Day 988. Last night I headed to bed at 1:15. Tammy joined us in the early morning hours and fell asleep. Emmy came later, drank some milk, and left again. Soon his sister was up with him. Just after 8 am we all got up, when they once again turned the water on in the bathroom, when they know exactly they are not allowed to do so. I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. Then we cleaned them up and dressed them and went downstairs, where we read a Bible story together. Then I went upstairs, and a few minutes later Randy went downstairs.
Instead of going straight to the computer, I first had to take care of kids' clothes, making the switch from winter to summer, organizing them and moving them and putting them all away. All that took me until 10:15, and I could have spent hours more, but time is precious. Then I finally turned my computer on to work. At 11:15 I went to the kitchen to cook, and at noon they came upstairs to eat.
We sat down at the table, they ate some but not very much, then everyone had pudding. We cleaned them up and dressed them, and by 12:50 the boys were in bed. It looked like Emmy had fallen asleep really fast, and so I went to the kitchen to clean up. Suddenly he started calling me, so I returned. And then I thought he'd never fall asleep. By 1:20 he finally did; Sammy had been asleep for a while. Tammy came upstairs at 1:25 and went to bed. Ten minutes later I was able to walk away and return to work. Emmy slept longer than usual and walked into the room at 2:25 pm. Sammy also woke up from the noise, and Randy went downstairs with them both. At 2:45 Emmy called up the stairs to me, and that was enough to wake up his sister. We all got ready to leave and left the house at 3:15.
It was the hottest day yet, and so the kids had shorts/a skirt and sandals on. We got on the subway, then walked to the bus stop and got on the bus. We were early today, arriving at the dancing school 15 minutes before the class was to start. The kids always play with the mannequin standing in the foyer of the school, shaking its hand. We walked up the stairs, took our shoes off, and went into the classroom. There was already one other child there, and a few more arrived later. While we were waiting until 4 pm, the teacher made some small talk with us. Then we got started, doing one song after another for 45 minutes. Tammy and Emmy were not participating very much today but doing their own thing for much of the time. Sammy wanted to be with me and was upset every time Randy took him from me, so I took him back and had him most of the class, and he was having fun with me. Randy kept trying to get the other two to do the actions and dance with him, and sometimes it worked. Emmy also danced with the teacher.
One parent had a smaller child with her as well, and he crawled to Emmy and on top of him, with Emmy just watching, making the mother laugh. Then it was time for the good-bye song, and the class was over. We went back to the changing room, where we put their shoes back on. Tammy wanted to do it by herself and was very upset, when we were helping her to speed things up. She was pretty cranky. We put them back into the strollers and left the school to walk to the bus stop.
We were walking past a grocery store and had already planned in advance to go there, as we have to manage without Sonja for most of the week, making it harder for Randy to go grocery shopping. Emmy was even telling the dance teacher we were going shopping, mentioning it ever so often. As soon as we had walked into the shop, he was asking for his own little cart which they had had the first/last time we were there, and so we got one each for them. And off they went to fill their carts. Emmy kept taking stuff and putting it into his cart, and I had to keep telling him not to, but to only put into his cart what I gave him. I made sure I gave them equal number of items, as we moved through the store. Then we reached the checkout, and they both started putting the items on the conveyor belt. I'm glad they're starting to get how this works. We returned their carts, then the cashier started scanning our items. Tammy wanted to help put the stuff into our bag, so I lifted her up to help. She wanted to keep the loaf of bread, so I let her. We put all the groceries into the stroller, as well as the kids, and walked to the nearby bus stop. After we got on the bus, the kids asked to watch Peppa Pig, and I let them. We got off, walked to the subway, then took the subway for a few stops before getting off and walking home. Tammy got out of the stroller just before we entered the building and left the bread in there. Emmy picked it up and started eating it! Just before 6 pm we walked through our apartment doors.
The kids went downstairs where they wanted to watch Paw Patrol, and I turned it on for them. Randy started tidying up, while Sammy was crying as he wanted Daddy to hold him. I was in the kitchen making their dinner. Once I was done, they came upstairs and sat down at the table to eat. They ate some, then got up to go potty before going into the bathtub. I took the rest of their food to the bathtub, where they continued eating, while having fun. I had emptied a shampoo bottle, and it was great fun to squirt the water out of it. The problem was that there was one bottle and three kids, and all three wanted it. Tammy had it first, but was then content to keep out of the boys fighting over it. I tried to pass it back and forth, but Sammy would have a fit every time I 'd take it away, and Emmy would try to gake tit away from Sammy. Emmy hit Sammy in his anger, making him cry, which is unfortunately not unusual. But then Tammy acted in the sweetest way, really impressing me, kissing her brother and hugging and comforting him. And then I explained to them how the boys had been ONE at one point, both of them in one egg, while Tammy was another egg. I tried to explain to Emmy how close he was to his brother, closer than to his sister, at least biologically. They listened carefully while I was talking, trying to understand what I was saying. Emmy apologized to Sammy, and a few minutes later in the bedroom, he hugged him and said he loved him.
Sammy was even more upset than usual, when we got him out of the water, as he wanted to play with the empty bottle so very bad. He cried for a long time, even when I picked him up a little later to put him to bed. And so I sat down in the chair with him and just held him for a while, waiting for Randy to finish up with the other two. He calmed down after a while, and I put him to bed after having prayed for him. Then I put the other two to bed after having prayed for them. I was surprised that Tammy did not want to be rocked and later was okay, when I said no. Emmy also asked to be rocked at one point but was also okay with my no. It was 7:55, when they went to bed, and I was hoping they'd fall asleep faster. They were more quiet than usual, but not falling asleep any faster, even though they were so tired. It took until 8:25 before I was able to walk away.
I started making my salad, which takes time, then took it downstairs to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Not having had a nap today, I've been struggling with falling asleep while writing, and it's high time for me to go to bed.
