Before anything, I must apologize for the unexpected blogging hiatus. I didn’t mean to leave you all in suspense for so long! Part II of my “On Becoming Wise to Babywise” post is forthcoming; however, it may have to wait until I return from my trip, as I’m not bringing the book with me.

If you follow my Facebook page, you’ll know that Oliver and I are heading off on our first solo trip together. Previously, we’ve flown one leg of a flight without J, back when Oliver was about six months old. It was awful. He screeched, screamed and cried through most of the flight, to the point where one of the flight attendants took pity on me and actually took him for 20 minutes to give me a break.

Needless to say, with a now very mobile, extremely energetic, often temperamental handful of a toddler, I am not looking forward to today’s flight. At all.

I have packed a travel bag with an iPad (not sure how useful it will be for a one-year-old, but worth bringing nonetheless); a bunch of toys — many of them wrapped in brown paper bags to add the extra fun of unwrapping; crayons and paper; his favourite stuffed animals; blankets; extra clothes; diapering supplies, and most importantly, a ton of food.

Since we’ll be travelling most of the day (a four-hour flight, plus driving and airport time on either end), I’ve planned for Oliver to have lunch, afternoon snack and supper in transit. He still nurses first thing in the morning and generally does not eat breakfast. I’ve packed more food than I anticipate he will need, as I’m hoping it will serve as a distraction if – I mean, when – he starts to get fussy.

I bought a package of disposable food storage containers, as they’re much lighter than the glass containers we usually use, and can be nested to take up less space in the lunch bag once they’re empty. I’m planning to reuse them for the trip home, but it’s also nice to know I can ditch them if need be, to no great financial loss.

Without further ado, Oliver’s Eats for our big trip:

Four chicken drumsticks, fried in grass-fed butter.

Three scrambled eggs, fried as an omelette and cut into bite-sized pieces.

An avocado.

A pear, plus a handful of raspberries.

Oliver’s favourite food in the whole wide world, “nana.” A very large one, at that. This will be used as the secret weapon in the event of fussiness.

Seedless red grapes. Another favourite lately.

Cherry and Coconut Cream Larabars (two of the flavours that don’t contain cashews, which are non-Paleo).

A bottle (empty — to be filled with water after passing through security) and Doidy cup.

I’ve also packed several plastic sporks and a Ziploc freezer baggie that I will fill with ice right before leaving (I figure it’s less of a loss than a proper ice-pack if it gets confiscated by security).

You’ll note that I didn’t pack any vegetables. I do normally include veggies in most of Oliver’s meals, but for the purposes of travel, I wanted to pack only tried-and-true favourites that I know he will enjoy, and that are less likely to end up played with and/or tossed on the floor.

Wish us luck! And if you happen to be on our flight, I apologize in advance .