32 months 29 days

Day 1002. Last night I headed to bed at 12:40 am. I successfully moved Emmy to his own bed, as he was sleeping in my bed, waiting for me. Tammy joined us some time during the night and slept between us. Emmy came at 7:50 am, woke his sister up, and then they were playing together. At 8:20 I got up as well, which was pretty late, given that the cleaning lady was coming at 9 am. I emptied the dishwasher and made their breakfast, we sat down to eat, and they were soon up on their feet. When the doorbell rang, it was over. They knew it was the cleaning lady and welcomed her at the door. I had to quickly get them cleaned up and dressed, so that she could work upstairs. Then we all went downstairs, where they stayed with Randy, while I went back upstairs to put stuff away so the cleaning lady could do her job. And then my phone rang. I could see that it was my dentist, who I had sent an email last night. I picked up and was told that I could come right away, outside of regular office hours. It was about 9:30 by then. After 24h of intense pain I wasn't gonna wait another day. The train was leavin at 9:50, so I had a few minutes to get ready. I put a lasagna in the oven with a timer, so they could eat without me, and a few minutes later I left.

My dentist is a long way from where we live, and was even before. I had to take two trains to get there, which actually took less time than I had expected. I already arrived there at 10:30. There were two other people in the waiting room. I didn't have to wait long before I was called in for the x-ray, but it wasn't very easy to get that tooth in the back on the picture. Then I went straight into the treatment room, where the doctor soon came to me. He said that it was not the tooth I had thought. He did the coldness test, and the tooth that was dying could not tell it was cold. He had to do a root canal, which takes several sessions in Austria. I asked for a shot so I would not feel any pain, and while he thought I didn't need it, he gave it to me anyway. When he opened up the tooth, you could smell that it was the one. He started cleaning it out, and to my greatest surprise, it hurt like crazy. It was infected, and he had to remove all the bad stuff. I still don't understand why I could feel the pain even with the local anesthesia. I made an appointment for next time, and asked at what age the kids should come for the first time. She said I could bring them along, so they'd see there's nothing to be afraid of.

At 11:15 I left and walked all the way back to the train station. I then took the two trains back home, where I arrived at 12:15. I was very surprised to find that they were all downstairs and not at the table eating, as I had expected. I found out that the lasagna had not cooked. The cleaning lady must have pushed the buttons on the oven and accidentally turned the timer off. Randy was giving them snacks downstairs. The cleaning lady was on her way downstairs, and Randy and the kids came upstairs. He said that they didn't need any food, only desserts. I hadn't eaten anything yet all day and got some bread with cheese. I also got the icecream out for the kids, as well as their pudding. They all had some, then they got up, and we dressed them again. With the cleaning lady downstairs, they couldn't go downstairs as usual to play until 1:30. So they were playing upstairs. At 1 pm we put them to bed, which was earlier than we've been doing, and they did not appreciate it, most of all Emmy. He was giving me a really hard time. At 2 pm Randy took my place, and some time later he finally fell asleep.

I was so tired that I closed my eyes at 2:05, even though I had work to do. I was surprised that it was 3:05, when I woke up, and so I only had a few minutes left before we had to leave. Emmy woke up, then Tammy, and I quickly put their shoes on and put them into the stroller. Randy's test result had STILL not come in, and so he stayed home with Sammy. Sigh. We left a little late just after 3:20 pm. I was so tired, and had not had a chance to work all day, so that I had no desire at all to go to that class, which was the first time ever, but I did it for their sakes. They're missing the next two sessions anyway because of our trip to Mexico. It's just a shame that Sammy has to miss all these classes because he has to stay home with the parent in quarantine.

We took the subway, then walked to the bus stop, and after riding the bus, we walked the rest of the way to the dance school, and got there a few minutes before the class was to start. I parked the stroller, and up we went the stairs to go to the room their class was in. First they took their shoes off, then we went in. The teacher was the only one there, and no other kids ever showed up today. It was a private class for our two! And it went really well, better than it has been, as the kids participated more and went off on their own less. They did the usual songs, plus one new one that they had done last week already, when Randy had come to class with them. The teacher got the fabric out, which they always enjoy, and did a couple of things with it. It was really cute, when Emmy said several times during the class that he already knew a song. Emmy is the one that is more vocal and always at the center of attention, more than his sister.

After 45 minutes the class was over, and we said our good-byes, letting the teacher know we'd be back in 3 weeks. I put their shoes back on, and we went back downstairs. It's a big, glass staircase that I took a picture of today. The kids did not want any help walking down. They went back into the stroller, and we left.

Walking to the bus stop we walked right by the grocery store. We still had not found a cantaloupe, and the kids wanted to go inside, so I decided we'd do a quick trip to see whether they had any. They did not, but we picked up a few other item. The kids are starting to become professionals at grocery shopping! They did stay in the stroller today, which helped. We checked out, and continued on to the bus stop. After a few minutes the bus arrived, and we got on. Emmy wanted to watch Peppa Pig, but I told him no because they had not behaved well. They were looking at the pictures  in the free newspaper and enjoying them. We got off and walked to the subway, then got on to ride the few stops home. I was thankful - and surprised - that they were not throwing fits because I would not let them watch Peppa.

At 5:45 pm we were back home. The kids went downstairs right away to join their Daddy and brother, while I went to work making their dinner. It was just after 6 pm, when they came upstairs to eat. They were not very eager to sit down and eat, probably because of too many snacks on the road. They finally did sit down, and I tried to feed Sammy, who was also not very hungry. It didn't take long before Tammy and Emmy got up to go potty and then into the bathtub. Sammy was the last one to join them. They were having fun in the bathtub and playing, then they came out one after another, and we got them ready for bed. It was about 7:15, when they were all in bed. Tammy wanted to be rocked, as usual, then she went back to bed. I had a headache, and the kids being wound up and not calming down didn't help. But little did I know that this was only the beginning of tonight's ordeal of trying to get Emmy to sleep! It took us until 9:30 tonight, that is over two hours! He was simply wide awake and would not fall asleep. I tried to walk away a few times, but he'd cry for me, even when Randy took my place. At 9 pm I finally left to eat my soup, and I just let him cry. Randy then let him watch a Christian video with him, which got him to stop crying. After having eaten I returned and put him to bed, but then he wanted Daddy, not me. I have found a way to overcome that hurdle thankfully, and it always works. I asked him with a sad voice if he didn't love Mommy. He said he did and lay down on my chest. After a few minutes I put him to bed, and by 9:30 he was FINALLY asleep. Sammy had also fallen back asleep, after Emmy's crying had woken him up. And I was finally able to go to work after not having had any time all day long!