Day 909. Last night I headed to bed at 12:15 am. Tammy had been waking up frequently and asking for us to wipe her runny nose. After I went to bed, she'd also get up and come to us for that reason. I finally asked her to stay with us to make it easier for all of us. Emmy also started coming, for milk, and so I let him come to bed as well. It was 2 am. After nearly 3 hours and being so tired I moved them to their beds, and they accepted it. They came back in the early morning hours. It was 7:10, when Emmy came. He didn't want to sleep any more and called on Tammy to get up and join him, and after a while she did what he asked. I then got up as well at 7:25.
I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat, but they didn't eat much. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs, where we read a Bible story. Then I returned upstairs to work.
I was making one of my favorite dishes today that I hadn't made in a long time, so I went to the kitchen just before 10 and needed an hour before I was done and had put the baking dish into the oven. Then I had another hour to work befor lunch. Ten minutes before noon Randy came upstairs with the kids. A few minutes later I got the dish out of the oven, put the food on their plates and put them into the fridge to cool down for a few minutes. Then we sat down to it. I let them know it was my favorite dish, and then Emmy said it was his favorite dish as well, even though it was their first time ever eating it. They ate a little but by far not everything. Then they had pudding, before going potty. Both had a success, then they got cleaned up and dressed, and the boys went to bed while Tammy went downstairs with Randy. The boys were wide awake and it took until 1:20 before they were asleep. Then I called up Tammy, who was asleep by 1:30. I returned to work. At 2:07 Emmy walked into the room. I picked him up and lay down with him, and he stayed on my chest until 2:15. All three have runny noses now, and Tammy and Emmy are coughing a little bit. Then Emmy simply got up and walked over to Randy. Five minutes later, at 2:20, Sammy woke up. I picked him up, and Randy went downstairs with both of them. At 2:30 Tammy woke up and was crying; she does not like having a runny nose. I comforted her, and she fell back asleep. Twenty minutes later she was up for good, and I took her downstairs, together with their snacks. Then I started making their dinner box to go and got everything ready for our departure at 4 pm. Emmy kept coming to the gate and asking to come upstairs to go to church. I finally opened the gate so they could come up, then I dressed them. They got a hold of some Christmas hats and clothes, and Emmy wanted to put them on. I told him that it was not Christmas. Emmy answered that it was "on break" (German "Pause), which made me laugh. He then said the word several more times, because I laughed every time. By 4 pm we were ready and walked out the door together.
We walked to the train station, where we still had to wait a few minutes. The kids got out of the stroller and started running around and having fun. Then we got on the train, after we got off we bought some chestnuts, and then we got on the tram to go to church. The kids enjoy eating chestnuts, all three of them.
We got to church just before the service started. I first went to the handicapped bathroom with Tammy and Emmy, where the changing table is and changed Tammy. Then we went into the sanctuary to join Randy and Sammy, who then in turned went to the the changing table. The three of us went up front, where the flags and fabric was on the floor for them to use. Tammy immediately took a band on a stick, while Emmy grabbed some fabric. Then he just sat there and listened and looked, while Tammy waved her band around a little. Once Sammy returned, I took him so he could also have some fabric to wave, which he did.
Just after 5:30 we took our bag and all went upstairs to the toddler room. Randy left us again to enjoy the service, especially since Ben Fitzgerald was the speaker. I put their food out on a table, but they were more interested in playing. Sammy didn't really want to eat either, and so I put him on the floor to play, and he was having fun. He got to the big basket of little cars and started taking them out one after another and enjoying them. I was amazed at how long he was able to occupy himself. Tammy once again got some books out to read, sitting down in a single chair, and then she joined a Dad and his daughter, who were reading a book. Even Emmy joined them at one point. As for Sammy, they had a rolling hedgehog, and I put Sammy on it and rolled him around a little bit. Then the music announced that the program was starting, and Sammy sat down on his knees while leaning on the hedgehog, which worked pretty well. The other two sat on my legs.
The program started with first a general greeting song, and then a personalized one. Then they were already asking for the little Bible song, which followed. They hold the Bible up while singing it, and they greatly enjoyed it. Then it was time for a teaching,a nd the kids participated a little. Then she had them get into twos and threes to dance together, and Tammy and Emmy were together, until a boy joined them. They were really cute, and I got it on video. Last the teacher sat down at the table with them to do crafts. She had cut out hearts, and they glued them on paper to create a flower. They did a great job.
Then it was play time again. More books, dolls, play food and the slide, and Sammy was again happily playing. He actually crawled up to the Dad who was reading books with his daughter, Emmy and Tammy were also there to read along. And Sammy grabbed the guys' toes which he didn't mind. It was going on 7 pm, and so Randy returned to help us. We put all their shoes back on and left to go back downstairs.
They could already see Anna from the stairs, but she stayed in her chair. Everyone was praying as part of the end of the service. Once we had reached her, she briefly picked them up. Then we got the strollers and made our way to the other side of the sanctuary, where Sonja was. Emmy had been asking to see Sonja throughout the service, and now we were finally heading there. We found her, and they went right up to her. She picked up Emmy, and I held Tammy, when they asked us to all get up. After a while we walked to the back, where our strollers were, put their coats on and put them in the strollers. It was after 7 pm, and we needed to start on our way back home, and so we left. When we got to the tram stop, the tram arrived just moments later, which was perfect timing. We got to the train station, but still had quite a bit of time left to wait. The kids had already eaten some of their dinner food on the tram, so they were not interested in spending that time eating. We had to let the first, the regualar train , go and four minutes later the S-train arrived that we got on. Tammy was already saying that she wanted to go to bed. She'd had a constant runny nose all evening and started saying that her mouth was hurting, which is probably the skin under her nose where we've been wiping her.
By 8:15 we were home, 15 minutes later they were in bed. Tammy was first, and she fell asleep right away. She's woken up a few times asking for her nose to be wiped. Sammy seemed wide awake and was not going to sleep, and Emmy was also awake for quiet some time, not wanting me to leave. Sammy can usually fall asleep better, when I'm gone. Finally, with 9 pm approaching, I was able to leave before Sammy was asleep. I went dowstairs, so we could eat our ordered film and finish last week's movie. We had to stop the movie and both go upstairs at different times to comfort kids. After it was over, I went to work on the computer. Now it's after midnight, and I constantly fall asleep while writing. So please forgive my typos.
