ten minutes to myself

if the jolie-pitt clan can do it, so can we ...

Five years ago, we were living in Calgary again (briefly), in-between our relocations in Newfoundland and Bangkok, and amid trying to coordinate having vinyl siding put on our garage and making trips out to the dumpster in our driveway, I had this thought: "Hey, we're going to be living close to Cambodia! I want to see Angkor Wat!"

And a few months later, we were living in Thailand. And it was hot. More than I really realized. And Madeline was just three years old. And there looked like there were a lot of places for her to fall off of those really old Cambodian temples. 

(evidence of the potential for falling to one's death:)

And then Sadie arrived. And it was still hot, and hot weather and tiny infants don't go together. 

And then we moved to Saigon, on the other side of Cambodia. Still hot, everywhere. Madeline's nearly eight and pretty agile. Sadie is three-and-half, regularly trips over her own (kinda big) feet, and she's pretty fearless. It's still hot, but we don't know if we're going to be living here in twelve months time, so this time, we just decided to go. 

 Our trip worked out better than both Chris and I were expecting, actually. We booked a guide and a vehicle for the mornings, and toured Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and a few temples beyond, and after lunch we'd usually take the kids to the pool at the hotel. We stayed at the Hotel de la Paix in Siem Reap, and it worked out really well because it had a cafe serving ice cream, a swimming pool that was half-shaded, and no rule that the maximum occupancy of a room was two adults and only one child (we regularly struggle to find two-adults-two-kids per room hotels in Asia, for some reason). 

No children fell off of any temples, despite there being lots of opportunity to do so. Sadie enjoyed finding sticks to carry around and climbing on all the ledges that she could find. Madeline grumbled softly about her displeasure over being dragged out sightseeing, but refrained from asking when we were going back to the hotel every ten minutes (Aside: I'm going to have a great photobook full of photos of her frowning on our holidays, though). And I got to cross something off of the list of things to do in SE that I started five years ago :)

suitcase, the epilogue

I chuckled a little when I looked up what I posted the last time I actually posted something here, and saw my suitcase, pre-trip. My gosh, that suitcase was stuffed to the gills on our return to Saigon from Canada. Usually I stock up on pharmaceuticals and health care-type items that are hard to find here (as they were in Thailand), and this trip was no exception, but upon unpacking the other day, I realized that the stuff I brought back fell into three other categories

a) craft foam and foam stickers (I have nearly an entire shopping bag full - how embarrassing!)

b) t-shirts for me (How did I end up with six new tees? I love them, of course, but now I have to toss out six older tees to make room for them. And clothes are heavy to bring back!)

c) birthday and Christmas gifts for Chris and my kids (The selection of toys here is rather small, and we already have a lot of My Little Pony and Playdoh).

Aside from the Children's Advil and sunscreen, the most practical thing that I brought back were school shoes for Madeline (why her school specifies a style and colour of shoe that is hard to come by here in Saigon, I will never understand!).The strangest just might be the bottle of wood glue. The most ridiculous might be a huge package of Fruit-to-Go that I swear weighed 1.2 kilograms. At least, it's a year's supply ... 

 

origami practice

So, I've started to pack for our upcoming trip halfway around the world, and this is our suitcase so far:

It's over halfway full, and I still need to put a few outfits for myself in there! I am not sure that the shopping spree in Canada that I've been day-dreaming about is going to play out as I imagined it!

hitting turbulence

Dear Singapore Airlines

Last Wednesday, my two children and I flew on your afternoon flight out of HCMC to Singapore. A little over halfway into the flight, my two year old crawled into my lap, laid her head against my arm, and fell asleep. The seatbelt sign was off, so I thought this was fine (and preferable to her being tired and irritable, trust me!). 

About ten minutes later, one of your flight attendants came over and insisted that I put her back in her seat and secure her seatbelt. I was sad to do this, knowing what was coming, but like any good passenger, I complied. Sadie promptly woke up and began to howl. She didn't want to watch anything on the inflight entertainment system, she didn't want anything to eat or drink, she didn't want anything to do with anything that I'd packed in my carry-on bag to pass the time. She wanted to be held, obviously still sleepy, and fought with all her strength against her seatbelt. 

She didn't, as the FA suggested, "get up too early this morning". She's little, and takes an afternoon nap.

The FA came by about half an hour later to offer more assvice about my unhappy toddler, and I noticed something strange onboard our aircraft. "You know," I said, "I don't understand why I had to put my daughter down half an hour ago. The "FASTEN SEAT BELTS" sign hasn't been on at all during this time!" 

She looked surprised, offered some weak comment to the nature of "preparing the cabin for landing" and scurried off to turn on the darned seat belt sign (to vindicate herself, I presume). We landed about fifteen minutes later, with my child unhappy for every one of those minutes.

Singapore Airlines, I usually heart you, but I am kind of angry that my sleeping toddler was the first item onboard to be "prepared for landing". A more compassionate FA might have taken care of collecting the headphones, drinking cups, and raising the window shades before picking on a tiny sleeping child who was not in violation of the seat belt policy. I am not sure what sort of service to expect the next time my family flies with you (but we might just opt to spend our $$ on Air Asia instead). 

Regards,Laura the Still Upset
#singaporeairlines

blizzards, airplanes, and a certain little toddler

This winter (such as it is, here in Vietnam), we'd been feeling that there wasn't enough challenge or excitement in our lives. So, the obvious remedy  was to take our two children, one of them a twenty-six month-old, on a eighteen hour flight. 

I remember how anxious I was when I first started flying with Madeline, usually between St. John's and Edmonton. She happened to be two year old at the time. Four years later, she could probably fly herself. Okay, maybe she still needs some assistance navigating the airports, but honestly, she is such an easy child to travel with. She packs and carries her own carry-on backpack, and is pretty happy to write in a journal, occupy herself with an activity sticker books (like these), or watch inflight programming. That's largely why I haven't posted much at all in the last couple of years about flying with her. It's very nearly like traveling with my husband, only she carries much less in her pockets  so I'm not waiting while she takes a really long time to get through airport security screening :)

But then, there is Sadie. She isn't really interested in stickers, colouring, or books, which is what her older sister occupied herself with on long flights at the same age. Sadie likes running, climbing, bubbles, playdough, and making things out of blocks - none of which really lend themselves well to air travel. I was either an optimist or an idiot, as I was carrying around about ten pounds of stickers, crayons, markers, and snacks in a large backpack. The great majority of those items never saw the light of day during our twelve-day trip. The keys to surving a long-haul flight with the toddler seem to come down to two things:

1. Taking a night-time flight, so that 6-10 hours of the flights are absorbed by sleeping and do not require entertaining (or restraining) her.
2. Having the Toy Story films on the inflight entertainment system. She could watch Buzz Lightyear and Woody all day long, I think.

 This actually worked out well on our out-going flight, leaving Hong Kong in the early evening. Our return flight was scheduled to leave NYC at 9:15 in the morning, which was quite a concern as there was a distinct possibility that she'd be awake for sixteen of those eighteen hours back to Saigon.

But hurrah - NYC received a dump of snow on Boxing Day!!!!! Our flight back on New Years Eve was delayed by something like six hours; we probably were the only passengers on flight CX841 who considered this to be the best news ever! And yes, the toddler slept for most of the flight. Thank goodness. 

and eleven days later

... the kids and I are in yet another country. 

I'd mentally been referring to last week at the Week of Doom for awhile. The 288 boxes of our sea shipment were delivered to our rental house in Saigon last Monday. Three days after that, we (well, the kids, Chris's mom, and myself) got on a plane to start our forty-hour door-to-door trek from Saigon to Edmonton. In retrospect, the "Week of Doom" was a misnomer. Before the week started, I was mightily worried about the travel - our itinerary was unbearably and unnecessarily long - but after one full day of unpacking and organizing at the new house, I could not wait to get on that first connecting flight to BKK and get as far away from that filthy/disorganized joint in the sketchy neighbourhood. There were only three days of doom, to be fair!

The flights were a non-event, which came as a pleasant surprise. Madeline has flown so much that at six years old, she isn't any trouble. She totes her own carry-on bag, can scoot off to lavatory on her own, and is happy to plug in her headphones and watch in-flight movies. Sadie requires a lot more of my time on airplanes, but for our very long BKK-LAX flight, she (and her sister) slept for a respectable 8-9 hours. And she also slept the entire flight from LAX to Edmonton, so I can't complain an iota about last Thursday and Friday. 

So, we're all here now. Sadie's first visit to the country that she is a citizen off but had never set a foot in before. I've once again fallen into the ex-pat parent trap of shopping-shopping-shopping for shoes, chewable vitamins, craft supplies, decent sunscreen, and the like. It's lovely to watch my kids play in a real backyard. Wish we could do this more often. 

And today, my twenty-one month-old decided that it was okay to call me "Mommy". 

eat (Cheerios), drink (milk in a sippy), pray (that every sleeps on the flight)

I questioned my travel-hound husband's motives earlier this week when he handed me my Macbook with Safari open to this Globe & Mail story about touring through India with a toddler - India: the real magic kingdom. I enjoyed reading the article, but frankly, I think that I would be so tired after attempting such a trip with my fifteen month-old! It's a cool read, though, and reminds me of traveling around Thailand and Ha Noi a bit, too.

two things I learned in 2009, travel edition

1. Do not be lured by fabulous airfares and book a *daytime flight* from Bangkok to London, especially if traveling with a new-ish toddler. We left Bangkok at 8:00 am, connected in Abu Dhabi, and arrived at Heathrow sixteen hours later. Sadie spent maybe two hours of that time sleeping. Argh. Six days later, we are still working on sleep. Our flight to Melbourne this past July was a lot more pleasant. It left BKK at midnight, and after the seat-belt light was turned off, we all slept for about six hours. 

2. Train travel is a lot less hassle than traveling my plane with my kids, at least at their current ages, but is more inconvienent luggage-wise.  Let's be honest - the toddler accounts for a lot of our cargo, what with lugging diapers, a stroller, appropriate food, etc., and neither Waterloo Station or St. Pancras have luggage carts. I don't fancy being a pack-mule much, but both Chris and I had bags hanging off of us as we trekked from one end to the other of the Waterloo. Argh. 

Pho, Uncle Ho, and traveling with my kids in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

We booked a trip to Vietnam about a month ago, for the week of the Songkran holiday here in Thailand, and I spent much of the days leading up to our holiday fretting. Would we get Sadie's restricted passport in time? We did. Would we have time to get our visas to visit Vietnam? We did, $300 later ... Would we actually be able to book a flight from Hanoi to Danang on a day's notice? We did, but we had to use a travel agent because booking with an infant is a PITA on Vietnam Airlines ... Would my children perish after being hit by a crazy motorcylist? Didn't happen either, thankfully, but we had some close calls ...

As usual, at least half of my concern was unnecessary, and Vietnam was an okay place to take the kids for a vacation ... 

The Good Stuff

- Madeline discovered that Hanoi is home to some very delicious ice cream, chocolates, and pastries. Vive le Francais. 

- the climate in Hanoi was several degrees cooler than that of Bangkok, so we actually did some leisurely stuff outdoors, like walk around the big lake in the old quarter.

- I brought the Beco carrier for Sadie, and it was really useful as we did a lot of walking. I wasn't sure if it wouldn't be too hot to use it ...

- The Embassy of Thailand in Hanoi was able to process Sadie's non-immigrant visa in less than thirty-six hours, which made bringing her back into the country she was born in a lot less complicated.

- We stayed at the Nam Hai resort in Hoi An for a few days, and they offered us carseats for the kids, had highchairs and cots in good condition, and had a children's menu

- That same resort had grass, and it was lovely put Sadie down on actual grass for the first time ever (we don't have actual grass where we live).

- Madeline saw a water puppet show (literally, the puppeteers were up to their waists in water and their puppets floated on the surface of the water), which is kind of an novel idea, and has some lovely souvenir lanterns to decorate her bedroom with. 

The Not-Exactly-Good Stuff

- our room at the Nam Hai resort was a serious hazard. In the center of the room there was a raised platform for the bed, a desk, a sitting area, and bathtub, and if Sadie had fallen off the platform, it would have been a drop of about two feet. We were fortunate that she wasn't fully crawling. It was also hard to see the steps leading down from the platform as everything was dark stone. I nearly fell carrying Sadie because I had misjudged where the steps here.

- none of the vehicles we rode in (a variety from luxury sedans to commuter vans) had manually locking lap/shoulder belts, so locking clips are necessary to properly secure carseats. Actually, the commuter van did not have any seatbelts ... 

- Sadie figured out crawling, leading to a couple of fat lips when she'd accidently face-plant. And she did sustain a few random head whacks as well ...

- Sadie's two top incisors were coming in, and a teething baby made for more co-sleeping and nursing than I'd really envisioned our holiday having. 

- random strangers in Hoi An seemed to think that I needed them to shout "Madame, baby too hot!" at me, like I wasn't already aware that we were all getting too much sun, let alone the baby. The unsolicited breastfeeding advice from a waitress was also rather weird. 

I'm glad to be home, and also glad that our holiday in Vietnam with an infant and a preschooler exceeded my expectations. 

london calling

Dear Madeline,

Your dad and I are quite happy that you had fun on our winter holiday in London. I have some fabulous memories of you chatting with the hotel staff, being brave with the best Father Christmas ever at Harrod's, sitting like a grown-up on the Underground, and excitedly  applauding at the end of the Christmas pantomime we went to see.

My grievance is with the souvenir that you brought home with you - time zone confusion. The nights where you don't fall asleep until four in morning are excruciating to your dad and I. We realize that four in the morning here occurs at a perfectly acceptable bedtime in the UK, but have I mentioned that it's FOUR IN THE MORNING here in Bangkok? Your dad has to leave for work a mere two-and-a-half hours later!

What I don't understand is why you're perfectly happy to follow your usual bedtime routine at 7:30 in the evening. You have a bath, brush your teeth, get into your jammies, and then we read your bedtime stories. And you do fall asleep, for an hour or two. A nap, I guess you'd say ...

Anyway, I'm sure that I've mentioned all of this to you, groggily and not nearly as cordially, in the wee hours of the morning, but I thought that I might get quicker corrective action if I put it in writing. Please, please, please, no more sleepless nights!

Love,

Your Mom (who falls behind in everything when she falls behind in sleep)