Day 979. Last night I was going to bed at 1:50, when I found Tammy in my bed, and so I carried her to her own bed. At 6:15 both Tammy and Emmy came running to our bed and climbed in. Unfortunately Emmy decided not to go to sleep but got up, and then Tammy joined him. That was way too early! When Randy went to the bathroom just before 7:30, he walked by them playing in the bathtub and discovered that they had squeezed out shampoo all over the place. Great! Tammy has had her eyes red and swollen all day yesterday and they still are, who knows why, and that surely doesn't help. I then got up as well, tired or not, unloaded the dishwasher and made their breakfast.
After having eaten, they went potty, and I cleaned and dressed them. Then I took them downstairs, where we read a Bible story together. Sammy was playing the big keyboard and having fun, while the other two got the puppets out. They were all playing, and so I went upstairs to work. A few minutes later Randy went downstairs to be with them.
At 11 I went to the kitchen to make the soup that was then simmering away, so I could return to my computer to work for another half hour. Just before noon they came upstairs to eat, Tammy being the first to run to me with a big smile and saying "hello!". I put the soup into their bowls, but it was burning hot, so I put it into the fridge to cool off. We took their clothes off, then everyone sat down by the table to eat. I got the bowls out of the fridge to give to them. Tammy ate everything in her bowl, and Emmy came close, but Sammy didn't want to eat at all. They all had pudding - including Sammy. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and the boys went to bed. It was 12:55. Sammy fell asleep right away today, maybe because I was away the first few minutes. Emmy wanted me to sit with him and hold his hand, and by 1:10 he was also asleep. I was able to return to my computer to work. But then Tammy already came upstairs at 1:15. It was 1:30 before she was finally in bed for good. She also wanted me to sit with her, and so I did. Ten minutes later I was able to walk away. The curtains to make the room completely dark work really well.
I was working, when Sammy already woke up at 2 pm. Randy got him and went downstairs with him. At 2:15 Emmy got up and walked into the room, and I took him downstairs as well. At 2:50 Tammy woke up, when Randy was shouting to Sammy, while changing Emmy. She wanted to lie down with me, and after a few minutes she got up to go downstairs with their snacks. For me it was high time to start the preparations for us to leave at 4 pm. I started cutting up food for the dinner-to-go boxes, picked their clothes to wear, and at 3:30 they all came upstairs to get ready. We left the house at 4:10, a little later than usual, but easily made the 4:20 train.
Emmy and Tammy sat down on seats, and so Sammy wanted to come out of the stroller as well, and I had him with me, looking out the window, and he was loving it. He was not happy, when we put him back into the stroller just before getting off. We then took the tram, where they got out again, and Randy sat with them on a double seat, while I had Sammy again. Then we pushed them up the hill to church.
We got there a few minutes before the service started and ran into Sonja right away. The kids were really happy about it, and Emmy stretched out his arms for Sonja to pick him up, and she did. We walked into the sanctuary and to our regular spot, then Sonja left us. The kids went to the front to get some bands and fabric to dance with. I took Sammy and sat down with him on the steps and gave him some fabric first, and then a band. The kids all had bands, and they're getting better at using them. They were having fun, and started moving around. Tammy tried to walk up a staircase, and we had to keep her from doing it. Sammy wanted to crawl up the stairs, and he was determined, and I tried to help him. Emmy already wanted to go upstairs to the toddler room, but it was only 5:15, and 5:30 is the earliest to go upstairs. I threw him around a little bit to have fun with him and distract him. At 5:30 we took their food boxes and made our way to the staircase and up to the toddler room.
We were the first ones in the room. I set their food boxes on the table, and Randy went back downstairs to the service. I put Sammy by the toy cars he enjoys so much, and it was Emmy who started pushing cars around. Tammy went to the toy kitchen to cook and pick up food, as well as a baby and a stroller. Sammy soon headed to the slide, as he spotted another staircase. I guess he was determined to conquer a staircase tonight. I made a video of him trying all by himself to go up those stairs, but they were higher than what he was used to from his practice sessions, and so he needed just a little bit of help with him. He went up those stairs twice, then slid down the slide on his belly. He was smiling and laughing the whole time. Then he saw the workbench and wanted to play there, and I held him up so he could play. Tammy was in the book corner looking through books.
I then took him to the table to give him some food, and he ate a little. The other two also came at some point and even sat down to eat a little. Then it was time for the program. We did the starting song with actions, and both Tammy and Emmy participated. Then we did the individual greeting song with the hand puppet hedgehog giving everyone a kiss. Tammy even hugged it. Then they got a Bible, and we sang the Bible song. And then the Mom started her teaching. She did the story of Zacchaeus, acting it out, and did a great job. One picture shows Emmy staring with his mouth open, as she was acting. She handed out cards that represented money, and showed them what Zacchaeus had done to the people. After her teaching, she wanted everyone to hold hands and then prayed. Emmy was on the opposite side of the group, but Tammy and Sammy were holding hands. Then she said that anyone who wanted to could color the money, and so the kids sat down at the table to color. Sammy joined them as well, but then he spotted the box in the shelf and wanted to sit by it, then stand up. He ended up playing with what was in the shelf above it and even crawled into it. Randy arrived and changed Tammy's diaper, and then it was time for us to leave. We put their shoes back on and left to go back downstairs to the sanctuary.
And they could see Anna from the stop of the stairs already. I had Sammy and reached the bottom with him first and took him to Anna right away. He was really happy to see her and had actually already asked about her earlier in the day. The other two also ran to greet her, and Anna had fun with all three of them. Since the service was running really late today, we made our way to the exit, where we put their coats on and where they played some more with Anna. I heard Sonja's name a few times but told them she was busy and not available right now. Thankfully they had already seen her before the service. And so we said good-bye and left to walk to the tram stop.
It was still warm, but with the sun disappearing, it had cooled off. We still had a number of minutes to wait for the tram, and I got their lunchbox out so they could eat some more. And they asked to watch Peppa Pig, which I turned on on the tram. Sammy was a little cranky being with Daddy and away from us, but Randy aws able to keep it to a minimum. Once we got off at the train station, we still had 25 minutes to wait, with the previous train just having left, and of course they wanted to continue watching Peppa. And they also continued eating from their lunch box, and then continued all that on the train that arrived at 8 pm. By 8:15 we were home.
We undressed them, washed them and got them ready for bed, and by 8:45 they were all in bed. Our food had arrived just before that. I sat down by their beds, and Tammy still wanted to lay down on me, but kept it short. Then Emmy also wanted to be rocked, and we kept it short as well. Sammy was asleep first, then Tammy, but Emmy still complained, when I tried to get up and leave. And so I told him I'd get my computer and work right by him, and a few minutes into that he was finally asleep, and I could walk away. It was some time after 9 pm.
I went downstairs, where Randy was already waiting for me. We turned a good movie on and started eating. Halfway through thte movie we stopped it to be continued next week. I still had plenty of work to be done and had to get going. Now it's after midnight, and my eyes fall shut while typing, and I was not able to finish it all tonight.
