I’m not sure how, but we did survive.
A 4.5 hour plane flight with a 3.5 year-old, 1.5 year-old, and dog is no joke. Seriously, never do it. It’s a terrible idea.
Pippa was by far our best behaved. We managed to make it through the airport without having her in her carrying case. No issues. I mean, seriously, who can give you a hard time when you look this cute?
When we got on the plane all she wanted to do was sit in my lap, and it looked like we were going to get away with it until one flight attendant gave me a hard time.
“Is she supposed to be in her carrier?”
Me, staring at him blankly, “_____________.”
“Is she supposed to be in there?!”
“…huh?”
“Is she an emotional support animal?!”
…quickly debating my options should I answer yes, “Umm… no”
*but really yes because I legit NEED this dog for social anxiety and you REALLY aren’t helping that right now so fuck off and just let the poor dog lay on my lap*
“OK, well she needs to be in the case then”
“OK.”
So I had to coax Pippa into her carrier, but I simply had it sitting on my lap with the top and end wide open the entire flight. Except for when I tried taking her out mid-flight to put her back on my lap and was scolded about 15 minutes later. Overall, she was super well behaved, a complete trooper, and (as expected) did not have an accident.
Ryder was an absolute asshole nearly the entire flight. Not that I can blame the kid. He’s 1.5 years old and it’s generally a tall order to get him to watch 10 minutes of TV before he wants to run off somewhere. Asking him to sit for a 4.5 hour flight… get a clue!
These are the last smiles you’d see from our motley crew, and pretty much the last time you’d see Ryder distracted.
We tried our best to drug Ryder. Liquid Benadryl was no match for him, knocking him out for a measly 30 minutes. The rest of the flight was spent with him kicking and screaming, us cramming snacks down his throat in an attempt to keep him quiet for three minutes, him demanding to get up, taking two dumps, and just generally going apeshit.
Tucker was pretty well behaved except when he decided he ABSOLUTELY needed something ridiculous. Usually this happened when Ryder was at the height of one of his many tirades.
I tried switching spots with Kaitlin at one point while she was changing Ryder. I managed to sit with Pippa between the boys for a solid five minutes before Ryder was screaming uncontrollably for “MOMMA!!!!”.
I don’t know how Kaitlin handled it. They nearly broke her a few times. But we made it… somehow.
It’s a good thing we’re here for a month, because making that trek wouldn’t be worth doing for much less.