DPP 2014 - Day Two

**disclaimer - typing from my phone. There will likely be errors and autocorrects!

There are certain things in life that can strike terror into your heart.  For little ones it is as simple as being in the dark alone.  For grown ups, the 3am phone call or that first morning your infant sleeps through the night.  But I know that all my mom friends will understand that nothing strikes fear quite like the idea of getting into a confined space for three hours with no room to move and no where to go - with an 18 month old.  Today, we attempted that feat during nap time.  What could go wrong?!?

After days of preparation, getting packed, getting a head start on Christmas, getting the housesitters all settled in, and getting work set for the absence, we headed out for a little trip.  Needless to say, no one was well rested and everyone had extra excited energy.  We arrived at the airport with the sudden realization that we would spend the next four hours on the plane.  We needed to feed these kids some lunch - even though it was 10:45am.  That was a close one - a hungry kid is never a compliant kid.

 As we moved to find our way to line up for boarding,  the people parted like the sea.  I took a moment to noticed the faces of those we passed.  We were not fast, quiet, or organized as we bumbled our way through.  The first face I noticed looked amused and the nice man even gave me a wink. I like him.  Santa should bring him an extra gift.  There were a several faces that were full of pity - oh you poor woman trying to get four children through the chaos.  And then there were the faces of fear.  You know the ones I am talking about.  Let's face it, we likely have all been that face.  The face that seemed to say - "for the love of God, don't let that baby sit near me!"  I cannot begrudge the fear faces for I often think the same thing when I travel alone.  I didn't travel alone to hear other people's kids cry, after all.  ;)  I also don't care about them.  While I always will do everything in my power to spend the trip teaching my children to be kind, quiet, respectful, and patient - I also know they are children.  What lies ahead of me is unknown and even the best laid groundwork can crumble under the grenade of "I wanted my drink on THIS side of my tray".  And don't we all know that no kiddo can melt down over the trivial like an 18 month old.  But this mama had one sneaky trick up her sleeve (even if it does break all my Peds PA rules). I spent two hours putting shoes on and taking them off to keep the pin from being pulled on my little, sweet, adorable 18 month old grenade. But as nap time drew near and then passed - she became more irritable.  Alas, I neglected to allow her to put the Velcro down on her shoe.  The pin was out.  Time to throw the Hail Mary!  Into my bag I dug, and pulled out a pacifier. The Paci has been out of K's life now for months.  She silenced the moment she saw it.  Dumbstruck by the vision of a long lost friend.  She giggled and clapped her hands in excitement and into her mouth it went.  I am not sure a sedative could have worked faster than that Paci did!  And she slept the rest of the way.  Sweet success!  All those faces, fear and pity were sminng at us on the way out.  And why wouldn't they - sleeping babies are cute and quiet.  :) (Please note - the pacifier has since returned to the abyss and will not resurface unless needed on the flight home)

While the story is fun - it isn't the only cute pics from today.  

This one is actually the "winner" for today. This is the one I posted for the project and it is called "Expectation". 

And here is another fun one.  Someone is a bit excited. 

This pic has quite a charge.  

And finally a pic of me blogging from my iPhone with nothing but iPhone pics.  It will have to do.  

Hopefully tomorrow I can catch Big Ben. That boy is rarely in one spot for long - so he can be tricky to get on film.