Day 1100. Yesterday I had to set my alarm for 8 am, and as they had gone to bed late the night before, it was a good thing. Of course Emmy was already up and immediately on his feet. At 9 am I left with Sammy - with Tammy and Emmy crying because they wanted to come as well - to go to the center for his second psychology assessment session. Randy had taken him to his first one. She showed him pictures and asked questions, asking him to point at specific pictures. It wasn't very easy for him and it didn't take long for him to not want to continue doing this. He's not into books in the first place. And so the session ended after half an hour, and we made another appointment for next week. We stopped at a supermarket on the way home, where we arrived at 10:45. I had plenty of time to cook lunch. In the afternoon I was teaching for two hours.
This morning Emmy was up first, as usual, and we got up just after 8 am. After breakfast we dressed them; they wanted to wear their birthday shirts again. Just before 9:30 we all left the house together and walked to the subway. In early July they'd had the foot-hand-mouth disease, and recently Sammy's bumps had really increased in number. Randy was worried and wanted him/them checked out. And so I canceled my morning lesson so we could all go to the pediatrician's. We rode the subway to the end and then went to the tram stop, as usual. However, the display said that it was 12 minutes to our tram's arrival. As that was really long, I spontaneously decided we'd go another way, and so we all sprinted to the tram just arriving on the other side. We got on, rode three stops, and got off to get on another tram.
Where we had gotten off, there were two phone booths sitting next to each other. The kids had never seen one before, and so I showed it to them, and Tammy and Emmy really enjoyed playing making phone calls. It was fun to watch. Then the tram arrived. They were sitting on a bench, and Sammy wanted out of the stroller as well, and to sit on the bench, and so I put him with his siblings, which made him really happy.
When we got off the tram, we were basically right there. We crossed the street and entered the pediatrician's office. Normally the place is full with sick kids ( they have another location for healthy children), and so I was shocked to see it nearly empty. I registered the kids, and we were told to sit in a box and wait there. It was barely a minute until the doctor came to see us. Because the box was so small, he led us into a treatment room. We were told to take their shirts off, and Sammy immediately started crying and kept crying. He looked at the bumps and said that they were bug bites, all of them. He said we might have bed bugs, but I would think that we would have those in our bed as well if the kids had them in theirs, since they climb into bed with us. He also suggested mosquitoes, but I haven't really seen any, and they would all have to get the kids instead of us. It's just weird, and Randy was not satisfied, having a hard time believing it.
We left after only 15 minutes there. I let my Mom know who lives in the neighborhood, as we needed to go to the bank together. It was gonna be half an hour before she'd be there, and so I looked where there was a playground in the area, and it was close. We walked over there, and the kids started climbing up the ladder to go down the slide. They were both asking for the swing, but there wasn't one. I took Sammy and put him on a moving rope ladder, and he really enjoyed it moving for a little while. We didn't have much time, and so we left after a few minutes to walk to the bank.
My Mom was already waiting for us there. We walked inside and sat down by a banker, who was gonna take care of the paperwork. Tammy and Emmy were playing catch-me running around pillars and having lots of fun, while Sammy wanted to join us as well, and so I had him on my lap, where he could interact with Grandma. He had kept calling Grandma the whole walk from the playground there. After we were done, we said our goodbyes to Grandma and walked to the tram stop to start making our way home. We rode two trams and after getting off, we had reached McDonald's, where they wanted to eat lunch. I had suggested we at the square in front of town hall, where all these different food stands were set up, but they insisted on McDonald's. What can you do!
It wasn't even noon yet, when we got there. The kids saw the balloons right away, and so I gave one to each one of them. They sat down, while I went to order and get the food. The Happy Meal toys have been absolutely terrible, and so the book was the only option, but we didn't quite approve of the content either. They were enjoying their food, though. Once we were done, we left to take the subway home.
It was just after 12:45 pm, when we got home. Everyone was tired, but they still wanted to watch videos, and so I let them watch until 1:15 pm. I was very tired myself. I sat down by them, and soon they were all asleep. Just before 1:45 I already left the house again. I took the subway to the end - again - and then walked the rest of the way to the doctor's office. There was no one in the waiting room, and so it was my turn pretty quickly. They did an ECG, as always, measured my blood pressure, and then the doctor drew some of my blood to be tested to see if the new dosage of my thyroid medication was working. And then I was already done. After only half an hour I left there again.
I had not expected to get home at 3 pm already, but I was really glad to have an hour until my next lesson. When I opened the door to the apartment, there was Randy and all three kids sitting on the floor together. Emmy had been up for a while, as usual, while the others had just gotten up. For the next half hour they stayed upstairs, then they all went downstairs, so that I could get ready for my 4 pm lesson. I taught until just before 6 pm. Then Randy and the kids came back upstairs, while I went to the kitchen to make dinner for them. They were watching Sam, the fireman. At 6:30 we sat down at the table to eat, then they went into the bathtub. Randy then left to go to the grocery store, and so I was on my own taking care of them. It was nearly 8 pm, when I was about done with Tammy and Randy returned. I put her to bed as well and sat down by their beds. It took until nearly 9 pm before I was able to walk away, and even then there was still some protest from Tammy. I got myself something to eat, ate, and then went back to work. I have three lessons tomorrow, three on Thursday, and two on Friday, and two new students during those days. Now it's after midnight and I need to clean up the kitchen before going to bed.
