3 years 5 months 6 days

Day 1254. Yesterday morning I had to go to Sammy's center with him to be seen by his doctor there. She wants to see him about every 6 months. I've never liked her since she made a bad impression right in the beginning, and so the best news was that she's retiring and that Sammy is gonna have another doctor. I hope it's gonna be a better match. She had strong opinions and tried to pressure us once again into doing something we don't want to do. The whole 45 minutes were very unpleasant, and I was glad, when it was over.

In the afternoon I taught for two hours, and Randy took these great pictures and a video of the boys playing drums together. It's paid off that Randy bought a bunch of old, second-hand drums for the kids.

This morning I did not have an alarm set, but Emmy was up before it was 8 am. Somehow it still took another hour before we were all getting up. After breakfast Randy went downstairs with the kids, while I went to work trying to catch up on all the office work that has accumulated, and I got a lot done. At 11:30 I went to the kitchen to start making lunch, and then the kids were already coming upstairs and started watching videos. At noon we sat down to eat, and today they all ate well. Tammy even ate everything on her plate. They all had icecream, then we cleaned them up, and they continued watching their videos. Randy left for the grocery store, and just after 1:15 pm I put them to bed for their nap. Thankfully they have been falling asleep quickly at lunch time, and so I was soon able to walk away - with only Tammy not asleep yet.

While I was tired, I wanted to continue working, and so I did. Sammy woke up first after about an hour, which is often the case, and I got him out of bed and put him by the play workbench that Randy had bought second-hand and that has been extremely popular, especially with Sammy. Randy put a chair with armrests by it, so that Sammy can sit securely and play with it. I put him there and returned to my computer to work. Randy then sat and played with Sammy, and once the others were up some time before 3:30, he took them all downstairs to play. As for me, I had one lesson at 3:30 pm. Once I was done at 4:20 - and the kids had already come in and interrupted my lesson before then - it was time for everyone to put their shoes and coats on.

At about 4:30 pm we all left the house to go downtown for their weekly piano class. Last week Randy had gone with them, while I had taken Sammy to a physiotherapy session. Tonight we all went, as Sammy does not like being left at home, while his siblings are having fun. It was still really windy and cold. We took the subway, then walked. We only had one stroller with us, as Tammy and Emmy want to walk more and more and not sit together in a stroller that is getting tight for both of us. Tammy is always excited, when she gets to walk, and she walked with me. Emmy was walking with Randy, who ended up carrying him for much of the time.

We arrived at the music school just before the class was to start. There was only one other girl there today. The teacher started the class, as usual, by asking them what they had on their shirts as well as asking them what color they were. Then he did the greeting song. He then had them sit down at the desks that each had a piano on them and had them get their books out. I had been holding Sammy and sitting in the back, but I handed him to Randy and went to sit between the kids to help them. They first did a song, where they had to tap to the song with one finger after another, then they did another song, where they used the number for each finger, putting a figure on each finger called. Then they had to play low and high on specific keys on the piano. Next he put three stickers on the piano indicating low, middle and high tones, and they had to play what he pointed to in their book. They then colored their notes in those same colors. I tried to encourage them to do what they were supposed to, but it wasn't always easy. Tammy even started crying one time, saying that she was tired. That's why they'll be doing this class in the morning next semester, instead of from 5 to 6 pm.

The teacher did another song/dance with them, and then sat down on the floor with them. It was the first time I saw him getting blocks of different shapes out, and the kids then had to build the same thing he had built, then build their own creation that the others had to copy. And then it was already time for the story at the end of the class. He uses a felt board to tell those. Then he did the final song, and they got their sticker books for their final sticker. While it was the last class with this teacher, they'll probably see him again, when they have to do a make-up class for one they've missed.

Because it was the last class, they also got to pick something from a box and both chose candy (rather than an armband). Then we dressed them and left to go home.

Randy was carrying Emmy again, while Tammy was walking with me. After we got off the subway to walk the rest of the way home, we ended up putting Emmy into the stroller with Sammy, but it didn't work out that well. Sammy took his hat off and put his fingers into his eyes.

By 6:30 pm we were back home. Tammy and Emmy were watching videos, while Sammy was playing, and I was making their dinner. Just before 7 pm we sat down to eat, and the kids all ate quite a bit of leftover pasta. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. I was watching the time, as I had to teach at 8 pm, and so I got them out earlier than I would have otherwise. They really want their Bible story at night, but time was getting pretty short, and it didn't look like there was time for it, but in the end I did it anyway. I prayed for them and put them to bed and sat down at my desk to teach, while Randy sat down with the kids. The kids were all pretty loud. And then my student had forgotten she had class tonight, and so it took some time before she showed up. We would have had more time after all!

When I was done with my first class just before 9 pm, Tammy was still awake and fussing. I went to see her, then got ready for my 9 pm class. By the time I was done teaching just before 10 pm, everyone was asleep. I continued working and working and working and am still working at 1:30 am now. But now I'm going to clean up the kitchen and then go to bed.