Day 689. The past 24 hours were the worst yet regarding Emmy's transition to a bed with an entrance. I hardly slept last night. I went to bed at 12:15 am, and before I could even fall asleep, Emmy came into our room and to me. I took him back to his bed and went back to bed, but he returned. I then sat down next to his bed, stroked his head, waited a while for him to be asleep, and went back to bed. Before I could fall asleep, he was back at my side, and the cycle repeated itself. And this went on until 2:30 am, without me ever getting a chance to fall asleep. After that I finally fell asleep. For how long I don't know. When he was back this time, waking me up, I instinctively picked him up and lay down together with him. That was a mistake. I don't usually sleep on my back, but I was tired enough. Emmy then ended up between us, but our bed is already small, and with Emmy, I had no room at all, so I woke up a lot and was not comfortable at all. And Emmy woke up again in the early morning hours, somewhere before 6 am. He then woke up his sister, and then Sammy was up too, and we got up as well and had an early breakfast. Even though dance class is early, we had too much time until leaving, which gave them the opportunity to wreak havoc with too much stuff on shelves they can pull off. It would have been better to take them downstairs.
I was so very tired. I dressed them, and we left on time just after 8:15 am and made the bus. They don't ever want to stay in the strollers any more and sit down on a seat with me. When we got off, we still had quite a walk ahead, and the sidewalk was basically non-existent, and the rain from the night had turned much of it into puddles. But we got to the dance studio a few minutes before the class started.
It was their third class, and they are getting more and more comfortable, which was obvious today. The kids actually walked themselves in a circle when asked, at least at times, and participated more. We started off sitting on the floor and moving our legs to songs, and the teacher had Sammy on her lap. At the end of the song we'd move our legs to the side so the kid would fall to the ground, and Emmy was the only one laughing each time (except for the one time I filmed it), amusing all the other mothers there.
Then the teacher got some tambourines and drums out and did a few songs with them, and Emmy had the most fun making noise with it. In fact, the teacher had a huge drum in the middle, and Emmy walked up to it and hit it hard, once again amusing everyone. Sammy also enjoyed drumming.
The teacher did some songs, where everyone was walking in a circle, or running, or stomping their feet. Then she got out a parachute, and we surrounded it and grabbed it, moving it up and down, which was lots of fun for the children. Emmy walked under, and Tammy on top, especially once the teacher put balloons on top. Sammy was also chasing balloons and happy, when he caught one.
Then it was playtime. They could get any toy they wanted out of the closet to play with. The teacher set up this triangular ladder, and both Tammy and Emmy climbed on top and back down. They also played with all kinds of other toys.
While they were playing, the teacher was getting snacks ready for them. And Emmy and Tammy were the first ones sitting down at the table to eat! I sat on the floor next to Tammy, and she ate a lot, which lessened her appetite at lunch time later. The kids played a little more - Emmy getting the tambourine out again - and then the teacher did a few more songs before the class ended.
By the way, if you look at the pictures closely, you'll see Sammy's new special shoes he was wearing for the first time this morning. He can stand much better with them. Randy however pointed out that they hinder him when crawling. They're only made for standing.
We put their shoes back on and put them back into the strollers and left to go back home. It's tricky, transport between there and our home; the bus in the morning was the best way to go but it only runs every half hour. There's several other ways, and we picked one where we did not have to change lines. We did have to walk quite a bit, though, and it started raining hard again. We all got wet. Thankfully it's been hot.
When we got on the bus, there were already two strollers, and one was with newborn twins. There was hardly any room for us, but we had to get on anyway. And then Tammy and Emmy wanted out of the strollers again, of course. And Emmy doesn't like it when I put my hand on his legs to keep him from falling off if ever the bus had to stop suddenly.
We got off at the terminus and walked home from there. It was 11:20, when we got home, and I immediately started getting lunch ready for them. The leftover chicken from yesterday, and I warmed up some jars. They didn't even eat all the chicken today, and it was obvious that they were pretty tired. There's always room for icecream though.
I cleaned them up, dressed the, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy, while I put the boys to bed at the same time. It didn't take Emmy that long to fall asleep, but I had to sit down next to his bed to keep him from getting out, and encourage him to sleep. Then I put the girl to bed who played for a little bit and then fell asleep too.
I was so very exhausted! Randy needed to go to the grocery store, but I asked him to postpone as I really needed a nap and needed him here, when the boys woke up. But first I had to eat something myself; I still hadn't eaten anything all day and was pretty hungry. The food strengthened me, and the tiredness decreased. I actually started working and never took a nap. It's a good thing that Sammy slept longer again, and today nobody cried, when waking up. Instead they all talked to each other, and that's how we knew they were all up. It was 2:15 pm.
We sat down for the afternoon meal - Randy with Sammy just inside from the balcony, and the rest of us on the balcony. They ate their jars, and I brought out some watermelon and apple. By 3 pm we were all done. I took Tammy and Emmy downstairs after having cleaned them up, and once Randy came with Sammy, I left them to work some more. I worked for a while, but then the tiredness hit me hard, and I simply could not go on. I set my timer for one hour and fell asleep. It woke me at 4:45 pm. I was beat and really just wanted to keep sleeping. Instead I forced myself to get up and go downstairs to relieve Randy.
The June picture book had just arrived, and Emmy loves looking at them, having an amazing attention span when he does. And we all sat down to look at it, which was no easy feat with a huge and heavy book and three kids, and having to hold Sammy up. But we succeeded and looked at the whole book. Emmy got really upset, when we were done, and I closed the book. By then it was also 5:30 pm, and Randy returned so that I could go upstairs and get their food ready.
At 6 pm they came upstairs to eat. Emmy was especially tired and had been crying for a while, and was crying at the table. So I gave my best to entertain and distract him, and it worked. We all had lots of fun. They hadn't eaten much, but finished pretty much everything on their plates in the bathtub. Then it was bedtime.
They usually go to bed at about 7 pm. Emmy's bed is now free-standing, with an opening, and my chair is covering up that opening. I sat down on it, trying to encourage them to sleep, but while I had thought they were tired, Tammy and Emmy were just having fun with each other, running up and down in bed and throwing the little they had. I could not get them to lie down. I walked away, and so Emmy came out of his bed, and I put him back to bed. I googled what to do, and it said to keep taking the child back to bed, even if it takes a 100 times. And so my 2 hour and 15 minute ordeal started. I didn't count, but I don't think I reached quite a 100 times. In the beginning Tammy was standing in bed and watching Emmy get out and return getting back in, over and over again. After a while she lay down and fell asleep, and Emmy continued without an audience. He had seen Randy leave for the grocery store, so he kept asking about Papa, as if he was worried about his Daddy leaving. As soon as I turned my back on him, he'd come back out of bed, and I turned around again and took him back. Over and over again. I thought it'd never end. I once again sat down next to his bed again, and he then FINALLY stayed down and fell asleep. It was nearly 9:30 pm.
I had wanted to eat a salad, but it was too much work and too time-consuming. Instead I ate something quick, but everything was later than usual, and so it's now after 1:30 am. At least he hasn't started walking into our bedroom yet. Please pray he won't tonight and that he'll sleep long.
