Plane diversions for SQUIRMY 21 month old needed!

[PrincessTigerLily]

Less than 24 hours until we leave for WDW, which has left me in a complete panic state! Forget the mad hatter, I've become the mad Dis-poster! DS is 21 months old, SUPER squirmy, and will be lap riding ( now thinking that was NOT such a good idea, though much cheaper!). We have an early flight (6:15 a.m.) and am hopeful he may sleep. But with DS, usually he does not cooperate! Please help me with some tried and true diversions for this age!

 

[SnowWhite12]

My DD is 24 months old. She really likes her travel size magna doodle. Could hold that even while in your lap. Also, post-it notes divert her forever. Loves to rip them apart and stick them back together. Have a great time! We'll be there Saturday!!

 

[PrincessTigerLily]

Thanks for the great ideas SnowWhite12! We'll be looking for ya! Where are you staying? We will be at POFQ. BTW, my aunt lives in Arlington, TN!

 

[PrincessTigerLily]

I would love more suggestions!

 

[stacy6552]

Bring his carseat. If there is an open seat on the plane, they will let you put the baby in it on the flight. If not you can gate check it.

 

[SnowWhite12]

Hey, that's cool! Arlington is definitely not a big place. When we moved here 5 years ago, it's population was 1600, now it's about 6000. (Other people reading this, don't think I live in the sticks---Arlington is a small town right outside Memphis.) We are staying at All-Star Sports, June 2-8. Can't wait!! Oh, just thought about this. Bring his favorite toy on the plane, such as stuffed animal or a couple of those little army figures.

 

[las3888]

We have had 8 round-trips with DS who is now 27 mos. Our best trick by far is a portable DVD player. If your DS is into videos, tv, buy a cheap one and bring Barney DVDs or whatever he is into. Our DS won't watch it for the whole flight, but it definitely kills at least half the flight. It is our life-saver when flying.

PS - he has been able to watch it with headphones since about 1 year old.

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, all I can say is GOOD LUCK!

With a 6am flight you're getting there around 4? Waking up at...earlier than 4.

We did that with our first trip to Disney (well, San Diego with one day at DL), thinking what your'e thinking, and it sooooo didnt' work out. He was so intrigued by the shuttlevan to the airport, then the airport, then the plane, that he was up up up the whole flight. We, on the other hand, were disturbingly tired.

The one good thing is that he was still (still is) nursing, which is always one of his favorite activities. So a few times I could just hold him for milk, which gave us a brief respite from the squirmyness of a...hmm, 16 month old.

If you think there is ANY chance you might have an extra seat next to you that they would let you use, bring that carseat and hope hope hope.

When we flew last year, when he was around 27 months old, I loved loved loved the carseat. Other than an absolute infant, I won't do the lapbaby thing again. Carseat was MUCH easier.

Stickers were a big thing last trip, stickers galore. Papers, crayons. We've since acquired a portable DVD player and I KNOW that's going in our travel bag in September. I've noticed that some airports have rental players, maybe yours does, too?

But I hope your wee one sleeps. That would be the easiest.

 

[meeskamouska]

Tape....a couple of rolls of scotch tape will keep a toddler busy forever!!!

 

[rrobin3051]

those are some good tips! We will be traveling a 23 month old, but when we flew when he was around 18 months dum dum suckers really worked. I know not the best but quieted him down. There was an iopen seat but I didnt gate check his carseat so I just let him stand awhile, in fact there were two open seats, so needless to say he was ok. But I am nervous about our flight coming up next month as well. Good luck and be sure to post afterwards on how he did.

 

[PrincessTigerLily]

Whew! It could have gone much worse! DS was up at 3 am (happily ) stayed awake in the airport, then when we flew he fell asleep (he fought it a little bit) but then luckily he stayed asleep the entire flight. The trip home was a little more difficult: DS woke himself up early again (he SO does not get that from me! ) and stayed awake all day. We were supposed to fly out at 7:40 p.m., but ended up having radio problems which delayed take-off for like an hour and a half! Got him to sleep, wasn't easy, and he woke a bunch of times, but I was able to rock him back to sleep. It was LONG. We took TED which has rows of 3 seats across, so unfortunately for our family of 4 (DS laprider) we did not have any empty seats. My advice to others, yeah, pay for that extra seat and STRAP EM IN!