Flying with a Toddler: A Narrative Snapshot

Missed nap time.

Fragile toddler.

Two hour delay.

Oh shit.

Time to pull out all the mommy stops.

Attempts to return him to dreamland prove futile. Even the back and forth on the moving walk ways don't tire him. There are too many exciting new things to stare at. People and places and art exhibits deck the airport out. 

I love when people sympathize with me and recognize my plight.

A pilot walks by and smiles,

"Is this the new drive them in the car until they fall asleep?" he chuckles.

"I wish" I exhale back with a smile.

Up and down, back and forth, lugging a heavy "baby", the diaper backpack and my purse with camera all at once.

"This is why people bring strollers," I think.

I give up on the nap.

Two hour delay. It's cool. Bathroom pit stop, art exhibit wandering, plane watching, lunch eating, daddy phone calls, what else?

Remind me not to pack Hummus as an airplane snack again. A gentleman gets up from a nearby seat. "You're doing a great job!" With that he says, "I've been there" and "No one cares if you have hummus all over your pants" kind of smile.

FInally it's our turn to board. I stop tears and cries with upside down lifts and flips and mid air somersaults. Tears thankfully turn to giggles.

On the flight, we have another two hours to combat. My precious baby is not going to nap and we are entering new napless territory. I scan the people nearby slightly wary of unfriendly passengers. The couple next to us don't scowl at the sight of a toddler, which is a good sign. We slide in next to them filling and spilling over the entire seat next to the window. My claustrophobia is being seriously confronted with no leg room and a child with no where to go, but my lap.

Thank god for stickers! Stickers on my face, on his leg, in his hair. Trucks, trains, whales, and fish thankfully fill seat 36C with giggles and glee. Amusement conquers tired eyes. With books and goldfishies and ice we manage to laugh and entertain the flight away.  Piggies mommy, Piggies! An otherwise anti-screen time mamma gladly unleashes a bit of iPad video time with an un-AAP approved strategy to get us that much closer to home and Daddy and Charlie and Gramma and rain without a tantrum or pure meltdown.

We watch out the window as the wheels hit the pavement and our plane reminds us of gravities true force. We made it without losing it! We managed to keep smiles on our faces and our fellow travelers remain impressed. Time to get this poor overtired kiddo home. Another successful Mommy and Micah trip. Phew!

*This flight was back in May and we have had much better flight experiences before and after. Each time flying with Micah has been very different, but overall we have managed to keep him pretty content. I've also flown with him quiet a bit when he was a baby, which was much easier than flying with him as a toddler!