PatJ's Profile

I second the recommendation of narrow bookcases. I'm an academic and I have lots of books too. Narrower is better. If you go with anything from Ikea, go with the narrowest width.

I now use the Expedit for my kids' huge book collection, and they work great. But if you use the Expedit, I recommend that you get narrow, straight metal braces from a hardware store to reinforce the connection between the vertical & horizontal pieces. You might also consider adding feet (I use the Capita feet from Ikea), which would allow you to adjust the height of each foot a little bit to prevent tipping. If you use feet, put a pair under each vertical for even support.

I've built shelves and love to do carpentry, but it takes time and there's a learning curve. My first couple of efforts now live in the basement, and I'm guessing that's not uncommon.

I've also tried industrial shelving and my only concern is that the corners of the metal pieces can be too sharp for households with small kids. Expensive industrial shelves won't have this problem, but with shelves from my local big box home improvement stores, I've run into this several times with shelves that are otherwise great--very sturdy and solid.

I shared a room with my brother (2 years older) from the time I was 2 and he was 4 until he graduated from high school. I mostly liked it and really appreciate the bond it gave us. We never really fought about space--though we fought about plenty of other stuff--so sharing a room wasn't really a big deal.

My 2 daughters now share a room (ages 3.5 and 5.5). They love it. That may well change as they get older, but so far it's wonderful.

I'm not a big caroler fan either. No matter when they come, they seem like an unwelcome intrusion. We sing lots of carols at home with our own kids, but I've never been glad to see carolers show up on my front porch. I appreciate the effort and am nice to them, but I always hope they'll sing one short carol and be on their way.

My wife and I have averaged about 8-12 flights a year with our two girls, starting when our oldest was 4 months old, so we've accumulated a lot of experience. (Our kids are now 3.5 and 1.5 years old). I think that all of Kristin's tips are good ones, and I wanted to add a couple of my own.

- Next, look at this forum: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categories.cfm?catid=37

It's from the Lonely Planet web site and it has tons of good ideas from people who regularly travel internationally with their kids.

- Have lots of wipes ready so you can clean the things that will inevitably fascinate your child. My daughters love to buckle the seat belts, put up the window shades, play with the tray tables, etc. We let them do it, but we also try to wipe the cooties off everything before our kids get too involved.

- Have little snacks at the ready for take-off and landing. Having your child chew and swallow during these times can greatly reduce ear pain and the likelihood of getting an ear infection. We use Cheerios and raisins, but use anything that works for your child.

- Before you fly, request the bulkhead seats on the plane. They're typically reserved for people with infants and toddlers, and it's easier to contain your child in that space. It's also easier to keep your child from spending 3 hours kicking the back of the chair ahead of her. One caution: car seats usually fit in bulkhead seats, but not always. Check with the airline or try www.seatguru.com.

- This sounds odd, but we've found that if we use vaseline instead of our kids' usual skin lotion on the morning they fly and after their bath that night, they don't get as dry and itchy as they otherwise would. In my experience, flying really dries out kids, much more than adults, so they need to drink a lot and have a more potent moisturizer than usual.

- As for toys - we've had great luck with stickers. We end up covered with stickers, but they're endlessly fascinating to our kids. One tip - don't bust out the toys until your kid asks for them. Our girls are sometimes so fascinated by the plane that we don't need any toys for a half hour or so. Also, search for toys on the lonely planet site I linked to above and you'll see tons of suggestions for nice compact toys.

- Take at least 1 extra outfit for the kid in your carry-on bag. It's also helpful to have a small supply of new ziplocs for anything that comes up. Also, my wife and I have started to take an extra shirt for us in our carry-on. We usually take a long-sleeve t-shirt that either of us could wear in a pinch.

- Last, we always take a car seat onto the plane, despite the enormous hassle, because it's an effective restraint for our younger daughter who loves to roam. I think the restraint system that Kristin linked to looks good, but about 1/3 of the time, the flight attendants are perplexed by the car seat. We used to travel with a combo stroller/car seat and gave it up because it was too unusual and we got tired of spending 15 minutes trying to convince the flight attendants and the pilot that it was FAA approved (which it was).

- Really last - you can't forget to take care of yourself, so have have snacks, etc., for yourself.

Good luck and enjoy the trip.