Day 799. Last night I headed to bed at 12:30 am, but Emmy was having a restless night again and I just let him come to bed with us. The girl joined us early in the morning. We got up at 7 am again, I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. Then I dressed them and took them all downstairs, where I got their Bibles out, and we sat down to read them. When Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to finish cleaning up, but before I sat down at the computer, I started making the soup for lunch. Lots of vegetables and stuff to cut up and put into the pot. It needed to simmer for a while, so it was a good decision to make it right in the morning. Once it was simmering away, I sat down at the computer to work.
At 11 am Sonja arrived. Randy has been organizing all the clothes we have for them, and he ended up with a box full of disguises. So he took the box downstairs to them, and they started trying clothes on and having fun. Emmy was a crocodile and a cat, Tammy a mermaid and a princess, and Sammy a mouse. They were so cute!
At 11:30 we went upstairs to eat. I was thankful to see Emmy eat everything in his bowl. Tammy didn't want to eat again, but Randy added some yoghurt to her soup, and then she ate some. He does that with Sammy all the time. Because they had eaten soup, they both got puddings to eat, which they did in the bathtub while enjoying the hot water flowing down from the shower head. Sammy also joined them there, and I fed him his special high-calorie pudding.
They never appreciate having to come out of the bathtub. I put the boys to bed, and after a while they were both asleep. As for the girl, I wanted to make sure she was really sleepy by the time I put her down. I was working on the computer, and Randy on Mali boxes. At 1 pm I put the girl to bed, and it was challenging as always to get her to lie down and sleep.
Emmy woke up after over an hour of sleep and wanted to go to Sonja, so Randy took him downstairs. However, once he was with her he wanted his Mommy, and Randy tried to distract him and keep him busy so he wasn't gonna come back upstairs like he'd been doing the past few days.
Sammy was sleeping so long again that I knew the evening was gonna get tough. I took him to his brother, together with some snacks. I continued working, and at 3 pm I turned off the ocean sounds and called Tammy's name a few times, which was all that she needed to wake up. I took her downstairs and asked her whether she'd like to go outside for a little bit. It had been many weeks since they had been outside our apartment downstairs, and they were all excited about the suggestion. I looked over all the snowsuits we have and picked out three, grabbed their socks and shoes, and took it all downstairs, where we dressed them. They couldn't wait to go outside.
And we had lots of fun. I was pushing Tammy and Emmy, each on a tricycle, up and down the path at the same time, even running, which they loved. I finally quit and took Sammy, while Sonja was pushing the other two. Later they also rode their cars, played ball, and they wanted the brooms out and rode on them. I left them just before 4 pm, and at 4 pm Sonja also had to leave. They weren't too happy about having to come back inside. Randy then stayed with them and had fun with them, while I was upstairs working.
At 5 pm I started making their dinner, and at 5:30 I went downstairs to tidy up with them. Tammy helped a little bit, but not her brother. Then we all went upstairs to eat. Tammy ate her soup and the salami off her bread. Emmy ate the bread with the salami. They didn't stay at the table for long. I put all their food on a plate that I took to the bathroom, and helped them into the tub. Later Sammy joined them.
I had cut open a new and ripe pineapple and did everything in my power to get them to try it. Finally Emmy did and he loved it and ate it all. And then I got Tammy to eat the last bite, and she liked it too. What Tammy wanted most was salami, and she ate a lot of it. Sammy ate really well too, eating most of his food.
They are more and more often putting two words together now. Emmy loves talking about Mali, pretty much every day. Now I added a topic, when I said that children in Mali had a hurting tummy because it was empty as they had nothing to eat. That really concerned Emmy who brough it up several times. I told him he could give them something to eat once we're in Mali.
They came out of the water, and we got them ready for bed. Around 6:30 they were in bed. Emmy was the first one to fall asleep, while Sammy was wide awake as expected, and Tammy is always wide awake and active. I sat with them for a while, then Randy did, then I did, then Randy did again. He finally got Sammy to quiet down and fall asleep, and then the girl soon followed suit. I got myself something to eat, and then went back to work. I realized early how very tired I was and wanted to get done with the chores of the day. Of course Emmy woke up and wanted me to hold and rock him, and he simply won't accept being put back to bed. Finally Randy took my place and was able to get him to fall back asleep and not wake right back up, which allowed me to write my report, with my eyes falling shut as usual. I still have to clean up but then hope to go to bed right away.
