Day 982. Last night I went to bed at 12:15 am. However, for some reason I couldn't fall asleep. And then Emmy came. I held him for a few minutes, then he was willing to walk back to his bed. Tammy joined us some time during the night. Emmy came in the early morning hours but never went to sleep. They got up at 7:45, and five minutes later so did we. I was surprised that Sammy was still asleep and let him sleep. After Randy had changed the other twos' diapers, he woke Sammy up to change his.
We sat down to eat breakfast, then we cleaned them up and dressed them. I took them downstairs to read a Bible story, but they were asking to have their faces painted, and so I got the facepaint crayons that had just arrived and started giving them tiger faces. I had just started on Emmy's face, when the Mobile Support lady arrived. I finished with Emmy, and so we had two scary tigers around. The lady then did the starting song with the kids, while I went upstairs to work. She always stays for 90 minutes. At 11:20 I went to the kitchen to cook.
Just before noon they all came upstairs, and we sat down at the table to eat. Tammy ate nearly everything, and Sammy also ate well. Then they all had pudding. We cleaned them up and dressed them, and by 12:35 the boys were in bed. I sat down by them, while Randy went downstairs with Tammy. They were both very active, and I was wondering when they would fall asleep. It took until 1:15 before I could walk away! Ten minutes later Tammy came upstairs and was in bed by 1:30, and of course she wanted me to sit with her too. After a few minutes I was able to leave and to return to work. It wasn't even 2 pm, when Sammy was already awake again and fussing so much that we had to get him out. Randy went downstairs with him. At 2:05 Emmy already got up after also less than an hour of sleep, and I took him downstairs to the other boys. At 2:25 I could not go on any longer and closed my eyes. 15 minutes later both Tammy and I got woken up, when Randy called upstairs to us. Emmy had claimed that I had called them. I picked up Tammy and lay down with her, but she was soon on her feet, got some squeezies for everyone, and then I took her downstairs to her siblings.
At 3:15 they all came back upstairs, we dressed them, and left the house just after 3:30. It was another warm day, but there were dark clouds and rain was possible. It did rain a little after the class. We took the subway for two stops, then had quite a walk ahead of us. We reached the school just before the class was to start. Most students were already sitting in there and waiting. We took their shoes off and went inside as well.
The teacher had a rabbit today, and Emmy ran to her to get it. Everyone was laughing. Emmy then got to start and choose what he wanted to do during the greeting song. He wanted to drum, and so everyone drummed on the floor. Then it was Sammy's turn, who I picked jumping for, then Tammy who wanted to stomp. Then Tammy handed the rabbit to another kid.
I liked the class a lot more today than the first one last week. No drawing, and at one point she got different instruments out that they all got to try out. She had everyone walk from station to station, i.e. instrument, and then play it for a while, before moving on. That was the highlight of the class today. The kids were all a little cranky at different times, but overall it all went well. The class was over in no time at all. The teacher did a good-bye song, and we left. We put their shoes back on, and jackets, and left the school to go back home.
We started our long walk to the subway and had to put their roofs over their heads unless we were walking under trees that kept the rain away. They were hungry and ate chestnuts, sausage and squeezies, which explains why they ate so little for dinner tonight. They wanted to watch Peppa on the subway but it was only two stops, and I told them they could watch back home.
At 5:15 we were back home. We took their coats and shoes off, and they were ready to go downstairs and watch. I asked them if they wanted to watch Kasperl (puppets), and it was a resounding yes. So I found it and turned it on. Then I went upstairs to make dinner. I was about done making it, when I heard that the Kasperl show was about to end. I went downstairs and turned it off, and the kids started crying, especially Emmy. I picked him up to comfort him and told him the food was ready and that we were going upstairs. He then said that there was no crocodile in the show, and he'd been waiting to see the crocodile. He was really disappointed. I told him that maybe next time the crocodile would be back.
We went upstairs, took their clothes off, and encouraged them to sit down to eat. Tammy said she was tired and went to bed - for a few seconds - before she finally ended up in her seat. Emmy wanted me to pick him up again, and then to sit in my lap rather than his chair. And so Emmy sat on my right leg eating, while I was feeding Sammy to my left. Tammy had hardly eaten anything, when she got up and went potty. After a while Emmy also got up and went potty. Randy came to get Sammy once he had stopped eating. There was a lot of food left to put on a common plate. And I had decided to take the cake to the bathtub as well, so they would not eat it once they were supposed to go to bed, dragging that out that way. That way brushing their teeth also came AFTER eating cake.
They were having fun in the bathtub while eating. However, none of them ate as much as usual. Sammy, who was wild and having lots of fun, came out of the water first, then his brother and then Tammy. I don't know how that happened, but it was only 6:55 by the time they were all in bed. I sat down by them, Tammy lay down on my chest and stayed there for a little while. Then she went to bed. I sang over them, then Emmy suddenly wanted to be rocked as well. He crawled onto my chest, but then Sammy got upset and wanted to be rocked as well. After a short time I put Emmy back to bed and picked up Sammy to rock him for a few minutes. By that time Tammy also wanted to be rocked - a second time - and was crying hard, when I said no. I put Sammy back to bed, but refused to pick up Tammy a second time. I was able to calm her down while staying in her own bed. I tried to walk away a few times, but it was 7:45 before I was able to do so. I got myself something to eat, sat down to eat, then went back to work. By 1 pm I was getting so tired my eyes were falling shut while writing. It was time to go to bed.
