little miss westjet

Madeline and I arrived home again (home is still St. John's) from yet another trip to Edmonton. This trip represented my third and fourth time taking Madeline on an airplane solo, right across the country. I've decided that it's really not the big deal that I thought it was. The hardest part was the three-hour layover that we had in Toronto, because Pearson International is a sucky airport if you're too young to pass the time away in Starbucks. Madeline and I walked though all of the Gates AXX, BXX, and CXX, and we could not find a single children's area. Not even a tiny lego table. The funnest part of the layover for Madeline was the family washroom, where she spent ten minutes splashing in the sink.

I've gotten better at packing our carry-on bag. This time, I only took:

• crayons
• a ziplock full of sheets of stickers
• a hardcover composition book for stickers and drawing in
• three softcover picture books
• a travel-sized DoodlePro
• a couple of Phidal sticker books (fairies and Winnie the Pooh)
• extra diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes
• portable DVD with three Pixar films (useful for the layover in Toronto)
• a few packs of raisins, a container of Cheerios, and a couple string cheeses, in a ziplock bag

which is good because my backpack doesn't hold much!  The most popular items were the crayons, the stickers, and the little DoodlePro.

On our flight between Edmonton and Toronto yesterday, we were seated in Row 16, and the seats in front of us were occupied by another solo-traveling mom and two toddlers, and in front of her, another solo-traveling mom with a toddler and an infant. Madeline was the only one in a carseat, and each of the three flight attendants came by and said that they were glad that I had Madeline in the carseat for the flight. She was the most content toddler on the plane, and seeing the other one and two year-olds wiggle, wander, and squirm made me feel better about my choice to use the Marathon on airplanes, even if hauling it through airports cramps my usual jet-setting style. I should have bought a set of the GoGo Kidz wheels a year ago ...

Madeline seems to have mastered the names of the buy-on-board snacks that the flight attendants sell on WestJet flights. Yesterday, when I said that I was going to buy one of their yummy turkey-and-swiss sandwiches for us to share, she said, "and Pringles and Twizzlers!" I wonder if she even knew what those things are?

Comments

[Helen]

I really appreciate all your posts about travel. I found an old post of yours that mentioned a FAA-approved child-restraint system for airplanes, and I'm going to buy it.

[Terri]

I didn't realize you weren't back in Calgary yet. Glad to hear the trip went well and you were able to keep Madeline amused in the airport as well as on the plane. I agree, Pearson airport is not a fun place to be if you have a 3 hour layover.