Day 1304. Emmy was up at 7 am this morning, as usual, and he had a fit that woke up his brother. Eventually Randy got up to make his oatmeal and to give them new diapers. Tammy and Emmy now wear underwear in the morning, when we're home, practicing to not need diapers at all any more. After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them. It was still a bit before 9 am, and today was supposed to be the first really warm day. The sun was already out and shining, and so we ended up going on the balcony, which they enjoyed. We have a little trampoline there that all three enjoyed jumping on.
At 9 am the doorbell rang; it was the Mobile Support lady. Because of the conference we hadn't seen her in two weeks. We talked briefly, giving her the news about Sammy going to kindergarten that she was pretty excited about. Then she went downstairs with Randy and the kids. I sat down at the computer and started doing some urgent work that had been waiting for me to get it done, and in the next two hours I accomplished a lot. It was actually after 11:30, when I went to the kitchen to start making lunch. And then Randy and the kids already came upstairs, and they were hungry. Thankfully I made a quick meal today, but it was still closer to 12:15 before we sat down to eat.
After we had eaten, Tammy and Sammy had icecream; Emmy preferred getting back to his videos as quickly as possible. At 1:15 I stopped all media to put them to bed. However, it took a while today before they were asleep and I could walk away. It was about 1:45 pm. I was working at first, preparing for my 5:30 class, even though I really needed some sleep. At 2 pm the doorbell woke up Sammy. I gave him the headset with songs, which kept him quiet for about the next 40 minutes, surprisingly. I never went to sleep myself, but did close my eyes for a few minutes. Emmy then walked into the room at about 2:45 pm. After 3 pm Tammy got up as well, and we all got ready to leave the house at 3:30 pm, which we did.
We walked to the subway and got on. It truly was a warm day, which is why they had light coats on today, as well as sandals. Spring is finally here. Sammy wanted to push the door button, and so we stayed by the door so he could push it. After we got off, we walked to another line and rode it for one stop. Then we went up to street level and walked the last few steps to the school. We had to take the elevator up to the school and then wait in front of that back door to be let into the school. Then we walked to our classroom, where we were the first ones present. The teacher then arrived, but only one other student came. Our kids helped the teacher put out the pillows and stuffed animals.
Then the class started with her greeting everyone, then she did the individual greeting song. The last line of the song is always, "What's your name?", and today both Tammy and Emmy gave correct answers. They also answered the next question correctly, which is, "Are you doing well?". Then she let Sammy open her bag and get the box out that had all the kids' pictures. Emmy took their picture to the board to hang it up. Then she had everyone get up to do our little song we do every week to teach different words. Neither Tammy nor Emmy were motivated to participate. When Emmy did participate, he pronounced the words absolutely perfectly.
Next she reviewed the numbers from 1 to 5. They are not even able to say those in German or English yet. Emmy was enthousiastic about doing the numbers. Then it was time to review the colors. She got her little cards of objects in different colors out as well as big papers, and the kids had to put the objects on the correct papers of that color. She also had them say the color in French. They were doing a good job.
Tammy kept asking to do some drawing, but there was not enough time, the teacher said. She got a children's book out and told the same story again that she's read a few times before. Then she did a new story. The kids enjoy listening to stories and looking at pictures.
Then the class was already over, and the kids put away the photos, stuffed animals and pillows. We put their shoes and jackets back on, and it was funny, when Sammy crawled to the teacher who was doing the same and put his hand on her shoes. We said good-bye and walked to the elevator to leave.
We rode two subways home, with Sammy doing his favorite activity of pushing the door button. By 5:20 we were back home. As my 5:30 student had canceled and the weather was so nice, I suggested we'd stay outside a little bit and let the kids run their scooters. I didn't even go inside with Sammy, but we went down to where the lower level of our apartment has its door to the outside. Soon Tammy and Emmy came outside with their scooters and helmets and started running up and down. I then raced them with Sammy's wheelchair, but had no chance against the scooters.
After some time outside, I went inside to go do some work before starting to make their dinner. However, Sammy was crying for me. I tried to shout down to him from the balcony and calm him down, but it didn't help much. I went downstairs, and we then all went inside. I suggested we'd sit down after all to color in the paper they'd received at French class. I decided to do the setup for the first time the way I have it planned for doing school with them. I cut off a long piece of paper from a roll and tied it to the dining room table. Then I got new crayons out that I gave them. All three were sitting next to each other. Tammy showed again how well she can color in now, while Emmy is slowly starting to do it, but he's still not holding the pen correctly. Sammy drew a little on his paper as well, but he was a little far from the table, his legs keeping him from getting any closer, as the chair was a little too high. I then did a little game with them, where they had to draw the musical note I was asking them to draw, and the first one getting it right got a star on the board. Emmy was having a fit, when he lost! In the end they both had two stars. I also got some shapes out and had them pick up and show me the shape I asked for - a circle, triangle, square, rectangle. They did pretty well.
Then it was time for me to go start makinh their food. The kids started watching videos, while I was slowly adding food to their plates that they were eating. They then ate the rest of their food in the bathtub, then we got them ready for bed. IWe read a few Bible stories, then I prayed for them. It was already 8:20 by the time they went to bed. I sat down by them for a little bit, then got something to eat, followed by going back to work. As the evening went on, I got so tired that my eyes kept falling shut while I was writing. I finally had to give up on trying to finish this report. It was still around 1 am before I went to bed.
