Day 977. Last night I went to bed at 1 am. Tammy joined us at some time during the night, Emmy came in the early morning hours, at 6 am. He was up for good around 7 am. Sammy slept longer today, starting to cry later. Tammy joined her brother playing and pulling stuff off shelves. It was already 8:15, when we all got up.
I made breakfast, and both Tammy and Emmy wanted plain bread with nothing on it. Then we sat down at the table to eat. They had bread, watermelon, cantaloupe, and Daddy's oatmeal. Then it was time to clean them up and dress them. They love putting socks on themselves, and the sock drawer is accessible to them. They pull out a lot of socks to find some they like, and today they were fighting over socks, as Tammy kept taking Emmy's "boy socks" away from him. After everyone was ready, we went downstairs, where I read a Bible story to them. In the meantime Randy got ready to leave for the grocery store. He had not been able to get everything yesterday, plus there were some sales on today. I was hoping he would not be gone too long. I turned my computer on, hoping to be able to work while they were playing. But Tammy was already crying and wanted me to hold her because I had said no to watching Peppa Pig, so I was done to one hand only. Then they started playing, but kept coming back to me. Then Sammy came to me and wanted me to hold him, so I was down to one hand again. Then I put him into the baby swing and I had both my hands again. At 10:30 Randy walked into the room. Tammy asked him whether he had bought watermelon and he said no. But then he said he bought TWO watermelons and Tammy cheered for joy. I took my computer and went upstairs to work in peace. It was already 10:40, so I did not have much time.
At 11:30 I went to the kitchen to cook. At noon they came upstairs, and we sat down to eat. They all ate pretty well, then had pudding. Then it was time to clean them up and dress them. Tammy and Emmy went potty first. Emmy wanted me to help him pull his pants and socks of. I wanted to sit him down, and he somehow slipped and accidentally hit his head on the floor. I could not prevent it. I immediately grabbed him and comforted him and apologized and prayed for him. He got more gummybears for having gone potty as restitution.
By 12:40 the boys were in bed, and Randy was going downstairs with Tammy. I was still putting away a few things in the kitchen, and was surprised not to hear Emmy calling me to come to his side. That was highly unusual. It was even more unusual that he was actually asleep, when I finally did go to check on him. He never falls asleep this fast, and especially not in recent times. It puzzlied me so much that it got me worried about the extent of the severeness of his fall. I went downstairs to tell Randy, who then went upstairs to shine a light into his eyes to see whether they dilate, i.e. whether he has a concussion or not. I stayed with Tammy, reading a book with her. I never heard any crying from Randy waking him up, which also worried me. Randy returned saying that he was fine. Then he said that he wanted to run to the other grocery store to get a few items on sale there. And so I stayed downstairs with Tammy, and we continued reading the book. Once we were done, I suggested we'd go upstairs so she could go to bed. She wasn't too excited. I said I'd carry her on my shoulders, and that was enough for her to want to go. And so I put her on my shoulders and carried her to her bed. It was 1:15 pm, so a little earlier than usual. I stayed with her, and she was asleep ten minutes later. I was able to return to work earlier than usual.
A little while later I unexpectedly fell asleep and suddenly woke up. I then got more comfortable and closed my eyes again. At 2:30 Sammy woke up. and I got up to get him. I was just walking to the kitchen to hand Sammy to Randy who was also asleep, when Emmy woke up and jumped out of bed. I put Sammy on the floor, picked up Emmy and lay down with him. He was resting on me, and I wondered whether he was gonna back to sleep. Sammy had meanwhile crawled to Daddy and wanted him to pick him up, but he was still waking up first. His unhappy whining woke up Tammy who came running to me, so I moved Emmy to my side and put her up as well. She was still half-asleep and had her eyes closed lying on me. She probably would have fallen back asleep, but Emmy got up after a few minutes, saying he wanted to go downstairs to Daddy, and so Tammy got up as well, and I took them both downstairs, together with snacks.
I returned upstairs to work. The kids, especially Emmy, had been talking about going to the playground and it was a nice, warm, sunny day. And so I soon asked them to come upstairs to get dressed, so we could go there. We left the house at 3:45 with the single stroller and a tricycle. The kids were fighting over who got to ride the tricycle, and we finally agreed that Emmy was riding it there and Tammy back home. Of course Emmy was really upset, when Tammy got on to ride home and he had to go into the stroller. Sammy was alone in the stroller at first, standing and facing me as he likes doing, but after having walked a while Tammy also got in with him.
We got to the playground at 4 pm and stayed 70 minutes, and they had lots of fun. I could really see a difference to last year, when they were smaller. We first went to the smallest slide, where they were having fun going up and down. I had Sammy for most of the time today. I put him on his knees there, then he went up. I thought he might crawl up the incline all the way to Daddy, but he didn't. He put his head down and had all the sand in his mouth and face, but didn't mind. He was actually making fun of it and smiling, while trying to spit it out. Then he went into the swing, after having waited for it to become available, and he greatly enjoyed it. In the meantime the other two were see-sawing on the seats on springs.
Then we all went to the medium-sized slide. Emmy walked up on the log with Daddy's help, the others used the net to climb up. They're good at it, especially Tammy who has more confidence than Emmy. Sammy also loves climbing up the net. Then they moved on to the biggest slide for kids older than them. However, there were some parents with small kids there, climbing up with them and sliding down together with them. Tammy wanted to go up, and so I helped her. Up there I was not going to be able to, but another Mom was still there. In any case Tammy did not need any help. The slide was high, long and fast, and Tammy loved it. Emmy wanted to go up as well, but then he was scared once he had reached the top and didn't know how to get to the slide. The Mom up there offered to help, and so she helped him to the slide, and then Emmy happily slid down. He did the same thing again a second time, but then the Mom had to leave. And so I had no choice but to climb up the net. Then I simply told Emmy what to do, and to follow his sister, and he managed to go to the slide himself.
Finally they went to the swings. Sammy was alone in the circular one, and I pushed him really hight, and he was laughing because he was enjoying it so much. His siblings also joined him for a little bit, but then moved on to the big-kid swings. They wanted me to push them really high. Emmy got off, but Tammy kept going, and then Emmy spotted some older boys who were playing and went over there to join them. He wanted to play with them, but they had no interest of course, and Randy had to pull him away. It was 5:10 pm, and so we decided it was time to go back home. Tammy was excited to go on the tricycle, I put Sammy standing up into the stroller, and then Emmy was upset about being put into the stroller as well. Then we started our 15-minute walk back home, where we arrived at 5:25. Today a box with handpuppets arrived, the ones they saw in the theater, and Emmy had been eyeing the box all scared since it was delivered at lunch time. He told me not to open it because he was scared. Once we got back home, he saw the box again. From time to time he'd say to open it, but then he'd immediately said to keep it closed. They all went downstairs, where they wanted to watch Peppa Pig, of course, and I turned it on for them, then went upstairs to make their dinner. At 6 pm they came upstairs to eat. They sat down at the dining room table, ate some, then went potty before going into the bathtub. I took the rest of their food there, and they ate some, while playing. Then we got them out one after another and they went to bed. By 7:15 they were all in bed.
I sat down by them, and Tammy soon went to bed. They didn't even talk like usual, which gave me hope that they were going to sleep fast. They sure seemed tired. By 7:40 I left to go to the kitchen, but had to come back as Emmy wanted me; the other two were already asleep. I then left at 8 pm for good to go make my food. I took it downstairs, ate, and then went back to work. At one point during the evening Emmy woke up and wanted me. Randy tried to comfort him and get him to sleep again, but to no avail, and so I had to go upstairs and sit down with him. I held his hand for a while, and he fell back asleep. And so I returned to work downstairs, and ended up working long, until after midnight.
