Hellobee

Mr. Dolphin and I are huge football fans. While we have some NFL team rivalry, we definitely unite around our favorite college team: Notre Dame! Prior to having kids, we always made it a point to go to at least one Notre Dame game. We’ve been lucky enough to be able to attend several games when Notre Dame has played in the regions we’ve lived in – California and the East Coast – but have also made the journey back to Indiana to catch our alma mater.

After having our oldest, we made it back to Notre Dame for one game but elected not to bring Lion to the stadium for several reasons: Lion was barely three months old at the time, Notre Dame charges for every person who enters the stadium even if you have a lap child who won’t be using his own seat (and Notre Dame tickets are expensive), and it would interfere with bedtime. Two nights before the game, twelve inches of snow fell overnight, so we ended up being very grateful we made the decision not to bring our little one.

Fast forward to the following season and Notre Dame played UVA, which was just a three-hour drive from DC. We jumped on the chance to take Lion to his first game so that we could share an experience that we loved with him. He ended up having a great time, insisting on giving high-fives to our neighboring Notre Dame fans in the stands.

Not at all interested in looking at the camera.

We prepared a lot in advance of the trip which helped make the trip go as smoothly as possible.

Timing the road trip. We decided not to drive to Charlottesville, VA and back in the same day. Lion hates long car rides and the thought of making him sit in his car seat for six or more hours was not at all appealing to us. We decided to wait until after dinner on Friday evening to drive down, hoping that Lion would fall asleep in the car.

Timing the nap. We requested late check-out of the hotel, but they could only give us the room until 1pm. While Lion normally falls asleep at noon, we put him down at 11 so that he could still have a full two-hour nap and be well-rested for the game. We had him running around outside early in the morning to ensure that he’d be tired enough to fall asleep early.

Bringing a baby carrier. We knew that strollers wouldn’t be allowed in the stadium, but it’s usually quite a trek from parking lots to the stadium. Once inside the stadium, there’s also a long walk up ramps or stairs to find your seats, so we brought our Ergo 360 along.

Burning off energy. We got to the stadium early so that Lion had time to run around and burn off some energy. Prior to the game, the stadium had lots of music blaring and Lion thought it was a dance party just for him. He spent most of the time doing baby sign language for the word “more” whenever a song would end, then started dancing when a new song came on.

Snacks, snacks and more snacks. Some stadiums do not let you bring in food, but we figured we’d risk it and as long as we just brought in small amounts of snacks and toddler food the gate attendants wouldn’t question it. Sure enough, when they looked through our bag, they didn’t ask any questions about the freeze dried fruit and snap peas we had packed. We wanted to make sure we had food that Lion likes to eat because we didn’t know what the quality of food would be at the stadium or if he would like it. Snacks are essential in keeping this toddler happy.

Snap peas. What?

Burning off more energy. Although we normally try to get to our seats early, this time we waited until just minutes before the game started to minimize the time we’d be sitting. We also broke up the game by taking Lion out for walks between quarters to get food. He got very restless during the third quarter, so we left our seats and let him walk around the perimeter of the stadium where we could still see the game, but he had the freedom to move. As a bonus, he found big columns to hide behind and bronzed plaques he could touch and explore. Breaking up the monotony of sitting still in our seats for three hours was definitely key.

Exploring the raised letters on a bronzed plaque.

Involving Lion in the game. During the game, we got Lion interested by cheering and clapping. At just over a year old, Lion loved clapping and would excitedly copy us whenever we started clapping. Sometimes he would add in some cheers of his own: “Yay!” The gentleman next to us was very nice and would turn to Lion and hold up his hand for a high-five whenever Notre Dame scored. I definitely recommend sitting in the section of the stadium where the team you’re rooting for is sitting so your neighbors will be patient. Many of the fans near us commented on his jersey and were, in general, very patient and enthusiastic which helped Lion get into the spirit of things!

Peeking at other children running around.

Leaving early.  Okay, this one is controversial and we missed an amazing finish where Notre Dame won in the final seconds of the game. We left early, though, to avoid the crowds and massive traffic that always accompanies the end of a game. We wanted to make sure that our car ride back was closer to three hours than five.

.  .  .  .  .

Football season is approaching again and we’ve already selected a couple of prospects where Notre Dame will be playing in our area. This time, we’ll have two little ones to take with us: a two-year-old and an eight-month old. While we had a great time last year, we also learned from our experience. Here’s what we’ll do differently:

• Buy an extra seat. Lion will be over two, so won’t benefit from lap-child rules anymore. Even if the stadium still allowed him to sit on our laps, we would have paid for an extra seat. The seats are relatively narrow and when he was on our laps last year, he would inevitably kick the person next to us or in front of us. This will also give him more room to stand without standing on us. We won’t be buying a seat for Panda, though, since at eight months he’ll likely be happier in our laps anyway.
• Try to get an aisle seat. It will make it easier when you need to leave between quarters, change diapers, get food, etc. We left our seats a lot and we felt bad about asking people to get up. It’ll also make it easier to maneuver since you won’t be stepping over people.
• Bring a plastic knife. We ended up finding bratwursts at one of the concession stands and Lion wanted to share it with us. We did baby-led weaning with him which was great, but I still worry about things like grapes and sausages. We couldn’t find knives at the concessions, so had to make do with forks to cut it in half. In reality, I’m sure it would’ve been fine because Lion always takes very small bites, but if our baby-led weaning experience thus far is any indication, we will not have the same success with Panda. Plus, it gives me some piece of mind.

The biggest tips for success, though, is as true here as it is in almost any other situation we’ve been in with the kids (especially those involving travel): be flexible and adjust your expectations. We needed to be flexible and adaptable to Lion’s needs and understand that a football game with a toddler is going to be a much different experience than one without children.