the bizarre case of a dad traveling alone with a baby
In me and my 1-year-
I often explain to others that I don\'t think it\'s a big deal, most often my wife.
The skeptics are not too worried about me traveling with my daughter because they are worried that I don\'t have a wife traveling with me.
Only me and Ji.
There is also a tube Cup and a cup with a rubber top that, in theory, can get her to happy puffs without spilling them all over the place;
Two bags of formula; two bottles; 32 diapers;
Changing mats and wipes; a stroller (
Double as a car seat so it\'s too heavy);
Plush, electronic and other toys;
And teething label-
Most of them are packed in plastic bags dangling from strollers.
There were a few items in my bulging backpack where I stuffed all our clothes for five days.
My computer bag is probably mixed together.
After 8 in the morning my wife put us down from the side of the road and kissed Gigi until I convinced her to go.
I didn\'t panic until she left and I turned to the revolving door.
Just a little bit.
Before that, flying alone with Gigi was an idea.
But when it comes to practicality and logistics ---
Can the stroller go through the revolving door and how can I deconstruct the stroller to go through the X-ray machine --
A certain reality began.
But fate stepped in: a smiling woman from TSA, checking my boarding pass on my ID card, made me realize the benefits of traveling with babies.
This is the exact phrase. -\"with infant\" --
With the extra small font on the boarding pass, it hasn\'t caught my attention yet.
TSA employees will smile at my baby (and me)
On the special Pre √ safety line, I was not asked to take off my shoes, belt or computer and when I fed her stroller through the machine, another TSA employee held Gigi kindly
The world was spinning us all the time: Gigi kept calm in her seat until the terminal.
Until we were at the door. -
I was sitting in a chair, and Gigi was standing between my legs, leaning against my knee and applying gum to croissants ---
This caused some discomfort.
Not for Ji, not for me, but for the people around us.
First is 30-
Two seats from us.
Her smile at Gigi did not diminish at all, but the two photos she threw at me were uneasy and restrained.
Gigi has been trying to make friends with her and has come over and stared at her for 30 seconds at a time.
Finally, a few minutes later, the woman said to me, \"Mom is in the bathroom.
\"I think it\'s a formal question, but it\'s as easy to understand as a hopeful assumption. \"No,\" I said.
\"Mom is working and can\'t travel.
She nodded like she might or might not believe me.
Then, when we joined a group of passengers near the jet bridge waiting to board the plane, it happened again.
Another woman with a concern asked, \"Is she your daughter ? \" I confirmed, in fact, that I was the father of the child who held my leg tightly and jokingly waved a copy of the Gigi birth certificate I carried with me.
The woman smiled, still some reservations, turned and left.
I\'m not quite sure what possibility she might consider: Uncle brother was kidnapped and Ji and I boarded the plane smoothly-
Of course, in the second group, right after the first and business classes, because we do need extra time to sit in our seats.
Before dropping the stroller at the end of the aircraft Bridge, I had to remove the three bags hidden in the stroller bag before scanning the boarding pass ---
Extra carry
Ons will definitely cost me extra.
The flight attendant on the plane didn\'t have the courage to challenge me on extra luggage as I was struggling in the aisle with Babe in my arms.
Nor did they challenge me about my free use of the overhead compartment.
Obviously, if I\'m going to sit in the middle seat, I need all the space I can get ---
Yes, the middle seat. -
Gigi sat on my lap for two hours and 56 minutes.
Flight time from New York to Dallas somehow
The situation at Fort Worth airport was unexpected.
Gigi will naturally have a serious twist, but she fell asleep in all the right places ---
Mainly in the previous flight, when the takeoff and landing
Feeding is the only way to treat her ear pain.
We went through the terminal building and jumped on our house and went to the houses of a few old friends David and Bill who were eager to meet Gigi.
The three of us watched my daughter vent the heat for nearly three hours. -
\"Take her away.
Like her mother would say. -
Go around the backyard.
On one occasion, David confessed: he was afraid of our arrival because he thought my marriage might be in trouble.
When I asked him why he thought so, he admitted it was because my wife had not traveled with us.
He tried to dispel the idea, but as a hair stylist, he shared his concerns with several clients, and to his great horror, they agreed that the situation seemed suspicious.
I can tell David that it relieved him. -
What is more gratifying is that his assumption is wrong.
I told him about the suspicious expressions and problems I had at the airport, reassuring him that he was not alone in his confused reaction to his father and daughter traveling alone.
A mother fiddling with the image of documents and luggage with a child ---
If not a few-
No stranger.
Clearly, a father and his children traveling alone shows a deeper narrative.
But I have no background story.
I am taking on a challenge of being a parent, a challenge that has nothing to do with mother or father status.
* A week after introducing Gigi to cousins, aunts and uncles, we returned home to the airport with experienced professionals.
Of course, the trip was a disaster.
We were not sent to TSA Pre √ line.
Obviously, on my boarding pass, the phrase \"with baby\" is not really playing a magical role on outbound flights because Stern at Dallas security station told me.
He stressed that when I was sent to the dedicated line, I was lucky in the early safety check.
I asked him why he thought the kindness of a stranger was lucky, but that didn\'t get an answer, let alone change his mind.
However, Gigi and I did enjoy an unexpected Zen moment when we finally arrived at X-
Ray machine: I put her on the ground and before releasing her from my grip, I said, \"Dad really, really, really needs you to stay there. Please.
\"I suspect any word other than\" Daddy \", perhaps\" please \", but when she continues to do as I ask, she must have understood in my desperate tone that she was standing by me, holding her hands together and smiling at anyone who made eye contact.
I have never experienced such a static moment, and I have never experienced it since then.
Soon after, when I sat on my coffee and sent ice, the chaos began again.
Cold liquid follow my legs and my back.
I forgot, I put my coffee in my seat in a hurry, as I pounced on Ji, who was lying there, stretching his limbs, bleeding his lips, silently filling his lungs, preparing his ears --
Just as I was sitting on a plastic cup, the screech appeared.
I stopped bleeding with ice from my coffee. soaked crotch.
She managed to stop crying. We all succeeded.
She held it together, though wobbling between strong bursts of energyhold-my-head-up-Tired again.
When I found Gigi 8 feet on my right, fat lips and everything, I put it in the shop opposite our gate, holding five bags of potato chips in her little right hand, there are four on her left.
We can discuss the wisdom of putting potato chips on such a low shelf, but this is on the side: the moment I put it down and grab my daughter ---
A slow motion \"Nooooooo\" rumbles from me-
She dropped the bag in her hand, put her arm on the shelf, knocked another 10, and stepped on everything as if she had finished a rain dance.
Because the sky was opened by lightning, our departure was delayed by an hour, so it worked.
During that time, on the plane, I, the man with the child, the man with the lack of things, looked even more strange.
Gigi cried for most of the flight. -
There\'s one on every plane. -
I know she wants to see her mother. I did, too. But we managed.
Her heavy head finally got on my shoulder.