Do you recognize this situation: your child is hysterical in public and EVERY-ONE is watching?! Either because they feel pity or because they are irritated. Fortunately we have never experienced this, because Liv never cried longer than 15 minutes in a row. All the flights we have done with her were a piece of cake. Up to now….
The day we are flying
We are flying with the Emirates through Dubai. We have taken this exact same flight a few months ago, when we were on our way to Australia. That time Liv slept throughout the flight until we arrived in Dubai. We are leaving Amsterdam at 10PM and we have extra leg space, so we are perfect! I’m not worrying at all. She has slept really well this afternoon and that makes all the difference (for her, but also for us 😉 ). Right on time we are in the car on our way, so we arrive early at Schiphol. Liv loves everything and just strolles around on the Airport. I think she will fall asleep in the wrap before we board the plane.
For this reason we arrive at the gate early. The same gate as 6 months ago, with an aquarium. Liv is saying fish, fish, fish continuously, till she sees the treadmills. Of course she has to go there to stand on them and to get off again. And to get on. And off. And on. 20 minutes long, till I forced her to stop. It is 8.30PM now and she really has to sleep. Luckily she asks for milk, but she doesn’t fall asleep.
She stays awake till we board the plane, but also in the plane she does not fall asleep. We have chairs with extra leg space, because there is no row in front of us. Because there is no row in front of us, our t.v. and our table are in our armrest. Because all of these things are hidden in our armrest, we cannot lift them and because we cannot lift them, Liv doesn’t have any room for her legs. She is too big to lay down on my lap. When she fin-al-ly falls asleep at midnight (and we celebrate this moment by taking a photo), it is only a really short nap. Throughout the flight none of us will sleep and before we know it we are in Dubai! We have a 5 hour transit here (we couldn’t find anything better) and we decide to find a sofa where we can lay Liv down. When we find one, Liv just fell asleep in the wrap. Perfect! We just need to take her out and put here on the sofa and maybe we can sleep a little as well.
At least that’s my plan….
As soon as she is out of the wrap, she is bright awake. How is this possible?! No matter what we try, she won’t sleep! At this moment I’m thinking: thank god she is happy.
Until this completely turns around. All of a sudden she starts crying and nothing we do is good enough. I put her back in the wrap and within no time she is quiet. Phew. I sit down next to Denny trying to get some sleep and when I just fel asleep, Liv wakes up again. This time it is serious. SHE IS HYSTERICAL! And I feel so bad. Poor girl. Such a great parents that just put you in a plane, on a lap, without a bed and now you are so tired that you can only cry. I try all kinds of things, the wrap, walking, singing, nothing. She is inconsolable and if Denny just looks at her she seems to scream even harder so he can’t do anything.
Now I know how it feels, all these people looking and thinking (what ever it is, I don’t want them to judge). I promise myself in this moment I will NEVER ever look at a child that is hysterical
Finally I just give up to calm her down and I sit down with my poor girl who is still so sad. I try not to cry as well and I can only hope that tomorrow everything will be different and she will be the happiest girl in the world when building a sand castle on a crystal white sand beach and her feet in the blue sea….
At Schiphol.
When we were still thinking it would be a piece of cake. Little did we know……
Bright awake on her way to Dubai.