29 months 13 days

Day 896. Emmy climbed into bed with us a little earlier than usual, and some time later Tammy did too. They did sleep a little longer after the late night last night. It was 7:30, when they got up, and I did too, picking up Sammy who was crying and putting him on the floor to roam around freely. I started making breakfast, then we sat down to eat. We still had dinner leftovers from last night for them to eat. After breakfast they went potty. It was the second time Emmy peed, but the first time he peed a lot. Good job! I had to comfort Tammy that it was okay and there was gonna be another time to succeed.  I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs to read a Bible story. Once done, they picked up the doctor's items lying around, and doctor Tammy examined us all and gave us shots. Emmy said he was going shopping and took his shopping cart to fill it. Then Randy came with his breakfast, and I went upstairs to work.

I was extremely tired  and had a headache, but I still had to get some stuff done before getting a chance to close my eyes. It just took me a lot longer than expected. It was after 11 am before I could close my eyes, having nothing left to give. I set my timer, but my phone's audio has been gone and it took a good while before the vibration woke me up. It was later than I had wanted, when I went to the kitchen to cook. I still felt pretty miserable. I've had too many late nights in a row. Randy and the kids came up ten minutes before noon, and so the food was far from ready. And then it was still very hot, so I put their plates into the fridge. I took their clothes off, and they sat down at the table asking for their food. I got it back out and gave it to them. Today it was Tammy who ate everything on her plate and got a gummy bear. Emmy didn't eat that much. A delivery of squeezies had arrived, while they were upstairs, and Emmy wanted to have one of the new one, and then Tammy did too, and Sammy as well. Tammy and Sammy also had puddings.

Then they went potty. Emmy pooped, while Tammy tried in vain. I cleaned them up and dressed them, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy, while the boys went to bed. Sammy fell asleep quickly, at about 12:45, and Emmy was asleep by 1 pm. Tammy came upstairs a few minutes later, and I sat wit her until she fell asleep at 1:20 pm. I was so very exhausted, but needed to get a few more things done. At 2 pm Sammy woke up, while I was still working. Randy went downstairs with him. At 2:15 I finally closed my eyes and it took me a while to fall asleep. At 2:37 Emmy walked into the room and lay down on me for 10 minutes, which is longer than usual. Then I took him downstairs to the other boys. I lay back down. At 3 pm Tammy walked into the room, but she didn't want to lie down any more, so I took her downstairs together with their snacks. Now that Randy can leave the house again, it was time for him to do a big shopping trip. So I got my computer and took it downstairs to stay with the kids. They like peanuts and were all eating peanuts. Randy left to go to a new Hofer that is right on the subway, so he doesn't have to walk so far with so much stuff, but he was still gone for over two hours.

In the meantime the kids and I were having fun. I didn't even try to work. Tammy has been playing being a doctor a lot and was having fun examining her doll. She often goes shopping with her, putting her in her shopping cart, and puts her on her potty, and I told her if keeps pooping over and over in a few minutes she needs to take her to the doctor, so that's what she does.  She also put her doll in the swing, and rocks her, and puts her to bed. Today she lay down with her on the couch (for a few seconds).

Emmy has been talking about being the captain of a boat for days, ever since he had a body with an anchor on and I told him he was a captain. Today he and Sammy were in the swing together, then I got Sammy out, and he wanted me to throw him around, which I did. I had the slide down, and Tammy was making her doll slide. When Emmy came out of the swing, the turned the slide over and made it his boat that he was conducting. Tammy was riding with him. He did not like it, when Sammy joined him on the boat. He usually does not like Sammy being close, as he grabs what he's playing with, or grabs him, and so I often hear him say "Sammy weg" (Sammy be gone), which really bothers me. I corrected him and let him know that Sammy had just as much right to play and be on the boat and even be the captain as he had. He was not happy about that. Sammy ended up standing on the boat, and he stood there really well. Emmy ended up doing plenty of conducting of his boat, and we rescued a lot of babies that fell into the water.

They wanted to do the sticker books and picked out a good number of stickers to put on the pages of the zoo and the farm, including Sammy. Then they wanted to watch Paw Patrol, so they got to watch an episode, as well as a few minutes of Barbapapa. Emmy does not have that much patience, so he left the chair after a while. Sammy does not care about videos. While they were watching, Randy returned. We could hear him upstairs, while he was putting the groceries away. Sammy was rather cranky at this point and eager to see his Daddy.

Just before 5:30 we started tidying up. Since we don't do it on the weekend, it was much needed. Tammy was helping a little, Emmy made a point of saying no and making it clear that he was not lifting a finger. I told him he'd not get a gummy bear then, and later he did not get one, when he successfully used the potty, but did not even complain. It took a while, but by 5:40 we were done and walked upstairs. Sammy was happy to have his Daddy back.

They pulled up chairs to the kitchen counter to stand on and ate what they liked that I put on their plates. Then we all moved to the dining room table, where I added the soup to their plates. They are always eager to go potty, and it seemed that they left the table too early for that reason. Both of them pooped a little, and Tammy had her gummy bear. Then they went into the water. I took a little of the leftover food along and was shocked, when they devoured it within seconds as if they had not had any food. I just refuse to start bringing their food to the bathtub again! They were having fun in the water, and then Sammy got out first - against his will - followed by Emmy and then Tammy. By 7 pm they were all in bed, and I sat down right there. They were talking about all kinds of things again, with Tammy on my chest, and Emmy started bringing up one name after another to pray for those people, which we did. Tammy returned to her bed, but they were all still awake and talking, which was starting to frustrate me. It was nearly 8 pm, before I was able to walk away.

I was tired and hungry, wanted to eat a salad but not have all that effort to make it, but I still put the work and time in to make myself the salad I enjoy eating so much. I twas worth it. I was downstairs at my computer eating, and then went back to work. I really need to start going to bed earlier again, but tonight it's already after midnight.