1st week of traveling with my son

I sit here at 5:30am writing in Jaipur. I sit on the floor near the bathroom for light. My son is finally asleep past 2am….I am doing nothing to jeopardize this much needed sleep.

We arrived in Jaipur on a Friday Morning. This was after 4 days of airplane travel. It is now Monday morning. In three days, we have driven out into the rural villages, walked through a Rug companies main offices, learned about the types of rugs available in the marketplace, seen a rug finishing location, visited an elephant village, ridden a camel, done a little local shopping. And that was all on Friday and Saturday.

Sunday was a day of “rest”. If you can even call it that for a mom traveling with a toddler. Mansi, Jaipur Rugs PR person, is a mother of a 3 1/2 year old boy. They were kind enough to let us join them on a Sunday outing to the Mall. I am typically not a mall person. However, as Mansi told me, the warm/hot weather can be to much for the children to play in.

Yes, I see the irony in this. As many Indian children do not have the option of going into the mall to keep cool. I believe our bodies adapt to the conditions we live in. I have difficulty in hot weather.

Ok, back to the mall. The boys went it a place similar to a Chucky Cheese. Which HBT has never been to in the US. What I liked about this playzone, was you could leave them their for an hour supervised, while the moms went off and shopped. In the last week, this hour has been the only hour I have been away from my son. HEAVEN spent shopping.

HBT has been a handful. I am constantly reminding myself that he is only 2 1/2. First we are dealing with the jetlag. It is very hard on a toddler to adjust his sleep by 12 1/2 hours. Due to daytime work, naps have been short and in his Diono car seat. Then we take in the shift in meal times, the selection of different food and what am I left with — a very very tired and hungry boy.

Do not think I am not feeding him. I have been carrying around Happy Tots yogurt, organic applesauce, Organic fig bars, honey sticks and Nutella. Slowly he has taken to eating the applesauce, honey sticks and Nutella. What I would have condsidered a parenting fail at home, I am not here; due to the fact he is eating something– Nutella on spoon. At every meal, he is offered Indian food. I think the adjusting his food schedule is also hard.

What does this all mean? well I am sitting here at 5:30 in the morning writing as my son sleeps. Sunday evening was the most trying. As a mom, I was ready to break down in tears from mommy exhaustion. I was falling asleep watching my son play with trains. I was trying to figure out how I was going to write.

HBT went to sleep by 7pm and is still asleep at 6am. I think the Jetlag is coming to an end. I do hope so. I have collected tons of information that I need to process, write up for work and having a cranky child does not help the brain work.

The hurdle of today will be showering. HBT hates showers. In most Indian homes, they only have showers. One screaming toddler coming up. I can not put off another day of no bathing. Yes, I am that mom and he is that kid. I just could not handle a tired, hungry, screaming child in the shower. He did bath in the hotel in Delhi. So it has only been 3 days.

Traveling with HBT has been exciting. We have seen things that most 2 1/2 year olds do not see. He brings back memories of what I saw and experienced on my first trip at age 12. With all the good things, the fun things, comes the part of parenting that sucks.