On Thursday, the children and I flew to California to visit my family. Chris stayed behind this year to work, as he is much needed at his job, plus it makes the trip a lot more expensive if he comes (more housing, more meals, rental car needed, etc.). John is above standing with our luggage and shining the little flashlight-on-a-key chain that his Grandmom gave him. I took to suitcases, two car seats, one carry-on, and one umbrella stroller. In the airports, I walked with the very heavy backpack carry-on on my back, Mary on my front (in the Ergo), and John riding in the stroller. I could tell you some pretty humorous stories about getting all of that in and out of the airport bathrooms (couldn't find the big "family bathrooms") and how, at one of our stops, the bathroom stall door didn't work and I was trying to juggle all that luggage and two escaping children--but it probably would not be very seemly of me, so you'll just have to know that it was all very funny!
The children loved watching out the window! Overall, they really did very well. Passengers complimented me on what well-behaved children I had. They must not have heard me whispering heatedly to John the whole time about behaving! And Mary blew me away at some leaps in behavior and comprehension she has been making lately. Several times on the planes, she was screaming bloody murder and wouldn't stop, so I held her in my lap and asked her seriously into her face, "Are you ready to stop crying?" She would nod vigorously and stop crying on a dime in exchange for me giving her freedom off my lap. Pretty good for an 18-month-old!
The children--and, frankly, all the adult passengers!--got some real excitement when we discovered Daisy the Great Dane sitting two rows up from us. She was a seizure assist service dog. I did a quick Google search and learned all about Great Danes as service dogs. You've simply got to read the list of tasks service dogs can do!
I bought Mary her own harness backpack and brought her an John's, just in case. I was envisioning if there was a problem, we had a lengthened layover, I had to let the kids run off steam, but in very crowded conditions.
As it was, I used them only once on our layover. I was utterly exhausted from the nonstop parenting to keep them civilized on the airplane, so I sat down on a bench and let them run around on the four-foot radius of the straps. I was so "out of it" that I was leaning back on all this luggage when the nice lady next to me said, "Oh, pardon me, let me move that for you." It turns out I had been leaning back on this other woman's luggage, crushing it all, and I hadn't even noticed! I was so embarrassed.We arrived around 4:00 p.m., drove home, let the kids run wild in the back yard, fed them dinner, and got them into bed around seven local time (10:00 p.m. according to their body clocks). The overnight went remarkably well, with John sleeping through the night. Mary woke once at 2:30, asking me to take her to the potty, and after that she was wide awake, so I had to work to get her back to sleep. Then the kids were awake for the day at 4:30 a.m. (7:30 according to their bodies). Really, I thought it would be worse than that!
We miss Chris aready.
Can I just say how incredibly impressed I am that you travel all the way across the country with TWO small children, BY YOURSELF?! My Mom and I are traveling to NY with Theo in August (Chris will follow a couple days later), and I'm dreading it. I don't know how you do it with two...and on your own! (My huge fear is that Theo will refuse to be buckled into his seat for takeoff and landing. That child does NOT like to be restrained, and at 2, he's still a bit young to understand the reasoning behind it. I'll probably resort to bribing him somehow!)
ReplyDeleteYou're a remarkable woman!!
ReplyDeleteCathleen: It is worse than that: The stewardesses really will want Theo buckled at all times unless you're getting up to use the bathroom or something. I remember how hard that was when we travelled last time when John was 2-1/2. He hated the seatbelt and fought us really hard. Airplane seatbelts are very easy to remove, so he'd just continually remove it. I can't remember how we handled it that flight, but it *was* awful. Now at 3-1/2, John doesn't mind the seatbelt anymore, but he was still active, loud, and rambunctious enough at times that I swatted his bottom twice on the flight, and several times had to hold his hands and not let go until he promised to stop doing XYZ with his hands.
ReplyDeletewow Katherine...I read all the entries from the time you left....you are amazing! I could have used those harness things when Dan was 4, Tim 2, Brian 1, Mike, a newborn....I remember the airport experiences like it was yesterday....people nowdays do not offer a hand as they are afraid of liability. You do very well!! Be safe and I will look fwd to seeing you all soon. Hellos and love to the West coast grandparents all. love, Dottie
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