Mission Impossible

Last week, the kids and I went to Arkansas, which means I flew with both of them by myself. Most of the people I talked to in the airport and who knew how we traveled asked me questions like "How did you do it?" "What were you thinking?" and "Are you crazy?" But we made it there and back without any major incidents or meltdowns.

But I did not go without a plan! For one thing, I planned not to have any downtime for myself. Just as a security measure, I made sure we all dressed alike.

To cut down on bulk we bought an umbrella stroller, which is conveniently light, but could not be pushed with one hand, so Caleb had to trail along behind me.

I attached a note to his ankle that had my cell number on it and told him to "look for someone who looks like a grandma" if he lost me and ask her to call it. I thought he didn't understand, but he clearly explained the whole thing to the man sitting behind us on one of our flights.

One of my distraction techniques was to introduce Caleb to a couple of things he'd never seen...like wax lips!

And we did a couple of art projects - here's our "barf bag sticker collage".

After everything, it was not as hard to travel with two as I thought it would be. Three is siginificantly more mature than 2 1/2 and Caleb was able to play by himself or look out the window most of the time. And Annalise was generally charming and thought everyone wanted to hold her. Thankfully, most of the people sitting next to us did!