This weekend we went down to IA to see the Reese family. Car trips are becoming more and more interesting these days. Matthew isn't much of a car sleeper, which is very different from Sam. Sam slept the entire way to IA and back until he was a little over a year old. Matthew, however, is good to sleep for maybe 45 minutes (even if we're driving during his nap time), then he's awake. Keeping a baby occupied while confined in a car seat poses some unique challenges of which we are still trying to figure out but we really didn't have much of a problem, as long as Matthew had plenty to eat.
Sam was well behaved on the trip down. He looked at his books and played some cars as best he could and otherwise enjoyed the view facing forward. Jason and I explained the state line to Sam and when we crossed into IA we told Sam that we were now in IA. Frantically, he said, "Where is it? Where is it?" I think he equates IA=the Reese farm. Then we saw a bunch of wind turbines which Sam called "stars" until Jason informed him that they were called "boondoggles." From then on, Sam pointed at them and said "Boondoggles! Boondoggles!"
On the ride home, Sam looked intently through his farm equipment catalog for the first 10 minutes. I mean intently. He would open to a page, then scan back and forth across the pictures of tractors, combines,skid loaders, fork lifts and other equipment. The catalog is one from Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue's and it has been looked at frequently. Sam took a liking to the catalog on our last visit in October and Grandma Sue said he could have the catalog. We forgot to pack it up with us, but Grandma sent it in the mail. Shortly after it arrived we looked at it all the time. I offered to read Sam some stories once during Matthew's nap and he instead wanted to look through the catalog. And we looked through it for 20 minutes. I was so tired and it wasn't the most stimulating for me, but Sam loved it.
Anyway, back to the car ride. The catalog kept Sam occupied until about Fertile (10 minutes into the trip). Then Sam asked for books. So I handed him his books one at a time, which he looked at each one for less than 10 seconds. 15 minutes into the return trip, Sam had exhausted his supply of reading material. I gave him the one toy we brought with, which was a backhoe digger. That occupied him for a short while too. Fortunately we passed bunch more boondoggles and Sam enjoyed watching them.
After 45 minutes we stopped for gas and snacks. Sam and I went into the convenience store which was a new experience for Sam. We went to the area with bags of cookies, crackers and other snacks. I decided to let Sam pick out his snack. He chose some Teddy grahams and took them off the shelf. He then saw the ritz sandwich crackers which he had at our playgroup last week, so he replaced the teddy grahams and grabbed the ritz. I then scanned the other side to see what I wanted for a snack. I did that for maybe 5 seconds and when I had made my selection (I went with a banana) we started walking to the checkout counter. I looked down and noticed that Sam now had goldfish crackers. I looked back to the snacks and Sam had replaced the ritz and apparently grabbed the goldfish.
We made it back to the van and were on the road. I had forgotten to bring a covered cup for Sam so we had to try to drink the chocolate milk we had purchased in the bottle it came in. That went well for maybe 5 minutes. I would hand Sam his bottle and he would take a drink and hand it back. Then he dumped half of it on his lap. Fortunately he was wearing athletic pants so he didn't get soaked. Most of it was absorbed by the car seat. Fortunately, the cover is machine washable.
Matthew slept for, of course, 45 minutes. Then he was awake but didn't make any fuss. Sam was perturbed for the last 20 minutes or so as he wanted to get to "Arden Hills". He would occasionally whine frantically, "Arden Hills! Arden Hills!" Then when we got about 2 minutes from our house, Sam said, "No! Grandpa Dons!" Apparently he wanted to return to the farm.
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