Day 1035. Another morning of them doing stuff they weren't supposed to, and that after a terrible night with little sleep. I don't know what was going on with Sammy who rarely cries during the night, but he did last night. And the other two also needed attention, and so my sleep was constantly interrupted. I was so very tired all day long. And frustrated and discouraged by several situations. Still, I went downstairs with them after breakfast and read a Bible story with them. As we had seen the baptism last night, I showed and told them story of Jesus being baptized. Then I gave Tammy the crayons she wanted to draw and went upstairs to clean up and then work. Because of the tough night we had gotten up an hour later than usual, and so it was already 10 am before I was able to start working on the computer.
At noon they came upstairs to eat. Thankfully I only had to warm up the soup. Both Tammy and Emmy finished their bowls - Tammy with some coaxing - and then everyone had icecream. Then they wanted me to go downstairs with them, as we have been doing. I had no desire to do so, but did it anyway because they wanted me to be with them. I wasn't gonna swing them today, though, and got the piano out as I know they love it, especially Sammy. I saw a graphic today that shows early signs of autism in children, and one is an obsession with toys. Sammy has truly been obsessed with the piano. Tammy was looking at photobooks again, while Emmy was drumming. The time until 1:30 went by fast, and Tammy was crying hard, as they had only just realized they had forgotten to do the Peppa Pig sticker book.
We went upstairs, and they went to bed, and before 1:45 they were all asleep. Instead of lying down to sleep myself, I continued working. Sammy woke up first after an hour, and Randy went downstairs with him. At 3 pm the other two woke up and walked into the room, and they went downstairs as well, while I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner-to-go boxes. Then they came upstairs, we dressed them, and left the house early just before 4 pm.
When the train arrived, we were shocked that it was once again an old train with steps, just like last night. We had never seen old trains on this line before, and now suddenly...? After the train, we took the subway and got to church just before the service started.
The kids were disappointed at first that there were no flags in the front, but then a lady brought them out, and they were happy again, picking up the streamers and experimenting with them. Emmy was doing more watching again, and Sammy wanted to play with the trash cans standing there. After half an hour they came to me asking to go upstairs, and we did.
We were not the first ones in the toddler room. I left them there and returned to the sanctuary for the second half of worship. All I could do was cry during worship. At 6:30 I went upstairs a little early. The kids were excited to see me. Emmy was playing a tambourine/drum, while Tammy proudly showed me her balloon. It wasn't long before we put their shoes back on and left.
Before we even made it to the stairs, they were already shouting "Anna" into the sanctuary and were excited to see her. She held Sammy, while the other two ran off. The service was going longer than usual today, and so we decided to leave.
On the way to the tram stop, we realized that we didn't have Tammy's rabbit, and so Randy returned to church to look for it, while I was waiting with the strollers and the kids. They were watching Peppa Pig, while eating from their lunch box. Randy returned empty-handed, and later it turned out that we had it in the stroller after all. When we got to the tram stop, the tram was coming right away, but we still missed the 7:30 train by a few minutes. And so we sat on a bench, while they continued watching. They had already finished the food in their box on the tram. Thank God it was a new train that arrived at 8 pm. 15 minutes later we were back home.
The kids were extremely tired. By 8:40 they were in bed, and surprisingly it was Emmy who fell asleep last. Then I took my computer and went downstairs to start working. A few minutes later our food delivery arrived, and we ate while finishing the movie we'd started on another weekend. Then I returned to work. Now it's later than I'd like, as we have to get up early tomorrow.
