31 months 30 days

PICTURES TO FOLLOW

Day 972. Last night I went to bed at 1 am, hurrying as much as I could, as Emmy was sitting on the kitchen floor next to me, waiting for me to go to bed. He watched me with interest put the dishwasher soap in and turn it on, as I always do that at night and so they don't get to see it. He then listened to the dishwasher while I was getting ready for bed. We then went to bed together, and I held him for a while. Then he agreed to go back to his own bed, but wanted me to take him. Before I could fall asleep he was back, and we repeated it all. The last time I looked at the clock it was 1:30 am.

This morning seems so far away that I don't remember the details of how it all went. Both Tammy and Emmy were in our bed at some time, and Emmy was up first, way too early, as always. I thought they'd be sleeping longer this morning given how late they went to bed. By 7:30 they were up and running, and at 8 am I also got up.

I went to the kitchen to make their breakfast, then we sat down to eat. After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them for leaving the house. They already knew that we were going to the circus - their second time ever. I told them there was still time and that they could go downstairs to play until we leave. I took them downstairs, and Tammy wanted to read a Bible story, and so we did. Emmy was also listening carefully. Then I went upstairs to clean up and got everything ready for us to go. As we were gonna be gone during lunch time, I wanted to take a lunchbox with us for them. At 10 am they came upstairs, and we left the house at 10:15.

It was a warm day. Tammy and Emmy were in the stroller together, while I had Sammy strapped into my baby carrier. It had been a while since I had used it, and he was sure heavy. It helped when I set his feet on the stroller handle. We only had tickets for two adult and two kids, and as Sammy doesn't need his own seat, I was hoping I could just carry him in like a baby.

We rode the subway for two stops, and then we were already there. We just had to walk a little to get to the circus tent. We didn't have to stand in line to buy tickets, as I had already bought them online and had a special deal where I got two seats for the price of one. It would have been too expensive otherwise. It was still pretty early. We walked through the entrance, through the concessions area and to the actual entrance of the performance area. We left the stroller there, got them all out and took their coats off. The guy didn't even look at our tickets in detail, and he told a young many to show us to the area where we were allowed to choose a seat freely. As it was still nearly half an hour until the start of the performance, there weren't many people there yet. Last time we sat in the top row which worked out really well, and that's where we were  headed again. However, there were pretty big openings under the chairs, and it was a long way down. It didn't seem very safe. And so we sat down as far front as there were free seats by the aisle.

We were sitting there, waiting until the program started, when Emmy spotted Micky Mouse and Mario on the other side of the tent. At first I thought they were excited, but as they were moving our direction it quickly became clear that they were terrified. Just like last week, when they saw the Easter bunny. Their whining and terror was increasing the closer they got. All they did was have people take pictures with them. I knew we had to move. Tammy as already asking to go back home. Emmy was already clinging to me. And so I took them both and walked to the very top, the last row, as far away from Micky Mouse as possible. Up there they were shivering for fear and following Micky Mouse and Mario's every move. While we were sitting in the top row, which was actually a bench, I realized again that the top was simply the best place to sit. As soon as the reason for their fear was finally walking away and putting distance between us, I asked Tammy and Emmy to stay seated while I'd get Randy and Sammy. I had heard Sammy scream the whole time too, but not because he was afraid of Micky Mouse, but because he cries every time I leave with his siblings and he gets left behind. I quickly walked down to their row and asked them to come join us on top, then I returned to the other two. It was a really good decision.

Exactly at 11 am the show started with an act high under the ceiling, then the famous dogs were next. They were doing all kinds of things and were really cute. The kids loved watching them. More acrobatic acts as well as horse acts followed, and of course some clowns and funny stuff. After 50 minutes there was a 20-minute break. They invited everyone to go visit the animals in the back. As much as they like animals we had to go, even though you had to pay extra. The horses were there first, on the outside. We walked into a tent where there were more horses. We walked to the next tent with more horses and ended up with three camels that were never part of the show. Then we turned around to find the dogs. They were all behind a fence, some of them sitting right by the fence. Tammy and Emmy tried to pet them through the fence, which didn't work very well. Then the break was already over, and we went back inside. They started again before we could reach our seats.

It was another 50 minutes of acts, going until 1 pm. Sammy started getting a little cranky. He was sitting with me for 90% of the time, as he currently wants to be with me all the time. Since the boys usually lie down to sleep at 12:40, after lunch, it was time to go home. Just before 1 pm, during the last act, we took our stuff and started making our way to the exit. We put their coats back on and loaded them into the stroller, when all the acts came back out to be applauded. We hadn't missed anything. Sammy and Tammy were in the stroller, and Emmy on my shoulders, and off we went to walk back to the subway.

At 1:10 we were back home. They had already eaten bread and fruit from their lunchbox, and so we just sat down to eat some pudding. Then I cleaned them up and put all three to bed. It was 1:30 pm. I sat down by their beds. Emmy was asleep first, Sammy was still active for a while, and Tammy always needs some time, but by 1:45 they were all asleep. I got myself something to eat and turned my computer on. After having eaten I started working. I hadn't gotten far, when Emmy already walked into the room at 2:25 pm. I picked him up and put him right beside me in bed. Of course that meant I couldn't work, but I expected him to get back up in a few minutes and go downstairs with Randy. Instead he fell asleep. Five minutes later, at 2:30, Tammy got up and ran to me, and I also picked her up and lay her on my other side. Surprisingly she also fell asleep, and so the three of us were sleeping together. We were all tired and needed it.

Over an hour later, at 3:40 pm, we woke up. Once again it was Emmy who was up first, waking the rest of us up. And then I heard Sammy. I thought Randy was already downstairs with him, but that was not the case. He had also slept until that time. I sure needed the sleep, but didn't really have the time for it. We leave the house at 4 pm to go to church, and there was no way we could do that. I hadn't even cut up their food for their dinner-to-go boxes! Nobody went downstairs. Randy started dressing them in their church clothes, while I started getting their dinner boxes ready. It was okay not to be at church on time for once; what mattered was that we got there at all.

Since the train only runs every half hour, we were gonna take the subway. However, we left the house at 4:35, which was just in time for the next train, and so that's what we did. The kids saw the tables on the train and wanted to sit by one. Then Sammy wanted out of the stroller too, which is new for him, and he was so happy to also be on the seats and loved looking out the window. After we got off the train, we still had a tram to take to get to church. Tammy was again asking for chestnuts, but they're only sold on the street in winter. We took the next train, then got off and still the hill to walk up to get to church. It was 5:25 pm, when we got to church; the service had started at 5 pm.

We walked to our usual spot, and the kids went straight to the front to pick up some bands to wave around. Emmy sat down with and pretty much stayed in that spot the whole time, just watching. I had Sammy who was waving around a little bit, and Tammy was turning and dancing with the band, having fun. We stayed for about 20 minutes before going upstairs to the toddler room. There were already some children there, eating, but eating was not what ours wanted. They were eager to get playing. Randy returned to the sanctuary. I put Sammy by the big box of cars that he likes so much, but he wanted to be with me. I sat down on a beanie bag nearby, and he crawled to me. Tammy found herself a baby that she put in a stroller, and so did Emmy. Then Emmy started getting the train and train tracks out. Another boy that was older than him continued adding tracks, while Emmy was away, and then Emmy returned and wasn't too happy, He let the boy know that this was Emmy's train. The boy was very understanding. Tammy brought me a book to read to her, and Sammy was with me as well. Then the music started, letting us know that the program was about to begin. And so we all sat down by the circle.

First we did a greeting song with actions, then an individual greeting song, greeting every child that was there. Then we sang the Bible song that they like so much, doing a great job, before the teaching started. The teacher had a big jar of dirty water. Every child got some in a cup, then a piece of lemon to squeeze into it, and the color changed to a beautiful pink. Then we did another action song, and the program was over.

Now they were asking for food, and so we sat down by the tables. Tammy found some crayons and wanted to draw, and someone gave her some paper to do so. She loves drawing and puts her all into it. Randy arrived and sat down by us. He took Sammy and continued feeding him, which I had done so far. Then the tidy-up song started. We packed the lunchboxes and walked to the exit, where we sat down to put all the shoes back on. Then we left to go back downstairs. No Anna greeted us at the bottom of the stairs, as usual. Sammy had already asked for her, even earlier in the day. Emmy was asking for Sonja, as we walked down the stairs. The preaching was still going on. I knew we had to go see Sonja before leaving, as we hadn't seen her since Friday and won't see her until Wednesday. Randy left with Tammy to change her diaper, while I took the boys down the aisle to find Sonja who sits pretty far up front. We found her and sat down by her. The boys were so very happy to see her! And it was the first time she'd seen their haircut. There was an altar call, and Sonja needed to go to the front, so it was time to say good-bye. Emmy was not happy at all and nearly crying. I put them into the stroller and left to go to the back of the sanctuary. And then there was suddenly Anna there. Emmy was really happy to see her, and so was Sammy. They were both having fun with her. Randy and Tammy joined us again, and we walked into the lobby to put their coats on and get them ready to leave. It was raining outside. They were wild and having fun with Anna, while we were trying to catch them and put their coats on and put them into the strollers. We pulled the roof over them in light of the rain outside and left. It was 7:25 pm.

I was holding my umbrella with one hand and pushing the stroller with two kids with the other, which wasn't that easy, especially steering it. Just before we reached the tram stop someone from church caught up with us and asked whether she could help and took the stroller from me. That was so kind! We found a dry place by the tram stop and started talking, then continued talking on the train, while Tammy and Emmy were watching Peppa Pig, as usual. We got off to take the train, while the lady stayed on the tram. We took the elevator to the train platform, where we still had 15 minutes to wait. I got their dinner box out, and they were eating while watching Peppa Pig, and continued to do so on the train. We took the 8 pm train, which got us home by 8:15.

We immediately started taking their clothes off, washing them and getting them ready for bed. Tammy and Emmy were rather wild, having fun with each other. It took until 8:45 before they were all in bed. I sat down by them, Tammy lay down my my chest, and then they started talking, mainly about Micky Mouse and how scared they were of him. I told them Jesus was with them and protecting them and that they never needed to be afraid. After a while I started singing over them, then I put Tammy to bed, and successfully kept Emmy from climbing out of bed to be rocked. Instead of rocking Sammy, I stroked his head to calm him down and get him to sleep. Finally they got more quiet and by about 9:20 they were asleep. I had my computer on my lap sitting by them and was making use of the time, given the late hour.

We usually order food once a week for after church. It was supposed to be delivered at 8:20, but then it said 9 to 9:15. By 9:40 it was still not here, and so I called the place. A few minutes later it arrived. Finally! At least I had made good use of the waiting time.

We sat down on the couch together, and I started the movie I had picked for us to watch while eating. About half-way through the movie we stopped. We were done eating, it was late, and I still had a lot to get done. And so I sat down by my desk to work. I worked and worked, and around midnight Emmy woke up crying for me. Thankfully Randy was able to quiet him down and get him to sleep again, which doesn't always work. Now it's going on 1 am and high time for me to go to bed. The pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.