Travel ramblings
Jan. 13th, 2007 01:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzybennetI wrote this on the plane.
As usual, the boys are doing really well on the flight. The one who is having the most difficult time is Connor. I was finally able to calm him down by holding him, almost like a baby reclining in both of my arms. I asked him to go to sleep and he did, just like that. I suppose this is a bittersweet result of our constant traveling. He can (and does) fall asleep anywhere, anytime. Chris and I think that it's almost like a defense mechanism for him. He just goes to sleep and he can shut out all the weirdness/unpredictability of traveling.
He often asks to go home and I wonder exactly where home is in his mind? Oro Valley, I would guess. If we were to move back there, would the kids all be content and happy again or is it too late to go back? The truth is, there's nothing to take us back there. We'd feel like we were taking a step backwards in our progression towards adulthood and stability. Even with three kids, at age 32, I still don't quite feel like a real grown up!
In other news, I'm sitting behind a Harry Potter look-alike. The fangirl-dork in me is finding it hard not to stare. Imagine Harry has finished at Hogwarts and decided to attend Harvard. That's who I'm sitting behind. Well, about a half hour ago, Harry opened up the over-head compartment and a jacket fell out onto Zack's tray, spilling Sprite all over Zack and the nearby stewardess. Zack didn't even look up from his Gameboy! He just kept playing, oblivious to the fact that his pants were wet and there was a flurry of clean up going on around him. Harry apologized, but the stewardess was pretty rude about it. She said "That's ok, I just have to work for 10 hours in wet clothes is all." I felt bad for the guy.
Chris gave me a new camera for my birthday! I really wanted a smaller, pocket sized one, although there was nothing wrong with our old one (besides the fact that it was old and outdated.) He's so sweet to me.
We had a crazy morning. We went to Wal-Mart to buy all the things we wanted to take back. Yeah, lots of junk food, but also tortillos, a pastry cutter and bread pans. We ended up checking 9 bags and carrying on 4. When we traveled here in December, we had one carry on and 3 checked! We decided to carry R2-D2 on. He set off the alarms at security and they had to open up the bag and do a manual sweep. It would have been cool if Petey could've carried him on his back the way they do in the movie.
This morning Petey said to me "I've got it! Let's just go to China, get our stuff, and come right home!" he so doesn't want to live there anymore. I wonder if my attitude is to blame for their dissatisfaction with living there. I'm going to try harder, but I feel like they know when I'm not sincere. I try so hard to be upbeat and patient, but when they whine non-stop, I tend to lose it. Zack has started this new habit where he asks me the same question over and over. No exaggeration, he'll ask me the same thing 10 times in the space of 2 hours. The reason he keeps asking is because he's not content with the answer he's getting and he wants me to change my mind. Usually it's about something that I can't take care of at that exact moment but am planning to deal with in the future. Ack, it is incredibly frustrating! I need to find a way to deal with it gracefully.
As usual, the boys are doing really well on the flight. The one who is having the most difficult time is Connor. I was finally able to calm him down by holding him, almost like a baby reclining in both of my arms. I asked him to go to sleep and he did, just like that. I suppose this is a bittersweet result of our constant traveling. He can (and does) fall asleep anywhere, anytime. Chris and I think that it's almost like a defense mechanism for him. He just goes to sleep and he can shut out all the weirdness/unpredictability of traveling.
He often asks to go home and I wonder exactly where home is in his mind? Oro Valley, I would guess. If we were to move back there, would the kids all be content and happy again or is it too late to go back? The truth is, there's nothing to take us back there. We'd feel like we were taking a step backwards in our progression towards adulthood and stability. Even with three kids, at age 32, I still don't quite feel like a real grown up!
In other news, I'm sitting behind a Harry Potter look-alike. The fangirl-dork in me is finding it hard not to stare. Imagine Harry has finished at Hogwarts and decided to attend Harvard. That's who I'm sitting behind. Well, about a half hour ago, Harry opened up the over-head compartment and a jacket fell out onto Zack's tray, spilling Sprite all over Zack and the nearby stewardess. Zack didn't even look up from his Gameboy! He just kept playing, oblivious to the fact that his pants were wet and there was a flurry of clean up going on around him. Harry apologized, but the stewardess was pretty rude about it. She said "That's ok, I just have to work for 10 hours in wet clothes is all." I felt bad for the guy.
Chris gave me a new camera for my birthday! I really wanted a smaller, pocket sized one, although there was nothing wrong with our old one (besides the fact that it was old and outdated.) He's so sweet to me.
We had a crazy morning. We went to Wal-Mart to buy all the things we wanted to take back. Yeah, lots of junk food, but also tortillos, a pastry cutter and bread pans. We ended up checking 9 bags and carrying on 4. When we traveled here in December, we had one carry on and 3 checked! We decided to carry R2-D2 on. He set off the alarms at security and they had to open up the bag and do a manual sweep. It would have been cool if Petey could've carried him on his back the way they do in the movie.
This morning Petey said to me "I've got it! Let's just go to China, get our stuff, and come right home!" he so doesn't want to live there anymore. I wonder if my attitude is to blame for their dissatisfaction with living there. I'm going to try harder, but I feel like they know when I'm not sincere. I try so hard to be upbeat and patient, but when they whine non-stop, I tend to lose it. Zack has started this new habit where he asks me the same question over and over. No exaggeration, he'll ask me the same thing 10 times in the space of 2 hours. The reason he keeps asking is because he's not content with the answer he's getting and he wants me to change my mind. Usually it's about something that I can't take care of at that exact moment but am planning to deal with in the future. Ack, it is incredibly frustrating! I need to find a way to deal with it gracefully.
welcome back
Date: 2007-01-15 12:35 am (UTC)