Toddlers Who Aren’t Used to Travel

We took a day trip to visit Tom’s grandparents on Saturday. They live about three hours away in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Tom’s brother and sister-in-law were also bringing their son Kyle for a visit. Kyle is just a few months older than TJ.

TJ did fairly well on the car ride out. He was excited about seeing “Cousin Kyle,” who he’s seen lots of pictures of, but hasn’t seen in person in a year and a half. I doubt either of them remember that.

They had a great time together. They played with cars and trucks and construction equipment inside. They dug in the dirt and played ball together outside.

The trip home was the hard part for TJ. He got to say goodbye to Kyle after dinner at a pizza place – big hugs from both boys. But the ride home was hard.

About 30 minutes into the ride home, TJ told us, “Get off the Thruway. Go to Mommy’s house!” We had to explain to him that it didn’t work like that. Even if we got off the Thruway, we wouldn’t be home.

He tried again an hour or so later, when it was past his bedtime. “I’m tired,” he said. “Tired in the crib.” He repeated that a number of times. He was tired, so he wanted to be in his crib. Poor thing. The problem was that it was still light out, so he was having a hard time closing his eyes to go to sleep. I had to sing to him to get him to settle down and finally drift off. Poor guy was so sweet when he finally fell asleep in his car seat.

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.