Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Flying With Your Toddler

We just came back from visiting my sister and her husband in Boston. It was a great trip and we wish we were still there. The flight was roughly 3 hours and I can't tell you how many days I spent going over the what-ifs with little Ricky in my head. What if he has a tantrum? What if he barfs all over the place on the plane? What if he tells the lady at the counter that she is chubby?

I am happy to report that the hours in flight were wonderful. The only time we were worried was when we all had to take our shoes off in security. Ricky started to cry and say "No mommy, keep shoes on" and he started to cry VERY loudly. After trying to redirect his attention in a multitude of ways, the only thing that worked was reverting to my grandmother's strategy of fear and telling him that the policeman standing over there will take me and daddy away if he didn't stop crying. It worked, but I still regret telling him that and I cringe whenever I remember it.

The trick to flying with a toddler is buying those tiny sticker books for $1.50, coloring books, and a portable DVD player. We thought we could avoid buying the DVD player by occupying him with other things but it ended up saving the day in the end. Ricky was so engrossed in books and DVDs on both flights that nobody would ever guess we had a toddler with us.

And no, he didn't barf, but I had 2 changes of clothes just in case!

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