Jet Lagged

The boys got along pretty well this voyage home making our trip happily uneventful except for the two bouts of motion sickness, one pair of soaked through clothing, a new potty trained little one who can't go without taking practically everything off, and going through customs with 8 pieces of check luggage (one over-sized), two carry-ons, and three car seats. Normally I go home with little and return with lots however, since we aren't returning I had to bring 4 months worth of clothing, sundries, and a few favorite toys.

(Amsterdam Airport during a 4 hour lay over. They ran around with other Expat Kids the first 1.5 hours then settled in for a few cartoons before boarding the next flight.)

On previous trips I over packed the carry-on with things to keep the boys busy and all they wanted to do was watch the non-stop movies. This time I brought practically nothing....I even left the stroller behind and they complained of being bored at times. I've found that every time we travel they are at different stages and I don't always anticipate what they'll want during these insanely long voyages. Thankfully Graham was happy to watch episodes of Handy Mandy and Phineas and Ferb repeatedly....and I mean around 4 times each. Also starting off the journey on a red eye makes the boys want to sleep for a portion off each flight and they still flip times fairly quickly upon arrival.

But every so often something like this happens.

When I left our second night here to go biking with my Dad around 7 pm I warned my Mom that if Ethan stopped moving and sat down he would fall asleep as he'd been up since 4:30 am. True enough when I returned home at 10:30 he was asleep, fully dressed, on the office floor and he been so for quite a while as my mother had been unable to move him. I decided to just let him lay there while I got a few things down. Just as I was ready to head down for a shower he began to stir but when I tried to guide him down the stairs he refused and went to lay down and snuggled up by the oven on the kitchen floor instead. Boy was he MAD when I tried to pick him up and carry him down the stairs. He began kicking and screaming so much I set him down mid way where he fussed for a while. After that he decided that he would indeed come down the stairs but refused any help getting his PJs on or going to bed and decided to curl up on the bathroom floor. At this point I just gave up for a few minutes and let him just sort out his feelings. After about 10 minutes, while gently rubbing his back, I sweetly and softly asked if he wanted to sleep in the bathroom all night or get in bed and he finally chose the later.

Of course this morning, as I suspected, he has no recollection of the event.

That's Jet Lag for ya.