22 months 15 days

Day 685. Last night I went to bed just before 2 am. This morning it was just before 6, when the noise started. I could tell that Emmy had left his bed, now that he has a hole, and expected him to come into our room at some point. Instead, there was a loud thump and then he started crying. I really don't know what he did. I went in there, picked him up and lay down with him. He stayed lying down for a while, but his siblings were not happy about his preferential treatment. Emmy finally got up, and I got up to get the other two out of bed. Sammy was already crying hard, wanting to get out.

Just before 7 I started making their breakfast, we fed them, cleaned and dressed them, and then took them downstairs. When Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to clean up. I was so very tired I lay down after that, even though I knew it wouldn't be for long. I was on my way to falling asleep, when Randy came back upstairs, which meant I had to go downstairs, no matter how tired I was. Randy had to go to the store to return his Covid test kit and pick up new ones, since there wasn't any left for me. I had fun with the little ones, and once Randy returned, I went back upstairs, and this time I turned my computer on to work. In spite of my tiredness I made good progress working. At 10:45 I stopped to start cooking, and it ended up being 11:30 before it was all ready for them to eat.

Thanks to Randy they've been eating vanilla icecream for dessert for days now, and by now Emmy asks for it while we're still eating the main dish. However, the same day he found out about icecream, I had just taught him the word "Ei" (egg) and "Eier" (eggs), and since then he's been saying "Eier" when he means "Eis" (icecream). It's funny.

Sammy has been saying "heiß" (hot) all the time, but today he was saying "nein" (no) a lot.

Once they were done eating, I cleaned them up and dressed them, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy and Emmy, while I put Sammy to bed. It was 12:15. I went to work cleaning up, which was pretty easy visually after having eaten cremed spinach, even in a darkened room. By the time I was all done, it was 12:40 and Emmy's time to lie down for a nap. I went to get him and put him into his be that I had moved so that the side with the opening was touching his sister's bed, so that he had no way of getting out. I did what we're usually doing, just putting him down and leave, and it worked. A few minutes later he was asleep, and it was Tammy's time to go to bed. I did the same with her, she played for a while, and then fell asleep. Thank God, it was a normal nap time again, after yesterday's disaster.

I started doing office work again, while Randy was getting ready to leave. He had to hand in my test kit, and was getting a few groceries. Before he had even left, Sammy woke up at 1:15, after his typical one hour of sleep. Tammy had only just fallen asleep. With no Randy to go downstairs with him, I put him on the floor next to our bed that I was working in. He wasn't satisfied there for long, so I had to bring him up on top of the bed. And from then on I was playing with him more than I was working. I was glad, when Randy returned to go downstairs with him, but then Emmy already woke up, so I lay down with him. He didn't lie down for long, and so I took him downstairs to the other boys.

I went back upstairs to work, but I was getting so tired I could not go on and closed my eyes instead. I fell asleep and woke up, when Tammy did at 2:50, after about 90 minutes of sleep. I picked her up and sat down with her, and I think she fell back asleep on me. She usually sleeps 2 hours or more. I was dozing off too, but when I found out that it was just after 3 pm, I called the boys upstairs for the meal. The girl woke up, but stayed on me for quite a while, until Randy wanted the space to feed Sammy.

I went on the balcony with their food jar, and Tammy still wanted to rest on me, and refused to eat. She always needs a long time to wake up, and it was a long time before she was willing to eat. Emmy was once again greeting every person that walked by; the main path is perpendicular to our balcony, and we're only one floor up. And today more people than usual reacted and greeted back. One lady even stopped and asked questions and talked to us for a while.

It took us until 4 pm to do all this before everyone went back downstairs. I left them there to have a little more time to work, which I did until nearly 5 pm. Then I went downstairs, and as soon as I do this time of day, Emmy goes to the downstairs door, wanting to go outside, and I had nothing against that. Randy went upstairs for a break, while the rest of us went outside. Emmy took the broom with him and started sweeping the ground. He also rode the car for a little bit. Tammy wanted the sandbox opened and played there for a while, while I had Sammy with me, playing with him. Then Emmy started running on top of the tarp covering the sandbox all the way to the end and back, and Tammy joined him. They enjoyed it. They were throwing sand, and I asked them not to. We finally went back inside before it was time to do so, and had fun there, one in the swing, and the other two out, wanting me to throw them around. It was one of those physical playtimes.

At 5:30 pm Randy returned, and I went upstairs to make their dinner. At 6 pm I called them upstairs to eat; they didn't eat much at the table tonight, and did not finish it all in the bathtub, Sammy not either. We did have lots of fun in the bathtub, though. I can already see how the swimming pools and waterparks have made them more comfortable in the water. Now they don't even mind when water goes over their head with the watering can.

By 7 pm everyone was in bed. Emmy's bed was free-standing again, and my chair right next to it, closing up the opening. At first I thought it was gonna be an easy night, as they were lying down, but it didn't last. I had to stay for a whole hour, trying to get them to sleep. I left a few times. Emmy would come out of his bed and to my closed door, crying and hammering at the door. I would open it and ask if he was gonna lie down, he'd say "no", and I'd close my door again. We did that a few times, before he was willing to lie down, and so I stayed and sat down next to his bed, until he was sleeping.

I had already eaten while sitting there, and had few pictures today, so I've saved a lot of time and hope to get to bed "early" tonight.