I am traveling with my 20 month old son in a couple of weeks by plane (about a 3 hr flight) and just wanted to get some ideas from you all about easy things to bring on the plane to entertain him. We will have a dvd player, snacks/drinks. I just wanted to see what other ideas you have. He is a pretty busy guy. Oh I am also traveling with my husband and another child who is already an experienced traveler. He will not have his own seat.
Are you traveling alone with him? If he is going to be a lap-rider I would rethink the DVD player. Trying to juggle a lap baby and holding/positioning a DVD player on your lap with just your 2 hands can get tricky especially since you mentioned he is a pretty busy guy. If he is going to have his own seat or if you are traveling with daddy/someone else a DVD player can work pretty good.
we had the dvd player for my daughter, but didn't think about needing headphones....you aren't allowed to play the sound, plus the plane is loud. The next time we brought baby einstein dvds...no sound necessary. We also brought crayons etc, but ended up chasing them on the floor...they roll far! Does he like stickers? A pack of stickers and an empty notepad can keep a kid happy for a while if he has the manual dexterity.
When we fly with our son (now almost 18 months but this has worked since 5 months), I go to the dollar section at Target and pick up a whole bunch of new things for him to look at/play with. Don't necessarily need to be "toys" -- little containers work, playing cards, random objects, unopened packages of crackers (for the crinkling sound) -- as long as he's never seen them before they can hold his interest for about 20 minutes each. I take new kinds of snacks too... the newness factor is critical!
Also, on our last trip I learned that you CAN wear your baby through security! They patted down the carrier but this was so helpful! So if you have a carrier this can save you a lot of trouble. It is way easier to get your carry-on and shoes and whatnot onto the security table without having a baby in your arms.
You can also take sippies or bottles through, but they will screen the contents. They made me open the sippy cup and waved some kind of test strip over it to check for chemicals.
One more thing -- if you didn't buy your baby a ticket, still set him/her in her own seat between you and your husband if there are three seats in a row when you board. Often planes aren't full and this way you'll have extra space for nursing/sleeping/just maneuvering. If the flight is full, they will announce this over the loudspeaker while people are boarding; at that point I put my son on my lap.
Good luck!
Here are some ideas on toys to entertain him.
http://www.bigbluetrunk.com/ourcorner/550
