St. Louie Louie
Henry and I took a last-minute trip to St. Louis last month. Hopefully Henry will take after someone other than me and grow up into a wonderful child who comes to visit his parents more than once every fourteen months. Anyway, I'd been meaning to go home, the flights were cheap, and Karl couldn't rally to travel on one of the weeks when he didn't have to travel, so I decided to wing it and take Henry by myself even though there was a significant possibility that it might be a complete disaster.
Getting checked in and through security was easier than I expected. Henry was really good and stayed with me when I had to take him out of the carrier. He also carried his own little Thomas the Train lunchbox like a suitcase, which elicited lots of kindly smiles from middle-aged women. We were doing really well until they announced that our flight was delayed, at which point I got a little panicky -- we'd gotten to the airport so early (because I'm married to Karl) that I'd almost completely exhausted our supply of snacks, and we still had the whole flight to go. Henry passed the time by running wildly around the terminal and climbing over all the airport furniture, requiring me to dart after him, run back to check on our stuff, dart after him, carry him back to the chairs, lift him while he climbed on the chairs, collect him from under the chairs, pray for a flight status update, repeat. People were laughing at me. Henry was equally busy during the flight, notwithstanding the fact that he missed his nap, but luckily we had a whole row of seats to ourselves. Anyway, we made it. I call that a toddler travel victory.
On Saturday we spent almost the whole day at the City Museum, which is perhaps the most amazing place on earth. Seriously, DC has a lot of museums and playspaces and galleries and there is nothing like this. It's like someone put a bunch of art students, engineers, and architects in a tumbler with some LSD, added ice, and shook it twice. It's pretty unusual to see little kids, big kids, teenagers, and adults in the same place and they all look like they're having an equally awesome time. Henry's favorite parts were the room that is built like a skateboard park with lots of giant smooth ramps to climb and slide on, and the roller slide. Grandma Jane carried Henry up the stairs to that roller slide approximately one hundred thousand times.
St. Louis was preparing for Mardi Gras -- they have an excellent Mardi Gras -- and Henry got in the spirit by going to meals topless, except for some beads.
Henry also had a good time just running around the loft and playing with Yadi, the most patient cat of all time. The two of them enjoyed exploring the long hallways and conspired to make a break for it. Good thing the elevators were slow enough for the adults to foil the plot.
Getting checked in and through security was easier than I expected. Henry was really good and stayed with me when I had to take him out of the carrier. He also carried his own little Thomas the Train lunchbox like a suitcase, which elicited lots of kindly smiles from middle-aged women. We were doing really well until they announced that our flight was delayed, at which point I got a little panicky -- we'd gotten to the airport so early (because I'm married to Karl) that I'd almost completely exhausted our supply of snacks, and we still had the whole flight to go. Henry passed the time by running wildly around the terminal and climbing over all the airport furniture, requiring me to dart after him, run back to check on our stuff, dart after him, carry him back to the chairs, lift him while he climbed on the chairs, collect him from under the chairs, pray for a flight status update, repeat. People were laughing at me. Henry was equally busy during the flight, notwithstanding the fact that he missed his nap, but luckily we had a whole row of seats to ourselves. Anyway, we made it. I call that a toddler travel victory.
On Saturday we spent almost the whole day at the City Museum, which is perhaps the most amazing place on earth. Seriously, DC has a lot of museums and playspaces and galleries and there is nothing like this. It's like someone put a bunch of art students, engineers, and architects in a tumbler with some LSD, added ice, and shook it twice. It's pretty unusual to see little kids, big kids, teenagers, and adults in the same place and they all look like they're having an equally awesome time. Henry's favorite parts were the room that is built like a skateboard park with lots of giant smooth ramps to climb and slide on, and the roller slide. Grandma Jane carried Henry up the stairs to that roller slide approximately one hundred thousand times.
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| Who put a blue ball in here? I am not amused. |
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| Grandpa! |
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| I made that plate when I was four. Circle of life, right there. |
Henry also had a good time just running around the loft and playing with Yadi, the most patient cat of all time. The two of them enjoyed exploring the long hallways and conspired to make a break for it. Good thing the elevators were slow enough for the adults to foil the plot.
All this action wore Henry out, because he passed out in the car on the way to the airport and stayed asleep as I transferred him from the car seat to the Ergo and carried him all the way through security. We were squished into one seat on the flight home, but he was a total dream -- occupied himself quietly emptying the contents of my wallet over and over again for half the flight, and played with toys calmly for the other half. Eat it, all you people who gave us wary looks when we sat near you.
It was a great but brief trip. I should bank some good karma for when Henry is grown up, and go see my mother more often.
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