Once you have high speed connection, boy you can never go back. It`s taken me about a half hour to log in here, but I`ve finally made it. It feels like I`ve reached the summit of Mt Patience! I really thought the view would be better...
Nous voici in beautiful Quebec City. We expected nothing less than a hellish flight on Saturday and we were`t disappointed. Kael is not known for his sitting in one place prowess; he`s a mover and a shaker - at all times - therefore the prospect of spending hours on a plane without moving had us plenty worried. At least he had recovered from his feverish bout with tonsilitis the day before leaving.
As with most VAN-YYZ flights, there wasn`t an empty seat in the (sky)house. We managed to keep the little monkey at bay with stories and snacks for the first half of the four flight, but it was at that point that the real struggle began. KAEL NEEDS TO MOVE. I can`t put it any simpler than that.
To make matters worse, the Kman is in a real cling-to-mommy-or-else-she-might-disappear phase,so sitting with Papa only incited screams of torture. So poor Michele, with early third trimester belly roundish and full with Kael`s little sister, has to try to deal with a wriggly, squirmy toddler pushing with full force into the seat in front of him (how the man didn`t turn around once in annoyance is still a wonder to me)directly into her belly. With good reason, mommy was on the verge of losing it, and much to her credit, she didn`t.
And due to the capacity of passengers, there was rarely a moment when the aisles were free to roam. As soon as they did, we didn`t waste any time getting out there in a hurry to take advantage. Upon return after our short foray, there wasn`t far to go before the path was blocked, I wound up donating my seat to Kael and spent the better part of an hour standing, frequently having to contort my body in obscure positions in order to allow passengers and flight attendants passage.
Speaking of which, I must state for the record that there was not one `skyhag`on this Air Canada flight: all of the flight attendants were accomodating and pleasant. There`s hope yet!
But that tolerable situation soon came to a shaky end when we hit turbulence and I was forced to sit down. Kael was now worse than ever, in extreme struggle mode due to fatigue and lack of afternoon nap. There was no escape for Mommy or kid. It ended taking about 40 minutes before he finally struggled himself right to exhausted sleep. As Murphy`s Law dictates, we touched down in Toronto a mere 20 minutes later.
Once boarded on our connector flight to YQC, Michele declared loud enough for everyone on the enire plane to hear, ''I am never traveling with a child again!'' The good news was that the hour-long flight was not full, so the little guy would have his own seat.
This made a world of difference as he sat contently next to Papa for almost the entire ride. Well ok, he didn`t actually sit the whole time, but he was good. He spent most of the time violently opening and closing the shutter, climbing up and down on the seat, and flirting with an older couple sitting opposite. Most importantly, he was given enough space to be independent. As we learn more and more about his temperment, fiercely spirited and independent are his main strengths - and our main challenges.
We touched down into Quebec sain et sauf much to the relief of Grandmaman and Armand, who were anxiously awaiting to pick us up.
Travelling with a toddler is never easy, but I`m quite sure not it is doubly hard with a boy as active as Kael. In fact, I saw another boy who must have about the same age sitting quietly on his Daddy`s lap for pretty much the entire flight. Just luck of the draw I guess. And when they`re too young for Nintendo or movie watching, all you can do is endure as best you can, knowing you won`t have to do it again for another two weeks on the return trip home.
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