3 years 6 months

Day 1279. Since Tammy has a cold, she joined us in bed some time, and so did Emmy. They then were up early as usual, around 7 am, and got their headsets to listen to stories, then watched some videos. I picked up Sammy and brought him to our bed, and we were having fun together. Around 9 am Randy got up to change their diapers and make oatmeal for them, and that gave me a few more minutes of falling back asleep. When I looked at the clock, it was already after 9:30, so I quickly got up. I dressed the kids, and we left the house at 10 am.

It was an extremely windy day, and it was colder again. We walked to the subway, fighting against the wind, and took it nearly to the end. We then had to walk a bit to get to the music school, where we arrived a few minutes before their class started. It was the second class of the new semester with the new teacher, and I again thought she was doing a great job. The kids were also participating really well, and it was not too hard as the last class had sometimes been.

There were three other children, and the teacher started with a greeting song. Tammy was singing along a lot today, and she does it really well. Then the teacher had the kids all sit on the floor and did "The Wheels on the Bus" with them. Both Tammy and Emmy were doing the movements, and Tammy was singing louder than everyone else. Then the teacher got the lion and the mouse out and told the same story as last week. That story sets up that their left hand is the lion hand, and their right hand the mouse hand. She did a simple song at the end of the story, and both Tammy and Emmy were singing it, when we left the school. Then she gave them a lion stamp on their left hand, and a mouse stamp on their right hand.

The kids sat back down by their pianos, and the teacher told them what hand to play with, and they were actually doing a good job. I did have to help them a little, which is why I sat between them. Then she gave them finger puppets and did the song, where they have to move the puppet from finger to finger. It's to teach them what number each finger represents.

Next they sat back down on the floor, and the teacher taught them what a whole note and a half-note were. She draw one on the board, and clapped it, and they clapped it with her. Then she had each child draw a note on the board, and then gave some fabric to all the children to wipe it all back off. Tammy was the most thorough one, making sure she got it all.

Then the teacher got some percussion instruments out. Of course Emmy wanted the drum, but it seemed deliberate that the teacher gave him a tambourine, as he had played the drum too hard last week. Emmy was a bit disappointed. Tammy turned down the rattle and got a little bell instead, that she enjoyed. The teacher then played a song, where they could use their instruments, then everyone switched instruments with someone else, and she did the song again.

Next we did a dance, and I joined the circle, as did all the other parents, having Tammy on my left and Emmy on my right. We were walking left or right, and they had to put their mouse or lion hand or foot in and out. It was fun. Then it was storytime. She got a felt board out and told the story of three goats; we had alrady heard and seen that exact story with their previous teacher. She then did a good-bye song and the class was over. Sammy had done really well today, not being disruptive at all, and while he was with me in the beginning, he was with Daddy for the rest of the class.

We put their shoes and coats back on and left to go to the subway. It was still extremely windy. We rode the subway for a few stops and got off to eat at the McDonald's right there. I like that McDonald's as the tables and seats are practical and comfortable. I ordered, and they brought the food to our table. We then had a good time eating together as a family. Everyone was pretty hungry. Once we were done, we returned to the subway to go home.

By 12:50 we were back home. The kids wanted to watch videos, and so I let them watch until 1:15, which is nap time. Sammy also started coughing today, and as we were out of cough sirup, Randy left again to go to a pharmacy that was still open to buy some. I sat down by the kids, and thankfully they fell asleep fast again, so that I was able to leave by 1:30 pm.

As tired as I was, I went straight to bed for my own nap and set an alarm for 2:45 pm. I soon fell asleep. Surprisingly it was Tammy today who walked into the room before the alarm went off, but she then left again. Sammy woke up net, and Emmy was the last one today. And then my alarm went off. I was still very tired, but I knew that I needed to get up if we wanted to catch the 3:20 pm train. I started dressing them and getting everyone ready for us to leave, and we left just after 3 pm.

It was still cold and windy, as we walked to the train station. We got on the train, then bought some chestnuts after getting off and before getting on the subway that we needed to ride for a few stops. The kids now always want to ride the escalators, as they don't use the stroller any more, but there was no escalator right there. Instead there was a staircase, and I let them go up the straight staircase, while the rest of us got on the elevator. They were pretty excited. We then went inside the mall and took the escalators two levels up, while Randy and Sammy took the elevator.

We reached the church a few minutes before the beginning of the service. It was a special service with an American guest speaker, a prophet, and so we had told the kids that we were going to stay in the sanctuary today. For that reason they never asked to go to the baby room. However, it was quite a challenge to have them stay in the service for 2.5 hours, and I was exhausted after.

The first 45 minutes we had a time of worship. I had Sammy the whole time and enjoyed our time together. Tammy and Emmy were running around. Sammy then also wanted to walk a bit, and wanted to walk to the stage, where I ended up sitting down, while Sammy stood there, his arms on the stage. He enjoyed being there. During the message, we were mostly sitting on the chairs, though Tammy and Emmy cannot sit still and were constantly on the move. I had to keep asking them to be quiet and not so wild. I even promised them a lollipop if they behaved; they did not get one, as they simply could not do it.

The guest speaker started prophesying over people after she had finished her message, and I told the kids that if God gave her something to tell us, she would pray for us as well. Unfortunately that was not the case. The service ended just before 6:30 pm, and we went into the lobby, which is a coffee shop. We had not planned to stay for dinner, but they had food, and so we did. We got some bread with a spread on top and sat down at our usual table. I got a high chair for Sammy. However, the kids didn't care for the bread and preferred the pretzels they had as a snack.

They were excited to see one of our friends there and all wanted him to pick them up, which he did. He then even swung them left and right with the help of another lady. The kids loved it. That's about the only interaction we had with people except for saying hello to a lot of them.

Around 7 pm we decided it was time to go home, and so we walked through the whole mall again to get to the subway. The kids wanted to take the escalators again, but they were off or not working; we still took them as the elevator there is really small. We then got on the subway and reached the train station 8 minutes before our train departed. I was thankful that it was a short wait time. There were no more videos today, as I had not been happy at all with their behavior even AFTER the service.

By 7:45 we were back home, much later than usual after the 4 pm service. I warmed up some leftovers that they ate, then they just showered off in the bathtub, before we got them ready for bed. Even though it was late, I read them some Bible stories, prayed for them, and then put them to bed. It was already about 8:45 by then, so late for them. I stayed with them until mayb 9 pm, then the boys wanted Daddy, and so he came and I left. I turned my computer on and started working. Now it's nearly 1 am, and I still have to clean up the kitchen before going to bed.