Flying with small children

I went to Iraq in the service of my country. I got through combat take-offs and combat landings without wanting to kill everyone around me. I've been through mortar attacks. And none of that scared me nearly as much as loading MiniZiggy and MiniMachine on a plane and flying cross-country. I was terrified that I was going to be one of those horror stories that you see on tv, the woman that gets kicked off the plane because her children won't stop screaming. I was pretty confident that was going to be me. And it seemed like it was almost true.

Ziggy and I kept MiniZiggy up, thinking that he'd sleep on the way to the airport in DC. Yea, I couldn't have been more wrong. He whined almost the entire 3 and a half hours to Reagan National. Which grated my nerves thin, very quickly. I can't stand it when he whines like that. Runs me nuts and I have no patience for it. Well, we made it to the airport, and MiniZiggy dragged his feet going into the airport. Then, going through security he threw a tantrum, fabulous. So we get to the gate, and we have to wait about an hour before we can board the plane. That's ok, except both MiniZiggy and MiniMachine want to roam around, and in opposite directions from each other, making it difficult for me to keep up with both of them, and keep track of the baggage. MiniMachine was a real trooper, it must be said. She was fabulous up until we got to the bottom of the ramp to the plane, and she had to get out of the stroller, as it was being checked at the plane. Then she freaked out, and I'm still not too sure why. Big tears, pouty lip, little arms stretched out to Mama for comfort. So I was the woman getting on the plane with a 3 year old who was being stubborn, a 16-month-old that's crying and clinging to me, and a car seat. The flight attendants were NOT at all helpful, nor polite.

The first flight wasn't too bad, despite the flight attendants and their lack of help or manners. MiniMachine slept most of the time and MiniZiggy wanted to know what all was going on. I thought he'd flip when the engines started, but he was good. we took off, and all 3 of us were almost instantly asleep.

Thank goodness for the nice folks at the Armed Services Service Center in Minneapolis! They were so helpful, with toys for the kids to amuse themselves with, and hot food for them to eat. Best of all, they escorted me through security so I could get to the gate faster. They were so nice, and so helpful.

The second flight was longer than I had thought, unfortunately. But we made it, with minimal dirty looks from other passengers because the kids didn't want to sit in seats anymore.

I dread doing it again in 2 weeks, on the reverse flight back........































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