The Dow Is Up!

Okay, maybe I'm not really better than ever. But I'm probably heavier than ever. I just got back from a trip to sunny California with The Wife and Luke. It was a great trip, better than I thought it was going to be. Most of that was because Luke was generally a very good baby.

I was quite nervous about the flight out to CA. It's a 4.5 hour flight to San Francisco. Luke did great, but only because WE knew how to handle the situation. So here's how to fly with an infant in case you've never done it before:

1. Pack a lot of toys. I recommend at least 2-3 full bags of toys. If you can, pack every toy he has ever played with. Because he's got an attention span of about 30 seconds. So swap toys often.
2. Pack a lot of food. Luke went through almost 2 zip-lock bags of animal crackers on the flight out. He also went through 2 dum-dums to relieve the pressure on his ears. (Instead of using the common "sucking" method to relieve pressure, we just jammed the dum-dums in his ears.)
3. Pack some candy. Luke discovered that he liked jelly beans more than he liked dum-dums. Good to know.
4. Pack a lot of beverages. Luke did a lot of drinking from his sippee.
5. Pack his blankey. So crucial for helping him fall asleep.
6. Don't spare the drugs. Luke slugged down some Benedryl before takeoff and slept about 2.5 hours on each flight.
7. Don't bother packing any books or such for yourself. Your flight is going to be completely occupied in pacifying your child.

Seems straightforward, no? Yeah, it was a complete pain in the ass, and Luke was actually GOOD. He had a couple of tantrums, but nothing major. Still, it took me, The Wife and the occassional good-natured passenger to amuse him throughout the flight, even though he slept for more than half of it.

That said, The Wife and I are really looking forward to our next vacation. We're flying out to Boston for a wedding. Without Luke. And that's why we're looking forward to it so much.