So, you’ve got a three hour road trip staring you in the face. You’ve got snacks, books, games and toys all packed for your toddler to play with. You and your spouse are up front, and your toddler is in the back seat with a mound of toys in his lap.

This is going to be fun, right?

Five minutes in, the toys are on the floor, cheerios are everywhere and your toddler is screaming his head off.

What can you do?

Try stopping the car and moving into the back seat with him. At this young age, the amount of time they can spend solo-playing is limited (but important). More likely, they’ll want you to read to them, help them eat if it’s snack time or just be near them on a long car ride where they’re essentially immobilized for hours at a time.

Here are some other road trip tips that’ll help you get over the river and through the woods.

• Plan for stops every hour or two. Get out at a rest stop, let your toddler burn off some steam. You’ll also want to get them out of dirty diapers as soon as possible.
• Keep them comfortable. Make sure the sun isn’t shining in their eyes. Keep the temperature comfortable. Make sure a seatbelt isn’t digging into their bare skin.
• Keep them fed. Pack small snacks that are easy to eat and are a minimal choking hazard. Crackers, cut up fruit and cheerios are all good bets.
• Keep them entertained. Bring their favorite toys and books. If you know it’s a crowd pleaser, definitely use it on long trips. You’ll need it.
• Tag team drive. When you stop, switch drivers so mom can play with the little guy too.
• Spot things outside the car. If your toddler can, direct their attention outside the car to other cars, planes, etc. The ever changing landscape will help keep their minds off the fact that they can’t move, and it’ll help them learn to entertain themselves on the open road.

Once your baby is weaned of the bottle and there aren’t any more little ones immediately coming down the pike, you’ll probably find yourself with a shelf full of bottles that’ll do little more than collect dust.

Don’t despair! There are a million uses for old bottles. Just think of them like a different shape of tupperware. Instead of liquid, I’ve found a great way to regularly use old bottles and keep them off the shelf is to put snacks in them.

Most bottles have volume measurements right on the side. Makes it great for packing a reasonably sized portion of cheerios or Goldfish crackers. And I always keep a big 12 oz. bottle of water at the ready in case we find ourselves out in Chicago on a hot day (And there have been some scorchers lately).

You can use the nipples that came with the bottles as tops, or you can buy sealing caps for a little more airtight seal. If those bottles have been stored away for awhile, be sure to wash them out when you break them open.

My son’s at that stage where he knows that he wants something. He just doesn’t know how to ask for it. Lately, his word for when he wants something is “mama”, which makes me wonder if my wife is caving to his every demand when I’m not around.

It goes without saying that things get a little frantic - I’m pretty sure he’s breaking the record for the amount of times he’s said mama in a single minute. And they’ve all got this sense of impending doom - “If I don’t get what I want right this second I’m going to explode!”

Yesterday he spotted a group of adults playing soccer out the car window down an alleyway about 10 blocks away, and that meant a ten minute deluge of “ballballballballball” all the way home, until he could grab his own mini soccer ball from his pile of toys.

I’ve heard parents deal with repetitive whining lots of different ways. Some ignore it, some whine right back at their kids. I’ve been trying to make him ask for specifically what he wants. If I know what it is, I’ll help him after a few tries and then he can say the word. And I’ll usually give it to him, unless there’s a specific reason not to (like too much food).

But sometimes, he says “mama” over and over and I have no idea what he wants. So I say “Sorry, kid. I don’t know what you want,” and then I try to ignore the whining.

What do you do?

Getting your toddler to brush his teeth can be a huge feat in and of itself. It’ll probably take them until they’re 4 or 5 to truly master it to the point where you don’t have to supervise. Even if they manage to not eat and swallow the toothpaste like it was candy, you’ll still need to make sure they get everywhere they need to.

That said, different techniques work for different kids’ personalities. Here are some of the basics to set yourself up for success, and some tips to encourage this essential habit.

• Use a soft-bristled toothbrush designed for kids
• Use non-fluoridated toothpaste that’s got a flavor your kid enjoys
• Make brushing part of a routine. My son brushes in the morning after breakfast and at night after his bedtime snack
• If they fight at first, don’t worry. Try to make it fun and if they put up a huge fuss, leave it for another night. They’ll get used to it.
• Brush with them. Brush your own teeth with your toothbrush or theirs.
• Use two toothbrushes. One for them to use and one for you to do the real cleaning.
• Make funny noises and open your mouth wide. When they crack a grin whoosh in with the toothbrush.
• Brush in small circles. Get the tops, bottoms, fronts and backs of their teeth and gums.
• Don’t force it. The second they stop having fun (at least in the beginning), the more they’ll fight it.

Our son was obsessed with trying to get his hands on our cell phones. When he did, he’d hold them up to his ear, chat away and push the buttons just like mom and dad. Trouble was, he actually ends up calling people more often than you’d think. He’s even managed to get 911 on the line.

We tried getting him a toy cell phone with Mickey Mouse on it, but he knows that thing isn’t real. He’ll cast it aside in a second.

So, when my wife and I upgraded our phones, we gave him our old ones. They’re disconnected from service, so he can get all the fun of pressing real buttons on a real phone without the prank calls.

He loves gabbing on it, and will have gibberish conversations with no one in particular. We love it because it encourages his imagination and speech development. He loves it because he gets to act just like mom and dad.

I realized the other day that when I was reading to my son, he’d kind of just sit there and hang out. He wouldn’t really react to what was going on, he was just looking.

Then we got this new book, Bear Snores On, and I started making funny voices for the characters (when I say funny, I mean talking in a British accent. It’s just about the only impersonation I can do). When the Bear woke up, I’d make all sorts of grumbly, cranky, angry noises I imagine a bear would make if he were woken up from his hibernation (hope I didn’t ruin the book for you).

Now, every time I make the noises, he makes them along with me. Which got me to thinking, shouldn’t he be doing this with all his books? He loves to read, but it seems like we were missing out on so much more fun.

So I pulled out an ABC book with lots of pictures. I started asking him where the apple was, where the butterfly was, where the cat was, and so on and so forth.

The first few times, nothing. But imagine my surprise when I asked him where the butterfly was. He pointed and said “butter.” I was floored.

So now I try to make reading as much a two-way, fun activity as possible. It’s much better to explore and imagine things when you’ve got a fun playmate to do it with along the way.

About a month or so ago, my son became a real person. Before, he’d make sounds and gestures pretty indiscriminately. He could imitate us, but it felt like he was living in his own alternate reality.

But then one day he started pointing at things. He started asking “What’s that?” He still makes lots of babble talk, but there’s a flow and rhythm to it. You can talk back to him, he’ll think a moment, and then say “blah da ma!”

He’s also learning to ask for things by reaching out his hands and whining.  At this stage, how you interact with your toddler is key for helping them learn associations between words and objects in the real world.

When your toddler asks for something, encourage them to say the name of it. When my son reaches for some of my pasta, we say “Would you like some pasta?” The response is usually “Mas-tah” or something even further from the word. But like I wrote before, mispronounciations are O.K.

They’ll quickly learn that to get something they want, they need to ask for that object. And toddlers seem to want everything, so he’ll learn tons of words just by being himself.

Encourage your toddler to use his words rather than just letting him point and whine. It’ll do wonders for his vocabulary.

What are you going to do when your little boy discovers that he’s a little boy?

Regardless of the way you feel about touching your private parts, having a son or daughter that walks around in public with a hand down their pants isn’t really socially acceptable.

The most important thing to remember right now is that your baby isn’t doing it because it’s sexual, they’re doing it because they’re learning about their body.

They touch their belly, face and feet right now too. You just don’t think twice about it.

So how do you get them to stop touching themselves in public without setting up sexually unhealthy behavior?

At the age of 12-18 months, disciplining or reasoning with them isn’t going to work. Use the distraction tactic.

My son always tried to “go downstairs” when we were changing his diaper or when we were giving him a bath. i.e. when he’s naked. We always gave him a toy or something to hold while we changed him. All he ended up doing was putting the toy down there too.

Our daycare actually came up with this tip. They sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” anytime they change the kids. And they use their hands to make a rolling motion while they sing it.

It’s perfect. My son sings along with the song and he makes the motion. He’s engaged enough to forget about touching himself down there. And since he heard it seven or eight times a day, it’s officially the first song he remembers and can sing a few lines to.

Once your toddler gets older, a different tactic probably needs to get taken. I’m not there yet, but if anyone else has experience on how they handled this sometimes embarrassing situation, sound off in the comments.

Do it Every Day
The most important thing you can do for your baby early on is getting him into a teeth cleaning routine. It’s especially important to do it at night, so try to work it into the pre- bedtime schedule.

Use a Soft Bristled Brush
There are plenty of kid’s toothbrushes out there. Our dentist recommended the Oral-B Stages Stage 2 Toothbrush for Little Kids because it’s extra gentle on his gums and mouth. Our son seems to love the tickling sensation of the bristles. He loves to grab on and gnaw the end of the brush. We can sometimes get a giggle or two when we brush his teeth.

Use Toothpaste Without Flouride
Your dentist might say different, but ours recommended not using a toothpaste with flouride in it. You can usually find tubes of kids’ toothpaste with the other toothpaste or in the baby aisle of a drug or grocery store.

Brush Teeth and Gums
Even though your kid might only have a few teeth, be sure to brush the gums. Plaque and bacteria can build up back there too. Brush in small circles on the front and back of any teeth that have come in, and be sure to give the chewing surfaces TLC as well.

Eat Well
The daily diet is just as important as the way you take care of your baby’s teeth. Don’t put your baby to bed with a bottle. And if they’re drinking anything but water in a sippy cup, make sure it’s gone within 30 minutes.

Sweets are O.K. in moderation, but try to keep them reserved for mealtimes. Your baby should be getting plenty of calcium anyway, but this mineral is extra important for healthy teeth.

We fell behind on the first dentist appointment because we moved from Detroit to Chicago while my son was approaching the 1 year mark, but today we finally got him in for his first dentist appointment.

Even though your kid might have only three or four teeth, they should get into the dentist around their first birthday. They won’t get a cleaning, but they’ll get a “lap-to-lap” check-up. This means you’ll hold your baby on their back while the dentist inspects the teeth they do have and the rest of their jaw to make sure everything is developing correctly.

Your baby’s first set of teeth, even though they aren’t fully developed, are all in their jawbone at birth. Most babies get their first teeth around six months old, but some don’t get them until 12 or 14 months. The full set should be there by the time they are three years old.

The teeth typically come in from the center and then outward, which makes the molars the last teeth to make an appearance. These are also usually the worst from a teething perspective, and can come in with a low-grade fever and diarhea.

To help soothe your baby’s gums while their teeth come in, you can give them a bag of frozen veggies or fruits to gnaw on. We use the Fresh Food Feeder with some frozen bananas or strawberries and our son loves it.

The dentist will probably also recommend you use a non-flouride toothpaste with a nightly brushing routine. I’ll cover brushing, flossing and dental care the next tip.

They’ll also check for bottle mouth and other signs up decay. Bottle mouth can be caused by putting your baby to bed with a bottle of milk or juice. Something I didn’t know was that it can also be caused by letting your baby drink from a sippy cup of juice or milk all day as well.

Just like putting them to bed with a bottle, it keeps their teeth continually bathed in sugary liquid, which can eat away at their enamel. If you do give your baby milk or juice in a cup, make sure it’s gone in thirty minutes. Or you can give your baby a glass of water and let them suck away to their heart’s content.