Trip to Chile with two kids!

This year we decided to venture to Chile for spring break! I spent weeks trying to figure out what would be the best way to travel. Stroller or no stroller? Car seat or no car seat? Potty seat for Noah? And what about a portable potty for Simon? What snacks would I bring? And what would I be eating, given my dairy and soy-free diet? And all this was just for the trip on the plane...!

So, finally, we decided to bring car seats for both of them, a potty seat for Noah, and a small tupperware for Simon. It worked perfectly! The trip to Chile went surprisingly well! First, we had a long drive to the airport. I loaded the car with Noah's toys, and amazingly, Simon didn't even cry during the 1.5 hour drive. We had talked up the trip so much that Noah was very excited! We arrived over 2 hours before the flight, and had some time to kill. We bought Noah a blueberry muffin, and he ate the top off of it. I got my shoes shined, and Noah loved watching. He was very outgoing with the shoe-shiner! Simon had a brief nap. Noah played "El Toro" with Nano, which consists of running into a white cloth like a bull. Simon watched and smiled. Noah played with his ladybug suitcase.

Finally, we got on the flight. We lucked out and got an extra seat for Simon! Nano just about killed me for insisting on using two carseats. Installing Noah's on the plane for the first time led to severe frustration and cursing under his breath. Noah was frustrated because on the flight to Dallas, he couldn't use his tray table, given the height of the seat (one of the shorter ones on the market). It was fabulous to be able to set Simon down and have him happily at my side some of the time, without having him on my lap the entire flight. I knew this is what I wanted for the long flight to Chile. As soon as the flight started to take off, Noah fell asleep. He didn't even get to watch the plane go up into the sky! After only an hour, he woke up, so we had to entertain him for another 2 hours. I had brought some special toys for the flight (coloring books, pens and crayons, plus some small matchbox size emergency vehicles), and he was pretty happy. He also watched part of a video on construction vehicles.

We had about 3 hours layover in Dallas on the way there, and spent it eating, walking, and playing. By this time, it was getting quite late, and Noah was getting into the euphoric, over-tired state. He and I rolled around on the floor with Simon, took pictures, and had fun while we waited for the flight. The counter started to announce that the flight was overbooked, and that they were taking volunteers to not get on the flight. Bummer, we thought, our seat for Simon is gone! We decided to just check his car seat so we wouldn't have to deal with it. This was Big Mistake Number 1! At 9:15 pm, we boarded the flight. We still had the middle seat free for Simon! But, his car seat was far away under the plane, and there was nothing we could do about it. I was the most upset about this grave error, since I was the one who would be holding him throughout the flight. While we were thrilled to have the three seats together, it was a bummer that Nano had the seat on the other side of the aisle, and I had to deal with the needs of both kids at one time! Overall, though, it went much better than expected. Noah slept in his car seat. There was little room for his legs, once we reclined the seat, but at least his head was not falling over.

We arrived in Santiago in the morning, and Noah was happy to watch Dora on the iPhone while we stood in line to pay the reciprocity fee for Simon and proceed through immigration. When we got to baggage claim, we could see Lala, Tata, Maida and Julian up in the galley waiting for us! Noah was happy to see them and waved.

The first thing Noah noticed about Chile was that it was very bright! Coming from the winter, the bright Chilean sun was a bit of a shock! He complained of being hot and the sun being too bright. He didn't want to get in the car until it had cooled down. We spent the trip to Lala's house talking about sights like the tunnel we had to go through, and the mountains. When we finally got to Lala and Tata's house, they opened the door and said, "come in!" Noah took one look, and said, "I want to go home now." I quickly said, "Let's go see the kitchen!" and thankfully, Lala had a huge watermelon on the counter (Noah loves watermelon) and a view of the swimming pool. These two things made Noah feel much better. We had some watermelon and snacks, and then tried to take a nap. It took a bit of convincing, but soon, all four of us were in deep slumber at our destination.

When we woke up, we had guests! The whole family had come over for swimming and then dinner at Lala's house. Noah had so much fun playing with his cousins. He was thrilled to see Nico (13) and Cata (11), who, apart from speaking English with him, had visited our house in the not too distant past, and Noah thought of them fondly. It took a little longer to get used to Jose (8), Maida (5), Julian (6) and Luciana (2). He ran around on his own with the cousins while we ate, though he kept coming back to check in with me. Thankfully, Simon was able to get down early that night.

At around 9:00 pm, Noah came to me and said he was tired. So, I took him back to our room, and he said, "I'm ready to go back home now. I want to go back to Jenkintown." I wasn't surprised that he felt out of his element. I explained that we had to get on an airplane to come to Chile, and that we would be there for a week. He cried. And cried. I told him, "I know, you really want to go home. It feels really far away here, and everything is different. You want to go home. But, Mama and Papa and Simon are here. We are here together. And, we get to play with all of your cousins and see Lala and Tata." Noah cried some more. Then, after about 10 minutes, he said, "Okay, I feel better now." We did a quick tubby, read a few books, and got to bed.

Wednesday, our first full day in Santiago, we hung out in the morning with Julian, and around lunch time, went to a country club that had a huge indoor swimming pool. All the kids (except Luciana) took off from school in the afternoon to hang out with us there. Despite missing his nap, Noah had tons of fun with all of his cousins. They played in the pool with him, as Nano and I alternated between swimming with him and holding Simon. Simon slept in the carrier. As expected, Noah passed out in the car on the way back. He only slept about 20 minutes before we got back to Lala and Tata's house. That evening, we got him to bed relatively early, in preparation for the next day.

Thursday, we spent the morning at Lala's house while Nano prepared for a presentation the next morning at the University of Chile. That afternoon, we headed out to Angeles' house, and hung out while waiting for the kids to come home at around 3pm.

Friday, Nano had his presentation, and I was expected to attend, so that I could meet with some colleagues of my professor there. We managed to get Noah down for a nap at 12.45 and walked out the door at 12.46 to get there for the 1:30 presentation. Angeles babysat Simon and Noah slept most of the time. When we walked back in the door at 3.30, I found Noah in the bathroom, trying to go to the potty by himself. Since his potty seat was in a different bathroom, he had a bit of an accident, but I totally give it to him for wanting to exert his independence! He would have been entirely successful, were it not for that small detail! That afternoon, we headed over to Andres' new house. I love the way Angeles' and Andres' houses are set up for kids -- both houses wind around a nice backyard, with doors from almost all of the rooms facing out there. It is perfect for young children to play outdoors while you keep an eye on them! Noah played with Julian and the neighborhood kids on a scooter, running around with a ball, and just having fun. I spent about 2 out of 3 hours trying to get Simon to sleep! At around 9.30, I gave up, and we decided to get him and Noah home to Lala's house. Noah and Simon both fell asleep in the car, and successfully transferred upstairs to sleep.

Saturday, we had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon. Simon napped, then Noah napped, then Simon napped, and then we made it to the party. We also had to pack our bags, since we were heading directly to the beach from the party. The party was at Nano's friend Topo's house. Their house was like heaven for a three year old! There was a bouncy castle, a swimming pool, a sandbox, a treehouse, a room full of toys including a drum set, light sabers, and balls, a pinata, sugar sodas, and lots of candy! They also had a full outdoor bar and grill, nice music, and all of Nano's friends from high school. In short, it was an absolute blast!

From there, we left to the beach. It is about a 1.5+ hour drive. We didn't arrive until about 9.45 pm. Both the kids fell asleep in the car and for the most part successfully transferred to sleep in the new location. We hung out in the next apartment over (got to love the monitor) for drinks with Andres, Carola and Lala and Tata (Julian and Luciana were still awake...until at least 11.30 pm!). We were pretty pooped so soon thereafter, headed for bed.

Sunday morning, I let Nano sleep in and took Noah to play outside on the playground and see the indoor swimming pool. We had a nice time playing, and by the time we got back, Andres and his family were starting to wake up. We planned on having lunch in Valparaiso, so everyone was getting ready for the 20+ minute ride. Reservations were for about 1.30 or so. Noah fell asleep 10 minutes before we got there. I stayed in the car with him for another 10, then carried him in. He continued sleeping on me, and then on the couch, for another hour or so. I had a delicious local white fish (reineta) dish with fries and salad. Nano had Congrio frito. When Noah woke up, we went down one of the famous elevators of Valparaiso, a small little car that climbs up and down the mountainside. Great fun for the little ones!

This was the end of Noah's decent behavior. By this point, he was so beside himself with tiredness and lack of nutritious food that he was cranky and fussy for pretty much the rest of the trip. He woke up from this nap very cranky, and wouldn't even talk to his cousins. He only wanted to be with me (and let me tell you, he was no joy to be around). He demanded things like iPhones and ice cream. He had tantrums when he did not get them. Everyone tried to placate him, and we ended up going to an ice cream restaurant later that afternoon where he basically ate what would have been lunch (after refusing the chicken nuggets and fries we had for him).

After that, we went to the house of a couple we know from the University of Maryland, who live in Vina del Mar. Again, gorgeous house with huge backyard with lots of windows facing it! They have three kids (1.5, 5 and 7), a trampoline, and a kitchen stocked with peanut butter! Noah was thrilled to eat his first peanut butter and jelly sandwich in days (although in all honesty, I had brought some with us and he was eating it, but still!). Diana also offered him markers and some other toys. I spent another 2 out of about 3 hours trying to get Simon to sleep here. We didn't get there until 6 pm, his bedtime in Chile was about 7.30, and his last nap was interrupted, so he was pretty much a disaster. Lots of crying...I didn't get much of a chance to catch up, but we did get to exchange a few words here and there! :)

Finally, we got back to the apartment, and once again, both kids were sleeping. Noah's dentist is going to kill me for missing so many teeth brushing times while there!

On Monday, Nano wanted to go to his favorite restaurant for his favorite lasagna, so we made an early reservation at 12.30. I had some fabulous sauteed shrimp, and Nano had is infamous Lasagna a la Putanesca. Noah shared some noodles with Julian, and devoured many of my shrimp. When we got back, he was exhausted, and napped from around 2-4, when we had to wake him up in order to head to the airport.

Suffice it to say, the return trip from Chile was pretty much a nightmare. Noah and Simon were both tired and sleep deprived. The ride to the airport from the beach was quite long, but Noah handled it pretty well, given he had just woken from a nap. At the airport, we ate with and then said goodbye to the cousins, who met us there, and Noah was pretty wild with excitement and tiredness. Simon was once again struggling to fall asleep among the waiters crashing dishes, children screaming, and other kitchen noises. There were two great things about the return flight from Santiago to Dallas: we got the bulkhead seat, which meant a bassinet (which Simon did NOT like) and more front leg room for Noah. We also got a seat for Simon and had the carseat with us this time, so I actually got rest!! Nano on the other hand, had no place to put his long legs, so he was pretty uncomfortable! Noah slept most of the time, but was very cranky upon waking. Then, in Dallas, we had a five, yes, FIVE, hour layover. Nano took Noah on train rides, we ate, we walked, I bought Noah an airplane toy, and then we all took the train together for our flight. Nano did not put Noah's car seat in for this flight, and he did not easily fall asleep without it. While he really needed a long nap, he only got about an hour. He was so cranky upon waking that we began to relive the first days after Simon's birth, with Noah saying he didn't want me to hold Simon, that he wanted me to hold him, etc. I ended up walking off the plane with Noah in one arm and Simon in the other. Nano schlepped all the stuff. The stroller was way at the end of the passageway, and I was pooped.

Then, to top it all off, we had only arrived in Newark. We had a whole 1.5 hour car ride ahead of us. We stopped to get a hot dog for Noah and Nano, and took off. Simon cried for about 45 minutes to an hour. Noah cried that he wanted to watch something, then cried that he had to go potty, then cried that he didn't want to go potty, then cried that I tried to get Simon to stop crying, then cried that I told him I didn't like him acting like that, then cried that his dad told him to stop crying, etc., etc., etc.

By the time we walked in the door at around 6pm, we had all lost our patience at least once leading to either yelling or crying. I just wanted to get both of them TO. SLEEP.! Well, it still took awhile. Several hours later, at about 8:15, they were finally asleep.

Wow, what a trip!! Overall, it was great! I was so happy to see Noah thrive with his cousins! Jose played, "give me five...up high...down low...too slow" with him, he ran in a little sprinkler with Luciana, Nico and Cata spoke to him in English, he flew a kite with Julian, he played in the sand with Luciana, he swam with all the cousins, and he had a great time. But, it was disheartening to see his behavior decline along with his napping/sleep schedule. Next time, we will have to be more careful to see that he gets sleep and food in his body!

If there is one thing that saved us with Simon while we were there, it was the White Noise application on the iPhone! It took a few days to figure it out, but I turned it on one night and Simon was finally able to fall to sleep once all the noise was drowned out. Overall, I think he became a better sleeper as a result of this trip, ironically. He can go down in more of a variety of circumstances, and really seems to enjoy/appreciate the darkness and quiet of his room now that we are home!

There were at least three areas of major regression for Noah: 1) eating, 2) using potty, and 3) screen time. When he got back, his babysitter, Tiffany, asked him, "What did you eat in Chile?" His answer: "Nothing. They don't have any food in Chile." He asked repeatedly for goldfish crackers, and I told him they didn't have them in Chile. He didn't want to try anything new, and didn't even seem to like their noodles. The one thing he ate with gusto in the restaurant was shrimp (surprisingly). He also ate and enjoyed an empanada, but he probably quickly forgot about that. And, his friends and family ate and/or offered lots and lots of sugar -- sodas, candy, ice cream, etc. It was hard to get anything healthy down his throat! As far as point 2, I won't go into detail, but lets just say that peeing on the potty went well, but that was about it. For point 3), I was amazed at how there were no limits or monitoring on quantity or contents of television cartoons and iPhone/iPad games. Noah got way more than his usual share of screen time, and we are currently trying to detox.

Pictures to come!