Progress report: iDo

One month in. Time is really flying. As I start this post I am sitting in a cafe in Vientiane, heading to the airport to move on to Vietnam! Very excited about a new country, although we really loved Laos.

Parenting on the road has pretty much been exactly what we thought it would be, even though we couldn't anticipate the specifics. We get by with just a few matchbox cars, crayons, and an animal card game. He is constantly stimulated by his environment and the never-ending flood of attention, he has no want or need for more toys.



Oh wait. I almost forgot to mention the most important "toy" of all - the iPad. Or the the iPod. Or the iPhone. Whichever he can get his grimy little hands on. We thought a lot about whether we should bring a device for Simon, but we realized that with all the long travel and no breaks for us parents, that it was going to be a very wise decision for us to bring it. And it has been great. We have some games, The Lion King, and a few Sesame Street videos on there and of course of loves them all. Which works very well when we want him to be distracted with it, but not so well when we decide it's time to turn it off.

Sleep works wonders.

We established some general rules that we stick to, and they kind of work. On planes, trains, and buses he can watch and play all he wants. Martin and I need a break too, and traveling can be stressful, so we have just made that one clear. Other than that, we let him use it only occasionally. When he's really tired, for example, given that it's our fault. We also bringit with us to dinner some times, just in case things get ugly. I hate thinking that I am one of those parents, but then I realize that we parents shouldn't be so hard on each other. Just because my son is watching The Lion King at the dinner table doesn't mean that I'd tuned out and uninvolved. It doesn't matter what the people sitting next to us thinks - they would probably think much worse of us if Simon were screaming "watch lion king." Then again, maybe not. Either way, it works for us. :)

In general, we are dealing with a bit more screaming and tantrums than usual. They are a little harder to deal with because we aren't home and are just out of our normal routines. But when he's well rested, we usually get by pretty well. He's becoming an independent little man with a will of his own right before our eyes! Raised on Apple, he's always saying, "iDo" or " iPush" or "iEat"...you get the picture.

Taken by Simon! Pretty handy guy to have around.

Most importantly, we are still having fun!!

 

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