Day 1197. Yesterday we were going to go to church in the afternoon, but after the long day on Saturday everybody was so tired that all three kids slept a lot longer than usual at nap time. We decided to stay home and rest, and I was really thankfully to have the time to catch up on office work in the afternoon.
This morning I had set an alarm for 9 am. However, Emmy was up early as usual and kept waking me up for different reasons. After breakfast we cleaned them up and dressed them and left the house after 10 am. We took the subway for two stops and then walked to the school where they have their music class every Monday morning. Today three other kids were there. We started with the greeting song, then an individual song for each child. Then she did the songs with the kids sitting on our legs and letting them fall off in the end. Emmy started going to the teacher, but then changed his mind. Tammy then went to the teacher, and Randy took Sammy, while Emmy was with me. Then she gave them rattles, sang a few songs and had them use the rattles in different ways. I had Sammy for most of the class, and he was sitting between or on my legs.
The kids were especially excited, when the teacher got a drum out. She did a song with it, then Emmy got to be the first kid to do the song. They had to play either loud or quietly in the course of the song. Since Tammy was sitting right next to her brother, she was next and also did a great job. Sammy only hit it a few times.
Then she got the fabric out and made them do different things with it, including hiding themselves under it, which they did. We also did a few songs walking in a circle, as well as dancing freely. She did one other song with the sticks that have bells on the end, and then it was already time for the good-bye song. As soon as it was over, the kids took their cards and ran to the teacher for their weekly stamp. It was a teddy bear today. Sammy also started crawling to her and got his stamp.
Then it was time to bundle them up and go back home. There were times they had not behaved in class, and other times they did. In the end I allowed them to watch videos on the subway. We got home just before noon. I warmed up yesterday's leftovers, and we sat down to eat. And then Tammy had a meltdown. She threw a fit, screaming and crying and throwing her arms around. She was obviously tired. And then Emmy got to watch videos, and she didn't, so that kept her fit going. I ended up sitting in the chair with her and just holding her, and she calmed down and went to bed. Sammy also went to bed just before 1 am, and a few minutes later I put Emmy to bed as well. I didn't have to stay long for them all to fall asleep. By 1:15 I cet a 75 minute timer and closed my eyes as well, as I was really tired.
At 2:30 the alarm woke me, and I was surprised to find all three kids still asleep. It's very unusual for the boys not to be up after such a long time. However, Sammy then woke up first. Christine had arrived at 2 pm, and so she went downstairs with Sammy. A few minutes later Emmy also went downstairs. Randy had gone to the grocery store, and I started getting ready for my 3 pm class. Just before I started I woke up Tammy who also went downstairs.
And then I had to teach from 3 to 6 pm, and I wasn't very motivated today, but I did my job. Once I was done, everyone came upstairs. Sammy got to sit by the light switch to turn it off and on, which he loves doing, and Tammy and Emmy were watching Superbook. I got to talk to Christine for a few minutes until she had to leave at 6 pm. Then I went to the kitchen and started making their dinner. At 6:30 we sat down to eat, then they continued eating in the bathtub. After they came out, we got them ready for bed. We then opened two advent calendars with books, read a good-night story, and then I showed them the boots Randy had gotten out for them. Boots hold more chocolate than shoes after all. They inspected their boots and put them outside our door. The tradition is that tonight Saint Nicholas is coming by to fill the shoes with candy for good kids, and with coal for bad kids.
I prayed for them individually, and they wanted me to "fly" them into bed, which I did. Emmy still kept talking about today being "Krampus Day", which he had talked about all day long, and asked me whether the day was over yet. He had had some fear that we'd run into Krampus (a devil-like figure) somewhere on the street today, but that was not the case. At the same time he'd say that he'd beat Krampus, if he saw him. Now he was glad that the day was over without him having encoutered Krampus. I sat down by them for a while, then Randy took my place. I went to the kitchen to make my salad, and it was just before 9:30 before I was able to start eating. After I was done eating, I started working on today's pictures. Now it's after 1 am and time to clean up the kitchen. It's gonna be a short night as we have to get up early to go swimming.
