32 months 16 days

Day 989. Last night at 1 am Tammy was crying. I was about to turn my computer off anyway and went upstairs. She had just crawled into bed with Daddy. I picked her up and put her to bed, but she was not happy, wanted me to sit by her, or Daddy to sit by her, then her crying woke up Emmy who came running to me, so I lay down with him and held him for a few minutes until he was willing to go back to his bed. Tammy stayed, fell asleep, and we then moved her back to her bed later. Needless to say, it was much later before I got to fall asleep. It wasn't even 7 am yet, when Emmy came to me in the morning, shaking me and asking me to get up. I tried to get him to lie down with me, but he didn't stay. I told him it was too early to get up. He was up alone for a while before the others woke up or were woken up. At 8 am we also got up. And once again they had done something they were not supposed to. They took the boxes of Peppa Pig bandaids off the counter and opened them all, opening bandaids and sticking them everywhere. Great!

I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. They ate some, then went potty. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them. It was an even hotter day, the hottest yet, as if it was the middle of summer, and so they all got to wear shorts and shirts. Before we could go downstairs the doorbell rang. It was 9 am and the Mobile Support lady arrived. They were excited and greeted her at the door. Emmy showed off his T-shirt and their Peppa Pig bandaids, then we all went downstairs, where I left them to play with the lady. They always do a starting and ending song, and I could hear them sing along with her. For me it was time to get to work.

At 11:45 they all came upstairs to eat yesterday's leftovers. Then Randy put Sammy into the stroller and left with him at noon. He had to go to the center for a fitting of his new walking aid. Tammy hadn't eaten much, and then Emmy got up to go potty, and so neither one had dessert today. I cleaned them up and dressed them, and then we went downstairs. I could not put Emmy to bed without anyone to be with Tammy downstairs, and so they were both going to bed later.

We went downstairs, and Emmy was first to sit down so I could paint his face. He wanted to be lion. I used a picture from the internet to paint his face. Then Tammy sat down, and she wanted to be a cat. After they were done, Emmy wanted to swing, and Tammy to draw. She's really good at drawing and enjoyed filling the paper with color, while Emmy wanted me to push him all the way to the ceiling. Then Emmy came out, and Tammy wanted to swing. Emmy didn't care to draw, but he wanted me, the tiger, to chase him, the lion, and had fun doing so, until I was too tired to go on. Then we got a photobook of my childhood out and looked at it together, then we looked at a book from when they were little. At 1:15 pm I closed the book and told them it was time to go to bed. They both protested and started crying. I simply walked off, and they reluctantly followed me upstairs. I was pretty hungry by then as I had not eaten yet, but at least I had some vegetables simmering on the stove and waiting for me. I was closing the curtains and getting everything ready for them to go to bed, when Randy and Sammy returned. The kids had already gone to bed by themselves, but now were up again. Sammy also went to bed, and I sat down by all three of them.  It was 1:25 pm. Tammy wanted to be rocked, but I said no and was able to get her to lie down again and stay down, thank God. I was so hungry that I ate my food while sitting in the chair. By the time I was done eating they were already asleep and I was able to walk away and return to my computer to work. I think we need to start putting them all to bed together at a later time.

I was making good progress working with no interruptions. At 2:55 Emmy walked into the room. He had first grabbed a bag of chestnuts that he wanted to eat, and I opened it for him. Sammy woke up too, as he usually does once Emmy makes some noise, and so we all went downstairs. Randy stayed with them, and I went upstairs to work. It was getting late. At 3:35 I stopped the ocean waves, and shortly after Tammy woke up. I took her downstairs with some snacks and returned to work.

By 5 pm I was so tired I had to close my eyes. First I set a timer on my phone for 12 minutes as that was all the time I had left. Needless to say, that was way too little and a rude awakening. I went to the kitchen and started making the kids' dinner. After half an hour I was done and went downstairs to tidy up with them. Randy had already tidied up most of it, but I was able to motivate them to help me with the rest, and both Tammy and Emmy got a small coin for their piggy banks for the little they had done. Once everything looked nice, we went upstairs to eat. They all ate some, then Tammy was first to get up from the table to go potty. Emmy followed her. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued playing while eating. We got them out one after another and got them ready for bed. By 7:10 they were in bed, and I sat down by them.

It had been days since they had gone to bed this early, at their regular bed time. I rocked Tammy first, then Sammy, and then Emmy. Then I sang over them and encouraged them to sleep. I tried to leave once, but they were still awake and upset. And so I finally got my computer and sat down by them with it. That way my time was not wasted but I was able to work, and that was a really good decision. I didn't have to try to leave as quickly as possible, but simply kept working. At 8:45 I left the chair and went to the kitchen to make dinner. I sat down to eat, then returned to work. I'm planning on going to bed earlier tonight.