Day 1293. Emmy is always the first one up and then wakes up his siblings. He also won't let me sleep. I now put the story-telling headsets already out at night so he can simply pick one up and listen to it without waking anyone up. At some point, though, he came to me asking to watch Kasperl, and I finally gave in and let them watch. Randy eventually got up to make his oatmeal for everyone and change their diapers and sat down with them to eat. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we left the house at 10 am to go to piano class.
It was cold and extremely windy this morning. We got on the subway, then still had to walk a little to get to the music school, where we arrived before the class started. We took their coats and shoes off and went inside the classroom. Sammy stayed in his wheelchair at first. The teacher started with the greeting song, singing it for each child. Then she sang it for the parents and included Sammy's name, and last she sang it inserting her own name. Sammy was sitting on a chair by the pianos at that point.
She then called the kids to the front and did the monkeys jumping on the bed song with them, and this time she had a felt board to tell the story with. She made movements with her hands, and she even did the song twice. Tammy was probably the one singing the loudest. She likes singing, and she sings well.
Then the kids sat down, and she gave them finger puppets to do the song that teaches the numbering of the fingers. I was helping the kids out, making sure they had them on the right fingers, and they're doing better and better at getting it right. Then she called them up front, and I went with them. We all formed a circle, holding hands with each other, and she did a song, where we had to put the hand or foot that she was asking for into the middle of the circle. The left hand is the lion hand and the right hand the mouse hand. Then they sat down again and played the piano with the hand she was telling them to use. In the end she asked them to play in the middle.
Then they returned to the front and sat down by the board. She drew a whole note, did the song with it and showed the length of it, then the half and quarter note. And the kids got to draw them on the board and then to erase them, which was just as exciting as the drawing. Then they sat down again, and she asked them to open their books. There were two pages of symbols, and the kids had to identify and color the notes, which they both succeeded in doing. Then they went to the front again, where she put pictures of percussion instruments on the board. The kids then got to choose which instrument they wanted, and as Emmy was the first to get to choose, he picked the drum, Tammy was second and picked the cymbals. Then they played while the teacher was singing a song, and she asked them to play loud or softly. Emmy, however, has a hard time playing a drum softly.
Then she got the felt board out for a final story, and it was one I had not heard before. I took Sammy to the front as well so he could listen and watch the story. Then the class was over, and the kids got their sticker books out to receive their picture for this week. In fact, the teacher let them pick a sticker.
We put their coats and shoes back on and left to walk back to the subway. As there is no swim class tomorrow, we rode the subway for a few stops and got off to go eat at the McDonald's right there. Mainly Emmy, but a little also the others, has been having diarrhea, and it was pretty bad today. He's been saying that his belly his hurting, and he has been eating less as a result. I ordered our food, and Randy picked it up. Then we had a fun time eating together. After we were done, we walked to the subway to ride it home. Tammy and Emmy were watching videos, while I was by the door with Sammy who loves pushing the button and kept pushing it the whole time we were on the subway.
It was nearly 1 pm before we were back home. The kids wanted to continue watching, and as there was still some time until 1:15, I let them. Randy soon left for a quick grocery store run. Then I put them to bed and sat down by them. Tammy needed a little time to fall asleep, then I walked away.
I was very tired myself and very much in need of a nap. I haven't been teaching on Saturdays, but I was this afternoon. Still, just before 2 pm I lay down to sleep without setting a timer or alarm, as my lesson was at 4 pm. It took me a while to fall asleep. Of course it was Emmy who then woke me up way too early. When Sammy woke up, I got him out of bed and put the headset playing songs on his head. Thankfully I fell back asleep. I was woken up again, when Randy plunked Sammy down next to me. He was upset about Randy having taken away the headset and crying hard. I comforted him and got him to stop crying by asking him if he wanted "a ball" (Raffaelo), ball-shaped candy he really likes. And so I replaced one thing he's passionate about with another. I gave him the ball and took him back downstairs to Daddy and Emmy, then went back to bed.
It's all a little fuzzy, but at some point I looked at the clock and saw that it was already 3:45 pm. It was high time to get up and get ready. At 4 pm I started teaching and did so for two hours. I was rather tired the whole time. After I was done, Randy and the kids were already coming upstairs. I let them continue watching and went to the kitchen to make their dinner. Emmy and Tammy were not eating as much as usual tonight, not even in the bathtub. Only Sammy ate well. We then got them out of the water and ready for bed, then I sat down with them to read them Bible stories. I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was just after 8 pm, and I sat down by them for some time. They were talking way too much, and I encouraged them to stop and go to sleep. Randy then took my place, while I went to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. After I had eaten, I started working. I have still not finished the French translation of our newsletter that I sent out nearly a full week ago. Now it's approaching 1:30, and I'm about to clean up the kitchen and go to bed.
