Yes, you read that correctly. All by myself.
I drove from Knoxville to Indy and back and survived. I am here to give you a play-by-play of what worked for us and some tips and tricks for traveling alone. I packed the entire truck the night before so all I had to do was wake up, grab my toddler, and go.
3:30am: Alarm goes off. Let the praying begin. Change my clothes, use the bathroom, grab toddler. He woke up, of course. Luckily, my husband gets up at 4am for work so he helped change his diaper and load him in the truck as quickly and quietly as possible.
3:50am: Pull out of driveway. He is still awake but falls back asleep shortly. I contemplate stopping at Mickey D’s or Bojangles for breakfast and caffeine, but I changed my mind. I can’t function without coffee but I REALLY can’t function with a screaming toddler when I have to pull over 83,398,399 times to pee.
:: Takes small sip of water to stay hydrated and eats a handful of stale Cheerios because, of course I left the bag open overnight::
4:35am: He wakes up screaming. PANIC MODE PANIC MODE. THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING. IT’S ONLY BEEN 45 MINUTES. JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL.
• Attempt to soothe him
• Give him (stale) Cheerios
• Give him goldfish
• Give him water
• Turn on overhead light – BINGO. That worked. He is staring at his reflection in the window. I would suggest you have some sort of night light or something that lights up a little bit so it’s not pitch black for them, if you can’t drive with an overhead light on.
5:10am: He is back asleep. HALLELUJAH. I turn on the radio and jam out to some Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Britney. How is it I can remember every single word to a song from 20 years ago but not remember to close the bag of Cheerios? I mean, REALLY.
6am: He’s awake. I start looking for a good exit to take to gas up and eat some breakfast.
• Give him water and snacks
• Hand him anything out of my activity bags that are in front with me for easy reaching—I got all of this from our house or the dollar store. If you can, I would suggest wrapping a few items so it takes longer for them to open it. I had to watch him closely though because he likes to put anything and everything in his mouth.
Deck of cards
Pipe cleaners
Straws
Wallet with old gift cards, loyalty cards, etc.
Books
Slinky
Pringles can with holes poked in the top of the lid so he can stick his straws or pipe cleaners in there
Foam shapes
Plastic or silicone kitchen utensils
Anything that is new to them—bring it.
Empty spice or sprinkle container: He loves anything he can open/close/put an object through
Post-its
Floss
Empty water bottles
Empty wipe container (or leave a few wipes in there for him to pull out)
Anything he can shake that makes a sound
Brushes
Keys
SNACKS, SNACKS, SNACKS
More snacks
These items were fairly easy for me to clean up at the end of the trip. I know what some of you are thinking…hey lady…give him a tablet! I tried that, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He would mess with it for a few seconds and then want to do something else.
SIDE NOTE: Who knows about the Guided Access feature on their iPhone/iPad? THIS LADY DIDN’T! Luckily, my friend showed me before we left. I love this feature. It enables whatever app you have open to stay open, even when your kiddo hits the “home” button. AMAZING. How do you get this magical feature?? This is how: Under Settings/General/Accessibility scroll all the way down under Learning – Guided Access, then make sure it’s turned ON. You. Are. Welcome.
Anyways, back to our journey.
I found a Waffle House that luckily had a huge grassy area for him to run around. I nursed him and changed him in the truck, put him in our Tula, grabbed the back pack (diaper bag), and headed inside to use the bathroom. Yes, I had to wear him to use the bathroom because he will totally figure out how to unlock the door and run around. I err on the side of safety, especially traveling alone. We scarfed down our All Star Special and headed outside. {I did have few sips of coffee just to get me through!}
I set a timer for 20 minutes and straight up chased him all around the grassy area. Full out sprinted, jumped, and used as much energy as possible. Once the timer went off, I loaded him into his car seat, handed him something to hold, and nursed him. I nursed him in his car seat so he would be relaxed and ready to fall back asleep without me having to transfer him. I rolled his sleepy time mixture of essential oils on the bottoms of his piggy toes and feet and hit the road. {Yes, I am a Young Living Essential Oils hippie freak and PROUD.}
7:30am: He was asleep before we even got on the interstate. VICTORY!
8:47am: He’s awake. I handed him some more activities and talked with him for a while.
9:30am: Stop for gas and more running, running, running.
10:05am: Back on the road. More activities. More sleepy time oils.
10:30am: He slept for the last part of the trip. HOLLLLAAAA!!!!
11:05am: ARRIVE AT OUR DESTINATION!!!!!!!!!!!! I DID IT!!!!!!!! PRAISE BABY JESUS!!
11:30am: Eat everything in sight because, feelings, y’all. FEELINGS.
Our drive back was fairly similar and it also helped that he was exhausted from spending a week with his family so he slept a lot more.
I so didn’t know about the guided access feature, thanks for mentioning it.
You are so welcome! I’m glad one of my friend’s pointed it out for me. It was so helpful!