23 months 11 days

Day 711. Last night I headed to bed at 12:30 am. This morning Emmy came at 5:30 am. He fell back asleep with us. When I heard Tammy, at some point I went to pick her up and she joined us, and then Sammy as well. Tammy and Emmy left, while we stayed in bed with Sammy. When I got up, I found Tammy and Emmy both in her bed. Yesterday she had climbed into Sammy's bed twice from hers. Today she climbed from the floor into her bed, which is even harder.

In the end it was nearly 7 am, when I got up to make breakfast, as Emmy was insisting on "Essen" (food). I gave Tammy and Emmy their cups with a little milk, then banana, while making the cereal these two don't care about any more. Emmy was standing by the fridge saying "lami", but I could not figure out what he wanted. After they had eaten different stuff in their chairs and came out, Emmy went back to the fridge and I finally understood what he wanted. The other day I had given him salami, and I guess he really liked it. That's what "lami" was. So I got the salami out and gave them some, and they wanted more and more and more. I gave them some cheese too, but only Tammy wanted it. I guess I know what Emmy's new favorite food is.

We went downstairs, where I got the instruments out, and we were worshipping God together. Then I got the kids Bibles out that we were looking at together. When Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to clean up and then work. I was very tired and found myself unable to work. It was 8 am, and I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I was in rough shape, when I woke up just after 10 am. Just before 10:30 I got up to start cooking. Sonja arrived a few minutes later, which allowed Randy to come upstairs, while she was with them. And then he sawed two bars off of Tammy's bed so she can get out now instead of climbing over the railing. When they came upstairs for lunch at 11 am, Randy took her to her bed right away to show her, and she immediately climbed through the hole into her bed. You could tell that she liked it.

We sat down to eat pork chops, potatoes and sauerkraut. Today it was Emmy who did not want to eat. The other day Tammy never ate and did not get icecream. It looked like it was gonna be Emmy today, but he then finally ate a few bites of pork and potatoes, and so I gave him icecream. It was Tammy's as it turned out she doesn't just not like chocolate icecream but strawberry icecream not either and we were out of vanilla.

Then I cleaned them up, dressed them, and Sonja went downstairs with Tammy, while I put Emmy to bed. Once again he was asking for Sonja, and I kept telling him she'd still be here, when he woke up. He wanted me to hold him, but every time I tried to put him back to bed, he was up and crying. I finally got Randy to hold him, and after a few minutes he was asleep enough for me to be able to put him to bed without waking up. Then I was able to get Tammy and put her to bed. It was already nearly 12:30 pm. Yesterday she didn't sleep until 2 pm, but thankfully she fell asleep pretty fast today.

Randy went to the grocery store, while I was finally doing office work, and cleaning up at some point. Sammy woke up first, rather early as is the case most of the time, and went downstairs to be with Sonja. Then Emmy woke up, and did not want to lie on me for a while. He wanted to be with Sonja, so I took him downstairs, and continued working. I finally reached Paul in Mali and talked for him for 20 minutes. Randy returned during that time, and Tammy woke up as well. He took her downstairs, as he had not put the groceries up yet, but she was not ready for that. She hadn't slept long enough yet, and so she was pretty cranky the rest of the afternoon.

Just before 3 pm they all came upstairs to eat. Today was a really cold and rainy day, but they still went out on the balcony. I cut up some fruit for them, they had a cereal with fruit jar, peanut butter and snacks. Sonja was also blowing bubbles for them. They were running around, while I was working on our newsletter, and when it became clear that they were done eating, we took them back downstairs. Sonja was playing with them there, while Randy and I were upstairs. I finished the newsletter by 4:45 pm, and then went downstairs to spend the next 45 minutes with them.

When I went downstairs, I found Emmy standing on the kids table and jumping off into Sonja's arms, and he did it repeatedly, and so did Tammy. He jumped as if he was at the swimming pool jumping into the water. He totally trusted that she would catch him. They were having fun, and I joined in the fun. Tammy wanted me to read a book to her, and Sammy was with me as well. Then Tammy grabbed my phone and played talking on the phone with someone. When I took it away from her to go upstairs to make their dinner, she threw a fit, as she wanted the phone back. When Randy came downstairs to take my place, she ran to him for comfort. As soon as I got upstairs, I noticed that the freezer door was open, and I could not close it. So I went downstairs and Randy went back upstairs to take care of it. That upset Tammy very much, when Daddy left, and she did NOT want to be with Mommy who caused the fit in the first place. She was fighting me, screaming, even scratching me, and she did not stop the whole time until Randy returned and she could run to be with him again.

I went upstairs and started making dinner 10 minutes late. Still, just after 6 pm I called them upstairs to eat. Tammy did not touch her food at all, but Emmy was eating. Sammy was also really cranky. In the bathtub everything went well at first. Everyone was eating. Then Emmy slipped and tried to hold on to Tammy, who also slipped as a result. She was crying and would not be comforted and had to be taken out. The boys continued playing with the faucet and having fun and eating. At some point I could not hold Sammy up any longer and got him out, which he did not appreciate at all. He was screaming because he couldn't play with the faucet any more. We got them all ready for bed, and I put them to bed. Emmy fell asleep rather fast. Tammy was tossing and turning, and left her bed, when I left. Emmy had also done that for days, and much more than she did tonight. Thankfully she was content with me sitting by her bed, and in the end she let me leave before she was asleep.

I made myself something to eat, ate, and went back to work. Now I still have to do the cleanup. Translating the newsletter will have to wait until tomorrow.