20 months 29 days

Day 638. Today was a tough day. It seemed that they were all crying all day long. And it was just the five of us, and we did not leave the house, as it was a cold and rainy day.

Last night it was after 1:30 before I made it to bed; too late really. That's probably why I didn't wake up until 8:30 before I heard them whine and call for us. I made their breakfast, and after eating I took them downstairs where I waited until Randy came with his breakfast to take my place.

I went upstairs, cleaned up and then sat down to do office work. I close my door so I don't hear them cry, but I still hear them, and it seemed that the crying was non-stop. When I stopped working to cook, I finally did go downstairs, where all three were crying, and they stopped, when I held them. I decided to take Sammy upstairs with me, knowing he'd be fine with me, but I also knew that Tammy and Emmy would be upset about me leaving again.

At first I had Sammy in the baby swing, where he could watch me cook. Then I put him on the floor and gave him stuff to explore. I gave him an apple, and he actually bit a few bites off.

At 11:30 the others came upstairs as well, and we sat down to eat. They ate salmon with potatoes and vegetables, and liked it. It's practical with three kids, as one adult portion is just the right amount for the three of them. As dessert they had watermelon and yoghurt as always, and I got some apple sauce out as I didn't have fresh grated apple left over from last night. I also opened a vanilla pudding for kids that they really liked. Their first one ever.

After cleaning them up and dressing them, I went downstairs with Tammy and Emmy. I keep putting their books back on the shelf that they keep pulling off. We sat down and read books together, while waiting for Daddy to come. He put Sammy to bed and then came downstairs; by then it was so late that I took Emmy upstairs with me to put him to bed. Today I did not stay with him until he fell asleep, but went straight to work cleaning up, givent he late hour, and he fell asleep by himself, which just took a few minutes longer. Then I put Tammy to bed, and it was already after 1 pm. She played happily by herself until also falling asleep.

It's always Emmy who wakes up first, crying so that one of us comes to hold him, and he usually wakes up Sammy. I lay down with Emmy, but he did not go back to sleep. He finally went downstairs with Randy, and I picked up Sammy and took him downstairs as well. I ended up staying downstairs with the boys, while Randy went upstairs, but it didn't take long before the girl woke up as well, and so we all went up for the afternoon meal.

The more they are distracted while eating, the better they eat. Today they ate their whole jar (they share one), which they hadn't done in a while, as they had toys they were playing with. Then I went to get what I had prepared while they were sleeping - bread, peanut butter, and fruit - and they ate that too. Then I took them downstairs, waited for Randy and Sammy, and left to use the little time left to work. Of course they cried again, when I left, especially Emmy. I did the cleanup and finished a project doing office work, and then went back downstairs, where I had a little less than an hour to play with them.

We were mainly reading books, but everyone was also in the swing at some point. One time all three were crying, and I called Randy to come back downstairs to help. I was grateful, when he stayed.

The kids like crawling throug the one shelf where they have access to both sides, and now they can nearly get out all by themselves. I still gave them a hand to get out all the way. They enjoyed it so much, they kept doing it over and over again, and I applauded for them, so they did too,. As for Sammy, he just wants to stand all the time, but needs us to do so as he cannot stand up by himself, and so he gets upset when we're not available to help him stand.

Yesterday, just before we left for church, Emmy was running around and slipped and fell against a door post. He had quite a cut on his forehead and was bleeding, so I disinfected him and put a bandaid on - his first ever. After every meal, I take them to the bathroom and the sink to clean them up under running water. Every time I did that today, he saw the bandaid on his head in the mirror and started crying and saiyng the German word for when you're hurt. I finally took the bandaid off tonight, so he doesn't get upset by it any more. That German word "aua" is said by them a lot now. They point at wounds on their bodies or others' and say it all the time.

Today was also a tough day for Sammy who got hurt a lot. One time he fell over and hurt his head, crying. Just as he had calmed down his brother hit him several times. Again I tried to comfort him. Then his sister hit him with a book several times. Poor boy. It seems he was crying most of the time today, and I did a lot of comforting.

At 5 pm I left them to make dinner, and half an hour later they came upstairs to eat. They still throw food, even though I've tried everything to make them stop doing so. I took their plates away, gave them a quick cleanup, and took them downstairs for the half hour until 6:15. We had a good time reading books. Then we went upstairs and into the bathtub, where they all finished their food. Even Sammy did tonight, for the first time in days.

Then they went to bed, and tonight I never sat with them, even though they was some crying. When I checked on them later, Tammy was sleeping in her diaper, having taken her pj's off, which I had expected. I made my food, ate, and went back to work. Now it's 11 pm, and it takes me about an hour to do the cleanup, so hopefully it will be a much earlier bedtime tonight.