26 months 14 days

Day 806. Last night I went to bed at 11:30 pm. The girl was the first one to join us in bed, and Emmy came quite a bit later. We got up just after 7 am. I made breakfast which they did not touch, but at least Emmy had some banana. I dressed them and took them downstairs, where I got their Bibles out and we sat down to read one story after another. When Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to clean up, then I got dressed and ready to leave. But I had to first wait for the Mobile Support lady's arrival at 9 am. She hadn't been here in weeks, with them being sick and some holidays. And then I told her that next week was our last time together before our trip to Mali. She then told us that she was taking a sabbatical next year, so someone else is gonna come after we return in January. She then played with the kids for 90 minutes.

As for me, I left to take the subway for two stops to go to the bank. It's strange for me to go somewhere by myself, as I often take one of the kids with me as well, when I have to go somewhere. I had to take care of some things at the bank. It was my first time inside there, and the lady was very nice helping me resolve everything, and it felt good to get it done. I went straight home from there, and got there at 9:40, ready to go do office work.

At 11:30 I started getting lunch ready, and at 11:45 Sonja arrived. At noon I called everyone upstairs to eat. Emmy did great eating most of his food, while Tammy refused to eat anything at all again. Then they went into the bathtub to play, where Emmy ate his pudding, and I fed Sammy his pudding. We got them out, got them dressed, and the boys went to bed, while Sonja went downstairs with Tammy. I was sitting with the boys, but it wasn't long before Emmy was asking for Daddy, and so I gave Randy my seat. That worked for me, as I didn't have much time until leaving the house. At 1:15 I went downstairs to get Tammy and put her to bed. Randy had fallen asleep, so he was still in the chair and stayed there.

I was supposed to leave at 1:30, so time was short. It was nearly 1:30, when I got Sammy out of bed, after only 45 minutes of sleep, and dressed him. A few minutes later we left, having a long walk to the tram stop, and then riding three stops. It was 2 pm, when we got off the tram, and then we still had to walk a little. When we got to the center, I had to show a negative Covid test, and a few minutes later the doctor came to let us in.

Sammy had seen the center's doctor once before, and it wasn't a particularly good experience, so I wasn't looking forward to the appointment today, but it turned out okay today. It was just a checkup to see where Sammy was at and what he needs. When we come back from Mali, he'll see an orthopedic doctor as well as a logopedic doctor. She wanted to see him crawl and turn over, but he wouldn't do either one for her. She gave him some toys and watched him play and reach for them. In the very end she said that Sammy was a joyful kid. She also thought that Mali was great for him (the warm weather), even though last time she was of the opposite opinion. I was glad, when we said our good-byes after over half an hour.

I had to run to make the tram, which really amused Sammy. After we got off, we went into the grocery store that was right there, and I got grapefruit and watermelon, which we have both not been able to find at other stores. Then we walked home from there, where we arrived just after 3 pm. I was talking with Randy and that was enough to wake the girl up who came running to us. Emmy was already downstairs with Sonja, and Randy took Tammy downstairs, while I took Sammy downstairs. Then I sat down to do office work.

I made good progress, but wanted to spend some time with them downstairs. At 5 pm I had finished a big job and decided to go downstairs. Sonja had just left.

When Emmy saw me, he thought it was time to tidy up. He said "Aufräumzeit", which is what I say when I come downstairs to tidy up, and I was impressed that he said such a long word all by himself. I thought about it and decided we could clean up first and then play before going upstairs. Both Tammy and Emmy helped a tiny little bit. Then Tammy wanted to watch "Barbapapa", and so we sat down and all three watched a few minutes. Then it was time for me to go upstairs and make their dinner, but I already knew that they would want to come upstairs with me, and so we all went upstairs. They went straight to the dining room to get chairs that they dragged to the kitchen to stand on. I put their plates in front of them and started making bread with cheese and salami that I put onto their plates. They still eat the salami off and leave the bread. I then cut open the watermelon, and they were both eating it. It's been quite a while since we had watermelon, which is Tammy's favorite fruit. Then it was time to sit down at the table to eat, which they weren't very motivated to do. Emmy wanted into the high chair, so I put him in, but Tammy didn't want the regular OR the high chair, and just simply didn't want to eat once again. She was not happy, when I strapped her into the high chair. After Emmy was done eating, I put their remaining food on one plate that I took to the bathroom, and got them both out of their chairs. They couldn't wait to get into the water to play, and they had a lot of fun there. They only ate a little more food.

After they had had plenty of fun, it was time to come out and go to bed. It wasn't even 7 pm yet, when they were all in bed. They tend to get out of bed, when I'm there, but Randy doesn't let them. And so he took my place after only a few minutes, and I was amazed at how fast he got them to sleep. As for me, I got myself something to eat, and after eating I went back to work. Now I've written my report early, and still have to do cleanup before going to bed.

Since they were sick for a whole month and couldn't do anything, I had hoped to do some fun activities in the three weeks until we leave for Mali. But I'm shocked that we cannot do anything without being vaccinated now - no restaurant, no swimming, no zoo, no indoor playground. So far we can still go to dance class and to church.