I must admit it – I just love the fact that Leonardo travels since he is a little baby. by 7th months he has already been to Chicago, Barcelona, Milan and Miami; with Mexico and Thailand in just a couple of weeks, by his first birthday he will have an impressive little traveler’s portfolio. while he might never remember these trips, I believe that going to new places, being exposed to different cultures, situations, climates, sounds, tastes, scenery, and people, will deeply impact his development and character. this is exactly how I want him to grow up – knowing the world, learning through real-time experiences, and sharing his parents’ wanderlust that brought them together some 4 years ago.
though I already wrote about traveling with the little one (here & here), every time it’s different and with every trip it becomes easier. the list of travel gear changes and becomes lighter – you need less things out of ordinary and can be quite creative with what you find on location. for example, this time I didn’t worry about taking travel bath insert with us – Leo enjoyed taking showers with me even though we didn’t have a proper bath. same goes for a boppy pillow – since he became older and more skilled at breastfeeding, we don’t really need any extra help. but some things are still must-have for traveling, and these are: baby carrier, lightweight stroller system, and pack&play (or something that can work as baby’s bed). since Leo turned 6mo we got him an umbrella stroller that fully reclines (Maclaren Quest) and he loves it because it satisfies his curiosity when he is awake and wants to see the world, while giving him a full comfort of a day bed when he gets tired. another new piece of gear in our travel assortment is pack&play – we didn’t have our own but our courteous host in Miami bought one for us at Cosco, and it was the most useful thing during the trip: it worked as Leo’s playground during the day, which we turned into his crib for the night. and of course, baby carrier always come handy for airport security checks as well as in many museums where strollers are not allowed.
to avoid sleepless nights while traveling, as well as not to ruin the results of hard achieved sleep training (I wrote about it here) I think it’s very important to stick to the same sleeping routine you established earlier at home, as well as try to create similar atmosphere, be that sounds, smells, toys, or simply same crib sheets or pajama. for example, I always bring the iPad with Leo’s favorite cartoons downloaded, as well as two music albums I play for him at night – kids’ classic music collection and sounds of the ocean (helps in a noisy environment or when you don’t have a luxury of a separate room as a nursery). I also carry the same ointment (Honest organic healing balm) that I use to massage Leo after bathtime before changing him into PJ for the night. same lullaby before kissing good night, his favorite Little Lion paci from Wubbanub. that’s about it, but it works as a charm – this time it seemed like Leonardo didn’t even notice we were traveling! only once we had a sleepless night when we made a mistake and put him to sleep skipping the bath, in his day-wear, simply transferring him from the stroller where he dozed off whle we were still out into his pack&play – surely enough, he woke up in 2 hours, as he usually does after day naps, and kept waking up every 2 hours all night long. next day we were back to our bath-massage-PJ routine, and everything was back to normal.
in other words our winter getaway to Miami was wonderful – tropically relaxing (thank to the beautiful guest house with the pool we found on airbnb) and inspirational (it was Art Basel after all). pictures can tell you the rest – see for yourself, if curious, and feel free to ask any questions.
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