Monday, June 05, 2006

To Travel with Toddler or Not. . .

So, we're contemplating having our 3 1/2 year old join us on our trip to China. We're still in the contemplation-only stage. We've been stuck in this stage for, oh-- about a year now. Actually at first I was vehemently opposed to bringing Casey. He is not a sitting-still kind of child, and the thought of a 16-hour plan trip with him scares the heck out of me. I know he'd be well cared for back home. . . but then the thought of being away from him for 2 weeks kills me. And I wonder what it'd be like for Mom and Dad to disappear for a couple weeks, only to return with a sibling. Not that he'd understand if he participated, but I have this sense that deep down on some subconscious level, he'd feel better about the whole thing if he got to participate in it. I'm still not sold on the idea and neither is Jason. I'm hoping we just get a gut feeling about it when we get closer.

It seems like a lot of people have traveled with well-behaved toddlers. I've read lots of stories by travelers who took their 2-year-olds. And strangely I've never read a horror story about travel with a toddler to China for adoption. I wonder if that's because regretful people just keep quiet. I wish they wouldn't. I wish they'd shout it from the rooftops! Then the rest of us could learn from the experience. Or maybe it's just that only people with well-behaved toddlers take them to China.

Well, we'll let you know what we decide to do. . . In the meantime, if you have an opinion, post it in the comment section and we'll consider it. If you've already told us what you think, we haven't forgotten!

For now, we're just enjoying our last few weeks as a family of three. Casey is a crack-up. Now that his vocabulary is improving he has started negotiating with us: No more time-out! Five more minutes! I want TV! Sometimes this is exhausting. But mostly, I'm amused. . .

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