Cruising Altitude

We are getting ready to travel this week to visit family up north. I am so excited to spend quality time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and dear friends. I am looking forward to cool evenings when the temperature changes to 65 degrees and you have to put on a light jacket. I can’t wait to dance the night away with Mike as we celebrate his cousin’s wedding. I am enthusiastic about the whole trip with the exception of the flight. I am not what one would call a ‘good flier”. I tend to be a bit of a white-knuckler when flying and the thought of turbulences makes me get diarrhea. My anxiety about this flight however, is not about being 32,000 feet in the air, but rather being confined to an airplane with my 21 month old daughter.

Audrey is full of energy and sass, always on the move and plowing through those trying to stop her. She is a good girl, they love her at daycare, but try and get her to sit for too long and you are asking for it. I think at her age ants in the pants is common and its just a matter of managing through it. I have put a lot of thought and prayer into how to handle the flights to and from CT and have come up with a best laid plan. In full disclosure, some close to us encouraged us to try Benadryl to make her sleepy, even though it says right on the box, ‘do not use to sedate your child’. 

I was totally against the idea until Audrey acted up in public last Friday night, and it took a good two glasses of wine for my nerves to settle after two time-outs. It just so happened that Audrey had some nasty mosquitoes bites that she kept itching, so I gave her some Benadryl right before her nap yesterday. I felt like it was a good trial run to see how she reacted. Guess what, Benadryl is not some miracle fix that parents write about on the internet. Audrey got a little drowsy but she did not sleep any longer than she normally does, and in fact woke up cranky. So drugging my daughter on the plane is out. This is what is in:

• Her brand-new, never before seen Dora backpack with wheels that she will get at the airport
• New books, stickers and puzzles
• Beads, stretchy key chains, and random do-dads that toddlers seem to love
• Her favorite Barney and Sesame Street videos- hello laptop!
• New downloads of the abovementioned shows- hello iPad!
• Goldfish, cereal bars, and cookies-carb loading because it keeps her happy and full
• Telling her the flight attendants are like her teachers at school and she needs to listen; hoping the flight attendants will work with me on flexing their authority muscles in front of her
• Prayers for: 1. a safe flight 2. a child who will sleep (it is her naptime on the way up), and 3. patience for me and my husband
• Speaking of patience…alcohol is in, especially for my husband. Mike can’t handle Audrey having bad behavior in public, let alone an airplane so he needs to drink…a lot. I am not saying she will be naughty, I am just saying he will need to be buzzed in case she is
• Singing songs over and over, “ABCs” and “Itsy Bitsy” may get old on normal days, but not on travel days
• Paying extra for “extra leg room”. We didn’t get Audrey her own seat because there are only two seats to a row, so we selected Row 1 where we have “extra living space” (according to Jetblue) due to the space between the row and the bulkhead wall. Once the seatbelt sign is off Audrey can march around that space if so needed

So that is my plan in a nutshell. Some, all, or none of it may work, I will let you know once our feet have touched the ground, unless of course it doesn’t get well and you see us on a YouTube video that a fellow passenger took of us. Here’s hoping we don’t go viral.