flying with a 17 month old... need suggestions

[caseysmom]

Darn if we were closer I would loan you my portable dvd player, I have two. Anyway you will end up loving having one anyway.

The vet has me give bubba benadryl for car trips

[sabies]

I was going to recommend signing time dvds but you already thought of that! Sam loves the signing time videos too, I think she has a thing for Alex. It was probably around 17 months when I realized she was yelling out his name when they sing the intro song.

At least 2 1/2 hours isn't toooo bad. Hopefully you will be seated near other kids/kid lovers because that in itself would work to entertain Sam and it seems most babies/kids love to watch other babies/kids. Adults who love kids are good substitutes for other kids.

Sam won't sleep in the car anymore either unless she's really tired and it's dark. I thing after a point they are too aware of what is going on and don't want to miss out. It's a tough call - do you try to make Hannah tired so she does sleep or would that backfire and make an overtired cranky baby?

Since Sam is now 19mo old it's easy to remember what entertained her at 17mo and unfortunately for us crayons were way too early, still are, but she is very into picture books that are just pictures of objects that she can identify (I think she is happy to show off knowledge of things) and she likes to play with containers or buckles. I'd say pay close attention to what entertains Hannah at the time and pack that as carry on. Make a list to help remind yourself of all the tricks to try - healthy snacks, pat-a-cake or similar games/songs - if you're nervous about the flight you might panic and forget your ideas!! (I know I would, my husband is the calm one.)

Good luck and have fun!!!

[sparks19]

that's sweet of you caseysmom. You are right...we probably will get a lot of use out of a portable DVD player since we often take looooong car trips and what not so it will be well worth the money I suppose. it's something we were going to get someday anyway so why not now

yeah Hannah LOVES signing times. I only have one on dvd right now (the rest are on dvr) so maybe I will buy another one for the trip.

I know I'm going to bring her stacker rings, a couple of her wooden blocks (the rings and blocks are her favorite toys) and she loves books. Rarely do I get to read a WHOLE book to her because she has figured out how to turn pages so she just likes to do that, look at a picture and then turn the page again lol. So I'm hoping that having these things will keep her distracted from the fact that she can't run around everywhere.

usually hannah gets up around 7 for soemthing to eat and then she usually goes right back to bed for about 3 or 4 hours so I'm hoping if we keep her awake until it's time to take off then maybe she will be tired enough to nod off. she's pretty good about not being too cranky if she misses a nap.

I was never afraid of flying before. I loved flying. But since having Hannah... I get really nervous on flights. When we flew to florida last year at Christmas I was so tense the whole flight. that is until the drink cart came around and I got myself a whiskey lol... that took the edge off. and of course all the plane crashes in the news these days don't help. lol