3 years 15 days

Day 1110. I have not written an update since Tuesday. My days have mainly been filled with lessons, 7 to be exact, as 4 lessons were canceled or didn't work out.

After another session of the psychological assessment on Tuesday, Sammy had to go back to the center again on Wednesday to pick up his new walker. The physiotherapist wanted to be there for that and so they did something like a full physiotherapy session, as the walker was fitted to Sammy. And then on Thursday he had to go back there AGAIN, for the third day in a row, for his regular physiotherapy session. Sammy has a new therapist, and we don't like her as much as the last one. The last one would have given him a break this week.

Randy and Sammy left at 9 am, and I went downstairs with the other two. After reading a Bible story with them, I started working on the computer, hoping they'd be able to play without me. At least I didn't have a lesson. It worked out just fine. I was able to work, even with them coming to me frequently.  Once they boys returned just before 11 am, I went upstairs to work in peace, while Randy stayed with them downstairs. I didn't have much time anyway before I had to start cooking. In the afternoon I taught for two hours.

On Thursday I was supposed to teach at 10 am, but they had some technical issues, so it didn't work out. Randy and Sammy had to leave for his physiotherapy session at 2:30 pm, and at 2:45 Sonja arrived - hallelujah! Emmy was already up, and Tammy soon woke up as well, and they went downstairs with her. They wanted to go outside, and even though it looked like it was about to start raining, they spent quite a long time outside, running their scooters, and they also wanted to play in the sandbox.  Once the boys arrived, they joined them outside. At that point I was already in the middle of my lesson, teaching from 4 to 6 pm. After my lession I started making the kids' dinner. I was pretty exhausted. After they had eaten at the table, they went into the bathtub and Sonja said her good-byes. I had to watch the time, as I had one more lesson from 8 to 9 pm. Emmy and Tammy were not happy, when I did not sit down by their beds to stay with them until they'd fall asleep. Especially Tammy was crying and protesting for a while that Daddy sat down instead of me. But it must have worn her out, as I was really surprised that Randy was able to already walk away at 8:20 pm. I can never leave that early. I taught downstairs until 9 pm, then returned upstairs to get something to eat and then work some more on the computer.

This morning Emmy was working hard on getting me out of bed again. It was already after 8:30, when I did, but today there were no lessons or visits to the center that meant we had to get up at a certain time. After breakfast I took them downstairs, where we read a Bible story together. Then I left them there and went upstairs to work. I was very tired, and so I decided to close my eyes after I had worked a while. It wasn't long, but I got to sleep for a few minutes before I had to get up and cook.

When they came upstairs to eat just before noon, Randy told me that he had taken a picture, which is rare. He showed it to me, and I was stunned to see that Tammy had drawn a smiley face! So far they've only drawn line, but never actually something that resembled something! I was really impressed and later had her show me how she was doing it. I even filmed her draw the face.

After lunch, including icecream, I cleaned them up and they went into Emmy's bed to watch Veggie Tales. Just after 1 pm I stopped it and put them to bed. Just before 1:30 I was able to walk away and return to my computer to work. But I was still extremely tired and closed my eyes at 2 pm and fell asleep. Sammy woke up first, and Randy went downstairs with him. Emmy woke up just after and wanted milk. It wasn't long until Tammy also woke up, and they went downstairs after a while. As for me, it was time to get ready for my 3 pm class. I taught French for one hour, then English for the next. My third lesson was canceled. And then I heard them sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" downstairs. Yesterday Randy had done a video with him and Tammy singing it, and Emmy was disappointed that he wasn't on it as well and showed me that he could sing it as well. And so I grabbed my phone and ran downstairs to film them both singing together. Tammy also had the drawing board in her hand, and so I asked her to show me how to draw a face. After I had done my videos and expressed how impressed I was with them, I returned upstairs to work a little more, but the time until 6 pm passed by way too quickly. The kids came upstairs and wanted to watch Sam, the firefighter, while I went to the kitchen to make their dinner. Randy left for a quick run to the grocery store to get some items he hadn't bought at lunch time. And so we sat down to eat without him; he returned while we were at the table. They continued eating in the bathtub, and then we were getting them ready for bed. Just before 8 pm they were in bed. I sat down by them, but left once Randy was done eating. Emmy was the only one asleep at that point, and so Tammy protested, but soon gave up and got quiet. I got myself something to eat, ate, and then went back to work. And so it's alread midnight now. The days are just too short.