We made it! And I have to tell you, my child was a trooper. He did SO well on the flight; I was both surprised and totally impressed with him. We were able to keep him up until the flight left, which was an hour & a half past his normal naptime. After the flight took off, he slept for about an hour & a half. We had just eaten lunch when he woke up. He stayed awake the entire rest of the trip, playing with us and with his toys…he was exhausted, but just couldn’t fall asleep. Of course, Murphy’s Law kicked in, and for the last 7 minutes of the flight, he finally gave up and slept.

The only thing I’m a little disappointed about is that Aeroflot didn’t do anything for children, in terms of food. They didn’t even offer food, which I thought was interesting. Fortunately, we had brought some snack food & juices…and then Little I ate from our plates for our ‘second lunch.’ Oh well…all’s well that ends well. We made it, and that’s the most important thing.

When we got to the airport, we were both so exhausted that we weren’t paying attention, and walked right past the baggage claim and out the security checkpoint into the main part of the airport. In our defense, walking “right past” the baggage claim area was fairly easy because it was down a hallway…and we were in “follow the herd” mode at that point. I guess the people we were following happened to not have any checked baggage. After wandering aimlessly around the airport (which is not big at all) for a few minutes, trying to find an information desk – or anyone to help us – Nathan left me & Iliya with our carryons, and he went to see if they would just let him back past the security checkpoint to claim our luggage. And they did. So, all’s well that ends well!

It took us at least an hour to get to our hotel, but we are in a very nice Holiday Inn…We plan to get out & do some stuff while we're here. We've been told that if the traffic is right, we’re about 10 minutes from Red Square. If it is not right, then we could be over an hour from Red Square. Welcome to Moscow!

I've got some cute pictures, but I'll have to post them tomorrow...I don't think I can stay coherent enough to work this computer for much longer, even.

In other news (before I close), I am figuring out what really sets Little I off. It is food, and that’s about it. The other stuff that sets him off is pretty easy to handle. For instance, we know he’s eager for a bath and we do what we can to get him in there before too much whining ensues & leads to a meltdown. But food. It takes time to prepare. It takes time to heat up. It takes time to cool if it is too hot. This child even gets very frustrated if we don’t give him his medicine fast enough. This, I am not quite sure how to handle. Because, if I can help him understand that if he can be patient for 3 minutes, then all will be fine. But it’s not that easy. I guess we’ll just all have to live through it, till he learns that when we get ready for a meal or snack (or medicine, even!), he can trust us to give it to him. He is not going to go hungry. I may not know what to feed him all the time, but he won't ever go without food. It just may take a bit longer than he would want it to, to help him understand this.

Anyway, I just put him down for bed…it took about 2 minutes for him to fall asleep. And boy, do I hope he sleeps all the way through the night. Because I am headed for the shower & the bed.

It’s been a long day.

But we’re almost home.