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Airports &<br />
Infant Twins<br />
A primer<br />
My daughters were smaller and lighter<br />
than carry-ons when my husband and I<br />
took them through an airport for the first<br />
time. Despite their compact nature, they made<br />
the experience a real (ahem) adventure. Here are<br />
some things we learned about traveling through<br />
airports – and traveling through life – with twins.<br />
Curbside check-in isn’t as easy when you have<br />
twins among your baggage. Babies have a lot of<br />
stuff that they can’t carry themselves. This starts<br />
to cause trouble the second you get to the airport.<br />
Take getting out of the car, for example. First,<br />
both parents get out, leaving the hazard lights on.<br />
Parent 1 sprints to the back, hoists out the double<br />
stroller, and shakes it around with jerky motions<br />
that are reminiscent of trying to start a lawnmower.<br />
With only mild injuries, Parent 1 gets the stroller<br />
to snap easily into place.<br />
Meanwhile, Parent 2 is getting Baby A and Baby<br />
B ready to sit in the stroller. That means unbuckling<br />
the carseats, removing Baby A, buckling her<br />
into one stroller seat, running toward Baby B. Oh,<br />
noticing that Baby A has started to list toward the<br />
street. Running back toward Baby A to put the<br />
stroller brake on, and then returning for Baby B.<br />
Extracting Baby B from her carseat and running<br />
her over to the stroller to get buckled in beside her<br />
sister.<br />
The babies must be dressed in a perfect yet<br />
unknowable number of layers. This is so they will<br />
by Kay Bailey<br />
not get cold or hot. They will be snuggly but not<br />
too bulky to fit in the stroller straps. If they spit up<br />
or wet themselves, you can remove and discard<br />
the top or bottom layers as needed. All clothes in<br />
an airport are disposable.<br />
While Parent 2 unloads the car, Parent 1 uninstalls<br />
the carseats and bases and wrestles them<br />
into protective covers. Parent 1 then runs laps to<br />
leave the luggage in a clump near the check-in<br />
desk, but not in such a way as to make it look like<br />
unaccompanied baggage that the bomb squad<br />
would have to blow up.<br />
Parent 2 checks in with one credit card and<br />
shows the agent both photo IDs, then runs back<br />
to the babies in the stroller just as Parent 1 is<br />
running toward the agent to say, “I’m the one on<br />
the other driver’s license.” Parent 1 will have three<br />
bags hanging from her and will no longer look like<br />
her license picture which was taken when she was<br />
Young six months ago.<br />
Once the suitcases with the formula, diapers,<br />
wipes, bottles, bottle brush, microwave sterilization<br />
bags, onesies, PJs, diaper cream, baby wash,<br />
swaddling blankets, disassembled bouncy seats,<br />
and two adult toothbrushes have been checked,<br />
the next big challenge is security.<br />
Homeland Security does a good job of guarding<br />
against strollers. If you are foolish enough to<br />
think that Parent 2 should be parking the car while<br />
Parent 1 gets the babies to the gate, you will be<br />
6 TWINS Magazine A www.twinsmagazine.com
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