Jerry and I have always had this idea that we would travel with our kids and nothing would get in our way! We were fearless!... And then we actually had kids. So first, I must apologize to all those parents out there that stopped traveling when they had kids. I judged you too harshly.
When we first had Gardner, we did travel. We took a train to New Jersey for Christmas and at 3 months old he slept in my lap. In those days he would sleep ANYWHERE! We traveled to Elizabeth City for a family reunion when he was 9 months old and a second time when he was 20 months with his sister, Caitiejane, in tow at just 4 weeks old. I even flew to New Jersey with two kids under two by myself. You can read more about that adventure here.
Then something changed. Gardner stopped sleeping in the pack and play. He began sleeping in a big bed and had discovered freedom. This is wonderful milestone for him to transition to the "big boy bed." That is until you travel to a strange place. Then you have to kindly ask the two-year-old to stay in a bed that is not his own for an entire night. You try everything to get him to stay. You bribe him, you lay with him, you comfort him, you let him cry it out, you threaten him, you yell at him, (you regret yelling at him), and then eventually he goes to sleep out of sheer exhaustion, only to wake up in the middle of the night with anxiety and cries for you again. Or at least that was my experience.
All kids are different, so I'm hoping that there is a possibility that Caitiejane won't be like this, but that remains to be seen. So here we are in a pickle. With the holidays coming up we are on a self-imposed a travel ban and asked all family that wants to see the kids to come to us. Until we get over this anxiety hurdle of sleeping in strange places we're staying put and being held hostage by our toddler.
Judge us if you must! The reality is that I value my sleep and comfort for my toddler. Vacationing away in a strange place for a number of nights not knowing if I will get more than 4 hours of sleep each night sounds like the opposite of a vacation.
So we ask that all those that will miss us at the holidays this year to be patient. Because with every stage of life "this too shall pass." One day our toddler will not be a toddler anymore and we will get back to being travel professionals again.
If you have any tips for dealing with this "season" please leave me a message in the comments.