For Melissa’s third Mother’s Day, which includes two since Everett’s birth and one where she was eight months pregnant, we traveled to Kensington, Maryland.  Chris attended a conference in Bethesda on Thursday and Friday while Melissa and Everett spent time with friends and family.  Dillon, Connor and Everett got to spend a fair amount of time with each other, which was great.  On Mother’s day Everett and Dillon got up about 6:30am, followed by Chris and Sean, while the Moms slept in for a while.  Then we had breakfast with Gary and Linda, followed by brunch with Noni at Mon Ami Gabi in Bethesda.  Then nap and a trip to BWI for an evening flight home.

While we were waiting to board the airplane, Chris folded up the stroller to check it at the gate.  Everett watched this closely, examined the stroller, and then asked us earnestly for a screwdriver (???).  Chris doesn’t carry tools on flights since the time he had a set of allen wrenches confiscated by TSA (although on that flight he sat next to a woman with sharp, foot-long steel knitting needles which are apparently ok, whereas the sharpest angle on an allen wrench is 120 degrees), so we didn’t have a screwdriver for Everett and didn’t get to find out what he had in mind.  Photos of the trip are here.

This was likely Everett’s last free flight because most airlines allow children to fly without a ticket until age two, which is in less than a month (unless we get him a fake ID).  This also symbolizes a progression of attempts by both parents to stay one step ahead of him in terms of keeping him happy and occupied.  When he was an infant we had two go-to moves that almost always made him feel better: nursing and going for a walk in the stroller.  Later he discovered Dad’s cell phone (not a good idea), and then movies.  However, these don’t hold his attention like they used to, and for the duration of the two hour flight from Baltimore to Milwaukee he did alligator rolls in our laps.  So perhaps providing him his own seat would be a good idea for everyone.