I think we are looking at a 3 hour flight this time. When we fly back to the States, though, it will be a 13 hour flight.

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For that, I'd take a car seat. Waaaaaay too long to hold a baby on your lap.

As a matter of fact, I'd consider emigrating until Mal is six years old.

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As a matter of fact, I'd consider emigrating until Mal is six years old.

Heh. By then, he'll be in boarding school.

My other current Mal-related concern is swimming. He loves loves loves being in the bathtub, and I would love to start him swimming. But there are no pools that I know of here. (OK, the Ambassador has one, but he doesn't let anyone use it, which is against regs, but that's a different rant). I'd like to take Mal to the beach, and at least let him splash in the edge of the sea, but Robert's opposed, and the pede forbids direct sun and also sunblock.

As usual, I'm thinking that this problem, like so many others, could be solved by the large application of money (kiddie cabana, full-coverage swimsuit with built-in floats, kepi) but I just checked and we still aren't related to the Bushes.

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Our pede - and the bottle - says sunblock is okay at 6 months. Or you could go very late in the day - how sunburned could a kid get at 4pm? Eve has a full-coverage swimsuit that was $20 at the grocery store - it's by Coppertone. I say take him to the beach. And then rinse him thoroughly at home, 'caue sometimes the Mediterranean is nasty.

On the subject of plane trips, are you required to buy a seat for Mal even if he sits in your lap? That's what kept us from using a car seat - in the US under-twos fly free as lap children. I wasn't worried too much about safety, and Eve slept, or was quite charming, for our early flights. (Now, it's another matter - you cannot contain an energetic two-year-old on a plane, but I do recommend you not give her frappuccino before takeoff.) The other thing to remember is, will you need a carseat where you're going? If you'll be traveling in cars you will. We bring ours but check it.

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Oh, and my friend once flew to England with 2 and a half year old twins. Who did not sleep. Brave woman.

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I've been gone all day and what a day it has been. Ellie, who I hope is too young to be teething (14 weeks) is showing all the signs of a teething baby. She gets to re-acquaint herself with her daddy on Thursday and I am hoping she will be her usual pleasant self and not this new, previously unknown, cranky baby.

Oh-oh. I think you may have just posted the magical incantation that calls forth the cranky baby beast. Seriously, I hope it all goes well. I'm so happy for you, Joe and Ellie, that you'll finally be together.

I swear I remember reading about how crying releases all kinds of bad chemicals in the body and is supposed to make you feel better. But it's possible someone was just trying to make me feel better after crying.

I read that a long, long time ago, before the mommy interbunny and daddy interbunny even met. I may have told you. After an actual good cry, I have believed it.

I've read that too -- that crying releases "stress hormones" and is therefore good for you. But I don't think I've read it anywhere other than as hearsay on the internet, so...yeah.

Well I read it somewhere official like Cosmo, or Glamo(u)r, or maybe even the Reader's Digest.

It clearly didn't work for Teppy, though. I'm putting Crying on notice that it best not be betraying my friends. I have given Crying a lot of press over the years, and I never stand up Crying, never abandon Crying, never closet Crying. I take and have always taken Crying to all the best places. I have never treated Crying like a crazy relative or two a.m. booty call. Rare is the day that Crying and I don't get together. Frankly, I'm a bit miffed, and I think Crying has some 'splaining to do.

Or you could go very late in the day - how sunburned could a kid get at 4pm?

This is what I was going to suggest, a really early morning, or late afternoon jaunt to the beach. My boys are quite fair skinned. Chris was born in April, so we couldn't put sunscreen on him that first summer. Weekends that we went to Maine, we'd go down to the beach at 4 or so. Ben (the whitest whitie ever to have whited) was born in January, so I could use sunscreen, but I didn't like to, because he was *just* six months, and I was a nervous first time mother, who thought, "Well, if it was no good for him at five months, how can I be sure it's okay at six months," so we did the late afternoon thing with him, too.

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I've found that a moderate amount of crying (over a sad movie, or venting frustrations) can make me feel better. The kind of crying that goes on and on until your chest hurts and you feel like throwing up, though? NSM.

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I *believe* that when we travel on official orders, Mal has his own plane seat. But there have been so many cost cuts recently in State (like we no longer get full per diem for ordered travel) that may have changed.

We won't be using a car for this upcoming trip. When we return to the States we will be (heck, I don't know how to get away from Dulles airport other than in a car), but as that's a 13-hour flight with an actual house on the other end, I'm all about taking the car seat and the stroller.

I swear I remember reading about how crying releases all kinds of bad chemicals in the body and is supposed to make you feel better. But it's possible someone was just trying to make me feel better after crying.

There's crying, and then there's crying. A really full-on, wracking, long cry does nothing good but (maybe) tire you out, and leaves you with inflamed sinuses that ache beyond all reason. I don't know about the chemical-release kind of crying; maybe that's what happens when I tear up at movies.

I suspect, however, that that kind of crying only happens to those fortunate enough to cry in a way that still leaves them looking pretty.

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Timelies!

Can someone explain to me how I can sleep for almost 12 hours and still be exhausted? Thanks ever so much.

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When you sleep too much, you screw up your circadian rhythms. Or something.

Circadian rhythms are my answer to everything this week.

I'm hungry. That always happens when I go to sleep incredibly full. It's like my metabolism just goes wild when it actually has food to digest.

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