Day 24: The Final Push

A Quiet Last Night

Our last morning began with River stirring in the night, but I managed to soothe him back to sleep.
Kike and I had our long-planned dinner together. It was nice enough, no children demanding snacks, no Halloween hum in the background but honestly, we were both so tired and not even that hungry. We ate, chatted a little, and were back in the room within an hour.

I packed while Kike sorted River, then promptly fell asleep himself. It’s been a tiring trip for him too. Summer spent her last evening with her new best friend and by 11pm the entire room was asleep. That meant I woke feeling surprisingly positive.

Morning Pool Wins

River didn’t want to leave the room, but I decided we’d push through, quite literally with the pushchair. He protested with a mix of dancing and screaming but ate a little breakfast.

We stuck to calm but firm suggestions and headed to the baby pool. Not interested. So, we all went into the big pool. Success. He loved jumping in (and nearly drowning himself). It was early, so the pool was quiet, which made things easier. It was really lovely way to end our swimming adventures.

Feeling brave, we took him back to the water park, this time keeping close to avoid any more dramatic somersaulting incidents. Summer ran off with her friend, leaving Kike and me to focus on River.

The Lava Playground

He spotted the playground at the back of the water park, in the hottest possible spot, of course. He had no shoes on, he was slippery from the water and the ground felt like lava.

We let him play for as long as we could until the burning feet began. Then came the screaming.

“Back to water?”
“No. Playground.”
“Okay, no playground. Just water park.”
“Bye bye playground. Bye bye water park.”

Fine. It was nearly checkout time anyway. We left “home” at 11:58am. He tried to go back a few times, but snacks and a trip to the sensory room got us to our 3pm airport transfer. I swapped numbers with my mum friends I had made and Summer said it was the best holiday ever!

The Airport & The Irish Pub Tradition

Security was much smoother this time, they actually put us through the assisted line. Kike headed straight for our usual foreign-airport tradition: an Irish pub. We toasted ourselves for managing a holiday.

Boarding was trickier – no assistance, lots of stairs, Grandma with a walking stick, pushchair and a River who suddenly decided he didn’t want to get on the plane. Carrying him up was a sweaty joy.

The Minions and the Meltdown

At first, it was going well. River looked like he might nap through take-off, but no. One of my original fears – him wanting YouTube – came true almost immediately. A short scream later, we found the downloads and settled on Minions. He happily sang the opening theme, which made me laugh but probably wasn’t as charming for the rest of the passengers, who had already endured Halloween ABC during take-off.

Bag of Cheetos bigger than his head, juice, Minions. All good. I even put my headphones in and got 38 seconds into a podcast.

Then:
“I WANT HALLOWEEN TV.”
Uh-oh. Back to YouTube.
“YouTube doesn’t work on planes.”
“I WANT TV.”

And then it began – the full meltdown.

Slapping, kicking, poking, screaming so loud I saw heads turning four rows ahead. People stared openly now.

Kike swapped seats with me to try his luck.
It got worse.
“MUMMMY!” screams and loud sobbing.

I had to go back. I grabbed him and rocked him tightly. He was thrashing so much my arms ached.
“I want to get off the mountain,” he sobbed. I had no idea what that meant but I repeated it like a mantra, hoping it would help.

We threw snacks at the problem. £14 later, there were still full jelly pots and empty juice cartons everywhere, but no sign of peace. I didn’t know how to help. I didn’t know how to stop it.

Finally – FINALLY – I found a downloaded dress-up puzzle game on the iPad. He stilled. Silence. I didn’t move a muscle, terrified I’d break the spell.

Just in time for Summer to need the toilet.

Landing & The Long Trip Home

The last 45 minutes were a tense mix of calm and screams. We landed. “Bye bye plane.”

We had to wait for Grandma’s assistance, River’s least favourite thing to do. Then queued in the assisted lane that barely moved. I rocked and soothed again. By the time we got our bags, they were some of the last.

We said goodbye to Grandma and headed for the tube. Hot London air, 15 minutes stuck before moving. River still awake, but fading.

We got off at our stop. I carried him up the stairs. He looked lost when I told him we were going home. This wasn’t his hotel room. What does “home” even mean to him?

Silent walk. Quick change into pyjamas. “Goodnight sweetheart, I hope you had a lovely holiday.”
A quiet: “Shut the door.”

We Did It

No reflections tonight. I’m too tired. But the one truth is this:
We did it.
We went on holiday.
And that’s something to be proud of.