I am sure that you all know that my little Monkey is just a angel…well except for the plant incident, and the almost constant danger seeking behavior, her theft of my stuff, and the tantrums over her hat.
This Thanksgiving we hopped on an airplane and flew to Dallas to visit Family. We have flown with Monkey one other time and she was wonderful on the way out, but on the trip back she left something to be desired (i.e. she cried the whole way home). I was so nervous for our trip mostly because I was unsure how Monkey would act. She is normally a very well behaved toddler, or at least she is well behaved for toddler standards, but now that she can walk I assumed the worst. After all what good is walking if you are forced to sit on your daddy’s lap for 2 hours? I think any toddler would prefer walking around an airplane full of people receiving as much attention from every passenger as humanly possible instead of being held against their will with their parents.
I packed and planned as much as possible. I included no less than 9 different books, crackers, raisins, cheese, a peanut butter sandwich, sippy cup filled with water, cereal, fruit filled cereal bars, bananas, a jacket, and two small golf balls (she likes golf balls). If I could have thought of other things to bring along I probably would have but I figured the other passengers would appreciate it if we didn’t bring her Leap Frog ride on Train that sings songs and talks at an annoying volume even when you are not in the same room with it let alone an airplane row back.
We waited until the last possible minute to board the plane so that she would have the least amount of time possible to sit on that plane. The flight was packed so we of course took the last two seats and I wondered how that poor woman who saw us walking towards those 2 empty seats next to her felt. I was sure that she was probably cursing us under her breath.
Turns out Monkey loves airplanes and had a great time looking out the window at all the other planes we passed while making our way to the runway. She has known the ASL sign for airplane for a while and had a blast being able to identify, label, and tell us about every plane we saw.
So when we took off we started to worry again…Oh, crap no airplanes in sight any more, here comes the fit. Then she discovered that telling Luke to put the window shade up and then put the window shade down and then put the window shade up and, you get my point, was a blast. This little game kept her entertained for at least 20 minutes.
Then came the books and the TV in the head rest. For the record we did not purchase the DirecTV service but she liked the commercial channel they ran. Then our Captain came on and to our surprise told us we would be arriving a half hour early! What!?!? Planes can arrive early?!?!?
Then the woman sitting next to us (who had purchased TV) announced to us that our daughter was adorable and she was flying to Dallas to visit her granddaughters. Then she promptly changed her TV to Nickelodeon and pulled Monkey to her lap. She spent the next 20 minutes talking with Monkey about cartoon dogs and gorillas. When we parked at the gate the row of women behind us stood up, looked at us and said “Oh, I didn’t even know there was a baby right in front of us! What a good little girl you have!” I couldn’t argue with them she was an angel.
Monkey didn’t fuss once, she also didn’t nap once which I thought might cause a few issues while we finished up at the airport. I was wrong. She was a good girl while we waited at baggage claim, and she continued her good behavior while we waited for our ride.
Since our angel baby flew down to Dallas with us I was sure that a devil baby would make an appearance on the flight back to Denver. Monkey proved me wrong, really really wrong. She actually fell asleep for part of the flight. My kid out preformed other kids on the plane and acted like she was a professional flier.
Trust me I would love to follow up the story of her flying with a paragraph or two of about her behavior during our stay in Dallas. Alas that is something I cannot in all honesty do. She had her moments of angel like behavior while she insisted on kissing her baby cousin multiple time while calling her a baba, charming everyone with her impression of a cat (Ow, Ow, Ow), or identifying the animals at the aquarium. These moments were of course separated by bouts of throwing food on the floor, attacking and chasing her aunt and uncles cats, and screaming in every restaurant we visited (which was a lot.)
Over all it was a great trip, even though Luke and I woke up with colds our second day there. We had a wonderful time meeting our sweet little niece who was so calm, smiley and happy.
So Shea if your reading: Thank you for hosting us in your new home, we had a wonderful time. I hope your niece didn’t make too much of a mess in the kitchen and that Finley and Monster are happy to have their home and safety back. I hope you all made it out cold free and were able to keep your sanity through all the house guests!
So to get back into the Evolving Mommy groove here is my Sunday 5: The lessons I Learned From This Trip.
1. You can never keep enough books on hand. Monkey loves the Thomas the Tank Engine book “Go Train Go,” she calls it “Go, Go.”
2. Don’t let your toddler actually get hungry. Hungry has the potential to equal impatience and breakdown. I already knew this one but was reminded of this on my trip.
3. Fly Frontier. Half and hour early, TVs in the seat back, and friendly Flight attendants. We are not sure why but they didn’t even charge us for our checked baggage.
4. Pack light. The less bags the better. Use backpacks when you can. The more hands you have the better.
5. Children get progressively louder through their first years of life. My niece was so quite, even when she was crying it was not match for Monkey’s regular talking. I am wondering just how loud she will get?
