A wonderful idea

You know how I was all grateful last year that more and more places now offer family restrooms and nursing rooms? Well, add the children's play area to that list. After several long hours of wrangling a squirmy baby on an airplane yesterday, it was with much relief that I discovered the children's play area in Terminal B in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport.

Let's give a big old woohoo to the concept of creating a space for kids to run around and blow off some steam. I'll even ramp up the volume and make that a WOOHOO because it was in an airport where I had a layover. William barely slept on the flight from Palm Springs to Dallas yesterday, and he was oh-so-wriggly when we finally deplaned. I glanced up and saw the play area sign, and it was like seeing a sign advertising the holy grail or free shoes.

We raced through the terminal to get there, knocking little old ladies and overloaded college students out of our way, in our zeal. Okay not really. But I did push the stroller really really fast, which is saying something when you're loaded down with an enormous backpack and purse the way I was. It was just a small area carved out of a waiting area, but it was perfect. Soft cushiony floor, several of those big molded plastic models to climb on, and some games on the short walls enclosing the space.

At first, William just sat there, uncertainly. "Go on, crawl!" I encouraged him. He looked up at me, and then looked out at the other two slightly older toddlers tearing around. Finally, he seemed to realize that, hey, he too could tear around! So he crawled around and pulled up on things and giggled and had a grand old time. We hung out for about 30 minutes, then grabbed some lunch. William then slept the entire time we spent on the second plane, even when we were sitting on the tarmac in a delay. No squirmy baby that time!

For future reference, Gate 13, Termimal B. If you have small kids, it's your friend.