Last week as I flew from Dallas to Phoenix with Natalie it dawned on me that this was not our first Daddy-Daughter airplane trip. Back in April 1999 we made the same trip, Dallas to Phoenix (before continuing on to Santa Barbara.) She was only five months old, and I was very concerned about how well she would travel. I carefully synchronized her feeding with the scheduled take-off to prevent any auditory problems. Also I hoped that her pattern of falling asleep after six ounces would hold. As if on cue, as we taxied away from the terminal she became restless for food. I carefully prepared a bottle and began feeding her. But then we stopped. Uh oh. Mechanical difficulties. The flight was canceled and we returned to the terminal.
I won’t continue the play-by-play. Suffice it to say that we made it to Santa Barbara eventually and she was nothing short of an absolute dream. She slept most of both flights. I held her, gently rubbed her little head, and adored her ALL of both flights.
There were a lot of differences from '99. She had her own seat, an iPod and DS, and a backpack instead of a diaper bag. But there were similarities too. I bought her a lot of gum to help with potential auditory problems. She traveled very well, I stroked her long beautiful hair, and I adored her. A lot.
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