I’ve talked before about how Austin is not a fan of being in
the car. Not even when he was an infant… those stories of parents driving
around for hours at 2am to get their kid to sleep was not a reality for us,
ever.
The car was usually the last place that calmed Austin down.
This just got worse as he got older, got more mobile and
hated being confined even more. Car rides became my least favorite part of the day. I dreaded it, to be honest.
I’d be driving home from work… tired after a long day… and
constantly going “its ok, its ok buddy. We’re almost there. I know, Mommy doesn’t
like traffic either…” and reaching behind me while on the freeway to try and
find his lost binkie or touch him or soothe him, or anything to get the fussing and crying and sometimes screaming to stop.
Dude does not like to be held down, so carseat straps are
akin to torture for him. 45 mins of sitting in one place???? Inconceivable!!!
So we tried a lot of things over the last 20 months to ease
the car rides:
-we forward faced him exactly on his 1st bday.
Not recommended, but those doctors don’t have to drive with him. This helped
some.
 |
| January 24th 2013. One year old!! |
-we did snacks for a while. He’d get crackers on the ride
home every day. This lasted for several months until our backseat was turning
into a sandbox of crumbs, and Austin would arrive home full and not willing to
eat anything.
-I listen to nothing but the Thomas the Tank Engine CD. Over and over. “They’re two, they’re
four, they’re six, they’re eight… shunting tucks and hauling freight; red and
green and brown and blue, they’re the really usual crew…” Oh, and so much more
fun if sung in an English accent. Austin now asks for “Toe-mas?? Toe-mas???”
every time we are in the car.
-Even though we stopped with the binky during the day a few
months ago, he gets one in the car because he was a hot mess without some kind
of comfort.
-We started giving him little toys to play with while in the
car. This has now turned into a phenomenon I call “The Car Essentials.” Every time
he gets in the car, he won’t sit down in his seat until his binkie is in his
mouth and he’s taken inventory of his car toys so he knows all of them are in
there:
- his “awesome”
(aka- Hot Wheels car)
 |
| the night we bought "awsome." He was so thrilled! |
-his
Sponge Bob truck (don’t know where this came from?? My Mom maybe?)
-Mickey
finger puppet.. which he likes to stick his binkie in the end of and screech in
delight that Mickey has a na-na in his butt
-his new addition… “goat.” We just
added him this morning to the Car Essentials family and Austin had a mini-hissy
when we got to school and he had to leave Goat in the car.
Not to mention, he also must not have on shoes or socks while he’s in the car or he gets very
upset and I’m stuck trying to take them off for him while still steering.
So basically if the stars are all aligned and when Jupiter
is in the 7th house of Mars… we will have a peaceful drive.
Seriously. Do I have the most particular kid EVER when it
comes to car rides?
1 comment:
Mickey has a na-na in his butt!! Haha :)
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