23 months 29 days

Day 729. Last night I was heading to bed at 1:30 am, when Tammy for the sixth time was crying for her Daddy. This time I woke Randy up and asked him to sit by her bed. Tammy immediately pulled away from me to him, and let Randy put her to bed. They then both fell asleep, and at some point Randy moved from the chair to our bed. But the short and busy night was far from over. At 4 am Tammy crawled into bed with us, and at 5 am Emmy, and from then on they were awake and doing all kinds of stuff. By 6 am they were already both asking for food, and Emmy was throwing a fit, when I didn't get up right away to make breakfast. And so I got up at 6 am, gave them milk, then our last banana, then made their cereal, which they never touched. At least Sammy still eats a lot of it, and at night Tammy and Emmy drank a whole cup together. I was trying to find stuff they would eat, but it's not easy right now. I never feel like they've had enough to eat in the morning. Maybe they eat less because they know they'll eat some of Daddy's oatmeal a little while later.

After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them, but today we did not go downstairs, as we were leaving the house at 8:30. That was still a long way off, though, having gotten up so early. I was so tired, I lay back down for a couple of minutes and could have fallen asleep, but there were too many active kids around. And Randy still had to do a Covid test, which I had to help him with. The kids were very interested in looking at his phone that was recording him on video, and he had to keep them from touching it.

I finally got back up, and we left the house on time. It was pretty cool, and I was glad they had long pants and jackets on. It wasn't the ideal day to go swimming, but they had an indoor pool where we were going. We took a bus, and then just had to walk a little bit to get to the pool. It was our first time there. We arrived just before 9 am, and a few minutes later Sonja also arrived. We had to show our Covid test results, bought the tickets, and headed to the entrance for the inside pool. The outside area looked nice but deserted at 17 degrees Celsius. The entrance was on top of a staircase, but they had huge boxes with keys on the bottom where you could lock up your strollers. I had never seen anything like it before, but it was practical. Tammy and Emmy walked up the stairs at my hand. Tammy was already carrying her swim ring, and had it around her when we got to the lady at the entrance. She was super sweet with the little ones. We changed and went inside. There was a huge pool for serious swimming, then a smaller pool for children, and a baby pool. We went into the kid's pool and were the only ones in there. The water was rather cold. All three had their rings around them, and it allows especially Tammy and Emmy to be on their own without concern. Sammy can be on his own too, but we have to be a little vigilant, as he loses his grip sometimes.

Two months since we started going swimming again after a 8-9 month Corona break, I'm glad to say that Emmy had no more fear in the water today. Praise God! That's why we want to keep going swimming on our own during the 2-month break between swim classes, so he doesn't lose it again.

All three had great fun. We also went into the baby pool, as the water was so much warmer in there. It allowed us all to warm up a little. Especially Emmy had been shivering in the other pool. More and more groups of kids arrived for swim classes, including a group of handicapped children. They were all in the kids pool. The handicapped group had a few hundred plastic ball that immediately attracted especially Tammy's attention. We went back into that pool, and all three of our kids started playing with those balls, after they had given us permission to. After a while we decided it was time to go, so they'd be home at a decent lunch time. We went back into the locker rooms, got changed, and left the pool again until another time, hopefully on a warmer day.

By then the sun had come out and it was a lot warmer, so that I took their jackets off again. Both Tammy and Emmy wanted to walk, and ended up helping Sonja push the stroller to the bus stop. Sonja lives in walking distance from there, and she waited at the bus stop with us. While we were walking, a tired Emmy fell once again and got his not-yet-healed knee bloody again. He was tired. In fact he was so tired that he fell asleep in the stroller on the bus. I was surprised, but then it had been a very early morning for him. Sammy also fell asleep. Only Tammy was in a seat with me, active as ever. She was the only one awake the rest of our way home.

We got home at 11:30, half an hour after regular lunch time. Sammy was awake right away, but Emmy kept sleeping in the stroller for a long time. I had put food into the oven before leaving, so it was still warm and just needed to be put on a plate. I put Tammy in her chair, and started eating lasagna together with her. Not the healthiest food, I know; normally I feed them unprocessed food if possible. She enjoyed the first few bites but suddenly she spit it out and would not eat any more. Maybe it was too hot, who knows. She then had cake, and icecream, and a pudding! But not only that. She likes putting her hands into food and smearing it everywhere. In the end she also dumped out half her pudding. It was a disaster zone! As for the boys, Randy fell asleep feeding Sammy.

I cleaned them up, dressed them, and both of them went to bed. The girl was asleep quickly, but the little time Sammy had slept in the stroller was enough for him not to go back to sleep. He was playing for a while, until I got him out. I myself was extremely tired and just wanted to sleep. Randy went downstairs with Sammy. Then Emmy woke up, and I fed him his lunch and icecream. He enjoyed the lasagna. He then went downstairs to join the boys. Tammy woke up before he left, and so she went downstairs with us.

I really needed to get some work done and was making good progress, when they all came back upstairs at 3 pm for their afternoon snack. Emmy had only just eaten. I got it out anyway, and they ate some. When they stopped eating, I left them with Randy and went back to work, as I was at a point where I shouldn't have been interrupted and felt the urgency to get it done. I helped take them downstairs, and finally got to continue working.

I had finished the most important part, when I heard Emmy crying quite a bit. It was nearly 5 pm. I decided to stop working and go downstairs, as I knew he'd be comforted by me. Right now Tammy seeks comfort primarily with Daddy, while Emmy comes to me. When they both saw me, they immediately came to me and wanted me to pick them up. I ended up staying with them until 5:30, while Randy took a break. They did some swinging, and I swung them around, and we also sat down to do some drawing. Time went by fast. When I tried to leave at 5:30, I had two crying kids holding on to me who did not want me to leave. And so I ended up taking them upstairs with me, and Randy and Sammy then came too.

They immediately got chairs and pulled them to the kitchen to stand up on them, so they could reach what was on the counter. I got started making their bread with cream cheese, and then cutting up fruit, and they ate what they liked on their plates. At some point we sat down at the table to eat.

And two days before their second birthday they received an upgrade tonight. They had "big kid" chairs that are pushed right against the table. On chair they cannot get into or out off, but the other chair they can. I gave that one to Tammy, which was a mistake, and I've already switched it since. She got up several times during the meal. In any case they liked them and felt like they weren't babies any more, as I was bragging on them, that they were big kids now. It worked pretty well.

Once they had stopped eating, I combined their food on one plate and took it to the bathroom, then took them to the toilet with me, before putting them into the bathtub. We had a fun time in the bathtub tonight. Emmy ate a good bit, Tammy still wouldn't eat the bread, just her favorite fruit (watermelon and honeydew). Sammy ate quite a bit but not everything. Then they came out, got ready for bed, and I put them to bed. They were talking with me for a while, and not lying down. I left and came back a few times, until I left before they were both asleep, and it was okay. They fell asleep not long after. I got myself something to eat, and then went back to work. Not only on the computer, but also some work in the household to get ready for their big birthday and the cleaning lady coming tomorrow. Now it's midnight and everything is done, and I'm hoping to join my sleeping husband shortly. I'm praying for a quiet night and them getting up later.