Papaya Mom

The moment it is over you start to forget the pain.

We awoke this morning at 5 a.m. EST, went first to the wrong aiport (National) then to the right one (Dulles) where we flew to Atlanta and then on to Hawaii. The first flight was two hours, Papaya was a dream and charmed everyone. Even though I was on Delta (the lactivist in me was angry at myself but I bought the tickets before the most recent scandal) we still managed to land at B terminal and transfer to E terminal in 45 minutes, um, thanks for nothing.

We boarded our second flight to find that it was an OLD plane, the first class had two window, two middle, and two window. Great, so our C/D seats were in the middle of the isle. You may wonder what is wrong with this, if you do, than you do not have a toddler. Every f^%T*&*& toy on the ground, thrown in a direction I could not reach. So…we taxi out and spend an hour on the runway and then 9 1/2 in flight time. Needless to say, Papaya was a dream and difficult for me all at the same time. Her feet touched the seat in front of her which bothers her OCD (inherited) so she kicked the man in front of her the whole flight, he complained once but when realizing that I would try to stop but not abuse my child over the light kicking of a seat pocket, he gave up.

I often end up in situations like this and something is done or said to annoy me. In the moment, I put up with it and move on. Then I steam for days and weeks with wonderful witty retorts dancing in my head like sugar plum faries. So, I sat ther enad came up with a bunch just in case. My luck, the guy never said another word and complimented Papaya as we left the plane at the end of the flight. I guess I’m just not meant to be witty.

The last two hours were the toughest, Papaya screamed for “down” and I did not blame her. Only chasing her up and down isles is tough and only half the people are impressed with a toddler running past them again and again and saying “hi” or something else equally cute like “vagina” (no, she didn’t, but she could have and then what would I have done?). We westled and climbed and ate ice cream and did everyhing in our power including Finding Nemo Flashcards to get through those last moments.

We arrived at 4:15 p.m. PST and Papaya was very excited to get off the plane. I practically threw her at her Tutu and went to get our baggage. On the drive home she fell asleep and took a three hour nap which allowed me to unpack, shower, change and pick up some Korean BBQ to share with the family for dinner. Oh it was tasty and the leftovers will be tomorrow too!

In her bath Papaya played happily and sang songs. My Mom and I sat there talking and laughing at her fart bubbles. Note: this is where a good parent would have taken the action of sitting her toddler on the potty. Instead, I did not think of that and let her sit there. Serious floaters. Big ones, like drain the tub and wash it out floaters, like fish them out and flush them floaters because they are almost adult size. I guess that is what happens when you finally get out of your prison (carseat) after 10+ hours and have warm water relaxing your tummy.

So it’s like childbirth, it is over and I’m *starting* to forget the pain. I did however offer Adventure Dad the option of coming out here and picking up his daughter and taking her home all by himself, only this was my idea and not his, so as much as I’d like someone else to be guilty, it’s just me.

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I’ve upgraded to beta baby, I know your jealous so I’ll leave it at that.

I’m home and somehow managed to get a little runny nose/sneeze thing from where I don’t know. Maybe that nice man behind us in line at Burger King? I mean I spent most of my goddamn time IN THE CAR, so I expect to be at least a bit protected from common folk.

Luckily, Papaya is well and showing no runny nose issues. Thank goodness as she and I have a big day ahead of us this week.

14 hours of travel to go and see Tutu and Bumpa! We’ve got a backpack full of never-before-seen toys, 7 movies on the iPod and at last resort, snacks galore and my prayers that we survive. Oh, God of all babies, please bless me with a day of calm Papaya who is happy to sit in her carseat on a plane she does not know is moving and play with things, please let her sleep soundly, a lot and let me get to Hawaii without loosing my mind. And while you are at it, could you please make the same true when we come home? Thanks.

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