TRAVEL

Whew. Traveling with a toddler is quite an experience. We've made a few trips the past few months and each required quite a bit of time in the car. If you didn't already know…toddlers aren't a fan of being strapped in a confining area for any length of time. Mine also doesn't like the sun in his eyes.

We traveled back to VA over Christmas and it was wonderful!! We had a blast spending time with family and friends. We also spent 13+ hours in the car…EACH way.

We've done this drive a number of times and I was especially dreading this one. I probably spent about as much time complaining about it as it took us to do it :) Grant is at such an active age that I thought it would be a disaster to strap him into his car seat for over 13 hours. He completely surprised me and this drive went better than I thought it would. I think it helps to keep my expectations low.

What helped? SNACKS. Grant ate his way through the better part of 6 hours in the car!  You're not allowed to judge until you've been in the car for 13 hours with a toddler who won't watch the iPad. No matter how hard I try.

3 hours in…



What else?  STOPS.  A pre-nap stop at a McDonalds playplace. Grant was thrilled!

This is such a nice sight when on a road trip :)

Gas stations.  Everything is more exciting when you're 1 1/2.

The way home was good as well but not quite as pleasant as the ride down, plus a bit more cramped.   I spent the majority of the ride wedged in the back between the car seat and Christmas gifts. Doesn't it look comfy?

Sweet boy…He's surprisingly tolerant of all we put him through.


Car laughs from Chelsea Tedder on Vimeo.

Our next trip was back to VA again…this time with Aunt Meg instead of Matt to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. I was so confident this trip was going to go well. I should have learned that keeping the expectations low is key.

Our plan was to fly from VT to Washington, DC then drive the 3.5 hours to Lynchburg. We weren't checking bags which meant our mountain of carry ons plus car seat had to move with us the whole time.  Rookie mistake.

Our 6am flight was delayed for over 3 hours due to frozen pipe issues (oh Vermont…how I love you).  Have I mentioned before that January was really cold?

Grant was excited to look at the trucks and planes…for all of 30 minutes.

3 flights out that morning were delayed, which made for a chaotic cluster at the ticket counter. Sigh.

Eventually everyone cleared out except for us. And of course our stuff.

We tried to get creative.

It failed. I can't remember if this was taken after his hand got stuck in the purell dispenser or before.

There are no pics to capture me carrying an overtired, screaming Grant through Reagan airport to the rental car (via escalator, busy arrival traffic, and shuttle bus) in a football hold. There are no pics to capture the tears on the drive back up to DC because Meg was too busy holding up her scarf for 2 hours in an attempt to keep the sun out of Grant's eyes.

I did get this one on the flight home.  He's not sleeping.



On another note, our time in Lynchburg was amazing. My dad was so surprised and excited that it was well worth it :) More on that later...



OK. Our 3rd trip was short in comparison. 3.5 hours up to Mont Tremblant (Canada) in the car was a piece of cake compared to the other 2. We're learning.

No travel pics but a sneak peek of the fun :)

I'm not unrealistic.  I know travel is SO hard for little ones and we put a lot of demands on Grant the past few weeks!  I don't blame him a bit and think he did pretty well considering all we asked of him.  I'm just glad he gets to hang at home for a while :)

Haircut

Back in December Grant had his first haircut. Matt had been asking me to cut his hair since his first birthday in June and I couldn't bring myself to do it! Those sweet blonde curls! How could I cut them?

Truth is those curls required a lot of maintenance :) Lots of time with the brush and comb. Not your typical 18 month old's idea of fun. Most days those curls ended up looking like this.

So we headed over to the Hairy Bear (seriously). I cried the entire way and called my mom for moral support. Matt said I should find that embarrassing, but I promised him I'm not the first mom who has done this. Here's proof. It's a big transition from baby to big boy!

Grant had a grand time sitting (unusually still) in his yellow race car.

It was quite painless and I don't think he had a clue what was going on, during or after. In a desperate attempt to only do this halfway I asked the hairdresser to leave it a little longer than usual. It doesn't appear she heard me.  Except for the bangs…I wouldn't let her touch those…on second thought, maybe I should be a little embarrassed.

It took a few days for me to adjust but, oh my, it is adorable!!! It grows fast too :)

xoxo

Happy New Year!

A few days late…this poor blog. I'm going to keep writing when I can because I love having a record of what we've been up to!

It has been frigid here. The ice has taken over. See exhibit A.

It finally warmed up enough this weekend for us to get out and enjoy the snow :) Meg was visiting so we took advantage of the extra set of hands and headed up to Sugarbush for the day. Grant spent his time wandering around the lodge, loving every minute.

On Sunday we went with friends to the Trapp Family Lodge. It was so much fun!

Luckily they had a lodge at the top of the hill for hot chocolate and diaper changes :) Very helpful for avoiding toddler meltdowns.

Oh this sweet boy!

Thanksgiving

It could be said that Grant was the center of attention…

Toy Rotation

Welcome to Grant's corner of the den :)



Isn't it cozy?



This corner plus a box of trains (and often a push toy of some type), in the opposite corner of the room, are all the toys he has to play with on the main floor of our house. We started with a box of toys under the coffee table. This worked until he was old enough to pull up and started getting into the bookshelves. I started pulling breakable things out and putting in toys until it seemed like toys were EVERYWHERE!

Then I read this post.

I, of course, followed her link to The Intelligent Nest post (another great blog!) and started reading all about the Montessori philosophy. I totally bought into it.

Why did Montessori think that order was so important? She believed that children are very capable, often more capable than adults are ready to or patient enough to allow. Children can learn to find and put away things that they want and need, but they cannot accomplish this if their things are never in the same spot and are scattered all about. Think of how much use that $20 puzzle you bought is if it is dropped into a toy box with a bunch of other toys, with pieces falling out and missing. Rather, a puzzle kept in the living room next to the sofa on the floor is accessible, visible and usable. The child can reach the puzzle, dump the pieces out, have no concern about loosing pieces amongst other play items, and put the puzzle back together when he is done because he can see all the pieces clearly. There is no clutter to sort through. Therefore, your child will use and learn from a puzzle more in an uncluttered location rather than a cluttered one. This principle can be applied to most toys.

I had my doubts a toy rotation would work.  I was wrong.  It has been awesome. I wouldn't say he gets super excited after I've rotated his toys, but he definitely notices. He really plays with the toys that are out much more (even the ones that aren't his favorites) and it's WAY easier for me to clean up.

I rotate them once a week and sometimes I'll keep new toys out for two weeks...I also keep a few toys in his room and sometimes I just rotate them from upstairs to down for the variety.

We also invested in a learning tower.  It's a huge, not so attractive, piece of furniture that brings a child to counter level.  Grant loves to be up!  He plays, eats snack, and helps me cook while standing in it :)



Of course, when you're up at 5am, you get tired of playing with toys inside after a few hours. We are still soaking up our outside time before winter weather really sets in!

Halloween 2013

Poor Grant was sick for his second Halloween - a fever and cough kept him home from school and away from his friends! I was much more disappointed than he was - this year I had it together ahead of time! I prepared for Trunk or Treat at school, ordered his cow costume months ago, and we practiced saying "moo" :) Luckily for us he had a chance to wear his costume the weekend before :)

We carved a pumpkin with Meg!

Grant briefly helped scoop out the pumpkin :) Too slimy!

Luckily Meg was there to finish the job...

I carved using a kitchen paring knife (I'm no expert...plus not prepared enough to buy a pumpkin carving kit), but I must say it was my best job yet!

We were planning to go to a Halloween Parade last Saturday....Grant refused to take a nap (more on that later).  SO - We put on G's costume and posed with the pumpkin :)

Sadly the parade was a no-go. Our nap striker fell asleep on the way so we watched from the car.

We did put on his costume on Halloween, take a bunch of photos, and ride his bike trick or treating at our neighbor's house - so we could say we did!

Sweetest little cow.

Mooooo.

Moo from Chelsea Tedder on Vimeo.