Road Trips

Save new movies for the trips and let her get out and run around every so often. I'd let her play real hard before the trip to exhaust some of her energy. But some children just really like their own bed for sleeping.

There are a few great things that have helped us with 2 yr old twins, any type of battery powered musical toy is helpful..keyboard or Something they can press and watch lights swirl helps. flashlight, tape measure

Getting books with the little doors to open. Best of all buy a little balloon kit to make animals and shapes out of. Make sure it has a little pump. Then make them a balloon animal and I swear it lasts for a good amount of time. They don't get tired of it with the different shapes. They may be scared of the pop if they chew on it. But ours didn't, we just made sure to clean all the balloon pieces up right away and not let them get those.
also breaks from the car really help...even if it is just to run up and down the supermarket isles.
Good luck

Bring different movies, childrens music, and maybe childrens benadryl might help calm her down.

It sounds like your trying most of the things that usually work well. Its a little harder to think of ideas because she is still so young. You may have to consider coffeeing up and traveling at night when she is more likely to sleep. With our kids we do the books, the notebooks, mp3 and ipods,dvd player, snacks, and then car games. (but they are older) However we do like you pick a number 10-30 and say the car that drives by you (if I picked ten) the tenth car is mine. So maybe with so young you could try lower numbers, but I don't know. Then there is the alphabet game pick out the letters off of signs in order... (but once again shes a bit young)You could try the first one to see an animal... Or find something green... Maybe even try a new car seat, if you haven't got one in awhile, have her help pick out a "big girl commfy" seat she'll be happy about. Or exasketch(don't know how to spell it howfully you can figure out what I mean LOL).. Anyway good luck :)
S.

i leave for long road trips during times i know my baby sleeps, like 6 in the morning. when he's awake, either me or my husband sit in the backseat and entertain him. when he's awake, car rides take twice as long because we end up pulling over to feed him or rock/bounce him to sleep. 2 hours is the longest we've done. our baby is almost 4 months old.

We use a little cd book to carry about 10 movies and cds with us. We switch out when requested, although we limit the number of movies in a day. Also, frequent rest stops to run off energy. We found a great seat by Cosco that reclines. Makes a huge difference for sleeping in the seat. Our son loves his leap pad (6 mos. to 36 mos.). You have to be willing to put up with the greeting and goodbye about a million times, but it keeps him happy. Also, special "car toys" that are just for trips seem to help. We do a lot at night if we have someone who can care for the kids the next day so we can rest. One takes a nap the day of the trip and starts out driving. We usually both nap upon getting in. Hope something helps.

At that age, we tried to make it another day - just in the car rather than at home. one adult sat in the back w/ the kids and we played, colored, read, etc. and we did meals, snacks, and nap as close to normal as possible - w/ the adult pretending to sleep at nap time. good games for the car include finger puppets, bean bags, magna doodle, and lots of singing. do consider the other suggestions about maybe the car seat doesn't have enough padding. Our 4 year old has always been good about car trips but the last couple have been tough and she's complaining about her bottom - her car seat is going on 5 years old so she might have a point.

How comfortable is the car seat? Does it have a lot of padding? She might just need to get out every once in awhile and stretch her legs. It can get really cramped being balled up and unable to move for long periods of time. I bet she is very active and hates being in one place for very long.
C. B

My husband is very good at always making sure both our little guys are comfortable and one thing he insists upon is that they have a place to rest their feet. I never would have thought of it, but it is pretty uncomfortable to have your feet hanging on a long road trip. Perhaps even taking her shoes off will help, and the more you stop and let her run around, the better. Dress her in something very comfortable so when she falls asleep it's not causing all sorts of stripes and designs on her skin.

We have an Archos player - it costs $500 but has a hard drive so we can put lots of movies on it. Otherwise try a movie she has not seen before.

My son also likes to play with my phone. He loves to watch the videos of himself on there. His favorite lately is one he took of me telling him to stop doing something.

Good luck! Plan plenty of time for your trips, plenty of snacks and make sure she gets enough sleep the night before. I hate traveling when I'm tired for the same reason - I just don't sleep well in places other than my bed. Trips with kids are going to take longer with the rest stops. That is something you have to plan on for their comfort.

I so know what you are going through. My parents live in Mesquite and we just dread the trip. My now 4 year old has literally scrame the entire 6 hour drive several times. It can be horrible. Depending on how long the trip is it can get better. These are the things my husband and I do, and I can say she is getting better as she is getting older. It is hard when they aren't like most kids who just sleep the whole time huh? We have the DVD player too, and we always bring a ton of movies so she can choose. I usually will buy a new one for that trip, or check a new one out from the library. I also bring kid music. Then I let her pack a bag of car friendly toys so she can have a bag to go through. I always have a small magna doodle so she can draw if she wants too in that bag. We play silly games too, like find the color red, or green. Or find a cow etc. Anything to keep their minds busy. If you can skip a nap that day, because that will help her maybe take a little longer nap, or try to leave at nap or bedtime. Try dressing her in her jammies so she is super comfy. Then let her pick the snacks and drink for the drive. We try and stop every two hours or so and let her out and stretch for a minute. I also talk to both of my little ones, tell them it is going to be a long drive, and it is not fun, but it will be super fun when we get there. And lastly, you may want to try some kids dramamine or meclizine for car sickness. My daughter was throwing up the whole trip home one time, and we figured she was car sick. Now I always give it to her before the long trips and she is 10 times better. Good luck, sorry about the rambling. I just know how it is. Let me know if you want more ideas. :)

My son HATES going on roadtrips. We visit my mom quite often and she lives about 6 hours away. We have a DVD player also and it works for about one to two hours of the trip. After that it's whatever works at that time. We figured out that he REALLY doesn't like driving long distances in the dark, so we try to make it during the day....with some of it during a time he might nap for 30-45 minutes. When he's had absolutely ENOUGH, first I try sitting in the back with him and reading books, if he is completely inconsolable then we usually find somewhere to pull over and let him run for awhile (usually about 30 minutes does the trick). All in all, it is still a struggle to take trips, but this is the best we've come up with. Good Luck!!

We took a trip last summer with our son who was only about a year and a half. I remember reading to him a lot. I know it can get tiring. Sometimes I think I'd let him look at the books. We had a variety, like some with colors, some with animals, a Can You Find book. We also brought some new toys that we and Grandma bought him and gave him a new one maybe everyday. Maybe making a game out of finding things while driving like red cars, birds, deer, pick-up trucks, etc. Just some ideas that I hope are helpful. I know it can be a challenge. :)