Jet lag is always a challenge for us. When we arrive in Japan, this means our bodies want to go to bed early and get up early (which for me is preferable to the opposite). We try our best to keep our son up as late as possible, but he has fallen asleep in the living room before seven every night this week! He wants to get up super early as well, but he's getting better at being quiet until at least 7 am. When he wanted to get up at 5 am on Tuesday, I simply told him it wasn't morning yet and he laid back down until 6. But not every morning goes that nicely.
He had school on Tuesday. It was an "observation day" so I attended as well. It was hard for both of us since we were both tired. His school friends were very excited to see him and greeted him enthusiastically. One mom asked him if he had a good time in America. He quickly replied "I hated it" and went back to playing. I was a bit taken aback by his response, but I laughed anyway and told her that he was very tired and would probably receive a different response if she asked five minutes later. However, his response really bothered me. So much so that I asked him about it after school. He explained that he hated riding in the car so much in America, especially when he got car sick (which happened a couple times), but everything else he loved. I know he struggled with how much we were in the car. After not riding in a car for 6 months, it was an adjustment to be strapped into his car seat, especially for extended periods of time. It was something I really hadn't considered, but immediately felt sympathy for when we were driving from place to place. As soon as he had "adjusted", I didn't think about how much it would affect his overall view of our trip.
Luckily Tuesday was a half day at school. So we went out for lunch and then headed to the park to play with friends. We had a lovely afternoon, playing and talking. Both the friends and fresh air helped us to stay awake despite the afternoon grogginess.
Wednesday brought another early morning, a full day of school (including making a bento lunch), and my awesome Costco trip. We got back into several grooves, including our morning routine and cooking dinner. But we both still fell asleep really early.
Thursday morning was the biggest struggle to get our son to stay in bed. He was ready to go before the sun was up. Finally, I got up with him at 6 (an hour before my husband gets up for work) and dealt with a very tired (aka grumpy) kid. After helping him cope with some big feelings (I made his breakfast "incorrectly," resulting in tears), he happily played with Legos until it was time to get ready for school. Getting used to the time change is hard. I understand that. Our bodies are trying to cope with being thrown through a loop. It's a lot to process.
Today, after a week of wonkiness, felt so normal. We all slept much better. We walked through our morning routine of breakfast, getting dressing and teeth brushed, before heading off to school. Once I dropped him off, I didn't head off to school like I was scheduled to. Instead I went to the pool to burn off some energy. It felt great to swim laps and clear my head. I am now used to how crowded the pool is and it didn't irritate me like it normally does. Back at home, I did the laundry and cleaned the house a bit. Then I read for a while until it was time to pick up my son from school. After dropping off his stuff at home, we headed to the park where he could play under the watchful eye of the park moms while I dashed off to the store to buy fruit and vegetables for the weekend. We then headed home, where I made a delicious chicken soup for dinner. My husband came home from work and spend time with our son before putting him to bed.
It was a totally normal day. It took us 5 days to get here. But I think I can safely say we are back into our rhythm of life in Japan. Let's just see if I can stay awake past 9. If so, then it is official.
Wow, I never thought about the carseat aspect. We lugged our carseat onto the plane to Baltimore, so we didn't have to worry about the reliability or safety of the rental. We specifically bought a new one that was advertised as easy to install and carry. It was definitely "easier" to install, but it probably weighed over 30 lbs--we had to use a luggage strap to get it anywhere.
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