Flying with a 21 month old

Flying with a 21 month old wasn't bad at all. Security was about the same as ever too. The airport I flew out of did have the new scanners. However, they didn't ask us to go through them or receive a pat down; we simply walked through the metal detector as usual. In fact, when they motioned me to a checkpoint I was the only person in that lane! As with my past experience at this airport the TSA agents were very helpful. The gentleman on the one side of the checkpoint helped me put my items on the belt as I put them in boxes. Theodore very obediently stood there with me as I unloaded everything. Although I did forget to take my laptop out of my bag (totally forgot I'd packed it!) and it had to be re-scanned, the agents were very friendly and nice about it. Several female agents with nothing to do (we went through at a slow time) chatted in a friendly fashion with my 21 month old as we waited for my laptop to be returned and loaded everything back up. As usual too they helped me re-collect my belongings. Nashville is a very good airport to fly through if you have a toddler or a baby.

I can't say enough how much I recommend Frontier Airlines. I love their service. The cabin is very clean, and it feels a little more roomy. Blue leather seats. I find the flight attendants very attentive, polite, and helpful. The stretch seating option is very cheap, luggage is free or very cheap, and they *give* out fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Yes, fresh baked. They bake them on the flight. Oooh, they're so warm and gooey and tasty! There's also DirecTV on board. It's $6 with the cheapest ticket option, but if you call DirecTV within 48 hours they give you a complete refund. With the other ticket options the DirecTV is included in the price.

Theodore did very well on the two flights. He didn't nap at all. He did catnap as we landed in Denver, but that was 5 minutes or less. Hardly counts. Yet despite that, he wasn't fussy. It made me enjoy my flight pretty well. On the second leg he did complain "mine, mine, mine" when he wanted my drink rather than his. It was very brief as I stopped him by the third "mine" and re-directed him to his, but an old man turned around and snapped "Can't you keep that $@&! kid quiet?!" which really upset me. I was tired. I thought of asking a stewardess if we could change seats and so not risk bothering him with Theodore's chatter (it had several empty seats). Decided to wait and see how things went, and although he chatted to me a bit on the rest of the flight that was the only time he actually whined and the old man complained. In fact, he was very happy on that flight, chattering about seeing "Brie" (my parents' dog).

Of course, it helped that I brought special travel toys with us. These included Lauri Toddler Toys Tote I bought at Toys to Treasure, Plan Toys Car with Person I bought at Little Ants a year ago, a Playmobil Propeller Plane, and a travel size AquaDoodle. Each of those kept him quietly entertained and some will last longer than others. Perhaps I'll tell you my experience/thoughts of some of them in another post...As we prepared to de-plane one flight attendant praised him for being "exceptionally well-behaved". That's what a mom needs to hear after having an old man snap and swear at you and your toddler!!! :(

We sat next to a charming young grandmother on the first flight. She slept half the flight and the rest of the flight she entertained Theodore for me. Her granddaughter is only a couple months old than Theodore. She had an ipad with her and showed Theodore some of the applications. Being a piano teacher she tried to get him to copy some notes on the keyboard application. He was far more interested in the application where you touch the screen and it creates stars, circles, etc that are colorful and repeatedly follow the path you finger just took. It did look very cool. I really appreciated having such a charming and friendly woman sitting next to us. Whoever she is, I wish her the best!

We're enjoying being with family and look forward to my husband joining us out here soon!