Tag Archives: flight

On jet-lag and time zones

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We’ve been back three days from our trip to Paris and London.
The trip back was relatively easier because we had the short flight to Amsterdam first, then the long one when the children normally sleep. They woke up as we landed at two pm.

Probably due to fatigue L fell right into her Chinese time schedule. R stayed at GMT. He slept around three am.
Yesterday L’s excitement kept her going when she woke up at six am, what would be the middle of the night. R also woke up around that time, had some milk and slept again until noon. Last night L went to bed at eight pm, and R at two am.

Intriguing yet not surprising that it happened. Two very separate schedules. Not ideal twin parenting technique. Lots of one-on-one time though. Necessary after such travel – a packed schedule and many new people to hang out with everyday.
Maher and I slept in shifts, neither here nor there.

Today R,L, and M are on a similar schedule – in between the two time-zones. I am back in Europe.

Upsy Daisy…Upsy Daisy…

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Leila loves Upsy Daisy, a character from her new favorite TV series In the night garden. She first used to call her”Dai”, then “Dai-dy” and now she says “Daisy” clearly. It is very sweet to hear. Lately she says it often.

Each episode of the show begins with a parent telling their baby a bedtime story. The story takes place in the night garden and is about Upsy Daisy, her friends Iggle Piggle, Macka Packa and others. Each character has unique phrases and songs, traits and some props that they use. Daisy has a bed that she can move around the garden. Sometimes her bed runs away and even hides. The show ends with everyone in the garden going to  sleep, including the baby.

Last week I bought stuffed doll versions of the three characters. L feeds Daisy milk from her bottle, changes her nappy, rocks her to sleep, and covers her with blankets. I once saw R offer Iggle Piggle his pacifier!

Last week on our flight back from Shanghai, despite Daisy’s comfortable sleeping space: a pillow and blanket at the foot of Houda’s seat, Leila insisted that Daisy sleep in the front of the plane where the air stewards hang out. Maher and Houda laid her down to sleep on the pillow. Leila stubbornly picked her up and took her to the front. She laid her down on the grey, dirty floor and patted her gently. The air stewards went from being entertained to irritated to annoyed.

As we were landing Leila fell asleep on my lap. She had determinedly moved Daisy between beds, about twenty times. We wondered whether to explain the story to the air stewards or not, the one about Daisy’s mobile bed that has a mind of its own.

We had to laugh (in retrospect!) when…

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…on our way back from a trip to Hong Kong in October 2010, we missed our flight and had to spend ten hours at the airport scavenging for diapers and formula! Leila had a bad case of diarrhea and so we left the hotel a little late, but I can’t put the blame on that!  Neither one of us wears a watch, and we took our time to get to our departure gate, changed diapers along the way, bought a few things at the pharmacy, and when we got to the gate the plane was taking off. Hey, anyone who travels with a baby, or two, would understand!

…on our way to Koh Samui in February this year we had a delay of four hours after having boarded the plane. This was after terribly long check in and security ques because it was Chinese New Year holiday time and everyone was traveling. We had two cranky babies who were confined in a small space and hadn’t napped all day. Every half hour that passed we went from thinking “we can still make our connection”, to “if we hurry we can make it”, to “there is no way we are going to make it”.  We missed our Bangkok – Samui flight.  Somehow we got on a flight later that night. Leila had managed to fall asleep, but Rahul had a crying fit as we were taking off. We got to Samui around midnight, but our luggage hadn’t.  Thankfully there are hundreds of seven elevens and they sell diapers, formula, and bottle cleaning products!

…Rahul climbed out of the bath onto a ledge and poo’d, stepped in it and then got back in the bath.  I was alone with the two of them. Leila climbed out onto the ledge too. I started to drain the bath while cleaning up behind him, nervously watching that they don’t slip and fall. Leila poo’d!

…after battling to get R and L into warm clothes on a cold, wet day and then into their jogging stroller, the front wheel broke when we were at the top of an overpass on our way to the Sichuan University.  I was on my bike. We walked back home, me pushing my bicycle with the front wheel dangling on my handle bar, and Maher pushing the stroller on the back wheels alone. We had many wheels, not many functional. Leila and Rahul had fallen asleep a few minutes prior to the event.

…Rahul escaped from putting on a diaper and a few minutes later was stepping on his clean potty to climb onto a tabletop. I suddenly heard Maher screaming for me to do something about him. Rahul was peeing. I keep my computer, Ipad, camera, and phone on this table!

…we heard a boom in one room.  Rahul had fallen off a ledge in his bedroom. Naturally the attention quickly turned to him as he was crying. Two minutes later there was a thud. Leila had fallen off the couch in the living room.