MORE PICTURES TO COME
Day 973. Last night I went to bed just after 1 am. Thankfully Randy had succeeding in getting Emmy back to sleep. Tammy joined us in bed in the early morning hours and fell asleep. Emmy came later, and some time after 7 am he was up and running and soon his sister was awake and joining him too. Sammy wasn't crying like usual this morning, but was just lying in his bed, when I got up at 8 am. I got him out and put him on the floor by some toys, then started making breakfast.
After breakfast we cleaned them up and dressed them, then I took them downstairs. Tammy asked to read a Bible story, but time was short, and so I went upstairs to get ready to leave at 9:30. Just before that I went downstais to get Sammy. Tammy wanted to come with us and started crying, when I told her she couldn't. She cried the whole time at the bottom of the stairs until we left the house.
Sammy and I went to the subway, rode it for two stops, and then had quite a walk ahead of us. He didn't really want to sit in the stroller, and so I put him upright, facing me, with his hands on the top of the stroller holding on. I put my hand on his to make sure he wasn't gonna fall. And that's how we walked all the way to the center. We got there a few minutes early and had to wait outside until the speech therapist came to get us. We then followed her to her room. Sammy was very suspicious of her right away even though they already know weach other. I took our coats off and sat down with him on the floor. He was holding on to me while eyeing the lady with suspicion. He sat down by my legs, and the lady gave him some balls to put on a slide, and soon his suspicion evaporated. After the slide, she looked at a book with him where there were different animals. She was trying to get him to say the animals and make animal sounds, but he wasn't very talkative today. Then she gave him a bottle that had stones inside. He used it at a rattle. Then she opened it and got the stones out, and Sammy put them back in. Then she got out little animals and had him put those inside, and then back out. In the end she wanted to see how Sammy eats with a spoon, so I squeezed some of the squeezie onto a spoon to give to thim. All those things took a whole hour. Then she said she wanted to see us next in a few months, in summer. We said our goodbyes and left.
We started our long walk to the subway again, and on the way we stopped at a supermarket. The kids love watermelon, and we were out again. Unfortunately they didn't have any. We bought a few other items that I put into Sammy's lap. When I had to put it on the conveyor belt to pay, he was upset that I had taken it all away from him. After having paid I gave him the pack of nectarines again to take care of, or play with, and put the rest under the stroller. We continued on our way to the subway and got home just before 11:30.
The other kids heard us return and came to the bottom of the stairs to greet us. I took Sammy out of the stroller and downstairs to them. They were excited to see us. Then I went upstairs, turned my computer on for a few minutes, then went to the kitchen to get lunch ready. I made something quick and easy. Just after noon they came upstairs to eat. They all ate well, had some pudding, and then we cleaned them up and dressed them again. By 12:50 the boys were in bed, and Randy was going downstairs with Tammy. Thankfully Emmy fell asleep quickly and was asleep by 1 pm. Sammy was still awake. I stroked his head and walked away, and then he fell asleep. The girl came up at 1:30 and went to bed, and by 1:40 she was asleep as well. Thank God for an easy nap time!
I returned to my computer to work, even though I would have rather taken a nap, but I had way too little time to work today. At 2:20 Emmy walked into the room. He joined me in bed and was looking at the pictures on my computer that I was working on. He was talking so loud that it woke his sister up at 2:35, and she also joined us. Both their talking then woke up Sammy at 2:40 pm. And so I went to get him, and we all went downstairs, where I left them with Randy to return to my computer for a few more minutes of work before getting everything ready for us to leave. It was after 3 pm, when Randy came upstairs with the children, and we left a little late after 3:30 pm.
We took the subway to the end, then walked to the school. It was their first exercise class in weeks because of the Easter break. Before Easter it was in the morning, now I had chosen an afternoon class, but it was in the same place and with the same teacher. However, while there were only 1 or 2 other children in the morning class, there were A LOT of children in this afternoon class! When we got there, they were already all in there and starting. We quickly took their coats and shoes off, and in we went to join the starting song, where they were running in a circle and stopping to clap and do other things from time to time. Then she had a tambourine and they had to move in a circle while she played it and stop when she stopped. Then she got the big balls out. Emmy was more interested in the little balls and ignored the big ones, not participating in what they were supposed to do with them. So only Tammy did it, pushing the ball, catching the ball, and drumming on the ball. I also put her on top and moved her around while holding her by her feet. Only once they were supposed to jump on the ball Emmy came to join in. And so I held two balls against the wall with my legs, while they were each jumping on their ball.
The teacher made a tower of cones in the middle of the room, and Emmy went there to help her. Then the kids had to give their balls a shove to roll them and make the tower fall. Then the teacher set up quite a course for them to conquer, walking on balls and other uneven surfaces, a trampolin, steppers, and a big mat. They sure enjoyed it except for having to line up to wait their turn. Emmy completely refused to stand in line and cut straight to the front. I had to keep pulling him back.
Tammy and Emmy crawled through the long tunnel and greatly enjoyed it. They were even more excited, when the teacher brought the boards on wheels out. Randy pulled them for a little bit, then the teacher put the box on top of another board so that Sammy could use it to. I put Sammy in their in a kneeling position, and then his siblings joined him. The other kids did not want to get in there with them. And then Randy pushed them around the room, to their great dleight.
They also enjoyed it, when the big, thick mattress was put on an incline. They were supposed to roll balls down to the box on the bottom, but then they would slide down themselves. Once again it was a problem that they did not want to go back to the end of the line.
And then it was already time for the final song. The teacher got the box with rattles and drums out, and Emmy went for the big drum right away and got a little one as well. I tried to get him to give the little drum to another child, as there were so many. In the end he drummed on both the big and the little one, while two other kids drummed on the little one as well. The teacher was playing the good-bye song at the same time. Tammy also had a drum, and Sammy had a rattle he was shaking. Then the class was over.
The teacher had asked in the course of the class how the kids were doing, and specifically how Sammy was doing. She also asked what I thought compared to our class before Easter where there were hardly any kids. We actually knew one of the little girls today from the music class in another school.
We put their coats and shoes back on and left to walk back to the subway. It was raining, and so I pulled the stroller covers over them. They were hungry for snacks, which I gave them, and the subway came pretty much right away. After we got on, everyone wanted to sit in a regular seat again, and so we all did. At 5:30 we walked through our apartment door.
The kids were ready to go downstairs, which was good for me. I started making their dinner, cutting up fruit and making their bread with salami and ham. I was done by about 6 pm, so there was no time to go tidy up with them. But I did go downstairs, when I heard Tammy falling really hard and then crying. I comforted her, and then we all went upstairs to eat. They ate some food at the table, and had fun, then they went potty before going into the bathtub. They continued eating there, then they came out one after another, and we got them ready for bed. By 7:15 they were all in bed, and I sat down by them. Tammy came to lie down on my chest, and they were talking and talking. I sang over them, and Tammy finally went to bed, but all three were simply not falling asleep. I was hungry and wanted to leave, but when I tried, they started crying for me and then simply got out of bed and stayed by the entrance to the kitchen. I finally didn't care any more and started making my food with them standing there. Once Randy was done eating, he got them back to bed and sat down by them. They started crying hard for me. I went downstairs with my soup to eat it, but Tammy was throwing a fit, calling me, and I knew she wouldn't fall asleep until I had come. It was not possible for me to finish my soup first. And so I took my plate with me and sat down by her, which is all she wanted, and continued eating my soup. Within minutes she was asleep, and the first one to be asleep. Emmy was still moving and talking, and I was getting frustrated with them not sleeping, as it was getting really late. Sammy was also still fussing. It was 9 pm before I was finally able to walk away. Way too late! I made my salad and took it downstairs to eat, then I went back to work. I had way too much to do yet.
