A Day In The Life

The way back home- the "home"-bird-thing

Knowing this would be a hard and long trip for Sarah, Joel had to put in some rests between the destinations on their way. That actually made the trip even longer, but that would have to do.

England-Sweden is really not THAT far, but bringing Sarah along, he found out he had to extend it for 2 days.
They would fly over to Stockholm and stay there one  night before taking the train back home the next day. That would probably,  hopefully,  be manageable for Sarah.
She had never been on a plane before, and she hated trainrides (at least when she was smaller. After that Joel didn't take her to trains any more), this would be tough on her. And him.
But he found the strength in him to just bite it together and go through it.
They could rest when they had finally arrived.

Joel had tried figuring out what would be best for them all, travelling at night, hoping Sarah would be tired and sleep through most of it? That could really backfire, she might be so tired she could be angry and fussing. A LOT!
Travelling at daytime, when she was hopefully rested and happy? Sometimes she could really be such a delight to be with! That would be the best, but might backfire as well, she could be restless and arguing about sitting quiet.

He landed on afternoon.
Maybe she would be a slight bit of everything.

Emma drove them to the airport.
She hugged Sarah so hard and lengthy Sarah had to fight herself out of it to be able to breathe finally.
Sarah was confused. Why all of this? Why was Emma crying? Was she sad? That made Sarah sad too, she started to cry herself, only making dad get that stiff face and cold voice, which always made her cry even more, being more confused.

Some minutes later everything felt better. Dad bought her a chocolate for being cooperative when some men had to barrow her backpack.
She knew her butterfly was inside of it, she was terrified that was what they wanted to take from her, she was at the edge of screaming at them, but somehow everything went so fast she didn't quite get there before she got it back. AND she got a chocolate!
She was happy!

Dad had packed her little backpack with some small items to keep her busy if she got bored.

Sarah felt proud when she was now actually big enough to walk besides dad (if he held her hand) and he had a backpack as well! Just like she did!
She felt so big! Just like him!
Sarah wanted to be as big, strong and handsome as dad when she became an adult as well! In her eyes he was the prettiest man on earth. Or even the prettiest human, ever!
When she would finally become a big girl, she would marry her dad! For sure!
That chocolate had something to do with it as well, to be fair. You just gotta marry a man who gives you your favourite-chocolate! No question about that!

Joel found their gate and felt a tiny relief. It had worked out kind of fine so far. Sarah didn't even make a fuss in the customs, which was what he had thought to be no 1.
Now there were lots of other challenges to hopefully survive.  New things she hadn't seen before and such.
Joel was already sweating. But Sarah seemed fine so far.
Now they just had to wait before they  could climb onboard in the plane.

Sarah sat on the metalchair, wobbling her feet in the air,  sucking happily on the chocolate while she followed some other people with her eyes.
Joel couldn't understanding why she had to suck on chocolates, like, almost drinking them! She always did,  it made a holy mess out of it every single time,  but he let her have it. He promised hee to distract her when they checked her bag, and when promised  he had to follow through.  He knew, or else Sarah would tell everyone, loud and clear. She always remembered when Joel promised something, and if he didn't follow it through early enough, she would scream. As loud as Emma would probably be able to hear her all the way back to Brighton.

When Sarah finally had finished eating, she was pretty much brown and sticky all over. Joel reached for some wet tissues to clean her up. She was very unhappy about that, and started whining impatiently.
-Just have to clean you up, then you can  find some toys you know. Or else they will get sticky.
Joel found one of her favourite books, one with thick pages, which she could "read" by herself.
It was about animals and what they liked to eat, and she tried to make some animal sounds and pronounce some of the food Joel had teached her.
Still, she was soon about to turn 2, she acted more like she was 1. Some times, at least! Having only a few words, not walking properly by herself yet...
Joel was worried if there was something wrong with her. He always felt like there was. 
But the doctors couldn't really find anything. 
And Cps pretty much blamed him. For not stimulating her enough. As if that was ever to be possible! She had to be with him all the time! It's not like if he could let her out of   sight for a second!
That would leave a huge mess and lots of damage to herself and everything around her!
If anything, Joel thought,  she might have been stimulated too much a lot of times, because she didn't understand when she got tired and should have been resting instead of doing everything else.
Now she was pretty much in her own world though, drowned in her book.
Joel grabbed the freetime greedily, using it to actually breath properly. He sent a text to Emma, thanking her for all her help. He added a picture of Sarah where she sat "reading" her book, out loud, for everyone to hear if they wanted.