Day 667. Last night it was 2 am before I got to go to bed, and it won't be any earlier tonight. This morning the alarm went off at 7:30, as Sammy had an early physiotherapy appointment at the hospital. We had breakfast, and they were so cute with their watermelon sticks that I got the camera out. After breakfast Tammy found the swim rings and wanted to put them on. I kept telling them that we were going swimming after they woke up from their nap. After cleaning them up, brushing their teeth and dressing them, we went downstairs. I always give one kid my left hand, and the other my right hand, and today they were holding hands with the other hand which was just so cute. It's too bad I don't have a better camera, plus I had to let go of their hands to take the picture.
We were worshipping God and dancing, when Sonja arrived at 8:15 to help out, which I was very grateful for. I went upstairs, where I made sure Sammy had everything he needed, and they left shortly after. I cleaned up and sat down to do office work; it was earlier than usual, which gave me more time. However, I already had to stop at 10:30 to cook lunch today.
Randy and Sammy returned just before 11:30, and Sammy joined the others downstairs. Just after 11:30 they all came upstairs to eat. I had made lentil soup for everyone. Tammy ate the most, but Emmy's appetite has not completely returned. He was also pretty cranky, i.e. tired. He's been really clingy recently, wanting me to hold him all the time, and I've just read that they have a phase like that around 2 years old. They ate some yoghurt and watermelon, while I had to hold Emmy, and of course I had to keep standing and not sit down. I cleaned him up and dressed him, and Sonja went downstairs with him. Then I picked up Tammy to clean her up, and she went frantic. Who knows why. I cleaned her up anyway, and gave her a new diaper. She was pretty tired as well. I took her downstairs to join her brother, and then cleaned up Sammy, who was lying down for his nap first. A few minutes later I went to get Emmy earlier than I have been and put him to bed, and it didn't take him long to fall asleep. Then I put Tammy to bed who also fell asleep fast.
Randy left to pick up a package, while I was doing office work, even though I was really tired. Then I started getting everything ready for our trip to the swimming pool. Sammy woke up after only about an hour and woke up Emmy, so I picked them both up and took them downstairs to Sonja. Once again Emmy did not want to let go of me and was crying hard. I went back upstairs and continued working, until the girl woke up just before 2 pm. I sat down with her and let her rest on my chest for a while, calling the boys upstairs to eat at the same time. I knew the girl wasn't gonna eat right after getting up anyway.
After they were done eating, we dressed them and left for the swimming pool. It was 2:30 pm.I was surprised that Tammy didn't pull her hat off right away, like her brothers did. We rode on the subway for one stop and then took a bus. Once we got off, I stopped at the post office there, and then we walked to the swimming pool. Emmy loves looking at the river, so he enjoyed it, when we crossed the bridge.
At the entrance we had to show our Covid tests and then our tickets I had purchased online. We walked in and looked at the map of the huge area. I have actually only been here once, I believe, and that was ages ago, so I did not remember anything. We followed the map to the area for little kids. We changed them into their swim diapers, and walked on towards the kids area. I had Emmy on my left and Tammy on my right, holding their hands. We were all barefooted. Suddenly they started crying and I realized it was because of the extremely hot concrete ground. I immediately picked them up and carried them to the grass they could walk on.
The little baby pool could only have 2 kids at the time (due to Corona), so we moved on to the bigger pool. Tammy was looking at it with great interest. We walked into the shallow water, and Tammy loved it right away. Emmy was fearful as always, and ended up in Sonja's arms. Randy had Sammy, who was not happy at all. I was watching Tammy and making sure she was okay. We started walking around a little, and she was really cautious. I soon switched with Sammy who stopped crying with me and started enjoying himself. We walked up the stairs in the middle, and he enjoyed the view from up there. Even though Emmy did not want to be put into the water but stay in Sonja's arms, he did enjoy the water that was coming out everywhere. When Sonja tried to go down the slide with Tammy, that was too much to ask from even our courageous girl.
After quite a while there, we moved on to the bigger pool. I did want to go in with them, even though we only had one set of swim rings. And that's where I noticed how much damage 8 months of no swim class because of Corona had done. When the class stopped in October, they loved the water, and Tammy was even floating on her own with the swim rings. Today we could not get Emmy to get into the water. As for Tammy, she had a short time when she was okay, but not for long, before she wanted out. Surprisingly it was Sammy who just loved it, so I put the swim rings on him. Tammy had never had an afternoon meal, so Randy and Sonja went to the stroller to get something with them, while I stayed in the water with Sammy, who was just loving it. He had so much fun, and I wished I had a picture.
We left the pool to join the others, and decided it was time to make our way home. We had to change them all again first, and then started walking. As we reached the exit, Sonja and I started walking towards another kids area with Tammy and Emmy to check it out. A tire of the other stroller was low on air, so Randy stayed back with Sammy. As we walked back to the exit, Emmy turned around and started running away fast, and Sonja ran after him, caught him, and brought him back. He absolutely refused to go into the stroller, so I ended up carrying him. As my arms were hurting bad from all the carrying, he ended up on my shoulders. And so we walked all the way back to the bus stop that way, and on the bus he sat on my lap. Getting off, he still didn't want into the stroller and went back on my shoulders. When we reached the subway platform, I put him into the stroller against his will, and he didn't protest for long.
It was about 5:45, when we got back home. They were pretty cranky, tired, and Emmy wanted me to hold him, so we decided they'd sit down to eat right away instead of going downstairs. I warmed up the soup, then cut some bread with cream cheese and fruit that I took to their plates one after another, while Randy and Sonja was feeding them. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. Emmy was so tired, he'd had enough and just wanted out, so he came out early. They were all in bed before it was 7 pm. The afternoon had been pretty tiring; maybe you can imagine. The boys fell asleep fast, but the girl was fussing, so I sat down by her bed. Randy left to do a pickup of used clothes. I was so tired that I stayed there for a while, too tired to get up. I finally did get up and got something to eat. And I worked, and I cleaned the kitchen and dining room, and now it's nearly 2 am. Another short night. Please pray I make it to bed earlier one of these days, to catch up on sleep a little.
