Annie On The Flight

My daughter Annie has been on a few flights already in her short life. I think she had been on four flights before this trip and the first two she was knocked out on Tylenol.

Don't look at me like that. She was sore from shots and still very young so even the smallest dose to help with the pain in her legs was enough to knock her out for the whole day. To say traveling with her that day was easy would be a huge understatement. It was more than ease, it was practically a joy. Here I was with this tiny infant, everyone oohing and ahhing over her as I held her asleep and cherubic in my arms.

What an angel.

On the flights back it was a different story. I think she just got bored and wanted to be moved around. Still too young to be down by herself, I got up with her and walked to the front of the plane, back to the back of the plane. To the front of the plane and back to the back of the plane. The plane was practically empty and no one really seemed to mind the crying baby, but it was nice that mine was not the only one that was crying as there was another parent - a mom - who was walking her baby as well.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

This was what I was prepared to do for these next two flights too. We got on the plane and it was a lot smaller and I thought that I didn't have very much walking room. Someone's foot would undoubtedly be sticking out into the isle and I may trip on it and jeez, I don't even want to THINK about what would happen next.

But Annie handled it like a champ. We got on the plane and she looked out the window to the other planes and signed "train" maybe because plane sounds so much like train, but maybe because train is her universal term for transportation devices be it plane, train or car. Everything is choo choo and a pull of the arm like she's tugging the horn of a steam locomotive. It's pretty cute.

We took off and she was great. I got up with her a few times to change her diapers and just walk around a bit but for the most part she was content to bounce between Mommy and me, looking out the window, trying to touch the man sitting next to me, sharing my iPod and digging Fall Out Boy.

On the next flight she was asleep. I'm not kidding when I say it was a short one. We took off, got to cruising altitude and immediately went into descent. It was easy and everyone commented on how well behaved my sleeping child was.

Not to take anything away from her or anything, but she was sleeping. How much trouble can a sleeping baby get into?

I was pretty proud nonetheless at how well Annie handled her flights. The flights back was more of the same, though the second and longest flight Annie was not happy with anything and was pretty loud. I'd say this was the most difficult flight to date with her. I felt bad for the guy sitting next to me (there seems to always be a guy sitting next to me and Kim's always closest to the window!). Annie kicked him once, touched the tattoo creeping out from beneath his shirt sleeve, spilled water on him, kicked the tray and spilled ICE on the poor guy and he handled it like it was nothing, which I greatly appreciated. I know I felt like a crummy parent, but here he was, being quiet for most of the flight but always quick to say "it's OK" when I apologized for my daughter's behavior and my sub-par parenting skills.

It's pretty hard to think you're a stellar parent when you can't keep control of your daughter in a space that can't be more than 2'X5'X2'.

But I survived. And now with another on the way I'll admit, I shudder a bit at the idea of plane rides, but you do what you have to do and it is quicker to fly than it is to drive, especially to someplace like beautiful Tucson, AZ!