Well, our 23 hour flight to Singapore started off well enough, loading went without a hitch and in short order we were comfortable stowed in the rear cabin of a Northwest plane, armed with a bag of ~300 toys to distract our wonderfully active boy. After the distraction of our initial take-off, Kieran got the wander bug, so Daddy took him for a *walk* up and down the seat aisles. A walk turned into a sprint, with nimble little feet quickly outpacing the clumsier, more heavily laden feet of his father. With the occasional pause to wave at some of his admirers, in short order we had arrived at the first class cabin. Determined to look like a respectable father who does not allow his son to run through three cabins of an airplane, I had a brief discussion with my young sprinter and started back holding his hand from behind. In a moment of distraction as we eased by another passenger, my young opportunist slipped my hand and continued his Olympic trials, this time aided by the downward slope of the cabins.
A cabin later I caught up with the rogue and managed to slow his forward progress by gently holding the top of his head. This quickly turned into feet outpacing his head, which looked quite cartoonish (you know, the ones where the feet take off first with the head stretching back behind). With only slightly impeded progress he finished the lap back to our seat and was swept up out of the aisle by mommy's waiting arm. Daddy having received far more exercise than his triathalon son, plopped down into his chair and quickly fell asleep.
Here's where the story takes a turn for the worse, if you have a weak stomach I recommend you do not read on.
MOMMY'S BIG SACRIFICE (AKA THE LONGEST 8 HOURS OF OUR LIVES)
Being good parents, shortly before the flight we gave Kieran a nice breakfast of eggs and some formula. This was gratefully returned to us in partially digested splendor about 3 hours into our flight (shortly after our Detroit connection). Mommy was directly in the path and in an act of extreme self sacrifice took the entire contents on her lap. After a few moments of panic, we managed to dig out our wet wipes and take care of the mess, even changing Kieran's shirt for a clean one that my always prepared wife had thought to pack.
Unfortunately this turned out to only be a warm-up run. In the following 8 hours Kieran threw up about every 30 minutes, his sick tummy refusing to hold any liquids, much to the dismay and fright of his parents, hovering somewhere over the North Pacific. Daddy made frequent trips to the flight attendants, retrieving many armfuls of towels and bags to place soiled clothing. Kieran quickly went through both extra shirts and spent the remainder of the flight in only a diaper. Mommy continued to be the recipient of the upchuck, with literally a dozen or more incidents ending up in her lap.
Having considered staying over in Tokyo so we could take Kieran into a hospital to get rehydrated, we were wonderfully pleased when he was able to keep a few sips of Sprite down about eight hours into the trip. He fell asleep on Mommy's lap for an hour of wonderful respite. While there was one more incident on our leg from Tokyo to Singapore (this one thankfully placed on the empty seat we managed to commandeer), the storm had broke and Kieran was on the mend. The last portion of our journey over South Asian waters was thankfully uneventful, and even quite entertaining, as a recuperated Kieran began to energetically interact and *flirt* with some young Singaporean girls sitting behind us. He proceeded to show them every toy in his bag and kept them giggling with his crazy antics (that boy likes to perform!). A weary mommy and daddy smiled at his joyfulness, glad to see that he had handled the sickness and confinement so well. Indeed, Kieran never once had a crying fit through the whole 23 hour trip!
A shower and a few hours of rest later, this father is indeed thankful to have arrived in the beautiful city of Singapore. I am also thankful for the exceeding patience and self-sacrifice of the most amazing woman I have ever met.
Check back later for pics and info on our big (vomit free) trip to the zoo!!
1 comment:
What a roller coaster. Glad to hear the end result was positive.
Post a Comment