One small step for boy...

The Trip. To Washington, DC. Z-boy's first plane ride. Our first "vacation" together. So much to say about this, so little time and space. Would that we could have taken you all with us, but that would have been a bit crowded (not to mention not in the least bit affordable).

Thank you, S William - my brain is mostly home... arrived late this morning, having boarded a different plane and visited Timbuktu overnight.

Z-boy looks a little nervous as we wait to board our first plane.
Thursday, it was with much trepidation that Z-boy first set foot on a jet plane. All the way down the jetway he was clinging to my husband's hand and saying that he'd changed his mind, he didn't want to go, PLEASE could we drive???? The plane had seats with two to a side, so Z-boy sat with my husband (no windows!!!!!) and I sat in the row in front. He spent about half the first flight with his face buried in my husband's arm. When the drink cart arrived, he unburied his head and began to actually take an interest in the goings on.

Z-boy emerged from his daddy's arm and looked around, keeping his friend Fuzzy close at all times!
He had a coke and I gave him his note pad so he could start writing. And write he did! By the time we got to Charlotte, he'd written a poem about being afraid to fly, and how the world below him looked like toys. He drew pictures of our plane and pictures of the airport.

Z-boy's ALIVE!!!! Behind him is the plane he survived flying on.
Charlotte's airport (one of my favorites) enchanted him. He was particularly taken by the huge mobile that spun above the airport bar in the main terminal. It depicts man's journey to flight, from Icarus to the space shuttle. He wanted to hang out at the bar to look at it, but we didn't think that was such a great idea. They frown on underagers hanging out there.

Boarding our second plane was much less traumatic. Z-boy stayed on the aisle seat, I got the window, and hubby sat in the middle. Hubby was pretty squashed, muttering that he wanted to sit by the window next time. He wouldn't have wanted to this time though. The guy in the seat in front of me never sat his seat up, and when I got my drink, realized that he was also twitching, sometimes violently in that seat. Mini earthquakes shook my cup and made me keep a hand on it. He banged his head on the window once. No, hubby would not have wanted to sit there - at least on this flight.

Z struck up conversations with everyone around us and kept our section of the plane thoroughly entertained. He kept on writing too, and enjoyed his second coke of the day (Mommies, you know what THAT means!).

He was coaxed to look out the window as we were coming for a landing, and was thrilled to see not only the Washington Monument but the Pentagon as well.