Have you ever been on an airplane, and found that right behind you was a family with a screaming baby? Or worse, a tantrum-prone toddler? While you feel compassion for the parents — we’ve probably all been there, to some extent or other — you also dread the upcoming hour…or two…or three, knowing that there will be no relaxing for you.
Today, we were that family.
No, not that family…that family. The one with the disruptive toddler. Who wouldn’t stop screaming.
We weren’t on an airplane, though — the mere suggestion of taking L. (2) on an airplane makes me laugh. That won’t be happening for a long, long time.
Rather, we were in some caverns, deep beneath the earth. Where screams echo.
I’m sure the other 10 or so people in our tour group were glad to have us along.
I should give L. a little credit. He didn’t actually scream much inside the caverns. Just all the way down into them, all the way back out of them, and occasionally inside them. I used every trick in my book — quiet singing, my “very serious voice,” promises of yummy treats — to no avail. The one thing that finally distracted him was unlimited use of my cell phone. But hey, we were well underground so I wasn’t too concerned that he was going to call Malaysia. My network isn’t that good. After the phone calmed him down, he actually enjoyed walking through all the “tunnels,” as he thinks of them.
Why the bookends of screaming on our little adventure? Beats me.
I think it’s because he’s a toddler. He wants whatever he can’t have, and most definitely does not want what he can have. He wants to go where he’s not allowed to, and isn’t crazy about going wherever we’re trying to take him. He’s sure that if we seem to be doing something fun, there is something even more fun that he’s missing out on.
We survived the cavern visit. C. (9) had never been in any, and he found it fascinating, so we’ll label today a success. It’s a success that landed me with a headache, but a success nonetheless.
L. and I are now camped out at our hotel, while Chad and C. explore historic things like government buildings and museums, places where disruptive toddlers are not exactly welcomed. L.’s supposed to be napping (he’s not). I’m supposed to be relaxing (I am).
Tomorrow, we’ll try again, taking both our boys to a local attraction or two. We’ll see if we’re that family again. Or if things go a little better. Perhaps we need to postpone the whole “vacation” idea for a year or two. 
This is great. You give me hope for our upcoming vacation to Myrtle Beach with a 2-year old. Today we had our own crazy experience in the Rite Aid drug store. I made the mistake of allowing Quin to walk in and then when we had to wait for our prescription, I had to put him in the cart. Oh the screaming. It is a mystery what finally soothes them. But we got many stares and eventually left with our prescription. Enjoy your vacation!
Oh that’s funny. We’ve been there as well with my loud and strong-willed son.
We’ve been “that family” numerous times. I had “that child” today at Home Depot and he just turned 4. Does it ever end?
Hope you have a wonderful and restful vacation!
The Baby screams ALL the time! ConstantlY! And she’s not EVEN a Baby anymore!
My husband and I took her out for dinner – just her – the other night, and we were so WORRIED. But she was actually not bad, this sudden light at the end of the tunnel, as it were.
They do change eventually. Mine are now 12 and 11 and we are still occasionally “that family.” The methods change but the end result seems to stay the same.
Been there – thank goodness for cell phones!
Been there done that x3! :v) At least you got to relax at the hotel. Hope you got to fit in some reading time.
Toddler on an airplane? You can’t do it better than Bill Cosby did!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs0cYJUqJys
Hope it makes you smile.
Oh the fun!
I feel your pain on this, as Grace was in rare form when we flew, right up until last year.
6 of the 8 flights she has been on resulted in other passengers educating us on how to sooth our daughter. Had I not been so foolish or stupid, those people would have been relaxed. (note the sarcasm)
I am glad that Chad and C. got to visit their historic sites and government buildings, as I don’t think that they are quite up L.’s ally just yet.
Oh my! We had a VERY similar experience last summer in caverns. The man at the ticket counter seemed to think that we would have no problem with our toddler in the caverns (even though he saw him running around the gift shop). But what they didn’t tell us is that no one could touch anything at all inside and that our tour group would constantly be stopping to hear information way over our toddler’s head.
So after ten minutes, we bailed. I don’t recommend caverns for anyone with kids under 6.
If it’s like the ones we’ve been in before (going deep) it could have been his ears popping from the pressure going down and up.
Hey, and have you ever watched “Jon and Kate Plus Eight?” They went to Utah on a plane and got rerouted for a few hours in the air and showed footage of six three year olds screaming on the plane. Even Kate was crying. At least weren’t THAT family.
Been there… Support group anyone??? LOL
Your post made me laugh. We just got back from a trip to Italy with a 3 month and 23 month old. The flight home…8 hours and 40 minutes if you can imagine!
Great blog…
Truly there are few things as exhausting and frustrating as taking a toddler on vacation–who knows how they will act? We’ve left many an attraction and restaurant, but for as many as we’ve left, we’ve also been more than pleasantly surprised at the times the toddler actually behaves!