Plane Ride W/ 14 Month Twins

I bought my little boy his own notepad with stickers (he especially liked the foam ones that you can get in craft sections of stores), stamps and crayons. I also suggest hitting the dollar store and loading up on plastic dinos or new cars. Good luck!

I was amazed by the unconventional things that held my son's attention when we flew. My Aunt bought him a deck of Thomas the Train game cards with all sorts of pictures on them. He was far too young to understand what you were really supposed to do with them, but I'd take them out one and a time and hand them to him. He'd fold, bend, chew, stare at and then toss it - and I'd hand him another. A little flashlight was fun too. Things I may not have let him play with, except for the fact that he would be in my immediate supervision.

You have to go into this with all the planning of a CIA assignment... (Children in Air) haha

I had it all planned out:
-I arranged our flight over his nap time, nonstop.
-Run around terminal like crazy to wear him out.
-Change his diaper as close to boarding as possible. Use an overnight diaper so I only HAVE to change him if he's poopy.
-Give him 1st does of Hyland's colic tabs when changing diaper and every 15 minutes thereafter until takeoff.
-Do not offer any entertainment other than all the newness of flying until necessary. Let him be entertained by the sights and sounds of the airport and plane. (seatbelt, safety brochure, tray table latch, people watching...)
-The moment I stepped on the plane I smiled great big, handed the flight attendant an empty bottle, and asked for 2 ounces of hot water and 2 ounces of cold = warm. (their ideas of warm and yours are usually two different things, I found that 1/2 & 1/2 is just right).
-Held bottle until take-off and gave it to him at takeoff (sucking keeps their ears adjusting to the air pressure and saves them discomfort).
-Make sure to strategicaly place multiples of necessary items. For my son it was pacifiers. I had one in every pocket I knew I'd be able to reach and 2 more in a zip top bag at the bottom of his diaper bag in case of emergency.
-He slept for 1-1/2-2 hours and when he woke up we played and read. He liked standing between my legs on the floor, and standing on my lap he thought that people getting up to use the restroom were playing peek-a-boo with him, ducking behind their seats! The giggles were hilarious.
-If you have a long drive getting from the airport to your destination make sure that you save a toy/snack/routine for the drive as well. If you always do or have something for them on a drive, pack that. It will give them some routine and stability and hopefully, keep them on-track.

There you go - it's an adventure. Set out with it being such and you're practically guaranteed to have a great time!!!

Twins are fun... I have twin brothers 3 years younger than me. Hopefully they'll help entertain each other too.

Enjoy your adventure!

T.

p.s. Dress them as cute and comfortably as possible. You'd be amazed the power of cute twins to get you help from flight attendants!!

Hi J.,
You already have some great advice, just wanted to add some ideas that I used with my girls when they were about that age, we travel every year to Argentina (day and night flight) so flying to Denver.....easy as cake!:)
Things that helped me a lot: chewable fruit snacks "taboo" or somethign healthy since they might want a lot of it:)so your baby can chew while landing and whenever you feel your ears tight or plug. I am not shure if it is because they are chewing or because they like the "candy" but it helps!
Other thing, baloons! Many size and colors, water baloons the little ones, you can put some anywhere! They are little and don't take any space and you can inflate them any time you need them (make sure you take enough in case they pop:)
Lollipops, they are great for emergencies!
A new toy, one that is not big but that will keep your child entertained just because he has never seen it before (you know how it is).
You can also get favors for birthdays, they are very inexpensive and small enough, like, balls with lights, light sticks if you travel at night, musical instruments (the tiny plastic ones for parties ar not noisy) A couple of your favorite books to read to him over and over....
Something to doodle on? Once I got a pencil that has for colors in the lead and my little one spent a long time trying to figure it out.
My kids always enjoyed the trips, and even slept wondeful at night. Don't forget the stroller for any waiting at the airport, he might even take a nap while waiting.
And most important of all, relax! He can sense if you are nervous and that won't help.
Have a great trip!
Mariana Abadie
www.MaiaCreations.ecrater.com
www.MyKidsFirst.com

3 hours won't be so bad unless their ears hurt then they may be cranky. You may get lucky and the flight won't bother them and they may sleep most of the flight. With the movie, remember to have some sturdy headphones as the other people on the flight won't want to hear your movie. Have plenty of snacks. Those color wonder books are great for all ages and won't stain anything if they write on something. The mini Magna Doodles are also nice and you can encourage them to hold the pencil correctly as they are playing with it. You could also use the time to teach them letters. You write the letter and tell them what it is then erase it and write another letter. I started teaching my son his letters at 12 months and he knew a lot of them by 18 months and could write half of them by age 2. We started reading books to him at 9 months and he was reading 3rd grade level by age 4. Babies can learn so much between age 1 & 2. Most parents don't realize how much they can learn that young. When I was teaching nursery, we sang songs to them from infant stages and by the time they were 15 months they could sing the songs by themselves and I had a few 18 month old babies that could retell the stories that we taught in class.

We just flew with our daughter for the first time to San Diego!

I packed lots of toys in the carry-on bag. I bought some new stuff too, stuff that she hadn't seen before, so it was brand new and held her interest for a while. She also played with our cell phones, watches, ANYTHING to keep her occupied. I also packed along some snacks - cheerios, goldfish crackers, raisins, dried bananas. Try packing some crayons and some paper. They're still a little young, but it might hold their attention for a while. You can get toddler crayons, I found some at Target. I also packed a few of her favorite books, and a few she hadn't read before. We sang lots of songs.

Is the flight around their nap time? If you haven't booked your flight yet, try to schedule it around their nap time. You might get lucky and get them to sleep for a while.

I won't lie... at times it was a little rough, and we were exhausted by the time our flights were over, but she was a trooper and did much, much better than we expected.

I almost forgot! Pack a few sippy cups, you can fill them with water or whatever after you go through the security check point. My daughter's ears popped as we were taking off and landing and having water in a sippy was a life saver!

Good luck and have a great time!

Last year we went to Utah with our two girls. The oldest was about 20 months at the time. On the way there, she was mostly entertained by watching out the window even though we had lots of stuff with us for her to do. On the way back, she slept most of the way. I took snacks for her to munch on which also took up some time. One thing that we had that they still both play with all the time is a magnadoodle. You don't have to worry about them dropping crayons and they can't "write" on anything that they are not supposed to but they can still "draw/color". My sister in law at the time had suggested getting something new that they had not played with before. That way they will be curious about it longer but take some old favorites as well. Have fun!

J. everytime I will travel with my 2 yr old boy I would give him Motrin or Tylenol for his ears that way they don't hurt at the end of the flight and usually that just puts him to sleep, so you might be lucky and they will just sleep the whole flight. :) Good luck

Hi, J.! You already have some great ideas, but here is one more that I will be using this weekend with Grant (we are traveling to Florida): Either get a few new toys or put some of their current toys away for now and save them for the trip, don't let them have them until you are on the plane. This way they are new to the boys and they will be excited! Otherwise, when we traveled with Grant when he was a bit younger, we just walked the isles with him a bit. Nobody seemed to mind on our flights. Good luck, and have a safe trip!

A.
Mom to Grant, 2years 4 months