Day 643. It's midnight, and I'm really tired. Last night I got to go to bed at 12:15 am. This morning we got up at 8 am, and surprise surprise, they all still had their pj's on. After feeding them breakfast, I went downstairs with them, where I turned worship music on and starting praising and praying. Then I got the children's Bible out. Tammy is the most attentive, while Emmy's attention span is rather short. I have some more Bible material coming, so that might capture their attention more.
Once Randy came with his breakfast, I left to go clean up and then do office work. I stopped just before 11 am to go to the kitchen and cook. I had already put the chicken into the oven in the morning, but I still had to make rice with vegetables. It always takes longer than you think, and then the food is hot, but I was able to call them upstairs just after 11:30. Thankfully I hardly heard any crying today.
They all love chicken. Randy calls Sammy "chicken wings" because he loves it so much. It was the first time in a while I saw Sammy chewing his food fast, as he often doesn't chew at all but just lets the food sit in his mouth. What we ate today is definitely their favorite meal. After dessert I cleaned them up and dressed them and waited for Randy to be done feeding Sammy. Then Randy took Emmy and Tammy downstairs, while I cleaned up and dressed Sammy and put him to bed. Then I started cleaning up. Today it was a few minutes later than 12:40 before I could go get Emmy to put him to bed. He was tired, and so it didn't take him very long to fall asleep. Then I went to get Tammy, and it was just after 1 am, when I put her to bed. She played loudly for quite some time, before falling asleep as well.
Emmy woke up as always around 2:15, and he would not sleep on me any more. At that time Sammy had already been awake for a while, but playing and not crying. Randy took Emmy downstairs, and I took Sammy to him after changing his diaper. It was 3 pm before the girl woke up, and I called the others to come upstairs for the afternoon meal. This has been the most difficult meal with my two, and today was no exception. Neither one wanted to be in the chair. I got Emmy in and got him to be fine in it, but had to take the girl back out. However, neither one wanted to eat anything, so I finally gave up trying to feed them. As it was quite sunny outside and just barely warm, we decided to take them to the playground. So I picked out their clothes and started dressing them, while Randy was finishing up with Sammy. It was somewhere around 4 pm, when we left the house - Emmy on the tricycle, and the other two in the double stroller. I had also packed some snacks, given their emtpy stomachs.
We decided to walk to the playground that is a 15 minute walk away as we had not been there in a while. We've taken different paths, exploring the neighborhood, and today we might have found the shortest. We always see some dogs, but today we also saw a few cats. When we got to the playground, it was noticeable how few kids were there, which was clearly the weather's fault. While it was sunny, there were also quite a few dark clouds in the sky, and the wind made them move fast.
And then the fun started. The city had added another climbing construction with a slide, and it was great. They loved it. The whole theme of the playground is the ocean/ships. They climbed around quite a bit, and I saw Tammy and Emmy walk up quite a high ladder to the slide.
They always enjoy interacting with other children, and today they spent quite some time with a girl that was a few years older than them.
They also enjoyed the grass. Randy spent quite some time exploring it with Sammy and Tammy, while I was elsewhere with Emmy. I tried once againt to take a picture of Randy with all three, but it failed again, as they won't sit still. Then a guy sitting nearby offered to take a picture of us, and suddenly they were sitting still, and that's how we got that great picture.
The sky was getting darker, and then we felt the first drops of rain. As it was already after 5 pm, we decided to head home. Tammy did not want to go on the tricycle, and so it was again Emmy who rode home on it. It started raining harder, and before we reached a garage entrance to take cover, Emmy got a bit wet and was whining about the train. We did not have to take cover for long, as it stopped raining after a few minutes, and then we continued on our way home.
By 5:30 we were home, and Randy went downstairs with them, while I started making their food. At 6 pm they came upstairs to eat. I was expecting them to eat well, even though they'd had a snack, but it was about the same as always. Then they went into the bathtub, where all three finished their food and had fun. Then they went to bed. I had to return one time to change Tammy's diaper and put her arm back into the sleeve, and after I put her back to bed and walked away, it was Emmy who started crying because he wanted me to stay. I came back one more time as he had thrown his pacifier out, and then stayed away even though he was crying, and making my food. After a while he stopped; I knew he'd already been really tired. I finally got to eat, and then started working again. Now 1 am is approaching fast, but I've done everything I needed to do.
