Welcome Aboard

We made it to California! As I had hoped, the airport on the Friday after Thanksgiving was deserted, so the two hours we spent at the gate was an overly cautious precaution. Here you can see me laden with a 53-pound suitcase, the car seat, a backpack, a diaper bag, and John. I was so grateful for Chris getting a gate pass and waiting with me till the plane departed.
The flight was the best yet. John was able to sit on my lap and both entertain himself and be entertained. He was fascinated to watch out the window at the trucks and baggage handlers buzzing on the ground. I praised God for our invention of individual television screens on the back of each seat as those entertained John for some time. We read books and played with toys, but John's favorite toy were the $2 earphones I hopefully bought for watching a movie (ha ha). There were periods of crying, including one for about 45 minutes, which got our neighboring 3- and 4-year-old sisters upset. They tried to console John with their stuffed puppy but only made him scared on top of being angry. I must say that I did watch the final two hours and eleven minutes of the five-hour flight tick by, minute by minute, on the flight monitoring screen. But we made it and John didn't even cry on the car ride to my mom and stepdad's house.

John's sleep was pretty rough. After being asleep for maybe half an hour, John woke up next to me screaming in terror. It wasn't pain and definitely seemed like fear crying. He cried inconsolably for 30 minutes, gasping deep breaths and weeping big teardrops. I did everything I knew but ultimately I think John cried himself to exhaustion. I wondered if it could be a night terror in a baby this young, but he did seem aware and knew that I was there, so his behavior did not have the sleep walking character of a true night terror. Can babies this young have nightmares? Why would he be so upset? He certainly doesn't seem to care when he awakens in new places with me, such as hotels. Any moms are welcome to chime in with illumination.

I brought an 8x11" photo of Chris and pasted it up for John. Upon waking, John was so excited to see the photo. He kept patting it, pointing at Chris' face, smiling, and saying "Daddy!" This went on for five minutes. Absolutely darling!