Day 1271. It was another morning of me being very tired, and the kids being up early, Emmy being the first one. I'm glad that Randy is giving them breakfast, so that I can stay in bed during that time. He goes to bed earlier than me, though his bedtime is now also way after midnight most of the time. I get up out of bed once the kids are done eating, so that I can clean them up and dress them. Today Sammy and I had to leave together at 10 am, as his weekly speech therapy sessions started today. The other two, especially Tammy, were not happy and wanted to come along. I told them that they were gonna leave to join us an hour later. I then asked them to lock the door behind me to distract them, as that is something they'd never done before, and it worked.
Sammy and I took the subway for two stops, then we had quite a walk ahead of us. It was raining just a tiny little bit but stopped before we had reached the center. Sammy was talking the whole time, and I just love listening to him. Once at the center I registered, then we waited for the speech therapist to come get us. She was late, and Sammy and I had fun wondering whether she had gone to the bathroom, causing the delay. Finally she did come, and we followed her to her room.
So far she'd done a session or two with Sammy every few months. Now it was decided he needed one on a weekly basis. Of course he is pretty silent there and does not speak all the time like at home. He's been adding so many words recently, and the other two he put two words together, which he still does rarely, saying (Peppa) "Pig anschauen" (watch Peppa). He also said his own name for the first time two weeks ago, and the speech therapist's name (Natascha) was no problem for him. He's said her name (Tascha) a lot already, while I can still count on one hand how often I've heard him say his own name. Tammy is eagerly waiting for him to say her name.
Sammy was a little suspicious of what was going on at first, and even though he knows the therapist, he was clinging to me somewhat at first. She got a little doll out and had him feed the doll with a syringe that they put water into. It was a doll, where the water flowed on the inside down to the bottom and came out there to flow into the potty. Sammy kept feeding the doll. Then he dried it off and put cream on it.
Next the therapist got a box full of stones that had treasures buried inside. First it was all about opening the box, then exploring the contents. Sammy then started putting stones into a bowl, and then back into the box, and a lot of stones were flying everywhere. In the end she had a little car with people inside, and it was all about playing with it, which he did. He talked only little though.
The session lasts an hour. I don't think it was over yet, when Sammy's physiotherapist came in to tell us that the guy from the company making Sammy's wheelchair had arrived. And so we all put our shoes back on and left the room together. Randy and the other two kids were in the waiting room, and especially Tammy was excited to see me. They all joined us as we walked to the physiotherapist's room, where the guy was waiting for us. Yesterday Randy had taken Sammy's stander to the center so it could be adjusted, as he's grown. And at first I didn't even notice his wheelchair sitting on the side.
They put Sammy into the stander and started fiddling with it to get it just right. Sammy didn't mind at all. Then it was time for his wheelchair. The physiotherapist showed Sammy his chair, and his eyes lit up. They then put him into the chair and put a belt around his waist to hold him in place. He quickly started moving his wheels and had a lot of fun doing so. I was actually amazed at how quickly he was moving around. It won't be long before he'll be much faster than all of us.
Tammy and Emmy were bored and then got a hold of Sammy in his chair and had fun pushing him/it around. I then gave them a box of toy animals to play with, but it only interested them for a short time. The guy from the company asked me to choose a color for the upholstering of Sammy's chair, and I picked dark blue. Then he told me it would take two weeks to finish his chair, so he'll get it exactly two weeks from today. I was disappointed as I had thought we'd take it home today. I'm tired of the stroller we use for Sammy, as it's gotten too small for him. It's time to discontinue all strollers.
We got Sammy back out of the wheelchair and said our good-byes. We dressed them all and left to go home. Randy put the stander on his little pull-cart, and soon Tammy jumped on, as it was easier to get moving that way. I had the stroller with Sammy and Emmy standing on the attached board. The board is the reason we're using this stroller for Sammy, and not the other one that the other two kids usually use.
It was already 12:40 by the time we got home, and high time for lunch. I made the quickest meal possible, and we sat down to eat. Everyone ate and then wanted some of our Valentine chocolates. And then it was already nap time, so that they were upset that they didn't get to watch any videos. It took until nearly 1:30 anyway before they were all in bed. As there hadn't been enough food for me, I had put something else into the oven that was now done, and so Randy sat down by them so that I could finally eat. Thankfully they all fell asleep today, including Randy. For me it was close to 2:30 before I got to lie down for a nap.
The kids then all woke up around the same time, starting at about 3:10. I'd finally fallen asleep and would have liked more sleep, but the kids had actually slept long anyway. They came to me to mess around and have fun, and I enjoyed it. Tammy even cuddled with me, which she does rarely. Emmy is the one who loves to cuddle. They had some snacks, and then it so happened that they got to see the video I took this morning of Sammy in his wheelchair. Randy then got Sammy so he could see it too, and the expression on his face was quite interesting.
They all stayed upstairs, having snacks and playing, then we changed all their diapers, dressed them and got ready to leave. At 4:15 pm we left the house and walked to the subway. We went the opposite the direction from the morning, going towards downtown, rode the subway for a few stops, then got off right by the elevator to take up to street level. It was still really early, so we had plenty of time to find our way to the new school we just had to walk to. We started walking in the right direction, crossing streets with lots of traffic. We got there at 4:45 pm, and the class was to start at 5 pm. However, there was a sign on the door of the building that they had moved to a different address. It had the address written there, which was still in the area, but close to where we had gotten off the elevator to start with. That was annoying. Why hadn't they told me that they had moved? It was a good thing we were so early. However, we'd already walked a lot, and I had carried Tammy on my shoulders part of the way, so we could move faster, and she's getting heavy. But we had no choice. We turned around and started walking back the way we had come. We passed the subway and soon reached the building on our left. However, it had no sign, and the door wouldn't open. Someone came outside, and I asked her about the school. She said it was only her second day working there and that she had no idea. We were finally able to go inside and talk to the security guard who knew nothing about a school either. I started wondering whether this company had moved there and not the school, that they had just happened to be at the same address at the school. We had no choice but to turn around once again to walk back to the original address we had just come from. But this time it was already 5 pm so that we were going to be late. And Randy was still hurting from his 4 mile walk picking up drums a few days ago and really did not want to walk all the way there again. But we did.
It was close to 5:15 pm, when we got back to the building with the sign that they had moved. We continued walking to look for another entrance that had the school's name above it. There were all kinds of buildings and businesses. We walked into a courtyard, where a man started waving at us. He was the receptionist from the school. We had finally found it. We went inside, parked the stroller, took their coats off and ran into the teacher of the class. They were taking a short break.
It seemed that our class was the only one going on in the school, as there were no other people anywhere. We walked into the classroom, took their shoes off, and joined the other 3 or 4 students with their parents. The teacher said she was gonna do the game again that they had already played, since we had only just arrived. She turned music on for everyone to dance, and every time the music stopped, everyone was supposed to freeze. We were all having fun. I was dancing with Sammy who was laughing a lot, and the other kids also had fun.
Next she asked all the kids their favorite animals, and then everyone walked around as that animal. Tammy said rabbit, then Emmy said dog, and Sammy horse. Then she had them say whatever animal they wanted, and everyone was imitating it. Randy was helping Sammy who was still having lots of fun.
In the middle of the game I somehow ended up having a conversation with the teacher and one parent, as the parent asked me whether they were triplets. That lady had twins. We talked a little bit, while the kids were still kangaroos, and I was helping them jump high and far. Then the class continued with more animals being imitated. Then she had everyone sit down on the floor and stretch a little bit. Sammy has always enjoyed that and always laughs, which he did today as well. Emmy did not want to stretch, but Tammy did a good job.
Then it was already time for the final song. It was FINALLY a new song, and it was a good one. We were walking in a circle and changed directions periodically. It was about someone going to the market to buy things that would wake up people, and so we made those noises which was a lot fun. Then the class was over. Emmy said, "Already?" I reminded him that we had missed the first 15 of the 50 minutes.
We put all the coats and shoes back on, put Sammy into the stroller, and left the school to walk back to the subway. It was quite a walk, and it was already dark. Once again I carried Tammy on my shoulders for much of the way. We got on the subway and rode it home, where we arrived just before 6:30 pm.
It was time for me to make dinner, and the kids were watching videos until it was ready. Then we sat down at the table to eat, and they continued eating in the bathtub. Then we were getting them ready for bed, and I sat down with them to read a few Bible stories. I then prayed for them and flew them into bed. It was just after 8 pm, when I sat down by them. However, they had slept long at nap time and were wide awake. After a while Randy took my place, so I could go get myself something to eat. Then I started working on today's pictures. Somehow it got late again, as it's nearly 2 am once again.
