The Tallahassee airport had a kids play area (rug with letters on it, wooden structure with activities like movable beads, mirrors, etc) at our gate and Alisa didn't want to leave it to get on the plane. What a great idea to help entertain the kids (though I hate to think how many germs are on all that stuff)! We were wanting to wait until the last minute to board the plane so she'd have to sit on my lap less so when it was time to go we had to quickly tear her away from the play area as she cried. She stopped crying once we made it to the ramp though.
I was a bit nervous about flying for the 1st time with Alisa because I wasn't sure how she'd do on the plane (I figured she scream and cry to get down and walk around all the time). To our relief, she did pretty well since we kept her busy with books, snacks, toys and listening to music on Daddy's iPod. She spent a lot of time flipping through the airplane magazine, pointing to the letters and having me make the sounds for each one (it's been good timing with her recent obsession with letters). She did wiggle a lot but since she didn't have to be buckled in a seat I let her stand on my legs facing me while holding my hands for balance and then stand or sit on the floor for a bit (anything to keep her quiet and to keep her from kicking the seat in front of us). She laughed when the plane lurched a bit during each ascent and descent because it tickled her tummy. That was so cute! She waved and said hi to those around us, babbled and laughed at a baby that was behind us on one flight and at a lady across the aisle who was playing peek-a-boo with her on another flight. She even slept a bit on 2 of the flights. I tried to get her to suck on her sippy cup or chew some food to help pop her ears but she didn't always do it so thankfully she wasn't bothered by the pressure.
Alisa pooped in her diaper about an hour before our 2nd plane landed and it was so stinky (as is the norm these days). There was no place I could change her (she throws a fit and squirms a lot when I change her in public anyway) so we just had to wait until we got to the airport. I felt bad for the guy next to us (Alisa and I were sitting in the middle seat of the set of 3 seats), but what could I do? Her only outburst on the plane was while we were waiting to get off the plane. She wanted to sit in my seat by herself so she was trying to push/pull me off and was crying loudly because she wasn't getting what she wanted. She would have kept crying about it if I didn't either let her have the seat or pick her up and distract her. For the sake of the other passengers, I let her have the seat and I stood crouched over until it was our turn to get off.
She was fussy during each of our short layovers because it was her naptime. She was tired, but since there was so much activity around us in the airport, she decided she wanted to walk around. It was a bit tricky since our layovers were short and we needed to get to our gate, go to the bathroom, change her diaper, get some food and eat it, all while she was trying to run off. We couldn't abandon our luggage, so one of us had to go to the bathroom while the other one tried to keep Alisa still by our luggage and then one of us ate while the other walked around with Alisa. It was pretty exhausting keeping up with Alisa at the airport and even just holding her on my lap on the plane, trying to keep her from crying and disturbing those around us.
Next time we fly we will have to pay for Alisa's ticket, but she will be older and easier to care for (though we might have another baby by then too). She will be able to sit still better and occupy the time by coloring or something. And she probably won't be such a messy eater (she got cheese & cracker crumbs all over both her hands, her face, her shirt, her pants, my pants and my shirt during several flights but luckily I had wet wipes handy).
