Traveling with a 4 year old, Part 2

Ok, so... we made it! And it wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. He was impatient, definitely. At 8 am, he was in my room... "Mommy, it is time to go? How about now? Is it time, now? How much longer? How about I wait in the car?" Excited much? So, I had to stall him for a couple of hours, but then we were on our way to to airport. Thank you, whoever invented the portable DVD player!

So, we said our goodbye's to Daddy, and off we went to wait in the outrageous lines that are now part of the airport experience. Connor and his new Mohawk were quite the hit! He was a really good boy, and thought it was the coolest thing ever to take off his shoes and go barefoot through the metal detector. I had grown a brain since he was a baby, and decided to have lunch at the airport - way more entertaining than just sitting at the gate. Of course, the choice du jour was McDonald's. And from there, we pretty much walked onto the plane.

A little aside... While in the tube-thingy you walk down to get on the plane, there was another family behind us - Mom, Dad, 3-ish year old boy, and an almost 1-ish year old girl. It was quite the entourage. Anyway, the boy was about as excited as Connor, and started asking Mom if it was time to get on the plane. Mom said that yes, it was, but first "we have to wait for the rest of the people to get on". The little boy immediately started saying, quite loudly, I might add, as only little ones can, "Go 'way, people! Go 'way!" I looked back with a grin and Dad looked mortified. I said, "'Go 'way'... excellent!" to the Dad, and to the boy, "I feel the same way, buddy!"

So, being that the aviation people are a little anal about what you can and cannot use during takeoff these days (I've been flying since I was a little kid, listening to my music all through take off, and no one ever died, by the way) it was a bit tricky keeping my son in his seat belt and distracted until the plane started moving. Once we pulled away from the gate - thank God we didn't have to sit on the runway! - Connor was the consummate boy... "WOW, MOMMY! This plane goes faster than your CAR! How does it DO that!?" And he proceeded to ask me a million questions about how planes work. And, yes, I admit I might have made up an answer or two.

He was really a very good boy through the flight. Even after the batteries on his DVD player were spent, and we discovered that the batteries on his hand held Leapster game we dead, he drew, colored, and played Go Fish with me until we were ready to land. He even kept to a minimal dozen are so "Are we there, yet?"s and "How much longer?"s.

When we got off the plane, he had his eyes peeled for Nanny, and sprinted the last 50 yards to give her a hug. He only ran over two or three sets of toes with his rolly backpack on the way. The worst part, by far, was waiting for the luggage to come out. That dang conveyor belt is just too tempting looking to not touch! I did, however, avoid giving him a beating. Narrowly. But, since he was so good on the plane, I thought he deserved a pass.

So, all in all... it appears that I will actually take Connor on the plane with me for the return trip, as opposed to checking him with the baggage. I will be sure to have fresh batteries, though! And, considering how much fun we're having so far - it's worth every minute of travel, and I'll do it again in a heartbeat.