Riding in the Car: Soon to Become a 4-Letter Word

This week, Adam and I traveled to Wisconsin for my Grandpa Schroeder's funeral. He passed away this last Saturday, and the funeral was held yesterday in Mauston, Wisconsin. We are saddened by his passing, but rejoice in knowing he is now with the Lord! Also, we were blessed to know that he passed peacefully and quickly; his was not a drawn-out illness but rather a stroke resulting in a brain aneurysm, which led to him passing away by the next morning.

I was thankful that Adam was able to travel with me; he has a couple of gigs this weekend, which would have been rather tricky to work around, but he was willing, and I'd much rather have company than be alone on long trips.

We took Julia with us as well, and it has become increasingly difficult to entertain her while in the car.

This post is not meant as an disrespect to the death of my grandfather; his passing serves as an event which caused us to be in the car a lot the last few days, from which transpired quite a discussion on the way home today.

I have to admit, I was one of THOSE people who truly thought that I would manage traveling with my child without the aid of electronic devices geared towards kids (i.e., children's DVDs and hand-held video games). After all, Adam and I made it through our childhood without these things, and I had pleasant daydreams about singing in the car with my kids, pointing out trees and wildlife and such, and generally having being in the car a learning experience.

I thought all of these things BEFORE having a child, and having a child who, in the first 18 months of her life, has probably traveled more miles than I did in the first 18 YEARS of mine. Julia has already racked up quite a list of States Visited: Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This week she will add another: California. A trip to California will be a result of her First Plane Trip.

Suffice it to say, my kidlet has traveled long and hard already.

As Adam and I discussed traveling as youngsters and WITH youngsters, we also talked about the fact that hardly ever in our youth did we travel more than one to two hours away from home at a time. A two-hour drive from home may have even resulted in an Overnight Stay, whereas a one-hour drive away from home simply resulted in two painful one-hour drives in ONE DAY. Ack. And, we remember becoming bored in that one hour... or falling asleep... or playing about four or five different car games in that time frame.

If driving one hour can cause a child's head to nearly explode from the inanity of driving... then what, OH WHAT, does a six or seven hour trip do to a child???

Some possible conversation heard in our car today:

"She seems fine now."

"I think she just gave up whining because she is so bored." (Noting listless look on child's face.)

"Maybe she wants a snack."

"Maybe she wants a drink."

"We've pulled out all of the stops in the last five minutes; let's give her a binky."

On Wednesday, as we were driving to Wisconsin, we finally did the one thing I never thought I would bring myself to do... we popped in a DVD of the They Might Be Giant's "Here Come the 123's" for Julia to watch. We waited in anticipation for about 30 seconds before we realized that SHE LOVED IT. LOVED. IT. And for 75 blissful minutes (you can sure bet that we had NO problem playing it TWICE), she was enthralled... HAPPY, even... and we drove on listening to TMBG songs and giggles from a toddler.

It felt like a "duh" moment at that point in time.

And, so, we talked about it today. And we realized, when you have a child and you have to travel for long periods of time (which is how it is with us, seeing as how we live 5.5 and 7 hours -- PRE-child -- away from our parents), there are only so many times you can sing "Old McDonald" or point out the window at objects ("Look! A truck! Look! A tree! And another tree! Oh, there's another one! Oh, and about 100,000,000 more trees! Oh, and LOOK! A sign for Cruisin' Chubbys and another sign for the Adult Superstore! Look, honey, look!!!") or listen to your husband say, "Water, water, water, water, waaa-aaaa-ttttteeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" Adam provided the Quote of The Day with "something something something something before your child's head explodes from boredom". I heartily agreed, and we both agreed that the use of these electronic devices in the car aren't so terrible after all... it keeps Julia from wanting to learn how to unbuckle her car seat and jump out the window, and it provides her parents with a bit of sanity as well.

(When Julia gets tired of being in her car seat, she starts saying, "Owie, owie, owie, owie, owie!", which means, "I'm stuck! I'm stuck! I'm stuck! I'm stuck!" This is almost as painful to listen to as the Water Sequence shared above.)

I should probably add, Julia was not the only one sick and done from being in the car today. I about had my fill and was pretty glad to pull into our driveway this afternoon and be out of the vehicle for a time. I don't know if it has to do with being 26 weeks pregnant... or if it's simply just being in the car for such a long time... but I was done. And I drove most of the way, so I should have been the least bored of all of us, right? Because I was tasked with keeping us safe and alive and getting us home, right? So I can only imagine the pain shooting through Julia's brain as she tried to determine what next to do with herself, while being restrained from shoulder to crotch in her car seat.

Thank you, inventors of children's DVDs and portable DVD players. No, I don't see us resorting to sitting Julia in front of said DVDs in the house so that we can have more time to ourselves, but I am not above using them in the car from now on, either.

As mentioned above, Julia and I (and Adam as well, but he's off to a different city) are on our way to California this week. This will involve us driving to Omaha to the airport. Omaha is about two and a half hours away from us. Today, the mere thought of driving that distance ALONE with my child was enough to make me quiver and cry. I am hoping that I am recovered by Wednesday so that we can have a peaceful drive together, and fun navigating the airports and meeting our friends in California. Wish us well on our trip! :)


erin