Spring Has Sprung
Well, would you look at that? Sunday, spring officially started, and sure enough, today was sunny and warm with a high of 84. I love it! Oh, wait, that's right. I'm on vacation in Miami Beach. Boston is under a winter storm warning because they're expecting between six and eleven of inches of snow in the next twenty-four hours.
Doodles and I caught an early morning flight down. The last time I flew solo with him, it was a challenge but I was able to appease him with "D," aka the portable DVD player we got just for the trip. Ah, but the child has widened his horizons. There's so much more to life than just D. The airport was a blast for him. He stood at the window and said/signed over and over, "aihplane! aihplane!" I had a hard time pulling him away from the window to get him on the plane. As soon as I got the car seat into his seat, he wanted to play with the straps. Now mind you, he didn't want to get into the car seat, just play with it. A few forceful tugs on my part and in he was.
In the beginning, I was able to distract him with food. But then, somehow, my bottomless pit child filled up and wanted new things to do. But I had planned ahead. Doodles will sit at home for 45 minutes just lacing and unlacing his sneakers. There isn't enough room for him to do that in the car seat (he has a whole little routine down) so I bought him some lacing cards. It was a brilliant purchase. Only he played with it for fewer than two minutes. I pulled out books--new and old. I pulled out the magnadoodle. I sang him songs. No dice. So finally, we get in the air and I pull out the secret weapon. The DVD player. Which worked for about 20 minutes. And then he said, "All done. All done," violently making the sign. I tried singing again, but he cut me off with a "No!" (So much for my American Idol dream.) Milk (which I practically had to beg off the flight attendants because they don't actually serve milk on flights anymore) and a granola bar worked for about twenty minutes.
Of course, the flight was incredibly turbulent because of bad weather so we were flying low, which added almost a full half hour to our flight time. And it was too bumpy to let him walk around. Which is why I'd like to apologize to all the folks on Flight 937 sitting in rows, oh, say, 1 through 40, for the toddler who screamed for 30 minutes straight. At first I tried to appease. He turned down graham crackers. Said no to all my songs. Didn't want to be stroked or kissed. Didn't want to be read to. So, I did what any sane parent would do. I gave up. Yes, I am that mom, the mom with a toddler screaming in public who is simply ignoring him. The mom with the crying baby on a business flight who is doing nothing to quiet him. The mom casually reading American Way while tears stream down her child's face. Honestly there was nothing else that could be done. Eventually, he fell asleep about forty minutes before landing.
The only thing I can do is I promise that I shall not fly solo with that child (or future child) again for many, many years to come. I think I might be able to accompany him when he flies off to college. But it still may be a little too soon.
Doodles and I caught an early morning flight down. The last time I flew solo with him, it was a challenge but I was able to appease him with "D," aka the portable DVD player we got just for the trip. Ah, but the child has widened his horizons. There's so much more to life than just D. The airport was a blast for him. He stood at the window and said/signed over and over, "aihplane! aihplane!" I had a hard time pulling him away from the window to get him on the plane. As soon as I got the car seat into his seat, he wanted to play with the straps. Now mind you, he didn't want to get into the car seat, just play with it. A few forceful tugs on my part and in he was.
In the beginning, I was able to distract him with food. But then, somehow, my bottomless pit child filled up and wanted new things to do. But I had planned ahead. Doodles will sit at home for 45 minutes just lacing and unlacing his sneakers. There isn't enough room for him to do that in the car seat (he has a whole little routine down) so I bought him some lacing cards. It was a brilliant purchase. Only he played with it for fewer than two minutes. I pulled out books--new and old. I pulled out the magnadoodle. I sang him songs. No dice. So finally, we get in the air and I pull out the secret weapon. The DVD player. Which worked for about 20 minutes. And then he said, "All done. All done," violently making the sign. I tried singing again, but he cut me off with a "No!" (So much for my American Idol dream.) Milk (which I practically had to beg off the flight attendants because they don't actually serve milk on flights anymore) and a granola bar worked for about twenty minutes.
Of course, the flight was incredibly turbulent because of bad weather so we were flying low, which added almost a full half hour to our flight time. And it was too bumpy to let him walk around. Which is why I'd like to apologize to all the folks on Flight 937 sitting in rows, oh, say, 1 through 40, for the toddler who screamed for 30 minutes straight. At first I tried to appease. He turned down graham crackers. Said no to all my songs. Didn't want to be stroked or kissed. Didn't want to be read to. So, I did what any sane parent would do. I gave up. Yes, I am that mom, the mom with a toddler screaming in public who is simply ignoring him. The mom with the crying baby on a business flight who is doing nothing to quiet him. The mom casually reading American Way while tears stream down her child's face. Honestly there was nothing else that could be done. Eventually, he fell asleep about forty minutes before landing.
The only thing I can do is I promise that I shall not fly solo with that child (or future child) again for many, many years to come. I think I might be able to accompany him when he flies off to college. But it still may be a little too soon.
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