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Date:         Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:54:16 -0400
Reply-To:     BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Subject:      Re: toddler camping
In-Reply-To:  <BAY101-F1909424663D5E67897F57CAC020@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

My daughter was colicky for the first 18 months of here life. We canceled all our camping trips during that time. Last year when she was 2 1/2 years old we took her to the closest place from our house on the Jersey shore. Of course we asked (as we always do) for the quietest area of the campground. The first problem was my wife tried to put her to bed at her normal 7 PM bedtime. That was not going to happen. We had also purchased a nice child's cot from a list member here. She played on the cot for 30 minutes then said "can we go home now?" My wife then ended up having to "sleep" with her on the bottom bunk which just entailed her staying up most of the night. I did not sleep well because if I can't see my wife and "the look" she gives off mental vibrations that did not allow me to sleep either. We got up around 6 AM and she just was cranky and just started screaming as loud as she could for as long as she could. Since we were in the "quiet" are of the campground I could see people "rustling" around in their tents, also giving off mental vibrations. We packed up and drove home as quickly as possible.

Fast forward to this year. I decided to do it "my" way ( a list member suggested this last year) and took her by myself up to Green Lane (last years Busses by the Depot). I did things with her all day and let her wear herself out. At about 7 PM I put on her jammies and told her she could watch videos as long as she wanted. (A big deal since she does not get to watch allot at home.) She watched and played around in the camper for about 2 hours while I read outside and enjoyed carefully hidden cold refreshments (State park, you know the drill). At about 9 she asked to go to bed. I read her her stories and she played in the van for little while in the dark. I could tell because the van was still shaking and a little head peered out the window occasionally. She fell fast asleep around 9:30. I read for awhile outside then crept in through the passenger door later that evening and climbed up top. I did the same thing the next day, she even took a short nap for me.

Last week the 3 of us went to Lancaster, PA for 2 nights. We were at a place that was full of those "Greyhound Bus" campers. That's a whole other story. The first night she wore herself out and went to bed around 9:30 but the second night my wife tried to put her to be early again. Not a good idea.

On a scary note. My daughter likes to play up top which I let her do when I'm right there. She was up there playing when my wife was up there and my wife came for something. I had just moved out of the way and was about to look up when I hear my wife scream and look to see my 3 year old mid flight to the ground from the top. I caught her right before she hit but her head still hit the floor and gave her a nice bruise. Pretty scary stuff.

So the child's cot just sits in the garage and maybe we'll use it, maybe not but her sleeping downstairs and us up worked out pretty well. It's just when you need to use that porta potty when things get tricky.

The moral of the story. Forget everything you do at home and let them go to bed when they want.

Bryan


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