Day 696. Last night I headed to bed just before midnight. This morning Emmy came to me at 4:30 am, but I walked him right back to his bed - twice, and then he fell asleep again. Surprisingly it was Tammy today, who was up at 6 am and fussing. I should have ignored her longer, but half-asleep I went to get her and lie down with her. Emmy woke up shortly after, and so did Sammy, so it wasn't even 7 am yet, when we sat down to feed them breakfast.
And then we simply seemed to have too much time until leaving the house at 8:15. When they are upstairs, they just pull everything off shelves and out of drawers, which is tiring. I constantly put things back in place. The longer they are there, the messier it gets. We finally left and were at the bus station way too early. It's right opposite a new apartment complex that has a few playground items up front, and so I took Emmy and Tammy there for a few minutes. Then we took the bus - with both of them on the seat with me - and then we still had to walk a bit to get to the dance studio.
The dance class every week is from 9 until 10:30, and they'll keep doing it in fall as well. Every week they get more comfortable and participate more. Today Emmy did all the dances walking on the ground without wanting us to carry him, contrary to his sister. At times he was the only kid on the ground, and he did great.
We always start the class with songs where they sit on our lap, and in the end they plump to the floor. Last week Emmy was laughing out loud every time, but not today. It made the teacher ask whether he was tired, which he was. After the songs on the ground, we started the songs with actions walking in a circle. Today we did more songs than ever. And the teacher got the rattles out, and we did a few songs with them.
Then it was playtime, and they could pull out of the closet whatever toy they wanted. They were all enjoying themselves. And they were once again the first ones at the table as snack time was approaching. They now say "Essen" (food), when they want to eat or when it's time to eat, and they said it, when they sat down by the empty table. They all ate a lot, especially Tammy. It had been a while since the 7 am breakfast. And Tammy ate grapes today, which she had not liked at home, and did not eat for dinner at home, when offered.
They played some more, and then there were a few more songs before it was over. We put their shoes back on, put them into the strollers, and started our trip home. A long walk followed by a bus ride. At least it wasn't raining today. On the bus they were both on the seat with me, but Tammy just can't sit still at all. And she was pretty tired.
It was after 11 am, when we got home, and I immediately warmed up yesterday's leftovers. They were eating pretty well, but Tammy was so tired that a little thing that she didn't like made her throw a big fit. By 11:45 am I put both boys to bed, and against my better judgment Tammy as well. The boys were asleep fast, and Tammy so tired she was crying hard, wanting me to hold her. I sat down with her on my chest for a few minutes, which was enough for her to accept being put to bed after. I was surprised to see her fall asleep at noon, which I didn't think she was capable of.
I myself was extremely tired, but decided to eat first after all. The food woke me up a little, and so I worked for a while, before getting extremely tired again. Sammy woke up after about 75 minutes, and Randy went downstairs with him. Then I fell asleep until Emmy woke up. He wouldn't sleep on me any more, so I took him downstairs. Surprisingly, Tammy slept about 3 hours again, like yesterday. When she woke up, I sat down in the chair with her, and I think we both slept in there. At 3 pm I called the boys upstairs for the afternoon snack.
Emmy immediately ran to the balcony door to get out, so I opened it, and then Tammy was also excited to get out. Grandma gave them bubbles, which they greatly enjoy, and now they always say "Oma", when they point at the bubbles. So I blew bubbles while feeding them, being so tired I could barely function. I finally went downstairs with them, once they were done eating, and then stayed with them until 4:15 pm.
I got the pack of 30 some instruments out again, and they all had fun with them. Emmy is pretty good at blowing now, making sound come out of the whistle, while Tammy cannot make it work. Blowing is a skill they're acquiring right now. And there is also a triangle in there. You have to hold it by the cord so that the triangle makes a proper sound. I showed Emmy, and he was able to do it. Tammy, however, would not let me show her. She wanted to do it her own way, and so no sound came out of it.
Then we did what we often do. One of them was in the swing, and the other would climb up the slide and stretch their arms out to me to go "flying". I would give the swing a shove, make the kid on the slide fly, and then throw Sammy up and down a few times, and go back to the first kid. That's my exercise. One time Emmy went down the slide on his belly, so I picked him up by his legs and swung him that way, which he greatly enjoyed.
I was glad when Randy relieved me after having worked so hard, and went upstairs to do office work for 75 minutes, until having to make dinner. At 6 pm I called them upstairs to eat. They seemed pretty hungr, with the boys eating more than usual at the table. They pretty much finished their food in the bathtub. Emmy was getting pretty cranky, while they were all having fun playing. By 7 pm they are usually in bed, which was also the case today. At first Emmy was laying down, but then he got up, as his sister was up - until I mentioned sleeping in the bathtub, and he lay straight back down, and fell asleep shortly after. The girl needed a bit more time, and did not object, when I left.
Tonight I made my salad for the first time in a while, which is time-consuming to make and to eat, and so it was pretty late before I was able to get back to work. Which is the reason it's after midnight now, but everything is done, and I can go to bed.
