Day 2119. Having gone to bed at 2 am, it was very tough, when my alarm went off at 7:45 am. Tammy had spent part of the night with me and had woken up and talked a few times, then she returned to her own bed. She really missed her brother who was sleeping at kindergarten. Emmy, however, had the greatest time and had no problem sleeping there with his friends. They went to sleep at 10 pm.
The four of us left the house around 8:10 to catch the 8:26 am bus, which we did. We rode two buses and got to kindergarten faster than I've ever experienced, thanks to no traffic on the road. By 8:45 am we were already there. Other kids who had not slept at kindergarten were also arriving. Some kids had only come to the movie night from 5 to 8 pm. Tammy had her ballet rehearsal, so she wasn't a part of that either.
We walked in and into the courtyard where the kids were playing, and Emmy came running up to me right away. We talked a little, and off he went again to play. Tammy was already gone playing. A few minutes later we were all called to go inside to have breakfast together. They had set up a very long table with plates and food on top, and a smaller table for kids to the side. We got the end seat for Sammy, and Emmy was one one side and I on the other, while Randy sat next to Sammy. Tammy had gone off to sit at the kids' table.
The kindergarten director spoke a few words, then their main teacher, then the children and their parents started eating. The teacher knew that we had to leave at 9:45 am. Once the kids were done eating, they went to the playcorner to play, including Sammy. Then it was time for move on. Tammy and Emmy were gonna be the first kids to officially be kicked out of kindergarten, as they're going to school in fall. The teachers handed out specially made T-shirts to all the kids that they put on. Then Tammy was the first one to come out. The two teachers were carrying her on their arms between them, then dropped her off with us, then they did the same with Tammy. As we had to go, they were looking for their good-bye present and gave them to them. It was a "school cone", an Austrian tradition for the first day of first grade. Emmy got a blue one and Tammy a yellow one. She kept saying that she wanted a pink one but they had their names written on them. Their T-shirts read that they were first graders of 2025, a reward for surviving years of kindergarten. The cone had a rocket on it that was taking off to go to school; it had "1st grade" written on it. Inside, there was candy as well as a pencil case with a ball, ruler and pencil, and their name was written on the case. However, Tammy got somebody else's so she'll have to bring it back on Monday to get hers.
Sammy was upset that he had not received anything. We needed to leave, so the kids didn't see the other kids being kicked out and are not on the group picture, unfortunately. We walked to the bus stop and got on the bus to take us to the subway, while Randy and Sammy got on the bus going the opposite diretion to go home. The three of us then got on the subway and then another subway and made it to music school in time for the 10:30 piano class.
One student was missing but there was another one who was there for a make-up class. Since the kids still had their T-shirts on and their cones in hand, it was immediately the topic of the conversation and so that icebreaker of the day was done and dusted. She did the greeting song, then the kids did the finger warm-up. Then she went straight to the last music piece of the semester. The kids had been practicing it for the past two weeks (there was no class last week). She had them sing the notes, which wasn't very easy for them, then they played them on the piano. They never had to play the left hand which is what they were better at at home.
Next she had them turn to older songs, and they played "Grandpa's Clock". After everyone had played it, she asked Emmy to the front to play it as he'll be playing it at the concert next week. He played it perfectly. Then everyone played "Brother John", then Tammy went to the front to play it in front of everyone as she'll be playing it for the concert. She also played it nearly perfectly.
It was time for them to do the two songs they'll be singing at the concert. They ran through them, then it was story time. At one point during the class Emmy had gotten pretty tired, after a short night, but by story time he was alright again. After the story, the class was over.
We walked to the subway, together with the other regular from the class, then got on the subway in the direction of home. However, we got off early to go to the McDonald's there where Randy and Sammy were already waiting for us. I ordered, then we sat down to eat and had a good time. After we were done, we all went home, where we arrived just before 1 pm.
I was extremely tired, but time was so very short. I set my timer and lay down to close my eyes. The just over 30 minutes passed way too quickly; I did not want to get up, when it went off, but I had to. I dressed Tammy in her costume for her performance and did her hair just like the teacher had asked, the typical way a ballerina has her hair. At 2 pm we left, and Emmy chose to join us, even though he could have come later together with Randy and Sammy. The show started at 4 pm, but Tammy had to be there at 2:30 - whatever for, I don't know.
The three of us rode the subway to the end, then our scooters down to where the theater was. We got there perfectly on time. I registered her, then we sat down to wait for 4 pm. We were surrounded by all the dancers and parents. After a while, Tammy's ballet teacher came by and told us that all of her students were together upstairs, in a little tent there, so we went there.
There was an empty chair and a table in the corner, so that's where we ended up. Tammy and Emmy were on their tablets for a while, while I lay my head on my arm and closed my eyes for a while. Later the teacher came by again and let us know that they were doing one dance before the break and another one after the break. She also said that the skirt's bow should be in the back.
At 3:45 pm Randy and Sammy arrived and joined us. They wanted popcorn, so we got some popcorn before going inside. Tammy and the others in her group were told to sit down on the floor together. Then we told her "good luck" and went inside the theater and took our seats. Sammy was impatient for the show to start, especially once it was late starting, but then it did.
The theme was the golden 20's as it was also the dance school's 20th anniversary year. Sammy loved the music from the first song. He's very much into music. He had his own seat but was moving around, sitting with Daddy, with me and next to Emmy. He kept asking for Tammy, and the eighth group coming to stage was hers. You could tell that she had practiced a lot; she did a great job. After the performance was over, I left the theater and went to where we/she had our stuff to go pick her up and take her inside the theater. She then got to watch the rest of the performances with us. It was interesting to see what the kids liked. Emmy really liked the hip hop dancing style and could imagine doing that. Sammy really likes hard music, with lots of beats and loud, while Tammy put her hands on her ears for that.
Then it was break time, and we left the theater and went back to their changing room. Tammy also wanted popcorn so we bought another one of the small bags, and all three ate it up quickly. When the bell rang, announcing that the break was about over, we left her there with the other dancers and went inside to sit down again. Again, Sammy was asking when Tammy was coming, but he never got impatient or bored or annoyed that the program wasn't over yet.
Tammy then did her second dance and again did great job. And again I went back there to go pick her up and bring her into the theater to our seats, where we finished watching all the performances. After the last perfomance, we sent her off to join all the other dancers as everyone was about to go up on stage to be applauded one last time. Then the show was over. We all went to the changing area where we had left Sammy's wheelchair and where we saw Tammy right away. She put her shoes on, and we left the theater to go home.
It was 6:15 pm, so the show had ended pretty close to the expected time. We were all tired, but the kids still wanted to play at the playground right there, so we let them play for a little bit. It was quite an impressive playground. They could balance and swing and try to move from one thing to the next which Emmy accomplished. There were also quite a few other kids from the show that were climbing around there. Then we soon walked on in the direction of the subway station. They stopped again when we reached the boulder wall, but we didn't stop there for long either. It was time to get home.
Just after 7 pm we were back home. I cut up fruit for them, then they went into the bathtub with the fruit and ate it there. Then we did story time, I prayed for them, and they went to bed.
I was exhausted. I went to the kitchen and got myself something to eat, then I started working on the pictures and report but didn't get very far. Even though I was so very tired, I worked until about 1:30 am.
