26 months 24 days

Day 816. Last night I went to bed at 12:30 am. We stayed kid-free for quite some time. Then it was Tammy who came, and later Emmy came. By 6 am they were already up today, and got into a box they shouldn't have had access to in the bathroom. It was a mess. I got up just after 7 am to make breakfast.

After breakfast I took them downstairs and got their Bibles out, and we continued reading in the big one, reading the next few stories. When Randy came, I left them to go upstairs, clean up, and do office work. At 11:30 I went to the kitchen to start cooking, and at noon I called them upstairs to eat.

Tammy was eating her rice with vegetables, but Emmy ate very little of it. Neither one was too interested in the chicken. And so Tammy got puddings, and Emmy didn't. They went into the bathtub to play, but then Emmy kept saying "Essen" (food). So I got him back out and sat him at the table, and I was surprised to see that he was actually eating his rice. And so he also got puddings, that he ate in the bathtub, while I was feeding Sammy his special pudding. Then the boys came out and went to bed, while I went downstairs with Tammy. She was asking to be drawing again, and so we got the table down, as well as the paper and crayons. She wasn't drawing for long though. Then she wanted to watch Barbapapa, and so we did. Just after 1 pm we stopped and went upstairs. Emmy was already asleep and in bed, and Randy picked up Tammy who fell asleep on him, before he put her to bed.

I was doing office work again. Just after 2 pm Sammy woke up, and I picked him up and lay down with him to play, as Randy was busy. A few minutes later Emmy showed up, and then Tammy. All three were awake! Sammy has physiotherapy on Thursday afternoons, but Randy had done and deposited his test late, and so the result wasn't in yet. I encouraged him to take a chance and go there with Sammy anyway. After all there was still a chance for the result to arrive by then. As I needed to go to the post office to mail the US Christmas cards to America and buy stamps for the European Christmas cards, I thought this was a good time to do that with the other two kids. We left the house around 3 pm, just before Randy and Sammy left. They went there in vain, as they would not let them in without a valid test, so no physiotherapy for Sammy today. Randy's results only came in at 10 pm.

Usually Randy pushes the double stroller, and I was surprised that it was actually work with two heavy kids in it. We made it to the post office and stood in line. When it was our turn, I was told that I had to fill out an online form for customs to be able to mail my package to America. They gave me a QR code, and I stepped aside to do it. The kids were still in the stroller and getting restless. And then I even had to fill it out twice. Frustrating. And it gave me some trouble, but the lady working there helped. I was finally able to get it mailed off, and bought the stamps for the European cards. Then we left. We had all been hot being in there so long with our winter clothes.

I had told them we'd go to the playground after the post office. We walked back towards our house and went right by the new house they've built that has a mini-playground up front, and that's where we stopped. They really enjoyed sitting on these birds together and going up and down. And then Emmy did some balancing on a ropes course and did really well. But that's all there was. So we walked on and got to our building. I put the stroller inside, and on we went on foot to walk to the nearest playground. The sun goes down early, so there wasn't that much time.

We finally made it there, and the kids went straight to the toy house. A four-year-old was playing in there, and he did not appreciate at all when these 2-year-olds came to take over his house. In the end he capitulated and left. And Tammy and Emmy had so much fun playing in there. They also went down the little slide right next to it a few times.

After a while I told them it was time for us to go. There was a package on the way, and as much as they like packages, I told them we needed to get back to get our package. That helped in getting them to move. By 4:15 we arrived at our building, just as the Amazon guy was leaving it. He told me that our neighbors had our package. We went inside, and I let them ring the neighbors' bell. The husband opened and gave them the box. Emmy was so excited. We went into our apartment, where they wanted to open it right away, and they did. It was a set of crayons for us to take to Mali for them to use, but of course they wanted to open them right away, and Emmy was crying, when I wouldn't let him, but took them to put them into our suitcase. We all went downstairs, where I did just that, and then took them all the way to Randy and Sammy. Then I went back upstairs and a few minutes later, at 4:45, I started making their dinner, which takes me half an hour. At 5:15 I went downstairs.

They wanted to watch Barbapapa again, and I turned it on. While they were watching, I was tidying up the room. Then I started playing with Sammy, and so Emmy also came to be thrown around. Tammy stayed with the phone. I noticed that her body felt a little hot. After a while I was too tired to go on. Tammy wanted to watch babies, and Emmy sheep, and I put on sheep with babies video for them to watch. Then I looked up some of the kids' songs we'd done in dance class, and we sang them together with the actions, following the video on the screen. That was great, given that the dance class has ended.

6 pm had come around fast, and we went upstairs to eat. Tammy was really cranky by then, but so was Emmy, and so neither one ate anything, not even the soup. Tammy was just crying and wanted me to hold her. I took their food to the bathtub. They ate a little more, but not that much in total. Sammy didn't eat everything either. And Tammy was crying again, just wanting out, and so Randy got her out. He held her for a while, and she fell asleep on him. By the time I called Randy to help me get the boys out, she was already asleep in bed. That's unusual. It wasn't even 7 yet.

I put the boys to bed, and then Randy sat down by them, while I went to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. As the evening progressed, Tammy woke up several times, wanting me to come sit by her, and I did. Her elevated temperature was already going down. We might have a tough night ahead with her, if she's still not feeling well.

Now it's midnight and time to finish everything up so I can go to bed as well.