Flying the Friendly Skies

On our recent trip back home to Austin, Jordan made a few new friends. Jordan is a very out going little girl, as anyone who's met her well knows. I dread what this inhibition will lead to when she's a teenager. Anyway, on the leg of the flight from El Paso to Austin, the plane was full. A college kid, about 20 or so, sat next to Jordan. Jordan immediately started to chat her up. It went something like this:

"Hi, what's your name?"

"Hi, my name is Christie."

"I really like your shirt. And I like your nail polish."

"Thanks!"

me: smiling, somewhat apologetically. "She's going to talk your ear off."

Jordan: "What's your room like? What color is it?" (Jo has to know the color of EVERYTHING)

"My room is messy! It has brown and green..."

Jordan is obviously not impressed by this color scheme. Meanwhile, I'm getting her DVD player set up to distract her and give this girl some peace. The girl has gotten out some sort of smart phone, and if Jo sees it, she'll pester her about it for the rest of the flight. I talked to the girl some, she was really sweet and thought Jordan was cute and didn't seem to mind the 20 questions routine (I've forgotten most of their conversation).

So, flash forward 2 weeks later, and we're sitting in the Austin airport. Jordan takes a seat next to an older married couple also flying home to the ABQ. The lady turns to Jordan, tells her she's cute, asks her her name, how old she is, etc. Jordan loves this, and then digs through her backpack to produce a Dr. Suess book (that's not short) and asks the woman to read it to her. The woman does so happily. Jordan asks her about her nail polish, and then tries to strip off her own shoes and socks to show of her toe polish, which is mostly worn off. We stopped her. Then another woman sitting across from us tells Jordan what a pretty girl she is, and Jordan coyly smiles, and flashes three fingers at the woman, who, by the way, has not asked her how old she is. On the flight from Dallas to ABQ, we sit next to a man who Jordan instantly starts talking to and wants to see all the pictures on his phone. Thankfully, his phone did not run apps, so Jordan didn't attempt to commandeer it. He was really nice, and had a daughter of his own, who he said was also really outgoing with strangers. Hmmpff.

Jacob did his part, too, making gooey baby faces at people on the plane, and sleeping sweetly on me despite a two hour delay on the way home. And bless him, he waited until we were home to have a HUGE diaper blow out in his infant carrier. It was a great travel experience with the kids, and I honestly believe their presence on the planes brightened some peoples' day.