32 months 23 days

Day 996. Last night I went to bed just after midnight. Randy had convinced Emmy to lie down in my bed, where we had fallen asleep, so I had to carry him back to his bed first. As usual, Tammy joined us some time in the course of the night and slept between us. Emmy came way too early, somewhere around 6:30, lay down next to me for a few minutes, and then was up for good. He was playing alone for quite some time, until his sister was up and joined him. They're always getting into mischief, and today they squeezed toothpaste out over themselves and the floor. Just before 8 am I got up.

I got Sammy out of his bed and put him on the floor to play, then emptied the dishwasher. Since they eat so little that their plates are full, when they leave the table, I asked them what they wanted to it. They both wanted a piece of plain bread as well as plain yogurt. Emmy never touched his oatmeal, while Tammy ate quite a lot of it, and they both ate some of the fruit in the box between them. Once they were done they went potty, then we cleaned them up and dressed them and went downstairs. I got the Bible out, and we read a story together. Tammy wanted to draw, and so I got the paper and crayons out. Emmy wanted to drum. Then I left them to go upstairs to work, and Randy went downstairs to be with them.

I sat down at the computer to work. It was Paul's birthday, and so I called him in Mali, which he really appreciated. Just after 10 am I went to the kitchen to make a casserole for lunch. Once it was in the oven, I returned to work. At noon they came upstairs to eat. Today nobody ate much for some reason, though they usually really like it. They had dessert, got cleaned up, went potty, then we dressed them and took them downtairs, where Randy stayed with them another half hour, while I went back to work. Just before 1:30 they came upstairs and went to bed. Today it took a little longer, until 1:50, before I was able to walk away and return to work.

Randy came to ask me a question, and us talking was enough for them to wake up. Within minutes all three were up. It was 2:50. And so we all went downstairs, together with their snacks. Their music class was canceled because their teacher was sick, so we were not going anywhere. I left them downstairs and returned to my computer to work. In the course of the afternoon the headache I had got worse and worse. I responded a few times to kids crying downstairs, and let them watch Peppa Pig for half an hour. At 5:30 I went to the kitchen to make their dinner. The headache was so bad it was hard to do. At 6 pm they came upstairs to eat. Instead of sitting with them and feeding Sammy, I lay down in bed at first. Randy gave me some headache medication, and when Sammy kept asking for me, I made myself get up and do my job. Soon Tammy and Emmy got up, went potty and then into the bathtub. Sammy needs a little more time to eat and is smarter eating more at the table now that there is no food in the bathtub, and so he was the last one to join his siblings in the bathtub. They were having fun, role-playing with me, then came out one after another, and we got them ready for bed. Just after 7 pm they were all in bed.

I sat down by them and had to go through the usual rocking, no rocking, holding hands ritual/ordeal with jealousy, tears, getting up instead of lying down etc. Not easy when you're not feeling well. But their afternoon nap had been short, and by 7:50 they were asleep, and I could walk away. I went to the kitchen to make something to eat, ate, and then went back to work. I was thankful the headache medication had done its job so that I was feeling better and had an easier time working.