Flying solo

I gotta say it - I’m proud of myself. The weekend before last I flew solo with Kaia from Indianapolis to Manchester, NH via La Guardia. Anyone who has ever traveled solo with a baby knows what a feat this is. Kaia and I expended this effort to attend my big sister’s birthday party. It’s a girl party to which men are not invited nor welcome so I didn’t have many options.

I do have to admit that by the end of it all I was exhausted. Really, really exhausted. I hadn’t been that tired since Kaia’s early months. I had to wake up at 3:45am on Friday in order to leave the house by 5:30am to arrive at the airport by 6am for a 7am departure. I didn’t get to bed until after midnight the night before. So already I was exhausted. Of course Kaia doesn’t sleep well the first couple days of vacation in a strange environment. Add to that we were staying in my sister’s unfinished basement (her house was packed to the gills with guests) which was a little (actually quite a bit) on the chilly side. I had Kaia wearing a long sleeve turtleneck shirt, pj pants, thick socks, a flannel footie sleeper, and her sleep sack, yet her little hands were still cold as icicles. I finally persuaded my sister to allow us to use a space heater.

Kaia nursed for 50 minutes on Friday night before finally dropping off at 10pm. Then she woke up when I laid her in the borrowed playpen and screamed until I returned after gulping a quick dinner (I was ravenous due to not having an opportunity to eat earlier) and finally fell back to sleep after continued nursing. So Friday night I got to sleep around 1am. Talk about a long day! Kaia then woke up at 4am, scared when she looked around in a strange place, so I got up to nurse her (something I normally wouldn’t do at home in the middle of the night). She fell back to sleep. I, unfortunately, had difficulty getting back to sleep, but finally did so around 6am, only to be woken up at 7:30am by Kaia ready to start the day. Ditto everything Saturday night, except Sunday morning it was up again at 4am in order to be the airport for a 7am departure. I even packed up all our gear and carried everything up the stairs and out to the car by myself on Sunday morning. Did I mention that I was proud of myself? The endurance required exceeded that needed for any training or road races that I've ever run. I still haven’t caught up on the sleep from the weekend.

The whole experience made me realize how lucky I am to be a part of a couple. I don’t know how single mothers do it. Hubby and I share so much of the load. Kaia is great on flights but just carrying all our stuff and her on and off the plane is difficult. I never turn down offers of help. If you ever see a woman traveling alone with children, please offer to help.

A highlight of the trip was Kaia’s experience with my sister’s dogs. My sister has two boston terriers. Kaia has never really been around dogs. Our neighbor has one, a very loud barking dalmation. Kaia cautiously checks him out by the fence while he frantically attempts to jump the fence separating our yards and barks frenetically in her face. She never cries, just trembles a little, stares very hard at him, and holds on to us for dear life. Upon entering my sister’s townhouse, the dogs came running up to Kaia and immediately started licking her hands. Being tactilely defensive, this is the most horrendous assault poor Kaia could endure. After a few seconds delay of shock, she started screaming. After that, the mere sight of the dogs caused her to quiver and scream with fear.

I knew (or rather, hoped) that Kaia just needed some time to warm up to the dogs. So, I held the dog at a distance to show her the dog was okay and harmless. Gradually over the course of a couple hours, I got in closer proximity to her while holding the dog. When I reached the point where I was very close, I had her pet the dog and showed her that I would kiss the doggy. Her whole disposition toward the doggys changed. They were now objects of fascination. She was obsessed with watching the doggys’ antics chewing and tossing a rope bone. She literally chased them around the circular layout of my sister’s place. Upon getting close, she would vocalize quite emphatically and point at the doggy. She was so excited. I took a couple short videos of her vocal exchange with the doggy.



I was quite concerned after this experience about how she would react to her (at the time) upcoming hippotherapy sessions. Thankfully the horse didn't try to lick her so she didn't respond with the same trepidation.

In addition to seeing my sister and celebrating with her, I also got to see my aunt and cousin, both of whom I rarely have the opportunity to see. Kaia and I did this same trip to my sister's last year in February but I think I was still used to the sleep deprivation then. I also flew solo with Kaia to and from ND in August. This February, the trip was worth the effort, but let me just state for the record that I absolutely, definitely, definitively, prefer not to fly solo.