Day 923. Last night I headed to bed at 12:30 am. Emmy came and wanted me to hold him, and after a few minutes of doing so he returned to his bed. When I first started waking up in the morning, I became aware that both Emmy and Tammy were sleeping in our bed. Ten minutes before 7 they were both up, and Randy added Sammy to our bed. By 7:20 they were all up and so I got up as well. Sammy likes playing with the blinds on the bottom, and so they are pretty bent already. I raised the ones in our bedroom up this morning, and so he moved on to the ones in their room.
I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs, where we read a Bible story. Then Tammy got the Malian drum, and Sammy was playing with the new drum set. Emmy also wanted the Malian drum and was upset, when I protected Tammy from him grabbing it. Tammy then gave it to him of her own accord.
Emmy had taken their computer off the shelf and didn't want to share it with his sister, looking at it together. In the end Tammy was using it by herself. She had to push the bubbles on the screen, which then revealed an animal or object and the letter the word starts with. She was really good at knowing early what the picture was.
She then wanted to read the Bible, started in the beginning of the book, and went from story to story, talking all the time, saying what she knew.
Randy arrived, and I took my computer and went upstairs to work. At 10 am I went to the kitchen to make lunch, and by 10:30 it was in the oven and I returned to my computer to work.
Just before noon Randy and the kids came upstairs. I made their plates and put them on the table. It was my favorite dish that Emmy says is also his favorite dish, and Emmy ate everything on his plate. Tammy didn't, but all three had pudding. Then Tammy and Emmy both went potty. They've not done so much recently. Emmy was successful, but not Tammy. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and the boys went to bed.
By 12:45 they were in bed, and it took Emmy until 1 pm to fall asleep. Tammy came upstairs at 1:10 and was asleep 10 minutes later. I returned to work for a while. At 2 pm Emmy already walked into the room, and Randy went downstairs with him. Five minutes later Sammy woke up, and I took him downstairs. At 2:30 Emmy came to the gate and called me, and his shouting woke up Tammy, who I then took downstairs. I then started making their dinner-to-go. At 3 pm I brought them some snacks and squeezies, then I continued working. At 3:30 they all came upstairs, we dressed them and got everything ready and left the house just after 4 pm.
We walked to the train station and got on the train, where Tammy and Emmy sat down on seats. After we got off, we got chestnuts before walking to the tram stop. They like chestnuts and so they were gone quickly. The tram was pretty empty, and so they were able to sit on seats again. We got off and walked up the hill to the church. It was a really cold day. We walked into the building and to the front on the left, where we always sit. I took them out of the stroller and took their coats off. The flags and banners were already lying in the front, and the music was about to start. We went up front, and Tammy picked up a long, blue band right away. Randy left with Sammy to change his diaper.
Tammy was waving her band, then fabric, and Emmy a flag. When Sammy returned, I took him and had him stand on a stack of chairs, where he was waving his flag. Tammy climbed up there as well, and then Emmy too.
I went to the bathroom with Tammy, who I thought had a dirty diaper, which turned out not to be the case. When we left again, there was Randy and the boys. Emmy had cried for me, when I was suddenly gone, and so Randy came to the back.
We walked back up front, and at 5:30 we took their dinner boxes, walked to the back and then up the stairs to go to the toddler room. They had asked a few times to go see Sonja, but I was glad they were willing to go upstairs. We were the first one in the toddler room and were by ourselves for some time. Randy returned to the sanctuary, and our three were all playing in different corners having fun. They were not really interested in eating yet. They had fun with the dolls and strollers, the tools and the toy kitchen. People started coming, but the program only started at 6:15 pm.
We did the welcome song, then the personal greeting song. Then the lady did a great job doing the program. She had pictures and asked questions that they could answer. We were also doing the Bible song that they love. In the end she had some papers to color. Tammy took it very seriously and got severeal different colors to do her coloring. She invested everything, was concentrated and determined and took time to accomplish her task. Emmy came over a little later to also color a paper, and Sammy had a paper as well. Tammy then took another paper to color.
Randy returned, and they ran to show him their drawings. Then we put their shoes back on, which took a little time, and left to return to the sanctuary. Anna was downstairs, and Tammy being the first one down ran to greet her. Emmy and Tammy were having fun with her, and Sammy aslo kept saying Anna, wanting to be with her, and she held him for a while. The service had ended, but they were showing pictures to honor the founding pastor on his birthday. The kids were going wild, running around and having fun. I was surprised they hadn't asked to see Sonja yet.
And then we ran into her. Emmy immediately wanted her to hold him, and she picked him up. We walked to the foyer as Sonja had some work she needed to do. Other people started coming, and Randy finally took Emmy out of Sonja's arms, much to his dismay. He started throwing a fit. We put their coats on, said goodbye, and left, walking through the cold to the tram stop. When we got there, a tram was sitting there, about to leave. We missed it and had to wait 9 minutes for the next tram to come. It was so very cold. I had their lunch box out and they were eating.
On the tram they stayed in the stroller, when I let them watch Peppa Pig. That kept them distracted from being tired. We got off and quickly took the elevator upstairs, where we arrived 3 minutes before the train was to leave. Perfect timing! We got on the train, got off in Stadlau, and walked through the cold to our apartment. It was 8:20, when we walked through the door.
They were tired and cranky. I quickly took their clothes off to get them ready for bed, and it took until 8:45 before they were all in bed. Our food had arrived just before then. I sat in the chair by their beds, and it wasn't long before they fell asleep. By 9 pm I was able to walk away and go downstairs with my computer. I looked for and found a movie we could watch, then we ate while watching the first half. We were done eating, and so my computer became my workspace again. I had way too much to do, and so it's gonna be a very short night before a busy morning.
