6 years 1 month 26 days

Day 2248. On Sunday morning I was able to sleep once Randy had gone downstairs with the kids. At 11 am I got up to cook lunch, and we sat down to eat before it was even noon. At 12:30 pm Randy left with Tammy and Emmy to take them to their maths club that started at 1 pm and was back home by 1:30 pm. At 2 pm I left to pick them up at 2:30 pm.

It was a cool day but beautifully sunny. When I got to their school a few minutes before their class was over, I was glad when they let me in this time so that I could watch them the last five minutes. They always do the memory exercises at the end, where the teacher flashes an abascus number on the screen, and the kids have to be able to say what number it was. Every time nearly all the kids' hands went up, and I saw Tammy at the board twice and Emmy once. Then the class was over, and we left.

Emmy asked to go to the little playground right there, and as we had time, we did. Then we kept walking and got to the bigger area with boulder walls and other exercise equipment. The kids were really excited. Tammy went straight for the climbing walls while Emmy went to the bars. After fifteen minutes we left to walk to the subway and go home.

I was really glad we had already gone to church on Saturday so that we got to have some time at home for a change. I really needed a few hours at home without teaching. I did some work on the computer and piano practice with the kids, plus helping the kids do other stuff. Later that night, I received a request from a potential student and arranged for a 10 am meeting the next morning.

On Monday week 8 of school started for the kids. It was a regular morning. First alarm at 6:15 am for Randy to get up and make breakfast. Second alarm at 6:45 am for the kids to get up if they are not already plus for me to get up to get their snack boxes ready for break time at school and make Tammy's hair. Just after 7 am Randy leaves with Tammy and Emmy to take them to school, while Sammy occupies himself or keeps me from sleeping. Third alarm at 7:55 am for me to get up and dress Sammy and put him in his wheelchair, ready to go to school. Around 8:15 am Randy returns and then takes Sammy to his school, while I go back to bed. My fourth alarm depends on my morning's schedule. On Monday it was at 9:30 am because of my 10 am meeting. And the meeting went well so that I now have a new private student, praise God! However, my Zoom wasn't working which was very concerning. I could not figure it out. Only in the evening did I find out it was a worldwide outage of Amazon services affecting many websites/businesses. I had wasted all that time trying to find a solution and contacting customer service and worrying how to do my next student - all for nothing. I needed to get to the gym as one way of letting go of the frustration plus I hadn't made it there last week. I left the house at 12:15 pm and got there at 12:30 pm. At 1:30 pm I picked up Sammy which is just one subway stop from there. I was told that the whole school had come together to sing songs together and was even sent some pictures and videos. At 2:30 pm Randy and the other kids returned home. At 3 pm I started teaching; Zoom was working again.

When I finished 50 minutes later, I left right away with Tammy and Emmy to take them to their programming class. Randy stayed home with Sammy. 

We rode two subways, doing their reading practice, then walked to the premises of the computer club. We got there early, and I left them there and walked to the nearby McDonald's to work on my computer that I had brought with me. After just over an hour, I packed up and walked back to their class to go in for the last few minutes and find out what they had done. They had done more programming on the computer; I've really been waiting for them to start with electric circuits.

At 6 pm the class was over, and we left and walked back to the subway while they were eating their sandwiches. By 6:30 pm we were back home, and they immediately sat down at the computer to join the online sing-along from their music school that had started fifteen minutes earlier. Sammy was delighted when it was his very own music teacher that was doing the online class this time. What she was doing was really for younger kids but perfect for Sammy. As for me, I went to the kitchen to cut up their fruit for them and gave them their plates while they were doing the sing-along. Then it was bathub time, piano practice, story time, prayer time and bed time. They went to bed at 8 pm, while I sat down at the computer to teach. And I was even more tired than usual, exhausted really, but got a boost of energy from teaching.

This morning Sammy once again would not let me sleep between 7 and 8 am. I then got up and go thim ready, and Randy left with him. Instead of lying back down as usual, I got dressed and left the house at 8:30 am. I had planned for a while to go to my GP for a check-up but had always been too tired or something else going on. Her office was opening at 9 am so my goal was to be there right at that time to have my blood drawn. I was so tired. 

I got there 5 minutes early but the doors were already open and a line of people waiting at the check-in desk. I put my name in and sat down. Eventually I was called, my blood was drawn, blood pressure measured and an ECG done as well. I was already rather antsy because my first lession with my new student was scheduled for 10 am. However, it was 9:45 am when I left there, and I got home at 10:15 am. Thankfully I had been able to move my lesson to 10:30 am, and we had a great first lesson.

But I was so very tired by the time I was done at 11:30. However, it was time to cook lunch. Then I sat down to eat and relax. All I wanted to do was to get some sleep but I never took the time to close my eyes. Just before 1:30 pm I left to go pick up Sammy.

When I got to his school, he was sitting in a swing together with another girl, and he was obviously having fun. I took some pictures. Then he got off and into his wheelchair, and we went home where he sat down to watch videos on the projector, eat kitkat and drink icetea.

At 2:30 pm Randy returned with the other kids. There is often drama between Tammy and Emmy, with them fighting and rushing to me to tell me what the other had done. Today it was like that too. At 3 pm Randy left with Emmy to take him to his soccer class while Tammy was playing with Sammy while I was teaching. When I finished at 3:50 pm, Tammy was upset with Sammy and wanted nothing to do with him. But we didn't have time for that as we needed to get going.

We left the house and walked to the nearby bus stop and got on the bus. Tammy was doing her reading practice on the bus with me. Then we got off and walked quite a bit to the school where Emmy was in his soccer class. He came out a few minutes later, and together we walked back to the main road. Emmy had received a few pieces of candy from someone in his class and wouldn't share it with his sister, but he did give one to Sammy. That really upset Tammy a lot; she was mad at Emmy and crying. Once at the main road, Tammy went with Randy to the bus stop going one way, while I crossed the street with the boys to go the other way. Emmy did his reading practice riding the bus and then the subway home.

By 5:15 pm we were back home, but we needed to leave again 5 minutes later. I just had to pick up my cards, then we walked back to the subway to ride it for two stops. After we had gotten off, we went to the pharmacy there for me to pick up a medication. While waiting in line, Emmy saw a little unicorn animal that you can heat up to give to little kids. He said he wanted to get it to make up with Tammy who he had upset so much. I thought that was extremely sweet and bought it so he could give it to her. Then we picked up the bread and took the subway back home. 

At home there was big drama with Sammy who is used to getting his way but in the end I was able to resolve it in a satisfactory manner.  I cut up fruit and gave it to them to eat, then we went downstairs so Emmy could do his piano practice. Sammy wanted to go downstairs too and started going down step by step the way he always does, with me always under him to be there should he need help. He was sliding faster than usual and laughing, but suddenly he slid about 3 steps without stopping and only stopped because I stopped him. And he wasn't laughing any more, he was crying. He had hurt his chin, getting it bloody from bumping against the stairs. I tried to comfort him but he wouldn't be comforted for the longest time. Thankfully Randy and Tammy returned a few minutes later, and Daddy took Sammy to comfort him, while I did piano practice with the other two.

Then we went upstairs, and Emmy gave Tammy his special gift. Tammy was so moved that she had tears running down her cheeks and hugged her brother telling him he could take the unicorn any time he wanted to. Emmy liked her reaction. However, things soon turned ugly again, with Emmy taking the unicorn away from her, hurting his sister deeply. Emmy was upset, and Tammy needed comforting. I took her into my arms and told her the story of a special little girl that she knew was herself. She enjoyed the story; it was just what she had needed. She was all mellow, telling me over and over how much she loved me, then she went to bed. I walked over to Emmy to also pray for him after I had already prayed for the others then I sat down at the computer for my 8 pm student. When I heard Emmy cry, I interrupted my lesson to go to him and comfort him, then he went to bed.

At 9 pm I was done teaching and glad from some relaxation time. I was more awake than I'd been all day and finally decided to start writing up the last few days. And that's why it's 1 am now, meaning I'll be tired again tomorrow.