Yankee Doodle Dandies, who get carsick.

Happy 4th of July! Like Memorial Day, Independence Day is another one of the American holidays characterized by driving to the beach, to the countryside, or to grandma’s house to barbeque with friends and family. And, it was just a few months ago, conveniently close to Memorial Day, that our toddler suddenly started getting carsick. So, we reached out to you for help. And you were wonderful.

So, we’ve now fully stocked the car with long-sleeved bibs, Seventh Generation wipes, DP Spray, a bucket, Pee Wee pads, and Dreft, and we hope the baby barf-fest will be a bit more manageable. If not, we could always go the route of our dear friend Katherine, who passed along the following bit of advice:

Your first supply / smart move is to buy a used yet reliable, somewhat crappy car (our choice?  A 2008 Toyota Sienna). Kiss any dignity regarding the inside of your car goodbye for next 10 years.  Scotchguard the hell out of those seats before any car seats go in there.  Then, put an old towel underneath your car seat(s) so that any residual spew runs on that— if it’s really bad, just toss it.

Also, a bevy of Target plastic bags to quickly wrap up any grossness.  You’ve got the nice little ziplocks, but please—you think a 2 year old is going to gently barf into that?  Hell no.

Then, get one of those giant plastic popcorn bowls from the Dollar Store in case of barf. Bonus: if they are feeling sick, they can hold it themselves, cause you aren’t going to have time to whip out your Ziplock by the time you hear “Mooommm??”  You’ll have plenty of room for the bowl underneath your afore mentioned old, crappy mini-van’s front seat.

Finally, invest in the following 3 things:  Some 409 or other lemony cleanser of your choice, some really nice bath or shower gel, and some wine.  Because here is what to do when you get home (after chucking every piece of your clothing in the wash on HOT):  Spray yourself down w/ the 409, saying “eww eww eww EWWW!!” and doing a little dance / bopping jig that will of course shake the barf cooties off of you.  Scrub under fingernails, on hands, legs, arms, etc. with yet MORE 409 (hopefully not in hair, but hey, you never know…)  Take a hot shower to get all of that grossness off.  Then, take a nice relaxing bath with your bath gel and your wine and pretend you don’t still SOMEHOW smell the waft of Eau d’Barf.  

 

Good luck.