29 months 1 day

Day 884. Last night I headed to bed at midnight. Emmy had never woken up, and so there was no child in our bed. It still took me a while to fall asleep. Tammy came some time during the night, and in the early morning hours Emmy did as well. By 7:20 they were all up and running, and so we got up as well.

I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them. The whole time, ever since getting up, Emmy was talking about the playground, and I told him Daddy still had to have a good test, and if the weather was well, we could possibly go later in the day. However, he was so insistent and crying about it that I agreed to take them to the playground right away. Randy was doing his Covid test, so we could turn it in on the way. They were so excited, and I dressed them and myself to go out into the cold. It was just above freezing, so not that cold.

We left the house at about 8:45. Emmy was on the board attached to the single stroller that Tammy was sitting in. Randy and Sammy stayed home. It was our first time going somewhere since returning to Austria two weeks ago. We rode on the subway for two stops, got off, and I handed in the test at the grocery story. Then we got back on the subway for one stop to go to a new playground not far from the subway. We walked by a post office which allowed me to mail a letter I had with me. Then we got to the playground. It wasn't very big, and there were no other children there. But they were really excited to see it. Tammy went straight to one of the slides and went down. Then they went on the swing together for a while. Tammy wanted to go to the other, bigger slide and went down that one a few times, then did some climbing. Emmy finally came out of the swing, but the metal bars were too cold for him to climb up on.

And so we left there again after about 25 minutes. This time Emmy was sitting in the stroller and Tammy was on the board. Emmy said that his hands were cold, and I suggested he put it inside the sheep's skin on the stroller. We took the subway back home and were home by 9:45 o'clock. Sammy's special drinks and puddings had arrived, while we were gone, and Tammy and Emmy wanted to open them so bad, like any package. I told them it was Sammy's food and said no. I took their clothes off and took them downstairs. It was time for me to turn the computer on and do some work.

I was working late, trying to get something done, and went to the kitchen at 11:40. And then Randy and the kids were already coming upstairs, while I was still cooking. I put their plates with the hot food into the fridge for a few minutes, but they were already crying for food. I got it back out, and it was cool enough for them to eat. They ate everything on their plate, and Emmy had some more. Then they had some pudding. I cleaned them up and dressed them, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy, while the boys went to bed. I was holding Emmy right away, and by 12:40 he was asleep. Sammy on the other hand was wide awake and trying to play. I walked away, and he quickly fell asleep. At 1 pm Randy came upstairs with Tammy and put her to bed. For once she fell asleep without me having to come and sit by her; Randy sat in the chair instead.

I was working even though I was really tired. At 1:40 Emmy already walked up to me, and he does not go to sleep on me anymore. He stayed a few minutes and then left to go to Randy, who went downstairs with him. I was so tired I finally allowed myself to close my eyes. It was 2:40, when Sammy woke up. I picked him up to take him downstairs with the snacks, but Tammy woke up as well, so I took them both downstairs. Then I returned to my computer to work, but not for long, as Tammy was crying for me downstairs. So I took my computer downstairs to be with them.

They wanted to be in the swing together, so I put them in there and they stayed for quite a while, enjoying me pushing them all the way to the ceiling. Emmy came out first, because it's tight in there together, and he wanted to sit on my desk. He also wanted to hear Alexa play some "party songs", an artist who does children's songs, and we turned it on. We did the actions for a few songs, Tammy as well, who had also come out of the swing. Then they wanted to look at the new photobook (December) that had arrived today, and we did, and Sammy joined us. We looked at it for a while, before everybody moved on to do something else.

I called Air France again, as we still had not received our refund, and had to wait a long time until it was my turn. Tammy wanted to watch babies, and I had to keep telling them not to touch the phone that was lying by the window as we have such bad reception in our apartment. I finally talked to someone, and they said it could take up to two months. Great.

The phone was available again, and so Tammy and Emmy sat down on the old office chair to watch babies. After a while Emmy got up to play again, and a few minutes later Tammy joined him. They were having so much fun together, laughing and running around. It was great to see. Randy started tidying up, and Tammy helped a little. Emmy was playing on the baby swing and fell on his head and was crying hard. I comforted him. He then wanted me to call a friend, and so we did a video call with her, which was great and much fun. After talking to her, it was time to go upstairs to make dinner.

Tammy and Emmy pulled up chairs to the kitchen counter and were impatient for me to put food on their plates for them to eat, and eat they did. Once everything was done, we all moved to the dining room table, where I added the soup to their plates. They finished off the blueberries, and Tammy ate lots of cantaloupe as well. Then they went into the bathtub, where they were having fun, and where I gave them the leftover breakfast cereal to drink. That worked a lot better than giving it to them at the table, where Tammy starts putting soup into the cup, and putting cereal into her soup and over her fruit and everywhere else. Sammy came out first and was very upset about being pulled away from all the fun he was having. Then the other two followed. By 6:40 they were all in bed.

I sat down by their beds, and Tammy immediately wanted to come lie down on my chest. Today Emmy did not join her. They were once again talking with me about their day, while I encouraged them to go to sleep. Sammy was also still awake. At 7:15 I asked Randy to take my place. Sammy started crying hard, and I comforted him, held him for a few minutes, and put him back to bed. He fell asleep a few minutes later. So did the other two. I was able to cut up my salad and go downstairs to eat it, without returning to sit by their beds. After eating I went back to work. Now it's 11 pm, and Emmy has not shown his face yet.