Travelling with a one year old

This is our first weekend home since November. That means we have been travelling a lot...with a one year old. She has definitely slowed down our travelling - fewer trips and less action on the trips (fair enough), but we've kept pushing. To be honest, I would just stay home a lot, but Matt pushed for that first trip to Australia when Sam was 8 weeks, and that sort of helped get us going. It's WAY WAY easier to stay at home (especially with full time domestic help that we don't travel with). Sam has her routines, her toys, HER bed, her kugel and challah...none of that is available in other locations, but she surprises us each time. She's way flexible, and she has loved (some of) the adventures as well - especially the parts that include animals or steps to climb.

Though in her first 15 months Sam has made it to 7 countries:
Australia (Perth/Margaret River and Melbourne/Tasmania)
Indonesia (Lombok, Bali, Jakarta)
Thailand (Chiang Mai)
US (Michigan)
Singapore
Vietnam (Hanoi)
Malaysia (KL)

...travelling with her now is completely different than it was for her whole life previously. Before, we just had to keep her happy. She sat still - so we could just have a few books and toys, bottles, a few songs...whatever, and she was fine. Now that she's engaged with the world and walking ALL over the place, it's a whole different level of challenge. It's a fun challenge - because she LOVES exploring everything, and as a parent, it doesn't get any cooler, but it's hard. I thought I would blog about some of what we have learned from our recent travels.

Planes -
There are a few elements to success (not that we are completely successful - we're not - especially on overnight trips - just ask the people who sat around us!). Samara definitely needs a bottle when the plane starts to descend. We put on a slower nipple (like one for younger babies) so the bottle takes longer to drink (she doesn't seem to notice, but I'm guessing other babies might mind this), and we put in a bit more than we think she might want. We also try to take it away every minute or so, in a game, to try to make it last longer.

On the way up, she sometimes needs a bottle - but if you're on a short flight, you can't risk giving a bottle on the way up, because she won't then take it on the way down - and she will need it for her ears! The solution to this is Cheerios. One. At. A. Time. Slowly. Keeps her swallowing.

Toys on a plane are challenging - nothing too small that will get lost. Nothing that makes noise, because that will drive people crazy. We have found the best success with snap toys, or chain toys or things that take a long time to figure out. She also has really enjoyed water bottles, zippers and other things that take a bit of concentration. Lots of books (light-weight books with lots of pictures) are also key, especially for take off and landing when she has to sit in our lap.

We still haven't mastered the walking-up-and-down the aisles thing. She LOVES to (and I get it - she NEEDS to), but I can't figure out how to get her to hold onto my hands rather than touching everyone's thighs on the way up and down. She also tends to play peek-a-boo with random people (men mostly). While they probably think it's cute the first time, possibly two times...after five, I'm guessing they have had enough. Tearing a smiling peek-a-boo-ing child away from an adult is just a bit awkward.

Travelling in Asia means that people simply take your baby, play with her, and give her back later. I have blogged about this - as it has happened in multiple countries and at appropriate times, such as dinner in a restaurant or breakfast in a hotel (see the photo of Sam with her friend Gusti last weekend in Bali). This also happens on planes. In fact, on our way back from Bali last weekend, they took Sam away, and she came back 15 minutes later with a big, red kiss on her cheek. It was pretty awesome. We left it there. Sam is perfectly happy to go hang with a bunch of flight attendants, hotel workers, or wait staff. She is not so happy to go to other people - like if we hand her to our friends to hold, she wants to come back to us, but with these people, somehow she loves it. She's been conditioned. This has affected our decision to try to get on Singapore Airlines (or at least another Asian airline) for long trips. We flew it home in July and we're flying it home again later this month.

We have also figured out that on planes, an ipod touch with some Sesame Street goes a long way (she can't hear it - she won't do headphones, and we don't play the sound out loud). She will watch and dance when they dance. The one challenge we have found with this, is if she holds it, she just constantly presses the "home screen" button - so then I have to play the video again, and then she stops it, etc. It could go on for an hour. She doesn't watch any tv at home, so she thinks this is just the best thing since sliced bread (ok - she doesn't really care about sliced bread - but you know what I mean). See the video - we also use the ipod touch for alternative entertainment.

We have found that boarding early IS a good idea. We had considered that it might not be, because she can't run around as much, and it extends the actual time on the airplane...but to have space for your stuff and organise all of the things you need down (the bottles, books, cloth diaper, snacks, sippy cup) and up, but easily accessible (ergo, diaper changing stuff, sweatshirt) - and if you don't sit her down and strap her in - she has lots to explore before the plane takes off. Those seat belts (though terrifying to watch as her little bitty fingers nearly get snapped in the contraption) are entertaining for a long long time.

Hotels -
We have found that if it's at all possible to get a place with a door - like a second room - it's worth it. We have loved B&Bs or serviced apartments for this reason. When you're all in the same room, you really spend a lot of time reading in the bathroom, and that's no fun for anyone (other than Sam who doesn't notice).

We have never travelled with our own cot - at least out here the ones that they provide have all been perfectly fine. They mostly all have pack and plays. Definitely don't need another thing to carry. We have also found that we have the best success when we can somehow block ourselves from her view (though this is much harder now that she stands up in her cot). We have used curtains, pillows, desk chairs...anything we can find to create a barrier.

The most important thing now is cleanliness - she will touch every windowsill and corner of the room. She will then eat her fingers. If the room is dirty, we will know immediately and it will then be a game of "no, no, no, no" for the next few days. Clean places are just way easier.

Food -
We stink at this, since our child hates eating. We bring the only things that she eats that travel well, and then we try to order old favorites (grilled cheese, pancakes) and still try new things. We have limited success. Happy to take anyone's advice on this on!

Schedule -
Sam still sleeps 12-13 hours per night and takes 2 2-hour naps. This leaves approximately 7 wakeful hours in the day. Once you put in approx 30 minutes per meal, that's 5.5 hours. When you're in a new city, 5.5 hours is not a lot. Factor in commutes to wherever you're going, and you can do 1-2 things per day. That's rough. While in places we have been before (Bali this past weekend, Lombok, Chiang Mai), we have generally taken it easy. We wake up, eat, put her down for a nap, then we go out and do something, come back for a nap and go get dinner and go to sleep. When we were in Tasmania, that was not an option, because we wouldn't see enough, and realistically we're not going back anytime soon (though Matt would argue otherwise). There, we tried to give her a morning nap and then we just pushed all day. She usually had the opportunity to fall asleep in the car (at least) or on a hike, but it was slightly selfish on our parts. I kinda feel like - she's super scheduled at home - follows the same routine everyday - so we might as well shake it up. You know, so she doesn't get too bored. This did lead to a few (legitimate) meltdowns, but generally, she was awesome.

What to do -
Overall we have continued to do the same things we used to do - except no diving, no little boat rides, less hotel hopping (i.e. we stay longer in each place before moving on), earlier eating, no porcelain shopping (we never did that) and evening anything is out. We try to do what we want to do, and then we throw in a little Sam fun in the middle. Hiking and walking around a town are easy, but then you throw in finding animals, playgrounds, parks (bring a ball everywhere) and she's all set.

What to bring -
Wow - there's no way to travel light with a baby. It's easier when not breastfeeding (at least unless you're not working and breastfeeding, so you don't have to consistently give bottles - lugging that pump and all its parts was terrible!). I have a packing list that I have adapted for each trip we have gone on. Generally for Sam we bring 1.5 outfits per day, a sweatshirt, 2 pairs of pants, a pair of socks, a pair of shoes, 2 bibs per day, 6 diapers per day (unless it's long and we have to buy them there), baby soap, tylenol, diaper rash stuff, thermometer, toothbrush, dish soap, sponge, bottles, microwave steriliser bags, formula powder, sippy cup, teaspoon, loads of snacks and squeezy packets (that's all she eats), a sun hat plus an extra in case it gets lost, 4 books, 5 toys, sleep sac, pjs, night light, sun screen, hand sanitiser, wipes, tissues, a few cloth diapers, one blanket just in case and lots of plastic bags.

I saw an ad for the Ergo in one of the airline magazines - and I think it said something like, "Ergo will ensure you have a relaxing holiday." Before I had a baby, I would have wondered how a baby carrier could do that - but I SOOOO firmly believe that the ergo provides us a relaxing holiday. It's magical. When we carry Sam, she just wants to be put down and walk around. Stick her in the ergo, and she just stays. She loves it. If she were ever to fall asleep on a plane, it would be in the ergo (it HAS happened, but not often). We can stick her on our backs, and she loves it, or cuddle on our fronts, and she just lays keppy and sticks her thumb in her mouth. Magical - no joke.

Overall, it IS difficult to travel with a one year old. Maybe I'll feel differently if we have more kids, but I say, keep going. I don't think it's especially good for her in any way, but I think that getting out of our routine in the house, seeing new and interesting places, or just visiting an old favourite is so important for me and Matt (and our relationship together). One day we'll go and leave her - but to be honest, that doesn't sound too fun, since I feel like I never see her! We'll see.

Next stop - the USA. Last time we took 33 hours to get to our destination. This trip should only be 23 to New York, if nothing goes wrong. Hopefully that's not TOO bad...

Tasmania

We have spent the last 2 weeks in Australia - 2 days (+1) in Melbourne and 12 days in Tasmania.

We decided to spend a couple of days in Melbourne to break up the trip to Tassie - 8 hours plus 2 hours. We thought we would be able to put Sam to bed when we got there in the morning, and then check it out for a day and a half. We didn't get our hotel room until later in the afternoon, so we ended up checking out the market and basically walked all over town. We had great pizza and pasta and froze our asses off. The next day we went to the aquarium, which Sam and Matt LOVED (I thought it was great too, but they LOVED it!). We walked around more of the city and met our friend Maria for a tour to/of the Botanic gardens. Gorgeous.

The next day we arrived in the Hobart area of Tasmania. This island is absolutely unbelievable - the best food. Great wine. AMAZING nature and hiking. Our first four nights were in the country - 6 km from the small historic village of Richmond and about 15 minutes from Hobart. Our B&B (Cornwall Cottage - completely recommended!) has 3 horses, a whole load of sheep, about 6 hens, a rooster, endless amounts of raspberries and so many stairs for Sam to explore. She loved the animals, and she loved picking raspberries and putting them straight into my mouth, see photo (she would never try them, of course). Peta, the owner, made us three loaves of amazing bread (Sam DID eat that - she couldn't get enough) and we had her homemade jam, hen laid eggs and fresh tomatoes as well. We had two bedrooms and a living room, so we could put Sam to sleep and not have to read on the bathroom floor (as usually happens in hotels...). Our next place also had two bedrooms, and we realised this is key to a nice holiday when your child prefers long naps and going to sleep at 7pm!

While there, we spent a day hiking at Mt Field National Park, where we saw some of the most amazing waterfalls I have ever seen (see photo) along with gorgeous views of mountains, beautiful trees, and one live animal (sort of like a possum but not exactly). We also spent a day on the Tasman peninsula where we did a bunch of short hikes and drove around. One hike along the coastline was especially gorgeous - started on the beach and then went through the trees, following the water. The absolute low-light of this was on our walk back to the car, where Sam and I were running and singing along the beach, and I noticed that we were about four feet away from a HUGE DEAD SEAL on the beach. I SCREAMED and ran (with Sam in a framed pack on my back) for a long, long time. Grody. We also spent an afternoon in the historic village of Richmond, just up the street. It was built in the early 1800s, and somehow the buildings are all still around (including the creepy jail for convicts from Britain from 1825). Sam loved the ducks under the bridge at the river and the slide at the playground. Matt and I loved the architecture and the quiche. We also spent time in Hobart - first to tour all around the gorgeous town, and then to go to the market on Saturday. Lots of local foods and goods. We also saw a reserve for the local animals (see the photo of Sam hangin' with the 'roos).

We then drove up the east coast towards our next stop in Bicheno (Bicheno Ocean View Retreat - great view, lots of space, but not too much personality). While there we had FABULOUS Italian food from a place in town and great bread from the bakery. We hiked a day in Freycinet National Park - doing a walk up to an outlook of Wineglass Bay, and having a great picnic at Honeymoon Bay, which was a rocky beach, which Sam loved climbing (see photo), with gorgeous green, clear water. Okay, we were still freezing, but it looked beautiful. We had dinner at the Iron House Brewery, where we enjoyed nice beer and great burgers (Sam loved the fries). We also spent a day up on the east coast, exploring the Bay of Fires and St Helen. The Bay of Fires is basically AMAZINGLY beautiful beaches, with white sand, reddish rocks and gorgeously clear, blue water. We were still freezing, but seriously, it was gorgeous. The photo where we're all looking over our shoulders is at the Bay of Fires. The one of Sam and Matt at the sand dunes is also in that area, near St. Helens as is the one of the three of us on the red rocks.

We then drove to a dairy to get some yummy cheese (Sam loved the vanilla ice cream - she was literally pulling my arm with the spoon to her mouth) and saw the cows getting milked. Sam learned what a cow says. We then decided to make a quick trip to these two waterfalls that looked super close on the map. One was pretty close to the dairy - the tallest waterfall in Tasmania. Beautiful. The next one, again, looked really close on the map...but it was about 17 km on some crazy steep gravely road. I was not very happy. Matt was loving it. Sam was eating her feet. We reached the top where there had been lots of logging, and there were beautiful views of the mountains and pastures around us. FINALLY we got to the next waterfall (which wasn't that cool, but Matt claimed it was. I think it was only because he wanted to not regret the drive...) (see the photo at Norm's Lookout). The 17 km back to reality was on another crazy road...so what we thought would be a quick half hour turned into about three hours. But we made it. We pushed on, through Launceston, the big city in the north, and drove up the Tamar River Valley to our B&B (Conmel Cottage - TOTALLY recommended). This place had us in a detached cottage, looking out on the garden with everything you could ever imagine growing (and eating!). They also had hens and fruit trees and lots of area for Sam to run around in. She loved touching the apples on the apple trees and the peaches on the peach trees. They also stocked us with amazing breakfast supplies (including yummy homemade cookies! and I made bacon - assuming this non-kosher thing will be coming to an end...soon...I thought I should try once! I was a Jewish natural). The place was on a huge hill with an amazing view of the wide Tamar River. Wow. The only challenge was that the sleeping area was upstairs, and stairs with a one-year old are never ideal. Also, there was no door to close at night, so we had to save lots of dirty dishes and did a lot of reading and whispering. Kinda cramped our style, but we're over it.

While up north, we spent a day in Launceston, including a great hike in the gorge - right in the middle of town! - out to the old power station. We spent a day visiting a few wineries, right near our B&B, and one of the first pubs in Tasmania. We took an evening to push Sam to stay up late - and we went to this National Park on the north coast at dusk to see wildlife. And did we see wildlife. We saw loads of wallabies, at least five wombats (they're HUGE! See photo), tonnes of pademelons (like wallabies but smaller and rounder). We didn't see Tasmanian Devils here (we saw them in a reserve down south), because 75% of those in the wild have this certain kind of cancer that scientists around the world are working to cure. They're really endangered. As per my personality, I was not too excited about keeping Sam up an extra 1.5 hours...and driving out into nowhere in Tasmania...but it was way worth it. It was SUPER cool to see all these guys hopping around. Sam loved it. She was pointing to all of them - but her screaming on the path in the forest didn't help us with our nature spotting.

We then drove down the old road from Launceston to Hobart - passing through a bunch of historical villages. We had a great lunch in a fantastic bakery in Ross, where Sam ate half of my sandwich. She didn't eat a half of it, but she ate the piece of bread that was touching the cheese on both halves. There were great old buildings - I can't believe it is all still there. Kind of creepy, but really beautiful. Matt was a super-dad with an unfortunate poo incident, and we all survived.

We made our way back to our first B&B where we arrived in time to say goodnight to the chickens, the horses, eat more raspberries, eat some pizza and go to sleep. Our entire trip until this point was perfectly smooth.

Our flight at 8:30am from Hobart to Melbourne was delayed for five hours, as one of the guys in the drivers' seats was ill. I mean, I'm all for safety, and I don't want a guy to work if he's ill, but don't we have back-up plans or something like that? We made it back to Melbourne around 3:30...but our flight to Singapore had left 3.5 hours earlier. All in all, we traveled for nine hours (including getting to and from the airports) just to get to a hotel in Melbourne, right by the airport. Sam was a total disaster. We made it onto the same flight to Singapore, the next day. That was 12 hours of travelling today. Yeah - we survived, but that part wasn't too fun.

Forgetting about the last two days - this was the best trip of our lives. Our honeymoon in South Africa was a close second, and some of our trips out in SE Asia have been cool, but really, nothing as fantastic as these two weeks in Tassie. Definitely part of it was getting away from regular life in Singapore and spending such great time as a family (only...). But add the food, drinks and unbelievable natural beauty, and it just doesn't get better.

So, since that was the best, and it was pretty challenging to travel with a one year old - I think we're done. No more travelling for us.

Just kidding. Off to Bali on Friday!

Walking - it's a different world

Sam is a totally different person now that she's walking. She took her first steps last Saturday, and within one week she's totally walking everywhere, and she does NOT want to be carried. She's been really cranky, and she is totally into different things. I think she aged a few months, or possibly years. She used to just sit by herself and read a book quietly. Not anymore. She's into anything that she shouldn't be.

Incidentally, she always has a phone (she has 2 plastic phones, 2 cordless phones that she finds sometimes plus 3 remote controls that double as phones) with her, and she usually talks (on the back of her neck) at least once every few minutes. I sure hope she's not learning this from Rose, but she is definitely not learning from me or Matt - we're almost never on the phone. I guess she's just super social with her imaginary friends.

Today she tried out this play gym thing where you pay, and she can go in for an hour and play with anything. She especially liked climbing up these soft stairs and then sliding down the slide on her belly, legs first. She still doesn't play with other kids, but she does take their balls and point to their balloons.

The video below is one of my favorites - it's from this past week. She LOVES peek-a-boo books (and peek-a-boo in general - she covers her eyes with her hands, and it's SUPER cute). Here are other recent photos.

Sam's walking!

Multi-faith Singapore

Chabad-ed

This past weekend was one of the most Jewish weekends we have had since we got here - and it was super nice and super community-y. After a super great shabbat dinner with friends, and shabbat lunch in a sukkah with other friends, we went to two sukkot parties today - at each of the two synagogues in Singapore. You may recall that we moved here from a VERY Jewish life on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, and generally we have been a little low key for the last 4.5 years.

Interesting things to note about the sukkot -

They were both totally huge. Like we're talking at least 70 people huge - possibly more.

They both had fresh fruit hanging from the ceiling. In one that seemed fine. In the other, there were casualties all over the ground - and it was bizarre. There was everything from pomello to pineapple to mangosteen to apples. Sam loved pointing to them. I just wanted to sit below the small ones.

They are both attached to the synagogues (Chesed El and Magen Avot) that were built around the same time, look very similar inside and are totally gorgeous.

Upon our arrival at the second sukkot party (the orthodox community...after we had been with the progressive community...), we saw a lulav and etrog. I said, "Sam - look - that's a lulav and an etrog. Do you want to touch them?" Chabad saw this as an opportunity, and Mendel moved in. He asked Matt if he would like to show his daughter, and then he slipped in there that he could say a bracha too. I absolutely can't believe that Matt got chabad-ed and ended up saying a blessing over a lulav and etrog! I have never seen him do anything like that - ever. There are two reasons this happened.

1) He plays basketball with some of the chabad boys here, and he genuinely likes them and probably didn't mind too much, since he had a relationship with the guy.
2) He wanted to show off for his daughter. (She was clearly impressed).

Separately - I seriously think that sukkot is the weirdest Jewish holiday. If you're not Jewish and you're reading this, I'm talking about shaking four types of branches/leaves together along with a lemony-type fruit...in a hut that we build for a week of the year. Super weird. But Sam loved colouring her decorations (it was her first time) and the food and music were awesome. The community was also pretty great.

In other news, my mom has been here for two weeks and she flew off tonight (don't worry - she'll be back soon). Sam loved playing with her in the last few weeks - they read tonnes of books, played with all of the toys and learned new puzzles. Sam definitely knows Savta now (she points), and she kept wanting to be held by her. Savta even put Samara to bed tonight (that is a rite that has been reserved for only me and Matt (and Rose once) in her whole life.

I am also posting a photo of Sydney from my ipod, from a harbour cruise.

Finally, I got Matt this t-shirt as a gift (he doesn't read my blog, so he won't find out until his parents come in a few weeks...). My brother has it, and I think it's one of the funniest, most creative pieces of clothing I have ever seen. I almost bought three, but I thought it might be weird to send it to random friends. Buy it!!! (If you haven't seen the title of it, it's even funnier).

Sydney

I can't believe I'm one of those people with a blog that isn't updated regularly. I was so regular for about for years. But I went over a month with no post! Terrible! Generally when I don't post a lot it means that not too much interesting is going on, or I don't have too much positive stuff to say...hmmm...

So, this week I'm in Sydney for work. I'm here for a conference (Global Banking Alliance for Women Summit) for banks who have approaches, products, services, etc for women customers. This is part of my portfolio for my job, and it's something that I spend a lot of time thinking about, a little of time speaking about, and not enough time DOING. It's been totally inspiring to sit in a room and hear people talk about what I think about. I get to hear what banks in Australia, Uganda, Malawi, Turkey, Lebanon, etc. are doing for banking women. Super relvant to what I do. Super relevant to what I'm interested in. Quite an opportunity.

On the other side, I also get to go to Sydney for four days. I absolutely hate being away from Samara (and she's had an upset tummy and been generally unhappy since I left, which makes it even worse!), but the city is helping to make it not so bad. It's my second time in Australia (Margaret River, Dec 2010).

Granted I have VERY limited exposure to the city, I have fantasic impressions. I have been on a harbour cruise with the conference, and I have walked around the CBD, sat by the opera house at a bar, seen the city from a tall building, and walked back to my hotel, which is about 15 minutes away from the rest. Other than that, I have really only seen the inside of a room.

Sydney at first felt like New York - since it had vibe, people walking all over, old buildings, diversity, energy, etc. Then I realised that wasn't New York, it was more like Toronto or Philly (which are also great cities...). It has a totally chill feel, people seem interesting and healthy (mostly good looking too). There are some vast differences to Singapore - there seems to be a limited amount of shopping (which I really appreciate - it grosses me out in Singapore). It is COLD!! It's spring here, so it's in the 50s and 60s F. For someone who has spent almost every day of the last 4.5 years in 80s and 90s...it's FREEZING! But, on the other hand, I am not sweating my way through life, and I really love it. It feels so much more human and less frustrating on many levels. I still really hate the heat of Singapore - I don't think I will ever get over or used to it. Sydney has also been a pleasure to walk in. I have blogged frequently about how much I hate walking around in Singapore - as it makes my blood pressure rise and turns me into a grump. I literally want to step on people sometimes. Here it all seems quite organised, and you can always pass people on the street. I can't put my finger on what's different, but it's just as crowded, yet I don't get angry walking around!

Overall, I am going to try to convince Matt that we should come back here for our next holiday. I absolutely love it. Maybe we'll even move here...if only it weren't THAT far away...though I do think it's closer to the US than Singapore...