Italian Vacation
So, here we are at last: Milan, Italy. The dreaded trip has come and gone, and it is now time to enjoy our vacation. First things first: our long trip.
As you all know, Tizi was extremely worried about spending many, many hours on a plane with Keegan alone. Door to door the trip took approximately 22 hours. However, the trip went amazingly well, beyond our wildest dreams. Yes Keegan did not sleep much, but he did not fuss, which was paramount. There were no meltdowns, at least no Keegan’s meltdown. More on Tizi’s meltdown later. Just to give you an idea, this was my carry on luggage: a car seat, folded inside a backpack (23lb); overflowing diaper bag; carry on bag, full of books and toys; thermic bag and a plastic bag with Keegan’s food. stroller and of course a squirmy 22 moths old. Hard to see in the photo, but to make it work, I had a large, sturdy hook on the stroller, so I could attach the carry-on and the food bag, while the car seat was on my shoulder and the diaper bag across the stroller top bar: I did get some compliments for the efficiency!
Security was easier than expected: one of the TSA lady actually helped me through it, while another guy was testing the food and liquids (quite a different scene from Phoenix). Keegan was in a great mood, and he started the day spilling 4 new words: dark, dog, people, down. We got to the gate about 30 minutes early: of course there was no empty seat, which meant 5 hours of Keegan on my lap. At least I had an aisle seat this time.
The guys next to me were very nice and Keegan was great: he played, walked down the aisle, ate some food, read some books…I honestly don’t even remember what we did on the flight, since it went so smoothly. We landed early in Atlanta right around his naptime and he fell asleep in his stroller shortly after touching down. Not the ideal situation, as I wanted him to play around and run, but at least I had some time to call Matt and reassure him, and to have some lunch.
Now, you may remember that last year we flew the same route, and in Atlanta, just before boarding, Keegan had a massive throw up, and we had all the drama, and fear of losing the flight. Well, Atlanta may not be our lucky town after all, because we had a drama of other sorts this time.
We arrived at the gate early and as soon as an agent showed up, I approached and asked him if there was an extra seat. The guy was a total moron, and unfriendly to boot. He told me he did not know, it was too early, he could not tell me, etc. So I asked him to change my aisle seat for an aisle in the bulkhead, so Keegan would have more space (plus it is a great barganing seat). The idiot took forever, could not do it, had to ask for help, and finally printed the tickets. As boarding approached, I noticed a woman with a young baby fighting with the agents at the counter for quite a while. For some reason I felt uneasy about it. Sure enough, as most people have boarded already, the agent approaches me and tells me that my son is too old for the bassinet – which I NEVER asked for- and that they will have to move me to give my seat to this other lady. The problem is that they don’t have any more seats on the aisle and have to place me somewhere in the middle seat.
You can imagine what happened next: I was so upset I could not see straight. I definitely went a little overboard, but the thought of a 10 hours flight with Keegan on my lap, stuck in the middle seat was terrifying…and it was all THEIR mistake. I told them that, in multiple ways (many including not very nice words) and all they could offer me was to fly the following day. Then I had a total meltdown, feeling powerless. Finally, the agent said that there were two people that had not shown up yet, so there may be a chance I could get a second seat: and so it went. So, I was basically the last one to board, I got two seats, and was able to put all my stuff under the seat, for easy access. So, all is well what ends well.
The second flight ended up leaving the gate an hour late, for an electrical problem (just what you want to hear before crossing the Atlantic), but being close to nigthtime I did not care. Keegan did not sit long, but he had the extra space he needed, and between some new toys, books, and games, time went by. I did not even need to use the DVD player I brought with me. Keegan kept on adding new words: eat, walk, apri (open), chair, five (as in Gimme five), acqua (water). It must have been his words day.
At nighttime, I tried to put him down, but you could see he was very uncomfortable, tossing and turning, and running out of space. Of course, my car seat, that I brought on purpose in case there were an empty seat, was in the cargo, since nobody knew till the last second if I could have the extra seat.
I barely got any sleep, but the relief of no tantrums was so big I almost did not care. I also did not care that the entertainment system did not work, but I can imagine how happy the other passengers were about it…This is not the first time it happens on these flight, so I can say with confidence: DELTA SUCKS!
We finally made it with 20 minutes delay.
My parents were waiting at the airport and Keegan immediately recognized them and greeted them. In fact he was calling for them as soon as they were out of sight. He did not need any adjustment time at all with them.
We crashed as soon as we got home, but after two hours, Keegan decided he had enough and woke me up with a loud: “no nanna!”. We had the first visitors: my sister and her kids, and went to bed early. As expected, the nights has been challenging, between the jet lag and the new environment, with multiple night wakings, but after 3/4 days, he was sleeping more or less through the night.
Tizi spent the first week, despite the lack of sleep, reconnecting with old friends, even some old high school buddies, that she has not seen for years.
with Simona, restoration specialist and friend since preschool
with high school buddy Tiziana (see, it is not that rare of a name)
It was great to catch up and spend time together. Keegan was happy to spend time with the grandparents, and they were even happier to oblige.
The weather was nice and sunny, and somewhat unusually warm. Keegan enjoyed the attention, and seeing so many different people. He loves the craziness of the city, and its thousands sounds. He is particularly attracted by motorcycles, cement mixers and the sounds of the many emergency vehicles.
He got to ride on the bus and the subway, and immensely appreciated both experiences. He has been at his best behaviour for all my friends, even enduring an hour long lunch while he was not eating. He took long naps in the stroller (nothing new here), and enjoyed Italian playgrounds. It is interesting to notice how different they look: the structures are made in wood, they usually have more climbing surfaces than stairs, and the slides are stainless steel…No matter, he enjoyed them all.
He of course had to try the Italian fountains as well (check out the Milano emblem on it) and getting all wet.
At the public park, Keegan had his first Merry go round experience. He never showed much interest till now, and I have to say he is somewhat ambivalent: he enjoys it for a couple of rounds but then he wants to get off. He picked a couple of different rides, but we could no dissuade him from riding the pink car.
He even got to play and interact with other kids, in a house setting, and he did very well. There was a huge train model set up, so all the kids played together without
fights. Keegan’s favorite part was the draw bridge and the annoying beep it made: he must have activated it a thousand times.
He is still on a roll as far as his language skills. Two, three words combos are now the norm, and he is adding lots of new words every day, many of those in Italian. We got sor (star), carta (paper), albero (tree), beech(beach), dita (fingers), tita (matita or pencil),titzza (pizza), go, vai (go in Italian),move, door, qui/li’ (here, there), and my favorite one: sasore (ascensore or elevator). He knows more colors too: green, red, white, black and more names: tiza (Cinzia, my sister), Loi (Lori, Tizi’s friend), uele (Samuele, his cousin). Now it is getting really dangerous: we need to be careful on what we say, as he is repeating everything.
Of course, for as much as he has been enjoying the new adventures, Keegan has not forgotten his old friends: the DVD with pictures from this blog has been running on constant rotation on Grandpa’s big screen TV. He is so happy to see all these familiar faces.
We had been counting down the days to Matt’s arrival: Keegan has been crossing out the calendar, and we were all excited for Sunday to come to see daddy.
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