As a new mum, nothing terrified me more than travelling alone with V by flight (nope, not even poop explosions!). See, the thing is, if you travel with a baby in a car or auto or train, you have the option to move around or pull down windows, basically you aren’t enclosed in a tiny space with either a baby who cries at the drop of a hat or a toddler who doesn’t stop talking. 

Anyways, when she was around 2 years old and I was the only adult travelling with her, to my parents’, I decided to give my full buckle carrier a miss because I knew she wouldn’t stay put. I chose an early morning flight so that she’d sleep through at least some parts of the journey. But, she wouldn’t sleep, and the questions kept pouring in. Sharing some snippets of our conversations below and leaving you to figure out the learning.

"V- Amma, why do we need a trolley?
Me- Because the bags are too heavy for me to carry, baby.
V- Can I push the trolley? Is it easy to push because of the wheels ma?"

“Why do they have to check our tickets ma? “

“V- Amma, there are so many people waiting to get the ticket (boarding pass). So many people will fit into a flight a?”

"V- Ammaaaaa, they're taking away our bags! Why? 
How will we get them back?
Me- We can't carry the heavy bags la, V. We'll pick it up once we land."
And the kind staff assured her that the sticker would ensure, the right bag reaches us. 

And then came the dreaded security check and V couldn’t understand why they would even want to check her waterbottle when it is so obvious that there was only water there! Again, we were lucky that the officer checking us showed exactly what the passenger scanner does.

But the real fun started once we we boarded and were seated. V observed the jet bridge and deduced that it was needed because the entry to the aircraft was pretty high, much like climbing an elephant, like she put it. Figuring out the how and whys of the seat-belt, food trays, windows, cockpit kept us in awe for a longer time than I imagined.

The lessons from the view though, were something else. V was amazed that the roads and buildings suddenly changed size as we took off higher. She is yet to discover conservation of size. We found it funny that the clouds that were supposed to solid like cotton were sparse and the plane could actually go through them.

Another thing we learnt from the windows, was that a plane has parts- the body, the wings, the tail and the engine. We have loved naming these parts on our toy aeroplanes ever since, and are still figuring out the possible needs of these parts.

Lastly, we are blessed to stay very close to the airport, and get to see an aeroplane taking off or landing, atleast twice a day, from close quarters. V noticed that the tails of the flights are differently colored and has figured out that there are several flight service providers, by now. But imagine my surprise, when we were out for a late night walk last week, she saw the aircraft warning light blinking and a plane whoosh by, and said very matter-of-factly, ”Amma, did you see those lights? I used to ask you if they were moons and you said they were lights. They are blinking because it is dark and the plane could dash near the building otherwise!”

I know I haven’t done much in this whole learning process, except allow her to explore at the airport. She loves pretend-playing airport scenes and putting all the long processes in a sensible order in her mind.

Also, currently, she wants to grow up, gain knowledge and become the driver of an aeroplane – a lot like Amelia. So, all in all, I’m glad she did not sleep on that journey.

This is the first post for A of the #BlogchatterA2Z . You can read more about my theme for this challenge, here.