Flying with a Toddler

This post is mostly a reminder to Andrew and me to think long and hard about traveling again.  I can't even imagine how people can travel with more than one kid! Heather and Charles, if you even read this, I totally get why you both keep saying that you are done traveling and want people to come visit you instead! The last time we were on a plane with Penny she was a very angelic three month old that happily slept through most of the trip or sat quietly on laps.  She is still our little angel baby, but like most toddlers, she physically cannot sit still.

The trip started with Penny like this:

And quickly melted into this:

Then there were lots and lots and lots of tears. The screaming was on and off until the "seatbelt" sign went back on as they were preparing for landing, meaning we still had about a half hour to go.  If we could had we would have taken her for a little walk up and down the aisle but this was no longer and option.  Nothing calmed her down.  Then by some miracle (literally a miracle) she fell asleep in my arms.  It has been almost a year since Penny would fall asleep on us, she will just resist sleep until she is left alone and laying down.  

I had to take a picture of this moment because it is so rare.  Please excuse my weird face, I didn't want to draw attention to the fact that I was taking a picture.  As silly as it sounds, this was the highlight of my trip.  I have really missed cuddling my sleeping baby.  

On the way home, we had an early flight.  Penny is not an early riser and she did not appreciate being woken up at 5:30 am.  We had decided to fly on a discount airline to save a little money, and suddenly, this seemed like a really bad idea.  I assumed the flight would be packed, their weight limit for checked bags was 40 pounds instead of 50, which we found out the night before and then frantically tried to find a place in our backpacks for the extra 10 pounds.  I could go on, but I will spare you.  In the end, the flight had a bunch of empty rows at the end of the plane so Penny got her own seat (wish we had known before we gate checked her carseat)! All of our prayers were answered again on this flight, shortly after take off Penny quietly curled into me and fell asleep. 

The stuff around her mouth is a chocolate granola bar we distracted her with as we were boarding.  See that empty row next to us??  I am still a little annoyed they told us the flight was completely booked and we couldn't bring our carseat...

Now that I have written that all out, it doesn't sound as bad as it felt at the time.  I think the worry and stress of traveling is often worse than the actual traveling.  Penny is normally such a perfect, happy kid that we are pretty ill equipped when she is not.  Maybe this trip was just to help train us for how crazy our life is going to get when Penny's little sister joins our family.