More planning for Panama

The last couple of days I've been feeling ridiculously sluggish in the mornings and again about an hour before bedtime.  Sunday I slept in until 10:00 am.  Yesterday, I went to the mall to walk like usual and I didn't have the energy to extract and assemble the jogging stroller from my trunk so I just walked Alex around the mall in the umbrella stroller (which, if I were a little shorter, wouldn't have been so bad.  The hunching over to reach the handles while attempting to keep up a brisk pace hurt my back).  This morning, I just couldn't do it.  Alex woke up at 6:30, I tried to convince him to sleep a while longer in my bed.  No dice.  I took him to the couch and passed out while he watched Teletubbies and Aurthur (yea, I know, great parenting huh?).  Finally I decided it was time to call in reinforcements.  My mother arrived with energy to spare and played with Alex for two hours while I zonked out in my room.  Apparently that's all I needed, a few child free hours alone in bed, because now, I'm feeling just fine.

We've finally got our trip to Panama all setup.  Well, mostly anyway.  Alex and I are still waiting for our passports, but we've booked our flights and as I understand it our hotel will be booked by John's work and we won't be renting a car (I guess the plan is to travel around via taxi).  We had to pay for mine and Alex's flights.  Alex's tickets cost $250 and he doesn't even get a seat!  My tickets were close to $700, but at least I get a seat with that.  I'm totally planning on snagging extra beverages and peanuts on these flights!

I'm concerned about Alex not having a seat for two separate four hour flights.  I mean the kid is WILD.  I'm afraid they'll see him coming and tell me "I'm sorry, wild animals need to be properly crated and stored in the luggage compartment".   If we get to our layover in Atlanta intact, it'll be a miracle.  We'll have a four hour layover and then another four hour flight into Panama.  My plan is to have him run laps around the Atlanta airport so he'll be pooped out for the second flight. 

Today, I went out and bought a kid-leash.  Well, the box said it was a "Safety harness".  It's totally a leash.  I figured there's no way Alex will sit still in his stroller at the airport for four hours and at least having him on a leash will give him a bit more freedom to run around, but still give me the security of knowing he won't run off or get snatched.  Alex LOVES it.  It looks like a backpack in the shape of a puppy, and it's made of this real soft material that causes Alex's thumb to take up permanent residence in his mouth.  The fact that Alex thinks his new leash is the coolest thing since canned green beans makes it easier for me to deal with the Hippie in my head screaming that children aren't animals and shouldn't be put on leashes.

Another thing John and I are fretting about is whether or not to take a car seat.  I've never so much as driven across a parking lot or down the driveway without Alex secured in his car seat (Britney Spears I am not), so the thought of riding around Panama City without him being safely strapped in makes both of us a little uneasy.  But the logistics of installing a car seat into a taxi, uninstalling it, and lugging it around with us while sight seeing seems asinine.  I'm inclined to just take one with us so we'll have it if we need it.  But even that seems like overkill.  We're already going to have no less than three big suitcases, two backpacks, a rolling carry-on and a stroller.  Add a feisty toddler and a bulky car seat and it's most certainly a recipe for chaos.  At least we've still got another two weeks to figure all this out.