Whenever we fly, most passengers near us are impressed that Catherine is such a well-behaved traveler. Even when she was a baby…we would get off a plane and invariably encounter one or two people who would comment about how nervous they were when they first saw us board with a child. They would then tell us how surprised they were that she was so quiet and well-behaved. The secret then and the secret now is that I only book flights that leave within an hour of her nap time (as long as it's not the last flight of the day when folks like Delta, United and US Air are typically overbooking flights to begin with) so that by the time we actually board the plane, she is ready for a good cuddle and some shut-eye.
bathroom
Acceptable Loss: Learning to Let Go...to Maintain "Sanity"
I’m learning to “let-go” more and more. Attempting to stick to a schedule with a child who can’t yet comprehend a “Deadline” or “being late” for something seems more and more like a naïve exercise in futility. Allowing myself to live in the moment and embrace the chaos (or mess) created by a two year old little girl who just wants to have fun and explore her world is not only proving to be therapeutic but also allowing me to bond more closely with her.
Today I allowed the inevitable unraveling of the toilet paper from the roll (a previously very annoying and stress-inducing occurrence) to evolve into a game in which we saw just how far we could drag that sucker through the house before it broke. Instead of taking the time to roll the unraveled paper back onto the roll and create something that closely resembles an abstract on cotton candy, I decided to see it as spending 99cents on what could be 15 minutes more of fun. We played with the broken strands of toilet paper, ran around with them like streamers and then finally manufactured the longest pieces into several dresses and accessories. The way she smiled at me when we were finished playing “Toilet Paper Dress-Up” was soothing. It was more than a smile accompanying the fun and excitement we shared. It was more than her looking at me with love in her eyes…. it was different somehow…like complete and total acceptance. Like she thought I was really cool.
