22 months 3 days

Day 673. Last night it was 2:30 before I made it to bed. This morning we got up at 8:10; it was Sammy who I was hearing. Once I walk in there, they all want me to take them out. And patience is not yet part of their lives. I got them out, and went to the kitchen to get their food ready. Emmy usually helps me empty the dishwasher, since some of what I need is in there. We fed them, then I cleaned them up and dressed them. Sometimes Tammy does not want to have her teeth brushed at all, or get in touch with water to get cleaned up. It's amazing how strong they already are.

So that they don't have the opportunity to mess too much up upstairs, I take them downstairs right away, where I turn the worship music on, open the blinds, and then we start worshipping and dancing. They're good dancers, especially Emmy, and I'm already curious what the dance class is gonna be like that they start this week. This morning Tammy said "Hallelujah" while we were worshipping God, and Emmy had said it yesterday, and said it again today. Emmy is also the one who often points at each member of our family and says their names. He cannot say his siblings' names yet, but it seems that he calls himself "M-ma".

Today we didn't get to read the Bible together. Randy brought Sammy, while we were still praying, and I was tidying up a little, and then he came with his breakfast. I went upstairs, and a few minutes later the Mobile Therapy Support lady arrived - 15 minutes late at 9:15. I was cleaning up at that time, but I could not yet start doing office work. Randy had to go take our Covid test kits to the store, so we'd have the results by tonight. When he left the lady with the kids downstairs, Sammy immediately started crying, so I went downstairs to take Daddy's place until his return. And that's why I have pictures of her being here for the first time in a long time. Once I came, Sammy stopped crying. Sammy pulled himself up onto his knees while his hands was on my thigh. It won't be long before he won't need any help at all to pull himself up into this sitting position. And of course he immediately wants to go on and get into a standing position. He loves standing, and sometimes he moves his feet/legs as if he was trying to walk.

The lady plays with all three, and while I was there, Emmy was having fun with the sunglasses. They don't like wearing them really, but they do like putting them on just for play.

Once Randy returned, I was finally able to go upstairs to do office work, but time was pretty short. Thankfully it was leftover day, so I didn't have to cook. I was hearing Tammy cry pretty hard downstairs, so about 10 minutes before our regular lunch time, I went downstairs to check out what was going on. Randy said that she was not happy about not getting something. She immediately fled into my arms, and then I took her and Emmy upstairs, and Sammy followed with Daddy. I put Tammy down to get their food ready, which she did not appreciate at all, but this time she found comfort in Daddy's arms, so it worked out. A few minutes later we sat down to eat. Today they did not eat much. Not even all the leftover chicken we had. And Tammy, our watermelon girl, did not want to eat any watermelon once again, and they both refused yoghurt as well, which is unusual.

I cleaned them up, dressed them, and Randy went downstairs with them after putting Sammy to bed. I started cleaning up and went to get Emmy after a while, putting him to bed. He falls asleep quickly after lunch, with no complaints or protests. A few minutes later Randy came upstairs with Tammy, and I put her to bed. You can always hear her talk away for a while. I grabbed something to eat, as did Randy, and then went back to work. I was tired, but did not sleep today. Sammy always wakes up after about an hour, and Randy went downstairs with him. Today Emmy slept a little longer than the one hour, which was good, and then I took him downstairs., and went back to work. That's when I found out about the potential of losing our indispensable helper Sonja, which was very discouraging, and so I went downstairs to the boys to let Randy know about the situation. I stayed with them for a while, and then we all went upstairs for the afternoon meal. It was about 3 pm, so time to eat. The noise woke up Tammy. I was glad that both she and Emmy finished their jar today, even though they wanted nothing else to eat. Before they could pull anything down or out, I went downstairs with them, where we played until Randy and Sammy arrived. Then I went upstairs to work for another hour. I'm wondering how I'm actually gonna be homeschooling them AND continue doing office work. But then I still have a few years left until then.

At 4:45 pm I went downstairs, and Randy came upstairs to take a break.. I put their shoes on, and we went outside our apartment to play. They went to the sandbox right away, and got some sandbox toys out of the neighbors' box that they allow us to use. They did not play in the sand for long though. Emmy started throwing sand again, and I told him to stop and that he would have to go inside if he did it again. Then he threw sand again, got up and went inside the apartment. I was stunned how he had punished himself.

They started running around all over the place, having fun, and it was fun to watch. They wanted their shoes off, so I took them off. Tammy wanted to also take her pants off, but I didn't let her do that, so she got really upset and threw a fit, running away as far as she could, standing by the fence at the very end of it. After a while she calmed down, and when her brother came, she quickly joined in the fun with him.

Emmy loves talking to people, saying hello and goodbye and waving at them. As we have an important path going right by our apartment for people wanting to go to the subway, we get a lot of people walking by. Every time somebody walked by, Emmy waved at them and said "hallo" (hello). It was really sad that people didn't even notice him. One had earphones on, another was looking at their phone. Only one person actually waved back at Emmy.

At 5:30 Randy came with the broom to clean up, and they got a hold of the broom, helping. Randy did not want to stay outside with them, so he got everything and everybody back inside, and I went upstairs to get their dinner ready.

Today I made less bread, as they have not been eating much, probably because of the heat. Just after 6 pm they came upstairs to eat - and didn't eat much at the table. Tammy got upset about something, and I couldn't figure out what it was she wanted. I took her out of the chair, but she didn't want to eat anything else. Even the soup she usually loves, she barely touched tonight.

They all went into the bathtub, and surprise surprise, I got all three to finish their food. Emmy was once again not happy at first, but I was able to distract him and get him busy so that he enjoyed the bathtub like he used to. At one point Tammy tried to get to the faucet, and she was not happy when I kept her away. As for Sammy, he was determined to get to it, and was crying really hard when he simply could not get there because of Mommy. He was the most upset, and he was the first one out of the water.

Then it was time to clean their faces and hair - including the sand in there. They do not like that at all, and Tammy was crying hard again. They both wanted out of the water at the same time.

By 7 they're all in bed. I walked away at first, but it was once again Tammy who wanted me to sit by her bed, so I did for a little while - twice. Then I stayed away, and she fell asleep.

I got myself something to eat, and then went back to work. I wrote my update before cleaning up tonight, which is the next thing I'm gonna do. I'm very much hoping to make it to bed earlier tonight. Especially with a busy day tomorrow.

By the way, I weighed Sammy tonight, and he has not gained weight in a long time. Please pray for him.