Day 924. Last night I went to bed at 1:20 am. This morning I woke up with Tammy and Emmy in bed with us. At 7 am the alarm went off and startled them, but I shut it off right away and calmed them down. We got up, I got their food ready, and we sat down to eat, but they barely ate anything. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them for dance class. We left the house just after 8:30 am.
It was another cold and windy day. We took the subway, riding it to the end, and then fought the wind to get to the school building. We were glad to be inside. And we were even on time. Not only that, we were the only ones there today. The other kids had not shown up for some reason, so half the class was gone, and we were the other half.
The teacher started with a greeting song and then got out the big balls that they love so much. She had them walk around pushing them, and drumming on them, then lying on them and being rolled around by the adults. By then Emmy was ready to go jump on the ball, and I helped both him and Tammy to do so. In the meantime the teacher set up cones, and then she had the kids push their balls to make them fall over, which they enjoyed doing. Randy then made them jump really high on the balls, which made them giggle.
The teacher set out some benches and the trampolin and these pads that require balance to walk on. The kids walked across the benches, which was way too easy, and after Sammy pulled himself along on them, Tammy and Emmy tried that too and enjoyed it.
They've always enjoyed jumping on the trampolin, and I made them jump high on it. Then it was Sammy's turn who preferred lying on it on his back and who was laughing and giggling, when I used my foot to make him go up and down on it.
The teacher also had some smaller balls out that jump really well and had them throw them as high into the air as they could, and I was impressed at how high Tammy was able to throw them.
Their favorite is still the board with wheels. Emmy was the first one on it, and the teacher pulled him around the room. Then Emmy put some items on it that he pulled around the room, before Tammy took the leash to pull it.
In the meantime the teacher had put the benches on the bar on the wall making them slides, and they enjoyed going down. Tammy started going down on her belly, head on top and on the bottom, which is also the way Sammy enjoyed going down. In the meantime the teacher had put the box on the board with the wheels and was pushing Emmy around the room. Once Tammy saw it, she wanted to push him, and Randy put Sammy into the box as well. It was so cute how Emmy put his arms around his brother to help him. Then Tammy and Emmy switched. I had already repositioned Sammy to comfortably sit with his arm on the side of the box to lean on it.
The end of the class had already come and so the teacher got the box with the rattles and drums out. She put on a song that they were supposed to drum to in rhythm. Then she did a good-bye song and the class was over. People for the next class were already outside the door watching us.
We put their shoes and coats back on, put them into the strollers, gave them snacks, and left to go back out into the cold. We got on the next subway, rode a few stops, and then still had a long walk to the other school where we arrived a few minutes before the class started. Once again it looked like nobody else was there. What was going on today? But then there were two other kids, and later a third one arrived as well, so we were half the class.
After having taken their shoes and coats off, we went inside and sat down. The teacher started with a greeting song, doing it for each child, then we had the kids sit on our legs that we were moving with the song. Tammy once again sat on the teacher's legs, since Emmy refuses to go to her. Today I had Sammy on my legs, and Randy Emmy. They enjoyed the song, where we make them fall between our legs at the end. Then she did another one, where our hands moved around on their bodies, which made them giggle.
She then handed out wooden sticks that are instruments, and we did several songs where we used the sticks in different ways to make noise with them. I still had Sammy, and he enjoyed it as well.
Especially Emmy was getting rather tired and unable to concentrate and participate. He kept running away instead of staying with us and doing what the teacher was saying. She then had us all stand up and did some songs walking in a circle doing different things, which helped. She then had us dance, and she grabbed Emmy and danced with him, while I was dancing with Tammy, and Randy with Sammy. She also did the song, where each child has to turn and turn while we clap, and Emmy and Tammy actually did it today.
We sat back down, and she got a drum out that they had to move their hands over in different ways. The drum went around in the circle, going from child to child, and I had Emmy helping him do it, when he wasn't that interested any more. She also did a song, where they had to point at different body parts. Then it was time for the goodbye song already. Randy went to get their little participation cards, and they ran to the teacher to get their fourth stamp in it, another animal in another color.
It was time to put our shoes and coats on again. Nearly every night Tammy places dance class in the bathtub with all the rubber ducks, and then the class is over and she tells everyone to put their shoes and coats on and says goodbye. It's just the cutest! We put them back into the strollers and went back into the cold to walk to the subway, which was a long walk. And it was not also cold but also windy. Just before we reached the subway Randy said that Sammy was asleep, but we woke him up so he'd still take a nap at home. We got on the subway for our two stops, then walked to our house.
We got home at 12:45, took their clothes off and warmed up yesterday's leftovers. Within minutes we could sit down to eat. They were pretty tired and did not eat much, but did have some pudding. By 12:45 Emmy was in bed, and five minutes later he was asleep. Not so Sammy. He had already fallen asleep in the stroller, and even though Randy had woken him up once he'd noticed, it always means it's harder for him to fall asleep. Only after I walked away did he fall asleep. Tammy came upstairs at 1 pm and was asleep by 1:10, without me having to sit by her bed.
I went to get my computer and turned it on to work, even though I was really tired. By 1:45 I was too tired to go on and closed my eyes. It was only 8 minutes later that Sammy woke up crying, and I had to get up to get him. I put him on the floor by Randy who had his eyes closed, and then Emmy already came running. They'd both slept only about an hour. Randy went downstairs with them, while I lay back down and closed my eyes. At 3 pm Randy was telling Alexa downstairs to play some songs that ended up playing in the baby room instead of downstairs, which happens quite often, and that woke up Tammy just before 3 pm. I took her downstairs, together with their snacks. I went back upstairs, hoping to work some before going downstairs, but as is always the case, when Sonja is not here, one of them was crying for me at the bottom of the stairs, in today's case it was Tammy. And so I took my computer downstairs to work there, with them around me.
Tammy was first crying for milk, and then they wanted to watch Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol. They were still tired from the intense last 24 hours, and so I finally gave in and let them watch a few episodes before turning it off again.
Our neighbor who has two boys a little older than ours gave us another bag full of goodies yesterday, and Randy brought it downstairs for them to go through everything, which was exciting to them, as they found so many new toys in there. Already they had been playing nonstop with one book that makes noises since last night, and Emmy had worn the Paw Patrol T-shirt to the classes this morning.
Emmy found the blowup elephant that I had bought for their 2nd birthday party and wanted me to blow up. However, it has a hole, and so it wasn't long before he asked me to blow it up again, after a third of the air had escaped within minutes, since he sat down on it.
Sammy was happily playing with the stuff he found on the floor, and Randy walked with him for a little while. Tammy and Emmy wanted to look at the Bibles that we keep out of reach, and they spent some time looking at them all.
They are all little climbers and get into things they shouldn't get into this way. And Tammy has beenpretending to be a baby recently, and did so again, when I took the picture. She was in the baby swing pretending to cry like a baby.
They were having fun, when it was time to go upstairs to make dinner. Only Sammy was unhappy at that point, as he often is when Randy puts him down. He wants to be held most of the time. They pulled up chairs to the kitchen counter and started eating what I put on their plates. Then I moved the plates to the dining room table and turned the water in the bathtub on. It took a little convincing to get them to sit down at the table, and then they did not eat that much there, as usual. The doorbell rang and Amazon finally delivered the packages that I had been expecting. And then our neighbor also blessed us with more stuff her boys don't need any more. After they had gotten up from the table, they wanted me to open the Amazon packages, and so I did. They already knew stuff for them was in there, and Tammy knew that a new pj for her was in there, as she had been in so much distress two days ago because of the hole in her pj. There were also books inside, and I had to finally take them away from them, so they could go into the bathtub. They ate most of their food there, all three of them, and had fun. Then we got them out one after another, and all three got to wear their new pj's tonight. They were so very excited about them! Once they were all ready, I had to take a picture of the three of them, and I'm really happy that they turned out so well. Randy was behind Sammy to hold him up. Tammy has a Peppa Pig pj, and the boys Paw Patrol, two out of the three shows they like so much.
By 7:10 they were all in bed, or rather the boys were and Tammy was on my chest. We did some talking, then Tammy returned to her bed. I was holding hands with Emmy, while he was falling asleep. Sammy fell asleep rather quickly. By 7:50 they were all asleep, and I left to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Thanks to my nap today I've been able to work tonight without my eyes falling shut.
