I want to fly like an eagle...

Saturday Aug 08, 2009

I want to fly like an eagle...

...to the sea
Fly like an eagle
let my spirit carry me
-Steve Miller Band

Ahh, airplane time. Airplane stories always make for the best blog posts, don't you think? (Side note: Avid blog readers or music junkies may remember that my last airplane post, linked above, was Jet Airliner, also by Steve Miller Band. If you haven't read it before, do it. I had nearly forgotten how hard parenting was back then. Almost.)

So, this time, the flight was both easier and harder. When I was nursing, the boob would put him to sleep EVERY TIME. Without fail. Want him to take a nap? Start the milk flowin'. Now, he's much more interested in everything around him and wants to explore new stuff. Interesting things > sleep. More importantly, he's now mobile. If he wants to see what's across the aisle from him, he's going to crawl out of your lap and onto the floor to see it, unless you have him in a straitjacket-style grip. Casual bystanders on a plane tend to frown on you holding your kid in said straitjacket-grasp while he's screaming at the top of his lungs. They also tend to frown on your kid climbing under their feet to explore their shoes. It's definitely a balancing act between letting him explore the new world of your airplane row and becoming a nuisance to those around you.

But there was one really good airplane event that I'm not sure I can accurately describe for you. My brother and my husband still laugh hilariously at the mere thought of it, so it must have been funnier from their vantage points. We bought Jay one of these Foogo Thermos cups with a straw for the trip. It's unbreakable stainless steel, it keeps milk cold for 12 hours, and (most importantly) it has a flip-top cover to keep the straw from leaking and to keep it clean. Perfect for travel! This flip top cover soon becomes significant to the story.

Jay drinks some milk at the airport, we load up onto the plane, takeoff, and the flight attendant begins to come around with snacks & drinks. As we're sipping our Ginger Ale, we think "I bet Jay would like some milk." Out comes the Foogo straw cup. Derek pushes the button to open the cap, and without warning, the straw shoots a geyser of milk across my face, up the side wall of the plane, and across the back of the seat onto the hair of the poor little girl seated in the row behind us. Yes, all the wonderful advertising in the world neglected to mention that the flip top cap is actually air tight. The pressure difference at sea level and at our cruising altitude of 20,000 feet caused this thing to act like a pressurized super-soaker, shooting soymilk across the plane. As the milk begins running down the wall of the airplane and across the window, I start to hear a snicker, which quickly becomes hilarious laughter. No help in wiping the milk out of my hair or off of everything around me. Oh no. My husband and brother are too busy laughing to worry about us or the puddle of milk that's now forming in the plane's window. They are dying laughing. The best part? They actually begin making plans do it again on the ride home! They want to recreate this scene so they can take pictures of it! Boys scare me sometimes.

I still really like the cup. Seriously, it IS great for travel. But a word to the wise: unscrew the lid before opening the cap on an airplane. You'll be glad you did. So will the people on the row behind you.

Posted at 07:43PM Aug 08, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[1]