Wrestling the Proverbial Leopard

The title of this post if for Clark, and for this picture:

The "leopard" I wrestled was flying alone with 2 young children and surviving!

I have to say my travels last Tuesday went more smoothly than I had expected. I thought getting through security and checking in would be a nightmare by myself, but it wasn't so bad. The hardest part was waiting 3 hours (Clark had to get back for class so he dropped us off early) in a tiny wing of the Omaha airport before our plane took off, Ethan asked me every 5 minutes if it was time to go on the airplane.

Once we got on the airplane things were going great, Ethan was watching a Thomas movie, and we were enjoying our complimentary drinks when Caden had a blowout...all over his pants and shirt. I didn't really feel like leaving Ethan unattended in his seat while I went to change Caden, so all three of us walked carefully to the bathroom at the back of the plane. As soon as we got there the flight attendant informed me that the changing table was in the front bathroom. So at a curious 2 year old's pace we finally made it to the front of the plane. I quickly realized there was no way all 3 of us could fit in the tiny bathroom. Luckily, there was a really sweet lady in the front row who entertained Ethan for a couple of mins. while I changed the diaper.

By the time we made it back to our seats everyone on the plane thought Ethan was pretty cute and entertaining, so I figured they all forgave us when he repeatedly yelled, "our plane is going down, our plane is going down," in his loudest voice during the landing.

We had a short layover in Denver...long enough to ride the train a few times, long enough for Ethan to pretend to be a cat and meow at everyone, long enough to go back and forth on the moving walkways, and just long enough for Ethan to open the door to the handicapped bathroom stall while I was using it. Unfortunately, that stall is in the middle of the ladie's room, and the extra large door opened out into the bathroom. So I was stuck there, pleading with Ethan to shut the door. He didn't. All I can say is, it was bad! Our short layover in Denver turned out to be WAY TOO LONG! By the time we got on the plane I was done, luckily for Ethan and for me he fell asleep and slept the whole flight. When we landed he was so ticked that he didn't get to watch his movie or drink an apple juice because he had slept the whole time.

It is good that I have a couple of weeks before I have to head to the airport again!