First Flight

Little Lottie went on her first airplane ride in China. It was about a 2-hour flight, but we sat on the runway for at least 45 minutes, maybe an hour, waiting for departure approval. That was the hardest part because the cabin was sooo hot and we were all uncomfortable. Poor Lottie was beyond tired, so she was unhappy that we were sitting on this cramped hot airplane and not in our hotel room with her crib. While we were waiting, we had moments of tantrums and moments of calm, but it seemed like hours by the time we took off. 

Once we started moving and finally took off, she did very well. She liked looking out the window and seeing the runway lights moving by and as the engines were throttled up for take off, the air began to cool off. To occupy her attention, we flipped through a Time magazine and read her the headlines of the articles--she liked just looking at all the pics. And once we got through the magazine, she was entertained just playing with the cover of the magazine. She got a kick out of ripping off the cover and waiving it around like a flag, then spent almost an hour just inspecting the paper and edges. She seems to enjoy picking at edges of paper or cards with her thumbnail...she gets intensely focused on analyzing materials, patterns, and textures. We wonder if she developed this while spending a lot of time in solitude in the orphanage, but she can certainly entertain herself with some very basic materials. 

All-in-all her first flight was a success. The only thing that we hope she does on the flight to the U.S. is sleep on the plane, and if she does, the 12 hour flight will be nice and easy because once she falls asleep, she sleeps very well.