Toddler Tips Tuesday: Traveling

After chatting with my brother and husband about blogging, I decided I am going to try to have a bit more direction with the blog.  Any of you regular readers know that since November 2010 the focus of the blog has been about my adventures in parenting, and has become more and more kid-parent-centric as the days pass.  So, the first change in the blog is the start of "Toddler Tips Tuesday" where I'll share some random "tip" that I've learned to help other moms of toddlers.  And I use the word tip very loosely.  Some weeks I am sure the tip will be more of the "what not to do tip" kind.  So check back with me every Tuesday for a new "tip"!

We recently took a five and half hour plane ride with our almost 16 month old son, so I thought I'd share a few traveling tips.  If your kiddo is in a convertible car seat that you're bringing with you on a flight, you need to buy this simple, yet genius invention: The Traveling Toddler Car Seat Travel Accessory (descriptive name, I know). It lets you attached the car seat to your carry-on wheeled suitcase, so you can wheel it through the airport.  Better yet, you can wheel the car seat WITH YOUR KID SITTING IN IT through the airport!  Genius!  You can buy the accessory on amazon.com here.  It made navigating the airport with the car seat easy and allowed both of us to have our hands free to carry all our other stuff.  I highly recommend by this accessory - you won't regret it!

courtesy of Amazon.com

I would also recommend buying a car seat "gate check bag" - it's just a big bag that you put the car seat in before the airport baggage guys throw it under the plane in the luggage bay so your car seat stays clean.  I've seen the bags on amazon or diapers.com.  However, I would suggest not putting your dinner of Moe's burritos in the gate check bag with the car seat.  And yes, we know this from experience.  (I add that tip for free!)

Next week I'll offer our tips for actually handling the five hour flight with your toddler with ease.  Here's a hint: Your fellow passengers might hear your toddler talking but at least they won't be crying!