Kids Should Come with Warning Labels

Mr.E's warning label would be: Does Not Travel Well.
Hello from California!

It's not like we haven't done this trip with a young child before. MissE's first big adventure was at 4.5 months; we traveled SYD-SFO-LHR- Paris (via Eurostar- SAN. Her second was at 18 months and we can't remember the flight so it was obviously a non- issue. Mr.E is an entirely different story. We took turns at the rear of the plane, trying to rock him asleep. I had moments where I was sitting in the toilet with him to spare our fellow passengers. Desperate times lead to desperate measures at 4 hours to go, I doubled a drowsiness medication and he finally slept for maybe 2 hours.

Once in the comfort of a travel cot in Pau-pau and Gung-gung's house, he slept for a few hours so we relaxed and thought, no problem!  The joke was on us!

The ONLY time Mr.E slept in the travel cot

Week 1: Naps are non-existent and bedtime is a traumatic ordeal... For us and him! He refused to sleep in the travel cot (screaming and crying for an hour plus) and we even trekked across the Golden Gate to borrow a proper crib but it just sits empty. He was only sleeping in the car or in our arms then on the floor next to our bed. Even MissE, noticing what tough time her brother was giving us, told me that next time, we should leave Sabi and Mr.E with Uncle R, and Auntie L will take good care of him to make sure Cousin C doesn't play too rough.

Week 2: Mr.E is adjusted to the time but then a tooth (upper right) decided to make its appearance and we were thrown into disarray again! While he was at least sleeping, albeit on the floor still, now he was waking during the night. Thank goodness for 24 hour pharmacies because off we went at 10pm to CVS for Ibuprofen and Bonjela, and we had a sleeping baby!

BUT (you knew there was going to be a but!) now Eden realized he was sleeping on the floor which means FREEDOM! Bedtime now means exploring time: crawling over us repeatedly, checking for monsters under the bed, putting toys away in the garbage bin and turning the TV on and off. He would do this until he passed out somewhere on the floor. So fed up, a few nights ago we decided to go the controlled crying route to get him back into a cot! While I have nerves of steel, Pau-Pau and Gung- gung were asked to watch TV with the volume on loud, daddy was sent into the shower then also to the opposite side of the house to watch TV, loudly. 45 minutes and silence. Repeat for the next 3 nights, and voila!  Eden is now sleeping in a cot again!  It only took 3 weeks!

* Post-script: Knowing a not-so-great traveller (Miss M) whose parents did not travel with her between ages 1 and 3, after being traumatized with 2 trips (my graduation in Washington, DC and then a few weeks later to Vancouver), we are really hoping this will not be the case with Mr.E!  We want to be able to come back next year!