Day 945. Last night I headed to bed at 2 am. I had been struggling to work for 3 hours, constantly falling asleep at the computer, which is why it took me twice as long. As soon as I went to bed, Emmy came to me. I agreed to let him lie down with me for a few minutes, and after about 2 minutes he was already okay to go back to his bed. Great! We did that one more time in the course of the night. Tammy climbed into bed with us at some point and stayed. She was there, when my alarm went off at 7 am. Everyone was still asleep, especially since we only just turned our clocks forward by an hour, making it 6 am for our bodies. I got up and went to the kitchen, where I emptied the dishwasher. Emmy was the first one to walk up to me. Sammy was next, and I picked him up and put him on the flloor. Then Tammy came, and I asked them to wake up Daddy. I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat after everyone had had a fresh diaper. After breakfast we cleaned them up and dressed them and left the house together just after 8:30 am.
We rode the subway to the end and already met another mother and child from our class on there. A second one joined us at the elevator. Then we walked to the nearby school, and it was the five of us in class today.
The teacher started the class with the beginning song, but today she had a cat puppet which was the first time. Sammy wasn't so sure about it. Then she got out hoops for everyone. She had them do different things with it, then she put it around a kid as if the kid was a horse and followed the kid with it. She was doing it with Emmy, while I was doing it with Tammy. Then she had the kids sit on the ground and the hoop put behind their back, and we pulled them. Then they lay on their bellies, holding on to the hoop with their hands, and we pulled them around the room. They were having fun.
Then she put them in a row and had the kids walk through them - forward and backward and sideways, and they were doing a great job. She finally got the balls out that they love so much and had them roll it and slap it and lift it up. You wouldn't think that they could lift up such a big ball, but they can. All Emmy really wanted was to jump on the ball, and all three did.
Then the teacher put up two benches a little apart and had cones and balls. She was just gonna put a few cones between the benches to put balls into, but then there was Tammy. She has my gift of administration and put all her effort into putting all the cones between the benches that she and others could then put little balls into. Sammy was on the trampolin next to it and enjoying having me making him jump.
The teacher got the moving boards out which is one of their favorites. Emmy was immediately on it, at first with another kid whose parent pushed them. Then the teacher gave them a cord to pull them. Randy ended up pulling Emmy and Tammy through the room. Then it was Sammy's turn, and he also enjoyed it. Finally the box came out and was put on the baord, and Tammy and Emmy climbed into it, while a kid wanted to push them for a while, and Daddy did as well. Sammy joined them as well.
After they came back out, they did some sliding down the benches. Sammy went down on his belly, head first, and greatly enjoyed it. The teacher then had them lie on mats so they could be pulled around the room. By then Emmy was already asking for the drums, which was the last thing to do. When she came with the box, he got the biggest drum out. She did the good-bye song, rattling in rhythm, with all the kids hitting their drums or rattling their rattles. Then the class was over. We put their shoes and jackets back on, and they wanted their cereal bars that they were eating in the stroller.
We left the building to walk back to the subway. They all had some more snacks waiting for the subway, and then on the subway. After a few stops we got off and still had a long walk to the second school, where we arrived just before the class was to start. Once again we took their shoes and jackets off and went inside. There was a good number of other children present. The teacher did the greeting song, going from child to child. I could tell the kids were already getting pretty tired. I had Tammy and Emmy at first, and Randy Sammy, but then we switched. The teacher handed out two rattles to everyone, and we did some songs with them. Then she had us get up and did a song walking in a circle and doing actions. Emmy and Tammy were actually both doing it. Then it was free dance time. Emmy just wanted to look out the window at the kids playing outside. I had him sit on my shoulders for a few minutes, as he was getting too heavy for my arms, and he was enjoying it up there. Then we sat back down. She had a drum that was going from kid to kid, and she always did the same song where they had to do different hand movements on the drum. They were doing a great job, but Sammy was very upset, when he had to let the drum go again after his turn. Then she got two other instruments out, like individual xylophones, and those also made rounds from kid to kid, and they did well. Then every kid got two sticks with bells on the end, and we did a song or two with those. We also got back up doing the song, where everyone has to turn in place, when their name is called, and Emmy was on my shoulders, when it was his turn, and so I turned with him. He was giggling, when I turned really fast.
We sat down for the final song, going from person to person inserting the kid's name, then they got their 7th and last stamp, and we left to put shoes and jackets on and go home. But first we stopped at the grocery store right there, and Tammy and Emmy wanted to go inside with me, so I took the stroller in. I handed them what I bought, which was just a few items, we paid and left. I wanted to put the items under the stroller, but the kids were tired and would not let me do so. Not even later. And so Tammy held on to two items, and Emmy to one big item. Even once we got home Tammy would not give them to me to put on the kitchen counter. After a few minutes she suddenly put it up there as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
From the grocery store we still had a long walk to the subway station. Sammy was pretty tired and cranky, but so were the other two, especially cranky. By the time we got to the subway, Emmy did not want to be in the stroller any more because it was "tight". But instead of me taking the groceries, he wanted out, and so he ended up riding on top of the stroller handles the rest of the way.
We got home at noon. I put the soup on the stove on high right away, then we started taking their clothes off. Emmy was calling for food, and he got it pretty fast. Tammy and Emmy were already eating, when I sat down to feed Sammy, while Randy was in the bathroom, then I got the soup for the rest of us. Everyone ate well and had pudding. Then we cleaned them up and dressed them, and by 12:45 the boys were in bed. Sammy was so tired that he fell asleep quickly. Emmy needed until 1:05 pm. Tammy went to bed at 1:15 and needed until 1:30 to sleep. I turned my computer on for the first time today to work. I'm way behind on office work right now!
Sammy already woke up after an hour, at 1:45, much to Randy's dismay who would have liked a little more rest. I got him out of bed and put him on the floor to play, and Randy went downstairs with him a few minutes later, when he was ready. I continued working. At 2:15 Emmy walked into the room, and I picked him up and lay down with him. We both fell asleep and slept for 40 minutes. Not my plan, but not unwelcome. Once he was up just before 3 pm, he wanted some of the cake we had bought today, and so I cut some up, also got some fruit and tea, and we went downstairs with it all. Sammy was in his walker with Randy encouraging him to walk, and he said that he was doing great. I returned upstairs and to work. At 3:30 pm Tammy walked in, having slept exactly 2 hours. I took her downstairs as well and returned to work, even though Emmy was crying, wanting me to stay. Too much to do!
I finally managed to finish the German translation of our newsletter, later than ever, and sent it out. I still had a little time until it was time to start making their dinner. The kids had been wanting to watch Peppa Pig and crying, when Daddy had said no earlier. With little time left, I went downstairs and turned it on for them to watch a little until it was cleanup time. I went upstairs, did some housework, then started making their dinner. At 5:40 I went downstairs to tidy up with them. I turned the video off and received crying in return. Both Emmy and Tammy were crying because they wanted to keep watching. I told them they couldn't watch at all any more if they reacted like this, when I'd turn it off, and encouraged them to tidy up with me. Of course they refused at first. Then Emmy tidied up, and Tammy never did. She cried the hardest. I told her she'd have to give me a coin from her piggy bank, but then forgot to do it later. And so I did most of the tidying up, with a little of Emmy's help, and Randy had done some earlier already as well. Once it was done we went upstairs and sat down at the table to eat. They ate a whole jar of soup together and of course they were more interested in the food that was NOT on their plate than what was. They had full plates of food and so I had put the whole mango and a whole orange on the table, just in case they wanted it, and of course they did. They ate quite a bit of the mango and the whole orange. After they were done eating, they went potty and then into the bathtub, where they continued eating and ended up having eaten quite a bit. What a difference from when they had a cold! They were also having a lot of fun playing, and so Sammy was crying, when he was the first one to have to get out.
By 7:15 pm they were all in bed, but the time change was still an issue. Tammy lay on me, as usual, and Emmy had my hand. Sammy had slept the least at lunch time and fell asleep rather quickly. But his siblings kept talking and talking and not sleeping. I'd finally had enough and Randy took my place, while I went downstairs to work. But Tammy was very upset and wanted Mommy. And so it wasn't long before I went back upstairs and relieved Daddy again. Tammy even wanted to lie on my chest again, when I returned. After a few minutes I put her back to bed. It was nearly an hour later, at 8:10 pm, that I was finally able to walk away and get myself something to eat. I went downstairs, ate, and then went back to work. As always I had lots of pictures to go through from this morning, which takes time. I had also received my new phone after two broken screens and was setting it up. And so it was another long night of working.
