Traveling with a two year old
I don't suppose the notes for this trip would be complete without mentioning some of the intricacies of traveling with a two-year old. It certainly isn't the same as our pre-kid days, but it comes with many new joys too.
We've made a point of trying to try to time our longer trips between cities during Soren's nap times. This accomplishes two things: it allows him a quiet place to take a nap (on me) and keeps us from having to occupy him during the entire journey. When we aren't traveling we make a point of going back to the room during nap time. And then one of us stays in the room with him while the other one goes out to do some exploring.
Until only a day or two ago, Soren's vocabulary seemed to have been dramatically limited by the trip. He was concentrating all his effort on three main sentences:
* Where are we?
* How did we get here?
* Where are we going?
Poor guy. I don't think he ever really understood any of the answers.
Then two days ago he asked me a new question, "Mama, what's English?" Seems he noticed that I often asked people "do you speak English?" and he wanted to know what was going on. He's been a bit bewildered why children don't talk to him when he tries to play with them on the playground (another change from pre-kid days is that we seek out playgrounds whereever we go). So we've been explaining that they don't speak English. He knows how to say hi ("ahoy") in Slovak/Czech and has been using that a lot.
Yesterday we ran into a little boy in the grocery store. When we left, Soren waved to him and the boy waved back. Soren exclaimed, "he speaks English!" I guess he's happy with any form of communication.
Last night in Krakow we were in a restaurant with a bunch of Canadian students. I told Soren that they probably spoke English. Here's the conversation:
Soren (approaching a very pretty blonde student): Do you speak English?
Student: Yes. I'm from Canada.
Soren: I go to Canada.
Girl: You do?
Soren: Yes, I go there in a big airplane!
Girl: Where are you from?
Soren: Oregon.
He had a very nice time talking to all the girls at the table. I think he was finally relieved that he could talk to people!
He was pretty much potty trained before we came here, but I think we've regressed on that a bit. Probably more our doing, than Soren's. It is just easier to put a diaper on him than having to worry about finding a suitable place for him to pee all the time. We obviously aren't the only ones wtih this problem as we've seen many parents helping their small child pee in the bushes/street/gutter.
We've made a point of trying to try to time our longer trips between cities during Soren's nap times. This accomplishes two things: it allows him a quiet place to take a nap (on me) and keeps us from having to occupy him during the entire journey. When we aren't traveling we make a point of going back to the room during nap time. And then one of us stays in the room with him while the other one goes out to do some exploring.
Until only a day or two ago, Soren's vocabulary seemed to have been dramatically limited by the trip. He was concentrating all his effort on three main sentences:
* Where are we?
* How did we get here?
* Where are we going?
Poor guy. I don't think he ever really understood any of the answers.
Then two days ago he asked me a new question, "Mama, what's English?" Seems he noticed that I often asked people "do you speak English?" and he wanted to know what was going on. He's been a bit bewildered why children don't talk to him when he tries to play with them on the playground (another change from pre-kid days is that we seek out playgrounds whereever we go). So we've been explaining that they don't speak English. He knows how to say hi ("ahoy") in Slovak/Czech and has been using that a lot.
Yesterday we ran into a little boy in the grocery store. When we left, Soren waved to him and the boy waved back. Soren exclaimed, "he speaks English!" I guess he's happy with any form of communication.
Last night in Krakow we were in a restaurant with a bunch of Canadian students. I told Soren that they probably spoke English. Here's the conversation:
Soren (approaching a very pretty blonde student): Do you speak English?
Student: Yes. I'm from Canada.
Soren: I go to Canada.
Girl: You do?
Soren: Yes, I go there in a big airplane!
Girl: Where are you from?
Soren: Oregon.
He had a very nice time talking to all the girls at the table. I think he was finally relieved that he could talk to people!
He was pretty much potty trained before we came here, but I think we've regressed on that a bit. Probably more our doing, than Soren's. It is just easier to put a diaper on him than having to worry about finding a suitable place for him to pee all the time. We obviously aren't the only ones wtih this problem as we've seen many parents helping their small child pee in the bushes/street/gutter.
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