22 months 25 days

Day 695. Last night I headed to bed at 12:30 am. Emmy did come out a few times and had to be walked back to his bed. At 5:15 he came to me and into our bed. By 6 am or so everyone was up, and by 7 we were sitting at the table to have breakfast. Is this boy gonna go back to sleeping until 8 am again? It's sure affecting everyone. They're all tired and cranky because of it.

When I took them them downstairs after breakfast, I had already built up the suspense about a package waiting for them downstairs, so we went straight to opening it. It was a box with 30 or so little instruments, including a tambourine. Emmy had enjoyed the drums so much at the dance class last week. All their eyes lit up, and they've had fun with the instruments all day long. Emmy was even able to blow the whistle! Blowing is a new skill they're getting better and better at.

Once Randy came, I left them to clean up and then work. Even though I was very tired, I never got to sleep. At 10:30 I started cooking, and then Sonja arrived, which was great timing, as they were tired and cranky. At 11 am they came upstairs to eat - pasta with meat and tomato sauce. I used up the last kids pasta; next time they'll have regular pasta. For dessert I added peanut butter to their icecream, as Randy had done once before. However, they didn't like it. Not until Daddy mixed it in properly, then they did. Let the American do the American thing.

Sonja went downstairs with Tammy and Emmy, and I put Sammy to bed. At noon I put Emmy to bed, but he wasn't quite ready to fall asleep yet. I was able to encourage him though. As for Tammy, I didn't want to put her to bed before 1 pm, so she would not wake her brothers up. She simply does not sleep before then. I put her to bed, and she still woke Sammy up, who I took downstairs to be with Sonja. I held Tammy for a little bit and then put her to bed, but she was screaming, when I did. Emmy woke up, and thankfully Randy sat down with him, and soon both were asleep, and so was the girl. Emmy has not been sleeping on me any more recently.

At 1:50 I had to wake Randy up, as he had to take Sammy to physiotherapy at 2 pm. I sat down with Emmy instead, but he was soon up for good, so I took him downstairs to Sonja. He ended up spending hours alone with her, and Sonja was saying how different the kids are when they're on their own. They had a great time together. Emmy especially enjoys looking at photo books with their own pictures.

I was so tired I finally lay down and fell asleep, some time just after 2 pm. When Tammy woke up crying, I picked her up and sat down in the chair with her, and we both fell asleep again. I was surprised she was sleeping so much longer. Normally the boys come upstairs to eat at 3 pm, so she gets up then, but today Sammy was gone and Emmy had his food downstairs with Sonja, so Tammy was able to sleep as long as she wanted. When she finally woke up, I thought it was 3:30 at first, but it turned out that it was already 4:30, which really surprised me. Sonja had to leave at that time today, so I went downstairs with Tammy and food for her, and we said our goodbyes to Sonja.

Tammy was her typical cranky self right after waking up, so I was having more fun with Emmy. It wasn't long before Randy and Sammy returned. By 5 pm they were downstairs, and I went upstairs to get a little more work done before starting to make their food at 5:30. At 6 pm they came upstairs to eat. Tammy did not want to go into the high chair and was throwing a fit, when she was forced into it. She never calmed down - until I got her out, and then she just lay on my chest. I have no clue what was wrong with her. Once in the bathtub, she was fine again. They both had most of their food yet to eat, and ate a lot, though not everything. They had fun playing, but it was obvious they were tired.

And still, Emmy was on his feet having fun with his sister, and even Sammy was up for a little while, though the first to fall asleep. As for Emmy, I had to give him the option to sleep in the bahtub if he didn't want to sleep in his bed, and then he lay down right away and was asleep a little bit later. Even the girl soon lay down to sleep, which surprised me, given that she had slept 3 hours in the afternoon, and until after 4 pm. And so I was able to walk away earlier than expected.

I got myself some food and did some more work on the computer. Today it's a little earlier than usual. I have yet to decide whether to use it to work or to go to bed earlier.