dec, 5th - flying...not quite what it used to be....

[the effects of jetlag....this is 9:30am....but don't be fooled, these two were both up at 2am and ready to play]

day 1025 / 24:

we have gone ahead to spend Christmas with family in Asia and A. will join us later. Limi and i have flown together quite a few times (it's a fact of our lives when we have family and friends spread far and wide) and she's always been a pretty good flyer (i wrote about our very first long-haul flight on day 84). this was Claya's first time. i was a bit worried that she would be the 'non-flyer' in the family but she was generally brilliant (by brilliant i mean i didn't spend the flight with a screaming baby or have to do laps of the plane....by no means am i suggesting that i was reclined, sipping a chilled glass of wine and watching a movie...).....seriously, flying is just not what it used to be.....anyway, it was made a whole lot easier by my sister flying at the same time (on a different airline) and helping us on each end....

so, a couple of things (besides what i mentioned on day 84) that i have learnt (through friends, family and my own experiences) about flying with kids under three......

* for babies, the well known fact of feeding on take take-off and landing to decompress their ears. for Limi, i make sure that she has her own bottle of water to sip as the pressure changes

* i get all our hand-luggage down and stack it to make a ledge at Limi's feet so that she has more of a bed to sleep on and it helps to stop her from rolling off the seat

* for this trip, even though Limi only watches T.V. occasionally, we introduced her to two movies (Sound of Music and Happy Feet) for weeks in advance and made sure that we had uploaded them onto the iPad. we packed some kids headphones and although she slept for most of the flight (hooray!) when she did wake up, she was happy to watch a movie that she knew so well (i knew that this would really help if i was dealing with Claya)

* i also never hesitate to ask an air-steward to watch the girls if i need to go to the bathroom or take one of them

* and finally, on this trip, we also let Limi pack her own backpack of toys and snacks to take on the plane (she used her school bag....sweet)

so, besides the airline leaving the bag containing Claya's nappies and travel cot on the tarmac in London (something about a broken carousel) and just starting to change an especially tricky nappy when we hit bad turbulence....we are here safe and sound and looking forward to a festive season with family.......

next step: how to persuade two children that it is sleep time when their bodies are saying that it's midday and time to play.....

p.s. things may be a bit quieter than usual on the blog for a few weeks.....but i'll be back in the new year with plenty of pics to share.