Promises Promises

By Saturday night our containment problem had become so dire that the chairman of British Petroleum called to offer his condolences.

First I tried putting Caroline into a summer-weight sleep sac that we had been using for Edward, safety-pinned at the back to make the neck hole small enough that she couldn't slither out. Five seconds after I shut the door she undid the safety pins and leapt to freedom. Then I pulled out another light sleep sac one-size-too-small and tried again. She couldn't get out of the sac but she was able to climb out of the crib regardless. So I hand-sewed two new seams into the sac such that it resembled a mermaid gown in the tradition of a pink butterflied Morticia. She could barely move her toes; however, she escaped anyway and brought one of the shelves from the book shelf down on her head a minute later. She cried. By this point it was almost midnight and I was feeling a little desperate so I said, FINE, you're going to be a little warm tonight and encased her in the midget quilted Grobag she used last winter that had been keeping her in her crib for months. Sleep well, I said. OK Mommy, she said. Then she gripped the crib rail and vaulted over, which was actually pretty impressive and which is why I found myself unplugging all the pluggables, stripping the bookcase and inflating the toddler aerobed for her at two in the morning.

Round one pretty much went to Caroline.

The next day I decided to get a crib tent per your recommendation but decided that my more pressing concern was the trip. I had been thinking that Caroline would sleep in a pack n play but clearly I was delusional. Caroline wasn't going to be restrained by a goddamned pack n play - Caroline wouldn't be restrained by fucking Alcatraz. A pack n play tent, I realized, was needed immediately which is when I discovered that the only item designed for this purpose is currently on backorder everywhere on the planet.

Gaaaaaaarrrrrhhhhh and I imagined the entire family in floods of tears in the middle of the night as the people in the hotel room next to ours banged on the walls and Caroline perched on top of a wardrobe lobbing toiletries at us. 

Then I stumbled across links to the Kidco Peapod. It is like a tiny indoor tent with its own air mattress and mostly mesh sides that pops opens and zips shut. I put Caroline in the car and went to more Babies R Us'es than I ever want to see in my life again (why are Babies R Us employees so universally crabby? is it all the baby registrants they have to deal with?) until we found one that had two in stock (I figured Edward will eventually want whatever Caroline has) and this is the part where the heavenly hosts descend and you note that I am bathed in a golden light because

 

Caroline loves her new nylon sarcophagus SO MUCH (that is a big girl bed in the background - Patrick upgraded to a spare double bed from the basement and she inherited his.) My only regret is that this item didn't exist when Patrick was a baby and we used to really travel. It weighs next to nothing, folds up the size of a big fat frisbee and makes the ol' Pack n Play feel like you were carrying around a suit of armor.

But that is not what I wanted to tell you and this is not even a post because I have too much to do to be frittering time on the internet. No, I am writing because I wanted to give you a dowloadable link to the giant slightly weird I Spy list we created. Here you go. Also a neatly typed list of the states and provinces for the license plate game here although I just noticed that the check boxes I so laboriously created in Word seem to have disappeared in google. Oh well. It is the thought that counts. At some point let me know how many you find and I'll do the same.

I shall update from the road at which point I expect to be all Canadian; so basically a tidier, more polite version of me.

PS Any thoughts on where to stop and burn off energy half-way between Sudbury and Ottawa? Algonquin? Please advise.

PPS I wrote this while Caroline and Edward were napping and just went up to discover that Caroline was not napping at all having managed to unzip the Peapod from the inside. She is unbelievable. I still love the Peapod, though. And safety pins.

 

Comments

[Jennifer]

Very impressive list. Have fun and relax!

I also saw tis and thought of you. A mooki,one piece PJs with zipper in back.

www.mookimoo.com

[Genevieve]

Combine your love of the Peapod and safety pins by zipping it closed and then locking the zipper from the outside with a safety pin? or multiple safety pins.

[Carla Hinkle]

I love the Peapod with a white-hot passion. That I didn't discover it until my second child is a sadness only tempered by the relief that my 3rd will benefit from its joys. The smallness with which it folds down! The coziness! The non-pack-n-playness of it!!! I am so happy you found it.

[Sally]

OK - you need to insert a clickable rim shot sound effect after that first line, you cornball. Caroline...her tiny defined chin is just so adorable, even it is connected to all that evil. It's a happy evil though, sheesh - look at her. Good travels!

[Erin]

Could a wire tie be of help in keeping the peapod zipped? You'd have to bring a whole pack, and some scissors, but as long as Caroline doesn't have the scissors, she should be secured!

[Sarah in Ottawa]

I need to look into the Peapod...

Julia, I hate to say it but that stretch is darn boring (my maid of honour now lives in Sudbury, so I know it well). Algonquin is an option, but most people access the massive park from the Southern end rather than here, so I am not that familiar with what is available, even if you stop in Mattawa. Deep River is a little town around the halfway point and it has a great dairy (Laurentian View Dairy) and the Canadian Clock Museum. It is right on the Ottawa River (all of Hwy 17 is along here). Anyway - a thought. Good luck!!

[VHMPrincess]

We had to use twine to tie the zipper shut from the outside for our little Houdini.

GOOD LUCK. And bring LOTS of extra twine. The look of various care-givers the first time they spied Jessie's sleeping arrangements was PRICELESS. And then when we told them to TIE IT SHUT you could see they thought we were bananas.

[Deanna]

I wonder if you could put her in a cat carrier.

[MsCellania]

You may need to sew a tie on the body of the pod and attach one to the zipper pull tab. Tie them together and she will not be able to untie them. You'll need to put the one on the pod in a position to tie the strings TIGHTLY or the leetle deevil will get her tiny fingers outside a bit and manage to work her magic.

[sweetcoalminer]

My daughter was not yet 8 months old when she started escaping through the "windows" of the peapod. I have long since sold it.

Your little imp will probably spend the rest of her life besting you at this game. Might be time to put iron bars on the windows now for when she's 14!

[joy]

Don't know if this has been suggested, but since it seem sshe knows how to work safety pins, purhaps try zip tiesn - for the zippers. Just make sure you bring a bunch - and something to cut them off with.

[Suzanne]

I know I shouldn't laugh, especially because I have my own 2.5 year old Houdini, but it sure sounds funny from here.

Thanks for the awesome lists, we are leaving for a road trip to Florida tomorrow with our three children, and I know at least one of them will enthusiastically look for a giant rat! When I c&p from google docs to a Word doc, the little boxes were there.

Have fun!

[QoB]

Because I have never been to Canada, this is what I think of whenever that country is mentioned:http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=250

[Ellie]

My personal bias is to not have my littles sleep in any sort of confinement system(I don't mind child-proofing the life out of a home for the {limited} time period that such is necessary), but that's my quirk, and needn't be anyone else's.

That said, I do wonder about the safety issues with this item, if you make it so she can't unzip from the inside and get out at all ever on her own? I am imagining a toddler tantrum situation wherein the entire unit is propelled about the room and the tumbles and injuries sustained by said toddler thereby. And then there is fear? Would she get scared if she encountered a situation where she was confined in a tiny space and couldn't get out?

[MomVee]

I love you. I just ordered a Kidco Peapod for the beach. You may have saved my summer.

[Liz]

Good heavens woman! Caroline is a force to be reckoned with! Please share daily stories of your journey!

[Jen]

We use twist ties and the Peapod - going on a year now. Love it!

[Bree]

We love our Peapod. My daughter could unzip it at probably 10 months and we have spent some nights sternly returning her to bed (oh who am I kidding, we were at the grandparents who of course rewarded such behavior with extra stay up time and then the kid was tucked back into bed after passing out on grandpa's lap watching cartoons, covered in cookie crumbs. But sternly tucked, I'm sure).

I have occasionally had dark thoughts about using a twist tie to connect the two zippers making it impossible to unzip. I am not particularly concerned about toddler tantrum injuries (the air mattress weighs it down pretty well) nor do I think she would be scared (she can still see out the screen). It just usually happens that she finally falls asleep right when I am wondering where to get some twist ties.

But she loves it and generally sleeps well in it.

[Jen R]

Oh I forgot! You need two games, played simultaneously for extra difficultly -

the yellow car game (1st person to spot a yellow car gets to count it, first to find 10 wins. School buses and construction vehicles don't count)

the alphabet sign game (a to z or z to a, you must each find words on signs starting with the letter you are on. first one to finish wins. Make it easier by allowing the first letter on license plates, the models of cars, and bumper stickers)

[Shawna]

Deep River actually also has two beaches! I spent a fantastic summer there as a fledgling nerd, ahem, I mean as a proud student of the Deep River Science Academy.

[TeacherMommy]

I love the list. I may have to save it for future road trips, although my kidlets are young enough that I may have to help considerably. This is Very Sad, of course.

[tuesy]

I was going to suggest Deep River as well. I've been along that road a few times, and the rest stops, while pretty, generally leave something to be desired so far as bathrooms go (unless you are a fan of stinky outhouses, in which case, tally ho!)

[Heather]

I'm with you on the Babies R Us employees! I almost wrote a whole blog post last week on my last bad experience there, involving horrible employees and a tantruming-potty-training toddler and a bathroom with no TP, but I restrained the rant.

[beth]

My second child was also a leaper. Just as I was congratulating myself on having a kid who sleeps in the crib instead of in bed with me he started doing the escaping thing. He was a few months younger than Caroline. Pac N Plays held him not at all; when I found him crawling up (he couldn't walk; how could he jump?) my brother's basement stairs to investigate the black widow spider I officially gave up any pretense to night-time containment. We got big kid beds and I got read of the baby gates, because children leaping over baby gates to get to the stairs is even more dangerous than kids rolling down the stairs. Good times!

Thanks for the car list; we'll use it this summer on our 850 mile drives.

[Bea]

I forgot to mention last time that once, to everyone's shock, we did actually see a purple VW. In the middle of nowhere. The only other car on the road all afternoon. Nothing like random, intermittent reinforcement to keep everyone interested.

Good luck with the trip, the peapods are great. They should make another one a size up, because our Nephew nearly broke our son's in his awe and glee at its awesomeness. Although I suppose, at some stage, you just graduate to an ordinary, one-man tent.

Bea

[Kelly]

Caroline slays me. I've got nothing more to add, other than to wish you all safe travels.

[sarah]

what is this "sleep sac"? you seem to be using it as more of a straight jacket... need i call children's aid?

[victoria]

I know Caroline is a lot of work and keeps you up at night, but wow, that chils is talented! Smart and agile and determined. I like her.

I remember when she was nesting incredibly low in your uterus, on the brink of breaking free for months. She was an escape artist even in the womb.

[HereWeGoAJen]

I have no idea, but perhaps those safety pins for diapers would be a little more secure? Maybe a little extra lock-y?

[Cris]

Thank you for both the I spy list and the Kidco PeaPod idea. I didn't think we needed all the car trip ideas, but it turns out we will be driving from L.A. to Salt Lake with the grandparents - oh, will they be tired of us by the time we get there! Especially after three days at Disneyland.

Question for everyone who has used the PeaPod - Is it breathable? I would much rather take it from Chicago to San Diego than the massive Pack n' Play, but our little one will be sleeping in it in the tiny corner of a non-airconditioned room/house. We can focus a fan on it, but will the child inside feel the air movement?

Julia - you are both unbelievably helpful and amazingly funny. At the end of a long frustrating day with two sick kids and my own sore throat and bad attitude, I read your post with joyful relief. Have a wonderful and safe trip!

[Kristin]

I think you gave birth to the next Houdini! Have a wonderful trip.

[MFA Mama]

Okay I won't lie, my first thought when I read this, as a mother, was "kennel cab, tell no one" followed closely by "thank goodness none of mine ever climbed out of the crib, developmental delays FTW!"

Ha! It's precious when they're not yours! No really, it's not often I feel good about what my children were doing at XX age but in her own way the brilliant and devious Cricket does make me warm and proud of my little slug-babies :) Who have now caught up, darn it.

[Jennifer LB]

Guess you'll have to come near me for that Pink Elephant. What a pity! :)

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/9379

We live a 1/2 hour a way in beautiful Ithaca. Seriously. Come visit.

[Alexicographer]

Good to know you like the Peapod (and a very funny account of Caroline's adventures, for which, thank you), but -- still no elucidation of the violin in the last post? I know you are a mom to 3 planning a long road trip, but, please, priorities ;)!

[Stacey]

Safety pins make me nervous, but perhaps you could rig the peapod with a caribiner?

[Stacey]

Erg, I didn't mean to sound snarky at all about safety pins. I am nervous about them. It is fine, and more normal even, to not be nervous about such things. I thought a caribiner on the outside might be hard to manipulate, but clearly I lack Caroline's skills anyway so what do I know?

[Life in Eden]

thank you for alerting me to the peapod! reviews from the road please! I will buy 2 for my twins, travel ahead. report, report!

seriously, thanks and hope you have a fab-o trip!

[Robyn]

I have one of those dang pore-cleanser pads drying on my nose and I tried to read your post without moving my face. Damn it.

Oh, well...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! As my husband says about my son, "I don't want to break his spirit, just to put him in line a bit..." - Caroline will never lack spirit!

[Tine]

I am so sorry to be laughing at your expense.... But I am laughing hysterically both at Caroline and at the way you describe her. I have a Caroline too. I feel your pain, even though I'm snickering.

Those peapod thingies are pure genius. I wonder if they'd contain my own little Houdini, now 4? No? Rats.

P.S. I can see the checkboxes in both links.

[Lisa V]

Invisible snakes.

Tell the kid the invisible snakes will eat her if she gets out. Hey, it worked for Bill Cosby's mom.

[Tara]

I always love your entries but I think I'm with the woman who worries a bit about working so hard to contain kids while they sleep. But hey, I'm the crazy woman who skipped the crib entirely with #3 in favor of a queen-sized mattress on the floor--and would never go back! :)

[heather]

I can't convince my husband that a Peapod would be a good idea for our own little Miss Busy. He pointed out that she hates it when we close the screen door to the deck -- and that a zipped-closed screen around her bed would probably drive her nuts. He may have a point.

Maybe I'll buy one for myself. Somewhere to escape when she won't sleep by herself on our trip...

[Julianna]

Safety pins make me nervous, too. She gets them open and then does her Caroline-acrobatics -- it seems like a recipe for disaster.

Good luck with containment -- I have a 22-month-old that is well on his way to being a Caroline-esque escape artist, so I read all these posts eagerly, hoping for good tips.

And I, too, am still waiting for the violin footnote from your last post!

[Jessica]

It is sad but true: there is nothing good between Sudbury and Ottawa. Much of Canada is beautiful and we are justifiably proud of our nation for her aesthetic presentations but southern Ontario is, alas, ugly as hell. I advise a mild sedative (or other recreational chemical of your choice) for that portion of your trip.

And next time come to BC. The maritimes are also lovely.

[Jessica]

To QoB who posted the link to the cartoon about Canadians: HA HA HA!

Perhaps a lesser known traits about us Canucks is that we love it when people say we're all lumberjacks who obsess over hockey. We can't get enough of that stereotype! Hilarious and delightful!

[Anja]

Just for the record - my son (now 2 1/2) has slept in a big boy's bed since he was 18 months old. That's when he started vaulting out of his crib (much to our horror). I don't know, maybe getting out of bed wouldn't be as much fun for her if it wasn't a challenge? Good luck, anyway :)

[Rebecca]

You're too funny, I love the idea of Caroline hurling toiletries, but you definitely got me with nylon sarcophogus.

Good luck!

[CeeCee]

baby straight jacket next????

[susan]

Plastic zip ties!!! Just cut them off when you want to release her!!

(Probably for the best that I am not a Mom) ;)

[Stacey]

A little less than half-way between Sudbury and Ottawa, there is a small town called Mattawa (about 40 minutes past North Bay). When you get to the three-way stop, instead of turning right to continue on Highway 17, turn left. Just after you turn, on the right-hand side, there is a sort of "rest stop." I use it all the time when I am travelling this route with kids. It has "relatively" clean bathrooms and a huge grassy area so kids can run. It also has a covered stage area, so if it is raining, you can stay dry. Now there isn't much to eat in Mattawa, so when I use this spot, I usually have a picnic lunch. I think there is a chip stand across the road and there are a few "restaurants" but haven't really eaten there. There is also a Subway (right at the 3-way stop).

The other option is Deep River (1 hour past Mattawa - note there is absolutely nothing between Mattawa and Deep River), but I cannot think off-hand of any running-around spots (unless you get off the highway and head to the beach area). They do have the Laurentian View Dairy which has the best ice cream made right there. They have decent food to, but you can't be in too much of a hurry. Deep River also has a Tim Hortons and a Subway.

A little further past Deep River (45 minutes?) is Cobden. They have a park on the left, but again, there isn't much to eat there. They have a really good chip stand (red shack on the left, just past the park area) and the restaurant that is attached to the Shell station is quite decent.

North Bay or Pembroke will be the "bigger" cities that you travel through which will have a lot more choice for restaurants.

Have fun!!!