» Read for the Record and More Mind Games

Posted by: piseco | 20th Sep, 2007

Read for the Record and More

How could I have forgotten to post all day?? I’ve been happily, lovingly preoccupied. The highchair has to stop being our recycling station and turn back into a highchair, which of course leads to a total clear out of our cabinets and dining area (but of course). I’ve been turning over in my mind the issue of car seats during plane travel.

Any tips on that, by the way, would be appreciated. We’ll be traveling down with one 5 year old who is technically big enough to ride on a plane and in cars in Guatemala without any carseat. We’ll be traveling home with an 11 month old. Should I get a lap ticket and let the airline guide me, using a sling or bjorn maybe to hold her snug during takeoff and landing? I just read today that the tether/harness contraptions aren’t allowed on many airplanes. Should we tote down an empty carseat just to use for bringing baby home? Should we take down a convertible carseat and have JediBoy use it on the way down (just so it’s not taking up cargo space) and have GuateGirl use it on the way back?

You see how carefully complicated I can make everything! Anyway, between that and a particularly heavy period bugging me today, I’ve been quite distracted.

But I *do* still have a dear 5 year old boy. We spent the morning at a local children’s museum, drawn there by a “Read for the Record” event for an outdoor reading of Ferdinand. Here’s a picture of the matador reading…

JediBoy then just stayed near me as I flitted about during the day. He spent a long, long, long time looking at books himself, a while playing with Magnetic Poetry on the fridge, and a chunk of time helping me clear extra recycling (bags of bags and some extra old newspapers) out of the dining area.

Tonight we went to a restaurant for dinner where they were having a special demonstration by a local karate school. He is *so* interested in martial arts… we must think about pursuing that for him. After our trip to Guatemala!

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Responses

I’m not sure which airline you’re travelling with, but most airlines that we’ve used don’t count a gate-checked carseat as part of the baggage allowance.

The consideration for taking the carseat is that it MUST be placed in the window seat, which is a consideration if you aren’t sure where your seats will be located. The Jediboy may be more comfortable in a carseat than the regular chair if he’s interested in napping, though, because of the head support.

Oh, and I’ve hardly ever been allowed to keep a child in the sling/wrap during takeoff unless I was very, very sneaky about it. I’ve been asked to remove sleeping babes from slings more than once, unfortunately. The attendants say it’s against FAA regulation to use the sling in those instances because it’s not FAA approved.

Good luck deciding what to do. I think I’d take a carseat if I could convince the big boy to sit in it on the way down.

By: ~Leigh on September 21st, 2007
at 10:50 am

I’ve had to take a sleeping baby out of the baby bjorn - very irritating. They said the FAA regulations only allow a parent to hold the child in their arms - no extra restraints of any kind. The carseat can be tricky to fit into the seats, and it does have to be on a window seat. When I’ve traveled with the carseat, I had trouble getting it in there and the only help the flight attendent would give was to suggest I check it to baggage. IMO, the airlines just don’t care to be very family-friendly.
If I were you, I’d take the carseat. You’ll save some money not buying her a ticket, but the last time I flew like that I swore to myself that in the future I’ll always spend the money and not be so cheap about it. Even if she won’t sit on her own and you end up having to hold her some, you’ll have more space if you have the seat. And if she’s at all used to seats and being strapped down, the carseat is more comfortable for them to fall asleep in because it’s the right size for them.

By: learningumbrella on September 21st, 2007
at 11:54 am

I hadn’t thought about an infant seat, if you have one or could borrow it that would be so much easier to carry and you probably could keep it in the overhead on the way down since the handles fold down. That is my new suggestion. I think the big one would rather have a big seat anyway.

By: Heather on September 21st, 2007
at 12:34 pm