine usually travel well, but when they are crying and there is no way to console them, it makes you wish there was a faster way to get home!
~Tanya ~ mama to 5 :)
We had a trip like that once on our daughters first Thanksgiving.We were on our way home after visiting my sister in central Florida and we lived in the panhandle area at the time.Once we hit Florida State are we were a huge traffic jam and guess who started crying unmtil we moved again.It wasn't me but afterwards I felt like it.
I noticed you were able to send out some orders-must be some sense of normalcy coming back to the house.
Awwwww!!! Last time my family and I went to NC (we live in Texas) my sister-in-law, niece and older brother went too, and my poor little niece (she was about a year and a half at the time) tried so hard to take that long drive well, but sometimes she just couldn't stand it anymore and she'd cry and cry from being in her car seat for so long. It was heart-breaking to watch. So i know it's tough with little ones :)
Sounds like we had the same car ride, Crystal! lol!
We just returned from Michigan (we live in TX)on Monday night and I am stillexhausted! My 4yo is also frightened by volcanic toilets and thankfully we only encountered one on this trip. The baby (4 1/2 months) totally HATED traveling and she screamed a good bit of the time. I rode in the backseat for 90% of the trip home. Oh what fun.
My "stuff" bomb has not been completely eradicated yet either. Sigh. Ah, the joys of traveling! :o)
Hi Crystal,
Check out this article about scary flush toilets and little kids: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/nyregion/
12flush.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(might have to paste together the 2 parts of the link!)
I read this a few weeks ago, and thought it was funny that a company developed to sell sensor-covers for 3 dollars apiece! Even stranger was that the article was padded with references to anxiety disorders--as though it is in any way abnormal for kids to be scared of a toilet that flushes on its own! Repeatedly! My son wouldn't use those toilets, and 90% of the time he didn't even need to sit on them, being a boy and all!
Take care, Ami
I can relate to the traveling "woes". I have a 16 month old who has HATED the car seat since day one! They have a couple of songs that we put in the CD player that keeps them calmer, but eventually gives mommy a headache from listening to it 50 times in a row!!!!
Ugggh...
glad you are home safely...that's what matters!
Wow, this is so nostalgic for me, I too have two little girls, two and a half years apart, they are 6 and 8 now but boy oh boy, I remember those days, and trying to find a clean looking toilet was impossible, the car seats always hurt, the paci would always fall in between the carseat and the seat, or my oldest was always hungry or wanted sissie to stop crying. Just know that this too will pass and before you know it you will be laughing at who tries to cheat at I SPY the most!!!!
Two years ago my husband insisted we drive home for Christmas (16 hours). Our then 5 yr old daughter had always been a wonderful traveler. Why not our newborn 2 month old son? Well, he screamed the entire way. In cycles of scream 2 1/2 hrs / sleep 30 min from exhaustion / repeat for 32 hrs. Nothing we tried worked. We just had to endure and get home. This year dh again insists on driving home (now it's 21 hrs since we've moved! 42 round trip - ugh) with our newborn 2 month old, and now 2 yr old and 7 yr old! I'm already praying daily that baby girl will be a wonderful traveler, not like her brother! It's much harder on the kids these days, having to be strapped into carseats. I know it wasn't as safe, but I'm sure traveling was much easier when the kids could move around, stretch out, and lay down a little!
Sometimes I think we must be thankful to God that we have the knowledge "things can only get better"!!
My only daughter who is now 5 had a problem when she was about 1-2 with car sickness.
She was just too young to tell us she felt sick and it was only a problem when she was in the car for more than 15 minutes. Our church is a 30 minute drive away.
So for months I had to carry extra clothes and wipes to two Sunday services knowing she would do it but being unable to do anything about it!!
The lesson is - is you have a large family and no-one gets car sick - be very thankful.
We had a nice, peaceful Thanksgiving meal at home. It was great to not have to rush around and take the little ones out, especially since we are in the midst of a cold snap. Right after Thanksgiving we had the flu in our house, though, so it's never peaceful for long! :) I can relate to your traveling adventures. This past summer we went on a week long road trip with a 2 year old and a six month old. Very eventful! :)
Ahh, those days when you want nothing but to finally be home... and it's so sweet to come home in the end!
We learned the hard way to leave an emergency illness bag in the car - baby Tylenol, motrin, teething tablets, Benadryl, diapers and wipes, pacifier, etc - it's Murphy's Law that it will always happen in the middle of nowhere or the middle of the night in the car!
Ours was a busy Thanksgiving as we had a 14 hour car ride to visit friends. But it was a blessing and worth the trip.
I had an awful time with my son and public bathrooms because of the "scary potties". He is 7 now and still only use them if it's an emergency.
God bless!
Hylands teething tablets!
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