Take me out to the ball game...

backpacking it from parking to stadium

Baseball season started the day we moved out of our apartment that was across the street from the stadium. I was happy to get out of the apartment for many reasons, but I was sure that avoiding game day traffic could be added to the list. However, being able to just walk over for a game would have been pretty cool. Our new place is only a few minutes' drive, and we paid $5 to park in some business's private lot and walk a couple blocks. $10 would have save us half the walk... worth it? The weather was nice and we were able, so it wasn't a big deal. We didn't tailgate beforehand, but if we had wanted to we couldn't from where we parked, and there were plenty of families that did. In fact, it seemed like half the fans in attendance were Little League-ers, all in uniform, which was pretty cute. When we walked up there were still plenty of fun and games going on at these kid friendly tailgates... something to consider for next time.

Enjoying the game in the shade!

We didn't already have tickets, so we asked the nice gentleman at the box office to recommend something near an aisle so we could get up and let M run around if he needed to, and so we wouldn't be out of sight of the action. The ones we got were about $30 each (M was free). I overheard our seat neighbors later say that tickets were going very cheap for this game right before, so I'll squirrel that info away for next time, too, but this may vary by opponent. The kiddo was actually pretty OK with sitting in our laps the whole time (and slept for part of the game), but our location was VERY convenient to the bathroom, which was nice for the couple of diaper changes we had.

We had to remember not to scold the little one for cheering for the wrong team, because he was very happy to join in the clapping with the home team fans (we were in the 1% minority of visitor-supporters), and encouraged us to do so as well. He probably thought we were crazy asking him to clap at other times.

getting a little bit of a nap

There is a lot to see and hear at the game. We had hoped that M would make today a two-nap day, one before the 12:30 first pitch and one towards the end of the game or on the drive home. This didn't happen, even though we took him to the playground for over an hour that morning. But I was hoping he might still crash in the backpack on our walk over (also didn't happen) or even just get sleepy and snuggle in our seats. This did actually happen, but after over an hour in, and hubby finally just put his hands over the little guy's eyes to block out the action. He was literally out like a light after that (wish we would have thought of it sooner!) and kept sleeping for nearly an hour (which did not fulfill his quota). We paid for this lack of sleep around dinner time until bed time.

The Angels' Rally Monkey is a really genius idea to recruit fans while they are young. M shrieked and pointed every time that silly monkey came on the jumbo-tron. He even jumped up and down with him. The other key entertainment were the 'big kids' sitting around us. M found them fascinating to watch, and copied what they were cheering, noticed that he had on a hat like they did, and coveted their cotton candy (with longing eyes until one little boy asked if he was allowed to have some and shared - so sweet!).

We upgraded our mini-diaper bag to a real backpack for this outing. I admit, this was because I wanted to sneak in a water bottle for us grownups and it wouldn't have fit in the diaper bag. But, in my defense, the real backpack had much better organization and space and things weren't getting all crammed. We had 4 cloth diapers, a wet bag, wipes, hand sanitizer, a muslin blanket, Nalgene bottle of water for us and a kid's Nalgene for M, an apple, a banana, raisins, Larabar, snack cup of Annie's snack mix, toy cars and motorcycles, phone, wallet, and a change of shorts for the wee one. We needed 3 of the four diapers, so I was glad we had so many. If we'd dressed the kid in pants, we wouldn't have needed the blanket, but I wasn't sure where we were going to end up sitting and how the weather would be. We went through nearly all our snacks, so I was glad we had 'em. I was especially glad to offer M a sweet banana after his taste of cotton candy.

We were pretty satisfied with this trip, but would have loved to get another hour of toddler-nap in - anyone else have any ball game tips?

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Tailgating with a Toddler

via bradsneeddotcom

Our family Alma mater was coming to town for an 'away' football game and my husband and I were excited to go see them play. We bought tickets and figured that we'd work out childcare details later, and heck, depending on what time kickoff was, we could bring our 15-month old with us... right? As game day neared we waffled back and forth: if we bring him, where and how will he nap? Because if he doesn't nap, it won't be fun for any of us, right? If we leave him with someone (likely unfamiliar to him, since our sitter was busy) we'll be spending the 6th day of the week away from him for 8 hours and will be worried how he is doing. Last year we brought him to another game, as an infant, which went well except for the heat, and this game had much more temperate weather. But last year he was pretty much a blob, and was content to be held and worn in a carrier...
So we finally decided to bring him, and actually it turned out pretty well.

I googled around for some tips, and the Internet suggested:
  -We packed his favorite 'sure thing' snacks (for us, that meant bananas, goldfish, steamed carrots, string cheese, cereal bars, cheerios, applesauce...) and lots of them.
  -We brought bottled water and milk.
  -We applied and re-applied sunscreen.
  -We picked up some chalk to draw on the paved area around the tailgate.
  -We toted our belongings from where we parked to the tailgate spot via the stroller, and wore the toddler in a carrier.

We finally made our final tailgate destination around 11AM. M was thrilled to get to run around once we made it to our spot. He wanted to 'throw' the football with the guys, who obliged him. He played the bean bag toss game by himself, and used the boards as his personal slide. He stacked washers in and out of the cups (another tailgating game). We offered him snacks regularly (at a higher frequency then he'd normally get, since he never did really sit down to a meal). We offered the milk and water (drinking out of a water bottle was such a treat!).

DH and I took turns entertaining him and socializing ourselves. Of course, we each wished our socializing stretches could go a little longer, but it really wasn't all that torturous. I think its a more poignant experience when in mixed company, and by 'mixed' I mean, those who have kids and those who don't (or maybe its more those who planned on kids being there, and those who didn't?) because it certainly highlights for me the difference between tailgating in college and tailgating as a parent. I have to be responsible for more than just myself!

We had thought he might nap in the 'way back' of someone's SUV, but we didn't end up with one at our tailgate spot. We rigged the backseat of a truck (meaning we filled in the foot area so he couldn't roll off the edge, and topped it with a soft blanket), but when it came to laying him down the interior was way too interesting, so eventually we just took a walk with the stroller until he passed out (just before 1PM). We reclined the stroller and he got in a good hour and a half nap. Normally he'd go a little longer, but we were OK with it, and hoped it would lead to some subdued behavior once inside the game.

M had woken up just in time to socialize a little more, then we packed up, and headed into the game for the 3:30 kickoff. He used some of that chalk but another toddler, about a year older, seemed to enjoy it more.
Inside the game, he was a little wiggly at first. However as soon as the crowd started to cheer (which was loud and often, since our team got crushed) M started to smile and cheer and clap along with them. He sat pretty still. Thankfully we sat next to friends so stray kicks were tolerated. We did take a break at halftime to get some 'dinner' (I repeat, we used the concept of meals loosely for the day) in the concourse and let him climb on a pedestal and stretch out a little. About the fourth quarter he was snuggling in and nearly falling asleep (and this was only about 6:30).

What are your toddler tailgating tips?
(Also, this does bring up another interesting topic for a future post: how to travel with cloth diapers?)