(Bad?) Medicine

S and the boys (and Oma and Brigitte) are going on a flight to Germany, via London. (Well, strictly, the flight is to Amsterdam.) So today, I went to a travel stuff shop, which had all kinds of travel stuff. I went in, and slightly pessimistically asked for a German-US modem adapter plug. They asked if I wanted West German, or East (West) and new style or old (I'd already investigated this, and wanted new). They rummaged under the counter and said "Just the one". Which I thought was quite impressive.

So while I was there, I bought a step up voltage adapter thingy, so that our hand blender would turn with slightly more enthusiasm. On the counter they also had some travel pills "Reduce jetlag! Sleep better!" I investigated more closely, and in smaller letters it said "Homeopathic!" so I put them back.

Then we went to the pharmacy. Partly to buy more cheap toys (pharmacies have enormous quantities of cheap toys - I've bought one of pretty much everything they have for less than 2 dollars, so that every 10 minutes on the flight, S can whip out another toy that they have never seen before. At least for the first 4 hours) but mostly to see if there's anything that is non-homeopathic/non-herbal/non-illegal/ethical that we can stuff into the boys. I went to the 'consult' counter, and explained my problem. I expect a tirade about my parenting skills - something along the lines of "You expect us to sell you powerful pharmaceutical products, products which have been developed to aid sick people; you expect me to use my years of training in pharmacist school; and you want to drug your children , all to make your life a little easier?" But he didn't say that. He said "Benadryl - aisle 8, on the right."

So I looked at the Benadryl (it's an antihistamine), and it said "Warning: may cause severe drowsiness". However, the smallest bottle was 4 ounces, and you aren't allowed to take more than three ounces on a plane, so I bought the bottle, and some strips too.

When we got home, I read the rest of the warnings. The third one said "May cause excitability." Fantastic. So it's either going to knock them out, or give them ADD. And we don't know which, until we try it.