31 months 21 days

Day 963. Last night I was so tired I went to bed at midnight. Tammy joined us in bed at some point. And so she was the first one up this morning, as the dark curtains keep Emmy asleep. It was only 6:30. I kept her from getting up, so that her brothers had a chance to sleep longer. Around 7 am she did get up and woke Emmy up. Together they were playing. Sammy woke up later and soon joined us in bed. At 7:50 I finally got up to make breakfast.

We sat down at the table to eat, everyone ate some, then I cleaned them up and dressed them. They had emptied out the sock drawer, while we were still in bed, and so I had them put all the socks back into the drawer. Emmy was eager to do it, and in the end Tammy joined him. Then we went downstairs, where we read a Bible story together. All three were with me, which is not that often the case. Then they started playing instruments. Emmy sat down by the two Malian drums and started drumming. He was doing so great that I wished I'd had my camera with me to take a picture and video. Tammy sat down at the xylophone and played it, and Sammy was playing his favorite drum set. Then Tammy wanted to draw, so I put the table down and gave her paper and crayons. Sammy wanted to draw too. Randy arrived and so he sat down with Sammy by the drawing table. I went upstairs to go work.

Time flew by, and just before 11:30 I went to the kitchen to cook. They came upstairs just before noon, and we sat down to eat. They all ate well today; they like spinach with potatoes and eggs. However, they get green quite a bit, and so, after having eaten pudding, I put them all into the bathtub, where they were having fun. After they were rinsed off, I got them up, we dressed them, and the boys were in bed by 12:45. Randy went downstairs with Tammy.

And then another nightmare nap time started. Sammy was asleep within minutes, but not Emmy. I tried and tried, but he would not fall asleep. At 2 pm Tammy came upstairs and that made things even worse. Sammy woke up and Randy went downstairs with him. At 2:20 I'd had enough and took the other two downstairs as well. I was trying to not have it get to me, but it did anyway. When you try so hard, and to no avail, and waste all that time you could have worked....

I finally got to make progress work-wise, all the while hearing them play, and sometimes cry, downstairs. One time Sammy was crying hard, and so I went downstairs to comfort him. Then I went to get some snacks for them. Everyone was happy again, and I returned to work - for a short time. There was more crying, and I realized I was needed downstairs, and so I took my computer and went downstairs. As expected it wasn't long before they asked to watch Peppa Pig, and I finally gave in. It was just before 4 pm. I had Sammy sitting with me for a while; he did not want to be on the floor. Then Randy returned and started playing with him, or rather working with him. Sammy crawled up the stairs Randy had made, and I took a video of it. He's gotten pretty good at it. He sat down on his legs to pause, and Randy did not have to help him in any way. He really likes it, but he's hard to motivate to go back down. He loves the round playpen that is full of balls and balloons and ended up in there. He was by himself, but I still heard him laugh and giggle.

Then I turned Peppa Pig off, which upset Tammy and Emmy. Emmy then grabbed his drums to play. He's really passionate about playing instruments; I wonder what the future holds for him. Tammy was rather cranky. A few minutes later I left them at 5:15 pm to go make dinner.

While I was in the kitchen doing so, I heard a lot of laughter from Tammy and Emmy, as well as bouncing balls, but also crying as they hurt themselves or each other. At 5:50 I went downstairs to tidy up with them, but they were not motivated. Tammy helped a little bit, while Emmy was tired and cranky, or so it seemed. He wanted me to hold him, but I was tidying up. Once I was done, we went upstairs to eat.

We sat down at the table, and started with the Austrian Easter tradition we had already done yesterday. Each one of them had a colored egg and had to hit each other with the tip. The egg that did not break won. Tammy won against Emmy, but then lost against me, playing with Sammy's egg. We peeled the two cracked eggs, and Tammy ate a little, but Sammy really likes eggs. After they had all eaten some, they got up to go into the bathtub, while I combined the rest of their food in a bowl I took to them. They all ate some more in the water. Sammy always leaves first, and today we continued role-playing after. Emmy was the captain of the boat that Tammy and I sat in with him. We had lots of fun. Then they had to come out as well.

By 7:15 they were all in bed. I sat down by them, Tammy on my chest, and we talked. Then Tammy returned to her bed. After a while Emmy wanted to be rocked, and I did, then he went back to bed. Then I picked up Sammy to rock him, and Emmy was jealous and threw a fit. After I put Sammy back down, he wanted to be rocked again. Emmy just didn't want to sleep, and he hadn't even slept at lunch time! I rocked him one more time, then he went back to bed, but he would still not go to sleep. I finally gave up and went to the kitchen to make my dinner. Emmy got up and quietly sat on the floor near the kitchen, while I was working and Randy was eating. Once Randy was done eating, he took Emmy back to bed and sat down with him. After a while they were both asleep.

I went downstairs to eat, then went back to work. I made good progress and would love to keep going, but we have a long day tomorrow and I'd better go to bed.