Easy

Hairplane!

Warning: this section is like braggity-brag-brag-brag land.  Move along if you're not in the mood.  I have lovely, complainy tantrums at the end. :)

The first thing Avery said when she woke up on Monday morning: "We go on hairplane today!"  She was so excited!  If only she knew how many flights she's already been on, but I guess only the last few are memories for her. 

I couldn't have asked for an easier trip.  It was that easy.  Nothing went wrong and Avery was amazing, especially when you consider the monumental tantrums she's been throwing lately.  I needed that after the last flight with just me and her (back from Hawaii in December) was so difficult.  I needed to know it's not always a big deal to fly with just the two of us.

Security was a breeze with Avery perfectly following each instruction I gave her.  I was bursting from pride at that point.

When we landed, we had to sit on the tarmac for a while because our gate was occupied.  Avery said she wanted to get up, I explained we had to wait for the other plane to leave the gate and she responded, "Oh, be patient!"  And then she was. 

Getting off the plane and making our way to the baggage area was so much fun, too.  She decided to do it all herself.  With me following behind, she walked herself down the aisle of the plane wheeling her ladybug suitcase behind her.  On the way out the door of the plane, she turned to the flight attendants and pilot and said, "Bye!"  then trotted herself purposefully up the jet way.  She wheeled that suitcase all the way to baggage claim, following each instruction I gave to her without fail. No tantrums, no whining, no dawdling.  It was pure seasoned traveler.  Of course, I'm sure this means that our trip back will be filled with issues, but I am just grateful for this trip.  

When she finally saw Nain, she started squirming for joy.  "There's Nain! There's Nain!"  And Nain secured her spot in Avery's heart by bringing apple cookies, Avery's favorite.

I have two other moments of glory to share before we return to our regularly scheduled Tantrum-o-the-Day updates: 

1. I had an older woman compliment my parenting skills while Avery and I were waiting at the airport.  That was nice since the Clucking Hens, as I call the older women who like to comment on the parenting of the younger ones these days, usually just offer up things like, "Isn't she cold?" and "Shouldn't you put some shoes on her?" with condescending looks and disgusted tones thinly veiled as concern. 
2. I brought M&Ms on the plane, but Avery didn't eat a single one.  We had strawberries, apples, almonds, a tortilla, and carrots as snacks on the plane.  Considering I basically stuffed her so full of M&M's and milk (in an effort to bribe quiet into her) on the Hawaii flight that she threw up when she got home, I was pleased with myself on this one.  I did offer her sucker when we had to get up to go potty.  I figured she'd not want to get back in her seat, so I presented it to her as a special travel treat since she's never had a sucker before.  She was so excited to get it, but took about four licks and then said she was done and threw it away.  Despite its early demise,  I do suspect that's the last sucker she'll leave unfinished based on her enthusiasm for them.  She told everyone around us about her sucker. 

Esophagus

The other day, Avery said something about food going into her tummy.  She must have picked that up in school, or maybe I said it offhandedly one day, but either way, I'm not sure where it came from.  I figured I'd take it one step further and told her how food goes down your esophagus before it gets to your tummy.  A couple of days later as she's eating, she says, "Going down my esophagus," as she was eating.  She's grasped this concept now and has repeated it several times. It never fails to amaze me how you say one thing to kids on a Monday and don't mention it again, then on Wednesday, they'll blurt it out and get it right.

"Hi, nice to meet you!"

That is the phrase Avery, unprompted by us, yelled over to Mom's neighbors the other day. Not sure where she picked up the "nice to meet you" since that is definitely not a phrase I use often.

Tantrums

I feel like we're making minor progress in this area, though it's likely only visible to me.  Which is another way of saying that they're still present, but I'm optimistic.  She hasn't had a full-on tantrum for several days, though I've given her a couple of time outs for repeatedly asking for something (milk or chocolate or apple cookies) after I've said no several times and explained why she can't have more.  The good news is those time outs have worked and not required more time outs.  They do tend to snap her out of her whiny mode. 

She hasn't had a car seat fit with me since I blogged about using TV as a reward (which I then replaced with stickers since those seemed to work just as well).  D experienced one on Easter, which I would have experienced, but I saw it coming and deftly avoided the situation. Sorry, D. Bob and weave, honey, bob and weave.

Hometown

Love seeing my mother, hate being in my hometown.  I can't articulate why I loathe it so, but I truly do.  I feel like more than a few hours here starts to erode away at my soul.  I was never meant to live in the Midwest.  That's the best way I can articulate it.