Coffee, Tea, or Puke?

The only thing worse than having your kid puke all over you, himself and the airplane seat upon landing is it happening on take-off. Faced with this dilemma last week with only a sweatshirt and one clean diaper left to my name all I could do was laugh.

I mean only minutes before the vomitous majorous incident I was that smug, self-assured mother trying to sympathize with the couple behind me whose one-year-old didn't want to use the doodle pad anymore and let everyone else on the plane know it. Flying with my son has always *jinx alert* been a breeze. As a baby, he'd mainly fall asleep for the whole ride, and now that he's old enough to understand where we're going, he thinks flying is a fun game.

As soon as the pilot says it's okay, we turn on Dora and I can usually count on reading (sometimes finishing) the New York Times. We eat snacks, look around and by the time he's ready to go, the flight is over.

I thought I had nothing to worry about on the flight home from my parents' house last week. We were well-snacked, rested and ready to face a short, 30-minute flight. The plane took off on time, Dora was rocking and surprisingly, there were no delays coming into O'Hare at rush hour. But my idyllic travel experience was jettisoned by a child's cry, a look of distress and clear liquid gushing over faux-leather seats.

I'm not sure why I thought I could get away scot-free when flying with a two-year-old. I suppose I let my ego get the best of me. Life with a toddler can be trying, sure, but we're getting to the point in my house where reasoning frequently outweighs tantruming. I suppose, though, this was just one of those mommyhood milestones: just when you think it's smooth sailing ahead, your child throws your faulty logic and yesterday's lunch right back in your face. 

----------------------------------------------------------------
Original post to Chicago Moms Blog. Sara blogs at: Self-Made Mom.