I'm taking re-entry slow and sticking with an easy topic.
Personally, I felt we did a bang-up job with packing things for our son for the first trip. Keep in mind he is twenty months old, and not all these things will work for other ages, but they may spark some ideas for those of you that are dreaming about your first trip.
1. Books. We brought several board books, some in Spanish and some in English. I don't think it much mattered which language they were, but it was nice to have both. The ones about trucks were a hit (a picture book about trucks, and a story about a little blue truck). I haven't met a little boy that didn't like to look a pictures of trucks. He also liked the animal ones pretty well (Baby Beluga, and an animal picture book). I was surprised how much he also liked the ones that were sung (Snuggle Puppy and some others). He kept picking Snuggle Puppy out of the pile for me to sing, which I thought was really really sweet.
2. Photos. We brought a little photo album that he could page through, just a simple little one where the pictures slide in. We included pictures of the four of us, several pictures of the boys, our house, a couple of the extended family, and mostly just fun-looking shots of the four of us or the boys. He looked at it the photos a fair bit and also was just plain interested in turning the pages. I also just happened to have the photo album in my purse when we went for the interviews with the social worker and the psychologist, and as I was answering a question from the social worker, I remembered the photos and asked if she wanted to see them. She did, and I think it helped her to get a visual of what I was talking about, and also helped her to see our family situation. I also brought it to the first meeting with our son, and showed the photos to his foster mother, who seemed to be very happy to be able to look at them. I hadn't really given it any thought in advance that I would show her the photos, but in hindsight, I'm very glad I did. She has been raising our son for his entire life. Of course she loves him and wants what is best for him, so for her to meet us and get to know us a little bit, it really helped to show her some photos of the boys, our house, the playset in the yard, etc. I don't mean in a wow-look-at-our-big-house-and-all-our-stuff kind of way, but that we have fun, we play on the swingset, we run around, we paint, we go places, we love each other, etc. If it were me, I think that is might have put me more at ease. I don't think the foster mothers get much if any information on the families. I also had a toddler-type soft plastic photo album that had space for about six photos, which I left with our son. I put a couple of the ones from our family, and then filled the other spots with photos of Jerry and I and our new little guy so he could maybe (hopefully) remember us. Before having kids, I would have said the album was kid-proof. Now I say that it is pretty tough and will hold up to some wear. Ain't no such thing as kid-proof.
3. Cameras. I take a lot of photos so it was a no-brainer to bring my camera, but I also brought three disposable cameras that I left with our son's foster mother. I asked her if she would take photos of our son until we come for our pickup trip, but also photos of her, the other people in the home, the home itself, things to help our son remember and to have a record of when he grows up. I think his foster mother was happy to do that.
4. Bubbles. I don't know any child that doesn't like bubbles.
5. Balloons. ditto, and they take up very little space.
6. Crayons and a coloring book. Our guy hadn't used crayons much before, but he seemed to enjoy trying. It was fun watching him draw so hard like really little kids do. Mostly he enjoyed taking the crayons in and out of the box over and over again.
7. Balls. Oh yeah. Ileana suggested bringing just a few toys when we went to meet our son. A ball was the first thing I grabbed, and it was the first thing for him too. He held on to it right away, and didn't let it go for at least thirty minutes, and that was only so he could pick up something else. We played ball a lot. He can actually throw the ball overhand quite well, and can catch it sometimes if you toss it to his belly, so someone has certainly been playing ball with him. He kicked it around too a bit.
8. Truck. Oh yeah, again. Boys and trucks: need I say more? Because of his young age, I didn't want to bring Hot Wheels-type cars with little wheels that could come off, but we had a push-type car where you press on the driver's head and the car zooms along. We played with this a lot too.
9. Stacking cups. When packing, I thought the stacking cups would get used a bit, but they were played with a lot. He just kept trying to fit them in again and again. At first he wasn't very good and would try to fit one way too big into a small one, but by the end of the trip he got the hang of it rather decently. Plus I could make a tower out of them and the truck could barrel into it over and over and over.
10. A train. We call it the baby train in our house, not to be confused with the wooden trains we have tons of as well. This one is more of a starter train. It is plastic, Fisher-Price. Just the engine and two cars, one which holds a lion and the other a giraffe. If you press down on the smokestack, it toots, but it is very simple. Just goes around and around, and we played with it a lot. The lion and giraffe were played with a lot too -- remember the roaring that our guy did, both with the lion and the giraffe? The lion and giraffe also climbed the stacking cup tower and kicked the ball and tried to ride in the truck. They were busy little guys too.
11. A pull toy and blocks. I reviewed some of our Parents as Teachers materials before our trip to help think about developmentally-appropriate ideas, and I read that pull toys were big things for the 14-24 month age. Once they can walk around pretty well, they like to bring things along too. We have a wooden crane with a cart that holds blocks and is pulled around by a string. It is so way cool because not only is it a pull toy, but the cart can be detached from the crane and just be pushed along like a car. And it holds blocks (cubes, cylinders, and triangle prisms which have to fit in their correct spot) that are magnetic and can be picked up by the crane. It must be one of those genius toys because it can do so many things. It is heavy because it is so sturdy, but it was worth the weight because we played with it quite a bit.
12. Echo microphone. Our guy is not much of a talker yet, but he did like carrying it around, and he got a big kick out of me talking or singing into it. He's got a goofy mommy, what can I say.
13. Bottle, sippy cup, or plastic cup. The hotel has glasses, so it was good to have something non breakable for a little one. We brought a sippy cup, which was good, but did not have a bottle since we didn't think the little guy would be staying with us. We have plenty at home, so easily could have brought one, and I wish we had. Ileana was able to get one at the mall when she speedy shopped for us, but the one she ended up getting must have had a newborn nipple on it. If we had just brought one from home, we would have definitely had the older baby nipple on it with the four five holes on the top, not just one, so I wish I had just brought it. No big deal, because we opened the hole a little bigger, and used the sippy as much as possible, but next time I know what I'll bring.
14. Diapers and wipes. We did not bring these, but it sure would have been good to have even just a few diapers and a travel pack of wipes. Again, they are easily purchased at the mall, but I wish we had had even just a few.
15. Clothes. Same as diapers -- we didn't have any for him, and wish we had, even just two outfits, a pair of pajamas and socks.