Day 710. Last night I headed to bed at 12:20 am. This morning Emmy came at 5:30. He crawls into bed with us, and sometimes still sleeps or at least lies there for a while, before he gets active and eventually wakes his siblings up. I then go get Tammy to join us in bed, as well as Sammy. Usually it's now Emmy who starts saying "Essen" (food) more and more insistently, and even throwing fits, when I'm not moving. So at the latest that's when I go to the kitchen to get started. I've now tried to make their cereal and give it to them, as they don't like it any more, but they sometimes refuse that. A banana comes next. Some mornings they eat two whole bananas. This morning they didn't want any.
After breakfast I picked out clothes for them, we dressed them, and got ready to leave. In Austria you have to get Covid tests to go places if you're not vaccinated, and we need them for swim class, dance class and Sammy's physiotherapy sessions. We can take the test at home and carry the vial to a drop-off place, which is what we usually do. Yesterday we dropped it off late, and so we did not have our results this morning that we needed for dance class. Just in case I had already booked an appointment at a pharmacy on the way to dance class to get tested, as you get the results within 30 minutes. This way at least I would get to go inside with them; Randy refuses to let anybody stick a Q-tip up his nose, so he would have to wait outside for us.
We took a bus and got off half-way to the dance studio to go to the pharmacy. The pharmacist was really nice and overheard me trying to convince Randy to get tested as well and even offered a less uncomfortable testing method, but Randy refused. We continued on to the dance studio and got there before 9 am. I explained the situation to the teacher, who then allowed Randy to come in anyway, as his previous test result had only just expired. That was a relief to me, as it would have been hard to be alone with all three.
She started with the greeting song, going from child to child, singing their names, and then each child stands up and turns around one time. Then she did a few songs, where they sit on your legs and you move the legs, which they enjoy. Then she got out the box of rattles, and everyone had a rattle they were using with the songs she was singing. Emmy definitely likes drums more than rattles. Next we got up and did songs walking - or running or stomping - in a circle. At that point every child was willing to walk, and today I saw ours actually starting to stomp.
Then it was playtime. They can get any toy they want out of the closets, and it doesn't take long before toys are everywhere. While they're playing, the teacher is getting their snacks ready. Tammy was once again one of the first to sit down at the table. And they ate a lot again, even Sammy. There is bread with ham or cheese, and Tammy got the bread but then only ate the ham or cheese and left the bread. I gave the bread with butter to Emmy, who ate it.
After snack time it's playtime again. Emmy found the box of rattles, and there was one tambourine inside that I gave him, and so he started drumming. Tammy also got herself some rattles. She also found the horse to ride on. They were having fun, and a few minutes before the end, the teacher returned to do a few more songs - walking in a circle, as well as sitting down. I had Emmy who quickly decided to go to the ball pit (without balls) instead of doing the dance. And Tammy was with Daddy and wanted him to carry her, like most kids at that point. Then the class was over, and we loaded them back into the strollers to go home.
It was quite a walk to the bus stop. Thankfully the bus came quickly. We got home after 11 am, and I immediately warmed up their food so they could eat and go to bed. They really didn't eat that much, probably because of all they had eaten at the class. They did eat their icecream, though Tammy did not like the chocolate icecream and so Emmy ate it. So far they had only eaten vanilla icecream.
I cleaned them up and dressed them and put the boys to bed, while Randy took Tammy downstairs. I was surprised how long it took Emmy to fall asleep, and I had to stay to help him. Once asleep I put Tammy to bed, but I was not prepared for what was to come. She was playing as always, but normally she falls asleep after a while. Not today. She actually went into Sammy's bed (his bed touching hers), and soon I heard Sammy laugh and laugh. She woke him up, and now they were having fun. At that point I didn't know she had climbed into Sammy's bed. And then I heard Sammy cry hard. I immediately went in there and found her on all fours jumping on Sammy's back. Poor Sammy! I immediately rescued him and returned her to her own bed. All the noise had also woken Emmy up, and so the boys went downstairs with Randy.
It was 1:30 pm, and the girl still had not slept. She was tired and cranky, and throwing a fit, wanting me to hold her to fall asleep. Once again she was putting her leg up on the railing, as if to go over it to be with me. Now it's time to give her an opening to her bed as well. I gave in and held her and tried several times to put her back to bed, but it was not working. I finally held her for longer, and once she was in a deeper sleep, I was finally able to put her to bed.
I was extremely tired myself, and as much as I wanted to sleep with her, I had too much to do. I worked for a while, until I could no longer keep my eyes open and closed them for a bit. But first I took some snacks down to the boys, so they did not have to come upstairs to eat. Tammy had fallen asleep just after 2 pm, and she ended up sleeping for two hours. I then took her downstairs to join her siblings. She never had an afternoon snack, but did not complain, and did not eat more than usual at night either.
I had just over an hour until having to get dinner ready and stayed at the computer working, while Randy was downstairs with them. I could hear Emmy fussing. Just before 6 pm they came upstairs to eat. Tonight I added vegetables to their plates for the first time - tomatoes and peppers. They refused to eat them, though one piece of tomato from Emmy's plate is missing. Maybe I'll find it on the floor, when I clean up. They didn't eat much at the table, but all three finished all their food in the bathtub. And they all had fun in the bathtub tonight, no crying.
Then I put them to bed. I walked away, and when I returned, Tammy was in Sammy's bed again. So I moved her bed away from his so they're not touching any more. Emmy and Tammy were up for a while, and I was getting frustrated and walking away several times, which upset especially Emmy. He finally fell asleep, while I was sitting by his bed, and then Tammy wanted me to hold her, and wanted me to stay with her. She was still awake, when I left, but okay with it by then.
I went to the kitchen to cut up my salad which takes a while, ate, and then went back to work. Now I still have to do the cleanup and hope to make it to bed around the same time as last night.
