Good luck with the seat/purchase.... On the original question, *yes* it
is almost always a good idea to request window/aisle. If you're in the back
of the plane, that middle will be one of the last seats to be sold. Otherwise,
your neighbor will be thrilled to swap for either the aisle or the window.

I guess if you prefer having the whole "section" you could request the "2"
side aisle/window ab initio, but then you have no chance of getting that third
seat. The advantage of that one is no non-family-person rubbing up into your
space.

One more thing - sometimes the gate agent will be sympathetic since you
have a lap child, and even if there's only one or two empty seats on the whole
plane, that will be "your" middle seat....

Let us know how it goes...I echo that in December it's unlikely to be empty, but
stranger things have happened.

--LG