Have Tot Will Travel

There are a few things I came to grips with while traveling with my tiny tot. Naturally, my anxiety level shot through the roof when my hubby proclaimed we were taking a 5 day vacation out of state because that meant we would be on an airplane for hours (I don't do road trips). I remembered the days of being on an airplane with someone's kid screaming or bludgeoning the chair in front of him with a foot (I usually was in said chair as it happened). Then there was all the stuff I didn't want to forget to pack. Small children require a ludicrous amount of luggage especially if they are not potty trained yet. Since we made it back to Texas a happy family, I did a little reflection and decided to offer up some useful tidbits:

1. ALWAYS pack the stroller. Even if you have to check it at the plane. Even if your hubby says it's for lazy parents because two parents should be able to tag team and watch one kid. Even if it will cost a small fee. Just take the damn stroller. There will come a point when your little one will refuse to do any more walking (which-chances are-you already knew as an intelligent mother hence arguing with your hubby about whether or not to take it) and will need to be carried. At 30ish pounds, that little stinker can get heavy.
2. Don't worry about being judged. It finally occurred to me on the way home that the only people judging my parenting skills if my son lost it on the plane would be the ones who have NEVER had kids or been around them. Everyone else either had children my son's age or older children who were once my son's age, so they were more empathic than irritated whenever my son reared his terrifying terrible two head. (So all those people who were hacked during that less than a quarter of the flight my son cried can go do something inappropriately diabolical to themselves. He's two! He's never flown before! He was a perfect angel on the flight home.)
3. Don't pack "baby" items that you can buy at a local store. My son already required a ton of packing, so we didn't pack diapers. We had a few to keep in the carry-on for the traveling, but then hit up the Golden Eagle to buy a package of them once we got to Slippery Rock. That saved suitcase space and weight. If my son was still itty-bitty, I probably would have done the same with formula.
4. Allow others to watch your child. I'm sure somewhere someone will think I was just being lazy. However, whenever we were near family everyone else wanted to play with or watch my son. I would have simply added to the old adage "too many chiefs... ." Therefore, I sat back and let the great-grandparents and grandfather walk around and entertain my son. I felt bad the first 10 minutes but figured "oh well-they wanted to meet him so they can get to know him while I enjoy my vacay."
5. Over book the activities (but make sure to rank them in case you can't do them all). I knew that one day would be a complete family day, but that still left roughly 3 days to entertain my son and myself. I made sure to have a list of places to go and see. It turned out that my list came in handy since we did everything I suggested. The one day we didn't plan anything other than family time turned out to be a disaster.
6. Make sure all activities are appealing to you and your child. We had a blast at the Children's Museum, and my son actually enjoyed the Museums of Natural History and Art (we "rented" a stroller for that one). The zoo was the only iffy activity, but it still worked out okay for us. Nothing we did was entirely for adults or entirely for children (not even the Children's Museum).
7. Be grateful that ketchup is classified as a vegetable. I bet most mothers are concerned about making sure their children eat as balanced a meal as possible. Unfortunately, vacation means eatin' on the fly most of the time or going to restaurants that don't necessarily cater to stuffing kids full of vitamins and minerals. My son lived off of hot dogs, grilled cheese, and cheeseburgers. Most of these didn't come with a side of broccoli, so fries and ketchup it was. I figure that five days of that won't kill him.
8. Be understanding if your hubby gets a little edgy toward the end of the trip because the two of you were sharing one room with your kid. I don't think I need to explain that one any further.

I would like this list to be an even 10, but alas it looks like 8 is where it must stop. However, feel free to comment any other tips or tricks you've learned while going on holiday will the kiddos.