3 years 3 months 28 days

Day 1215. This morning I did set an alarm as I had a 10 am lesson. Emmy slept a long time in his bed after bedtime, unusually long, and joined me in bed at some point during the night. At 8:45 my alarm went off, but he was already up, of course. They got the advent calendars and carried them to our bed, while Randy was making his and their oatmeal. Tammy grabbed the Christmas hat, for some reason, and then Emmy did too. Unfortunately several pictures turned out unfocused. We opened the advent calendars and then sat down to eat. After breakfast, I quickly dressed them and then turned my computer on to get ready for my lesson. Randy took the kids downstairs, while I started teaching.

I finished just before 11 am. Emmy had already come upstairs while I was teaching, and then Tammy as well, but I asked them to go back downstairs. After teaching I started doing some office work while thinking about what to cook for lunch. With the big cooking day tomorrow, I wanted to do something quick today. At 11:45 I went to the kitchen to cook, and at noon they sat down to eat. Then they were eager to watch something, and so they went to Emmy's bed to watch. I went back to work, while Randy left to go to the grocery store. It was a little later than the usual 1:15 before they went to bed for their nap. The boys fell asleep relatively quickly, while the girl needed a long time, as usual. I walked away before she was asleep.

I was pretty tired myself after another short night, but I had work to do. Sammy was the first one to wake up, and I got him out of bed. I put him on the floor, and he crawled to where Daddy was who had already returned and put the groceries away. Tammy was the next one to wake up, and I sat down with her on my chest. Surprisingly Emmy was the last one - for the second day in a row - even though he's usually the first one. He soon woke up as well, and we decided to get dressed and ready to leave. I had no more students before Christmas, and we had only been to the big Christmas market once, on the very first day, before the lights had been switched on. It was time to go there again and see it with all the lights on. Because of the free ice-skating rink there, we put their ski overalls on them.

At 3:40 we left the house. We took the subway, then another one, as I had to go to the DHL store first and send a USB stick to Mali. It took a little time, and the kids were impatient, but then we were on our way. Tammy and Emmy wanted to walk, and so I had one holding my hand while pushing a stroller, and Randy had the other kid and stroller. We walked to the tram and got on the next one arriving, rode a few stops, and got off at the biggest Christmas market in front of town hall.

The kids were right away struck by all the lights they could see. We crossed the street, and I took a picture at the entrance. Then we made our way inside to walk to the ice-skating rink. We saw some beautiful light installations on the way. Tammy was eager to get to the rink and was not so much into looking at all the lights. We finally got there, and there was a huge crowd, even more people than last time. We stood in line to rent the blades to put on their shoes, then sat down to put them on. Then we ventured onto the ice. A lady in charge of keeping an eye on everyone organized us a little seal. I had Tammy and Sammy with me, as Randy was still putting the blades on Emmy's shoes. But it was really too hard for me to have them both. Randy then had Tammy sitting on the seal and Emmy pushing, while I pulled Sammy in a circle over the ice. His stiff legs work for him in this situation, as it's easy to pull him across the ice, while the other two legs' move every which way. Nobody was happy, though. When I'd give Sammy to Randy, he'd cry, but the other two were not happy, when I had Sammy. Emmy was just not happy, no matter what. The supervising lady came to me a few times, when I'd hold Sammy in my arms, as that brought his blades up high which was a security concern for the other kids, but with three crying kids.... In the end we did not stay on the ice for long at all. Nobody was enjoying it, so we returned the blades and moved on.

Tammy had already spotted the train they had gone on last time, and wanted to ride it again. All three kids had been crying while taking the blades off, and were still upset, drawing people's attention even in the big and loud crowd. We left and walked over to the train. I had cranky Emmy and bought two tickets for him and Tammy. Sammy would not be able to sit in the train  without an adult, so it was not possible for him to ride the train. I walked away with him, while the other two went round and round, and we were looking at lights together.

Then we moved on. I wanted them to see the huge Christmas tree close up. They wanted to ride the big caroussel and thought we were not going there, as we were walking in the opposite the direction, but I was just gonna do a half-circle by the tree. I had Sammy standing in the stroller the other two usually ride in, while they were walking. And they were both upset because they wanted the caroussel.

I saw that beautiful light installation and wanted to take a picture of them in front of it. So I put the stroller with Sammy there and took a few steps back to take the picture. Emmy, however, was still upset and wanted no picture taken. He pulled on the stroller that Sammy was standing in and it tilted forward, with Sammy falling on this face on the ground with gravel. The few steps I was away was too much for me to do anything but watch what was going on, even though I had shouted to Emmy to stop pulling. I picked up Sammy who was crying on the top of his lungs. He had a big wound in the middle of his forhead, with little "holes" where he had hit the gravel. He was crying hard and continued crying for a very long time. I then put him into his stroller, and Randy the other two into their stroller, and we walked on. All three were now crying, the other two as they still wanted to ride the caroussel and they did not want to be in the stroller. I tried to tell them  to look at the big tree, when we walked by, but they were not interested. Originally I had intended to let them ride the caroussel, but there were a lot of people and a long line, and the kids were crying, and I just wanted us to get on our way. And so we walked out of the market, crossed the street and continued walking.

They were still crying, but now they were crying that they wanted to go to McDonald's which had been the plan. It was one tram stop, and I was not gonna take them on the tram like that, and so we walked the distance. I did not say a word while they were crying for McDonald's. They stopped once we reached it, and we went inside. There was a lot of people in there, more than ever. We found some space on the side, where it's not really seats or tables, and stayed there. FInally no one was crying any more. I ordered the food, while Randy organized a high chair for Sammy. Once the food was there, the kids started eating - all but Sammy. He was exhausted from all the crying and had lost his appetite. We could never get him to eat anything. After we were all done, we dressed them again and left to go home.

While walking to the subway, the kids started fussing again, this time because they wanted to watch videos. Again I did not react to them but just kept walking. The way they had behaved, I had no intention of rewarding them with videos. And so once again, two out of three kids were crying, and they continued crying on the subway. Sammy, however, was happy, as I let him push the subway door button. The other two would no stop crying for videos. Thankfully there were not too many people on the train, and at some point I told them they'd better stop crying or someone would call the police because we're bad parents and take them away from us. They finally stopped crying. Later I assured them that I would never let anyone take them away from me.

It was 7 pm, when we got home. We turned the water on in the bathtub, I cut up some watermelon, their favorite fruit, and they went into the bathtub, where all three ate some fruit. Sammy seemed fine again, but I was still a little upset with Emmy for his behavior. We got them ready for bed, and I told him he would not get to open the advent calendars tonight. I opened the Peppa Pig calendar with Tammy only, but then let him join us for the Paw Patrol calendar. I read the story to them, brushed their teeth and prayed over them, then I flew them into bed. It was going on 8:30 by the time they were all in bed. I sat down by them, we talked a little bit, and I asked them whether I could walk away. It didn't take long before they said yes, and so Randy took my place. It was again Tammy I heard the longest, as she continued talking as well as singing. I went to the kitchen, then turned my computer on and went to work. After having worked on today's pictures, it was time for me to wrap the remaining presents, which took a while. Randy then took them downstairs, where they can't see them, and where I'll put them by the tree later tomorrow. It was close to 1 am, when he went to bed, and I sat down in the kitchen to write today's report. Now it's 2:15 and time for me to clean up the kitchen and go to bed. Tomorrow morning is going to be so busy that I'll have to set an alarm for earlier than usual.