The Journey Back to Chicago
I can't tell you the trepidation I felt taking Sasha to the airport. It was the kind of anxiety that makes you lose sleep for days in advance. He had been cranky on dry land for five days straight so how good could it be to take him on a plane??
We arrived at IAH with three bags to check (yes, Sasha's new fall wardrobe definitely took up a lot of space). Dad waited in the car while we curb checked them as navigating a large airport with a stroller, baby, carry on bag and three huge suitcases wasn't something that I could do alone (although I will admit that I have navigated Charles de Gaulle with two rolling bags, a laptop bag and a carry on suitcase ... it wasn't a pretty sight but we eventually made it to check in).
Dad waited with us until it was time to make our way to the gate. We said our goodbyes and headed toward security. The heightened level of airport security is always interesting to see. I usually consider myself expert in navigating through security. We were instructed that all shoes had to be removed which was different than our trip down 10 days ago. Here we go. Sasha HATES to have his shoes removed and started a full out melt down. I kept promising that we would put them back on in a second but it's hard to reason with a 19 month old that surely doesn't know what I'm saying. We finally made it through security, got his shoes on and dried his tears. Fortunately, the gentlemen behind me said he had a daughter like Sasha. He explained that he and his wife had taken their THREE young children on a recent airplane trip. I informed him that he was either a braver man than I was or he was crazy. He laughed.
We made it to our gate which was the absolute furthest distance from check-in possible. I'm not sure why this is always my way but it is. This same force is also at work at Target and Walmart where I am sure to always pick the slowest line. Strange but true. We were almost at a run to make it to our gate on time. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that our flight was delayed by an hour. At this point, I will also tell you that I have rarely ever flown out of IAH on time. O'Hare provides about a 1 in 3 chance of departing on time. So, the combination of flying from IAH to O'Hare provides you about a 0 chance of ever leaving or arriving on time. Another sad but true fact. Traveling in the afternoon is challenging for Sasha. He misses his morning nap and this eats into his afternoon nap. And, yes, he can be quite charming. However, he can also be the world's largest crab sans sleep and believing that Mom is being mean to him by making him hang out in his stroller and not allowing him to pitch food on the floor.
We finally boarded our plane and were fortunate enough to sit in 2A. For all of you non-airplane junkies (I am with you ... my Dad is the expert), 2A is located in business class just behind the coat closet which offers more leg room. Sasha started squalling almost immediately. He was not excited to be on a plane, not excited to be pinned in to a small area and certainly not excited about having to sit on my lap during take off. I once again mentioned to him how sad it was that he was re-affirming my believe that he should be able to drive a car before we flew together again. Wouldn't it be sad that we couldn't visit Baba and Granddaddy more often?? My words had no affect on him. I finally entertained him by demonstrating how the window shutters slide up and down. So, we proceeded to slide the shutter up and down 200 more times until we were in the air. I put him down on the floor with a pillow and bed roll and he fell asleep with a minimal amount of fussing. He slept until I had to wake him for landing. Again ... he's not very happy when he has to be woken up. Wailing on HIGH. I showed him how the window shutters still go up and down. He played with them until we landed.
Now you may be thinking, "Wow, he slept for an hour and a half on the plane. What more could you want?". The challenge is that when you've had a child wail so loud that you think you're ears on going to bleed and that the flight crew is likely to cast you out over the Atlantic Ocean, you're forever worried that he'll awake and start up again. So, even the quiet moments are spent in fear.
This week is a week full of rallies (for all you non-Scout types, rallies are ways that we invite boys to join Cub Scouts. As membership chair, recruiting new members is my responsibility) for us. Our babysitter isn't available tonight so we'll be taking Sasha with us. I'm not looking forward to that. Fortunately, my friend Chris (super Mom) is coming with me to help with the rally so at least it's not just me, a bunch of perspective cub scouts and their parents and a screaming baby.
This weekend we're heading to a class on Tough Start Kids which should be good. Many of the 'freaky' behaviors we've noticed (picking up all the dog kibble and placing it back into the bowls, spending a hour evening the food levels between the two dog bowls, picking up pieces of stuff on the floor and placing it in the garbage. All nice skills for our house but not qualities that we'd expect in a 19 month old) are a result of being institutionalized we've been told. This class should shed some light on the subject. Should be interesting.
We arrived at IAH with three bags to check (yes, Sasha's new fall wardrobe definitely took up a lot of space). Dad waited in the car while we curb checked them as navigating a large airport with a stroller, baby, carry on bag and three huge suitcases wasn't something that I could do alone (although I will admit that I have navigated Charles de Gaulle with two rolling bags, a laptop bag and a carry on suitcase ... it wasn't a pretty sight but we eventually made it to check in).
Dad waited with us until it was time to make our way to the gate. We said our goodbyes and headed toward security. The heightened level of airport security is always interesting to see. I usually consider myself expert in navigating through security. We were instructed that all shoes had to be removed which was different than our trip down 10 days ago. Here we go. Sasha HATES to have his shoes removed and started a full out melt down. I kept promising that we would put them back on in a second but it's hard to reason with a 19 month old that surely doesn't know what I'm saying. We finally made it through security, got his shoes on and dried his tears. Fortunately, the gentlemen behind me said he had a daughter like Sasha. He explained that he and his wife had taken their THREE young children on a recent airplane trip. I informed him that he was either a braver man than I was or he was crazy. He laughed.
We made it to our gate which was the absolute furthest distance from check-in possible. I'm not sure why this is always my way but it is. This same force is also at work at Target and Walmart where I am sure to always pick the slowest line. Strange but true. We were almost at a run to make it to our gate on time. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that our flight was delayed by an hour. At this point, I will also tell you that I have rarely ever flown out of IAH on time. O'Hare provides about a 1 in 3 chance of departing on time. So, the combination of flying from IAH to O'Hare provides you about a 0 chance of ever leaving or arriving on time. Another sad but true fact. Traveling in the afternoon is challenging for Sasha. He misses his morning nap and this eats into his afternoon nap. And, yes, he can be quite charming. However, he can also be the world's largest crab sans sleep and believing that Mom is being mean to him by making him hang out in his stroller and not allowing him to pitch food on the floor.
We finally boarded our plane and were fortunate enough to sit in 2A. For all of you non-airplane junkies (I am with you ... my Dad is the expert), 2A is located in business class just behind the coat closet which offers more leg room. Sasha started squalling almost immediately. He was not excited to be on a plane, not excited to be pinned in to a small area and certainly not excited about having to sit on my lap during take off. I once again mentioned to him how sad it was that he was re-affirming my believe that he should be able to drive a car before we flew together again. Wouldn't it be sad that we couldn't visit Baba and Granddaddy more often?? My words had no affect on him. I finally entertained him by demonstrating how the window shutters slide up and down. So, we proceeded to slide the shutter up and down 200 more times until we were in the air. I put him down on the floor with a pillow and bed roll and he fell asleep with a minimal amount of fussing. He slept until I had to wake him for landing. Again ... he's not very happy when he has to be woken up. Wailing on HIGH. I showed him how the window shutters still go up and down. He played with them until we landed.
Now you may be thinking, "Wow, he slept for an hour and a half on the plane. What more could you want?". The challenge is that when you've had a child wail so loud that you think you're ears on going to bleed and that the flight crew is likely to cast you out over the Atlantic Ocean, you're forever worried that he'll awake and start up again. So, even the quiet moments are spent in fear.
This week is a week full of rallies (for all you non-Scout types, rallies are ways that we invite boys to join Cub Scouts. As membership chair, recruiting new members is my responsibility) for us. Our babysitter isn't available tonight so we'll be taking Sasha with us. I'm not looking forward to that. Fortunately, my friend Chris (super Mom) is coming with me to help with the rally so at least it's not just me, a bunch of perspective cub scouts and their parents and a screaming baby.
This weekend we're heading to a class on Tough Start Kids which should be good. Many of the 'freaky' behaviors we've noticed (picking up all the dog kibble and placing it back into the bowls, spending a hour evening the food levels between the two dog bowls, picking up pieces of stuff on the floor and placing it in the garbage. All nice skills for our house but not qualities that we'd expect in a 19 month old) are a result of being institutionalized we've been told. This class should shed some light on the subject. Should be interesting.
posted by Tamara at 10:46 AM
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