The mere thought of traveling on a plane with my 21-month-old son made me pretty nervous. For years my husband and I were those kid-free folks on the plane traveling to Vegas or Los Angeles to have a good time. We were put off by screaming babies on airplanes (or screaming babies anywhere). Now I was boarding a plane as a parent traveling with her toddler, and based on my kid-free plane experiences, I didn’t want my kid to be the Plane Screamer. The first right move I made was buying Rowdy his own ticket. Although it’s difficult to pass up a free ride (kiddos under 2 years old fly free on your lap), I had a feeling that my super tall, curious, walking toddler would not be very happy sitting still on my lap for 2.5 hours crammed in tight right next to a total stranger who’s arm he would surely touch and grab throughout the flight. So I bit the bullet and got my kiddo his own seat. The first wrong move I made was planning on Rowdy to sit in his car seat in the plane. First of all, it was a pain in the butt to carry through the airport and onto the plane. But worse, it made the area so cramped that it allowed my son’s long legs to touch the seat in front of him, which he (of course) began to kick immediately. When the couple in front of us started whispering about the kicking (um, I can hear you) I quickly flagged down a flight attendant asking if we could get rid of the car seat. Luckily, the nice folks at Southwest Airlines checked it for me and Rowdy sat on the seat with his feet several inches from the seat in front of him. Another good thing I did was that I made sure I was super prepared. I had diapers, wipes, a change of clothes for Rowdy, fruit chew snacks just in case his ears popped, lots of other snacks just to keep him happy, a bottle of water, his sippy cup, my laptop and my personal items. We watched Toy Story on my computer and ate snacks during the flight, and as you can see on the picture, he finally fell asleep after we landed at our destination. Our flight back home went good as well. Unfortunately, I did get the pleasure of changing a dirty diaper in an airplane bathroom. It worked out just fine, but it was cramped, to say the least. I experienced Rowdy’s first plane ride on my own because my husband was already in Florida waiting for us to arrive. Although it would have been easier with my husband by my side, I managed it just fine without him and should have known that my sweet kiddo would pull through for me. He did great.
Kind Kiddo 