We're off once more to the east coast, visiting bubbie, aunt I, and uncle S. Things started off promising, with a happy drive to the airport followed by Zachary happily saying 'wah wah!' when Meh asked him what color the giant yellow airport shuttle was, and then laughing and talking happily through the shuttle ride into the terminal. And that unfortunately concluded Zachary's happiness for at least a few hours; while ticket check-in went quickly, the luggage check lines were obscenely long and slow. Meh and Zachary (the latter esconced in his excellent stroller-adapted car seat) orbited the terminal while I waited for nearly 40 minutes to check our bags -- people were getting impatient left and right as lines closed (unannounced), other passengers had to shuffle their bags' contents for being over the weight limit (who carries 50+ pounds of luggage in a single bag?), and in general things were mildly unpleasant. Meanwhile, Zachary went from whiny to nearly inconsolable without explanation. Bags finally checked, we approached the security checkpoint, and had another 30+ minute wait, again with an angry little man. They of course had to take extra time to screen his bottles of milk, which didn't really help as the tears continued to flow.
Once we were up and moving through the terminal, he did a little bit better. But when we got to the gate, he again switched to angry tantrum mode, and was inconsolable for a good twenty minutes. Finally, Meh got him over to a window, and he stopped crying long enough to say 'ah-pah' (airplane) and start watching planes go by. This was of course just in time for us to board, leading to another round of crying. Finally on the plane, blankie and bunny came out, and he snuggled them and fell asleep. During the layover and next flight, he happily commented on the airplane and 'boo-bah!' (his new favorite blue truck toy) in between drinking what seemed like several gallons of milk and not eating much. We arrived late in the evening and were picked up by aunt I and uncle S, who had impressively acquired the full list of suggested baby paraphanalia from another friend who was a recent grandparent. Zachary was so exhausted that he went right to bed in the pack and play with minimal fuss.
Today was our first full day, and Meh's (very dedicated!) friend C drove all the way down from New York to visit for the day. After we met up, we were off to meet bubbie (Zachary's great-grandmother) for brunch, and things unfortunately went a bit downhill from here for the little man. Zachary still wasn't interested in food, and quickly moved into a tantrum. He was only happy once we got him outside, where there was a large fountain to look at and then wildly run around. After a tag-team dining experience, we ended up taking him home for a very needed nap, while Meh and C hopped the Metro into DC and got to enjoy some catch up time while perusing
Dorothy's Ruby Slippers at the Smithsonian, and visiting other monuments around the Mall.
Aunt I and I took him to a local park, where he played on the slides for a bit before we had to beat a hasty retreat from the mosquitoes. We all caught back up for dinner with bubbie, and Zachary had a good snuggle and play time with her. Aunt I and Uncle S have pulled out some of my cousins' old toys, and the little man has really taken to them, particularly all of the vehicles (anyone for a TMNT pizza launcher?) and a turtle on rollers that plays music; he'll press the music button and clap his hands when the music starts - so cute! Alas, the heavy travel (and lack of good naps) caught up with him, and he had a rough time getting down for the night; hopefully now that he's down, he'll sleep well and be ready to have a more consistently fun time tomorrow when we head to Baltimore's
Inner Harbor!
We're off once more to the east coast, visiting bubbie, aunt I, and uncle S. Things started off promising, with a happy drive to the airport followed by Zachary happily saying 'wah wah!' when Meh asked him what color the giant yellow airport shuttle was, and then laughing and talking happily through the shuttle ride into the terminal. And that unfortunately concluded Zachary's happiness for at least a few hours; while ticket check-in went quickly, the luggage check lines were obscenely long and slow. Meh and Zachary (the latter esconced in his excellent stroller-adapted car seat) orbited the terminal while I waited for nearly 40 minutes to check our bags -- people were getting impatient left and right as lines closed (unannounced), other passengers had to shuffle their bags' contents for being over the weight limit (who carries 50+ pounds of luggage in a single bag?), and in general things were mildly unpleasant. Meanwhile, Zachary went from whiny to nearly inconsolable without explanation. Bags finally checked, we approached the security checkpoint, and had another 30+ minute wait, again with an angry little man. They of course had to take extra time to screen his bottles of milk, which didn't really help as the tears continued to flow.
Once we were up and moving through the terminal, he did a little bit better. But when we got to the gate, he again switched to angry tantrum mode, and was inconsolable for a good twenty minutes. Finally, Meh got him over to a window, and he stopped crying long enough to say 'ah-pah' (airplane) and start watching planes go by. This was of course just in time for us to board, leading to another round of crying. Finally on the plane, blankie and bunny came out, and he snuggled them and fell asleep. During the layover and next flight, he happily commented on the airplane and 'boo-bah!' (his new favorite blue truck toy) in between drinking what seemed like several gallons of milk and not eating much. We arrived late in the evening and were picked up by aunt I and uncle S, who had impressively acquired the full list of suggested baby paraphanalia from another friend who was a recent grandparent. Zachary was so exhausted that he went right to bed in the pack and play with minimal fuss.
Today was our first full day, and Meh's (very dedicated!) friend C drove all the way down from New York to visit for the day. After we met up, we were off to meet bubbie (Zachary's great-grandmother) for brunch, and things unfortunately went a bit downhill from here for the little man. Zachary still wasn't interested in food, and quickly moved into a tantrum. He was only happy once we got him outside, where there was a large fountain to look at and then wildly run around. After a tag-team dining experience, we ended up taking him home for a very needed nap, while Meh and C hopped the Metro into DC and got to enjoy some catch up time while perusing Dorothy's Ruby Slippers at the Smithsonian, and visiting other monuments around the Mall.
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