Recovering from terrible jet lag and returning to routine January 2013 Updates: Recovering from terrible jet lag and returning to routine

The first week back after our trip was absolute hell The first week back after our trip was absolute hell. For the first three days the three of us would sleep and be awake at very odd hours. Barak didn’t really see much of us (we would be asleep when he woke up, after being awake at dawn and were asleep again when he got back home, after collapsing to bed after lunch). He complained it didn’t feel like we were back at all... Poor thing, he really missed us. On top of the regular jet lag, Hahgoot became exceptionally disoriented and couldn’t even find the light switches on the walls in full daylight (!), so the levels of meltdowns rose significantly. Toileting and morning routine were of course the worse parts of the day with her. Barak and me were very firm with her so she would get back into functioning mode. Alma, on the other hand, bounced back to her cheeky self in no time at all.

Who would have thought this would work... We tried the soap pasta Hahgoot got for Christmas and she had a panic attack when it started to dissolve in the water. I decided I had enough of the bath time horror scenes and told her she is banished from the bath (she was glad, thinking she never needs to bathe again in her life). To her surprise, I announced she’ll use the shower from now on (the girls have both in their bathroom, so we can wash them at the same time in different locations). Surprisingly, the transition went really well and she cooperated. Who would have thought this would work...

One way of balancing Hahgoot back from the wild limbo she was in, was keeping a really tight routine. It wasn’t really possible the first three days as I wasn’t functioning either, but it quickly got better. I kept her on a tight routine with homework (reading in English about colours, reading Captain Underpants in Hebrew – she got to novel no. 6 when we got back home!, and a Hebrew workbook about poetry), combined with wrestling and a lot of time using the weighted snake.

When we were all at last awake at the same hours, it was time to reconnect Barak with his daughters. As I had a lot of work to unpack, clean toilets and start the household routines again, I got the three of them busy building a 3D Pooh Bear model together.

The finished models with a cat to scale

Board games kept the girls busy for long periods of time

They also tried to make little 3D shapes with this kit of magnetic balls

Alma really enjoyed the mix and match magnets set she got for Christmas

In our next presentation: We get over the jet lag and start the school year