3 years 7 months

Day 1307. This morning Emmy was up even earlier than usual, and so the others were as well, and then Randy also got up earlier than necessary. That meant that he and the kids went downstairs just after 9 am, as there was still time until 10 am. They then came upstairs, we got everyone ready, and left the house at 10 am.

We walked to the subway and rode it nearly to the end, then had quite a walk ahead of us. It was extremely windy today.

We got to the school quite a bit before the class started at 10:30. We took their coats and shoes off and went inside the classroom. Today the room was full with four other children. The teacher started with the greeting song, going from child to child, then she called them to the front, drew a monkey on the board, and did the corresponding song with them. Then she got the three individual instruments out that had played a low, middle and high sound, and the kids had to play what she told them. Emmy had a little trouble with that. Sammy was excited to get the piano to himself while the kids were up front.

Then they sat back down and she gave them the cards to put their hands on. They had to wiggle specific fingers, while she did the song for each finger. Emmy did not want to do it at all and kept resisting the whole time while sitting there. Then she gave them little round things that make a tapping noise, and they had to hit it with specific fingers. Then she handed guitars out again. Sammy's eyes lit up and I was very disappointed for him, when there weren't enough guitars for him to also get one. He was upset. All the students sat down on the floor with the guitars, and the teacher started playing a song and asking the kids to strum along, which they did. And then Emmy accidentally hit the boy next to him with the neck of the guitar. The boy started crying, and Emmy apologized. The Dad still had to take the crying boy outside. The whole time I was looking at the guitar sitting there and thinking of Sammy who wanted it so bad. Then we put all the guitars back. Sammy never had one in his hand. The kids all stayed up front, and she got the felt board out to tell the story of the week. I rolled Sammy up for the story, but he was not interested. Then she did the good-bye song, and the class was over. The kids got their stickers, and we left to put their coats and shoes back on.

We walked back to the subway and rode it for a few stops. Sammy was pushing the door button, while the other two were rather wild and having fun. After three stops we got off and walked to the McDonald's right there to have lunch. I placed the order on the electronic board, and Randy went to pick it up. We then all had fun eating together. After we were done, we walked back to the subway to ride a few more stops to get home. Once again Sammy was pushing the door button. Suddenly the driver opened her door and came out and asked us to stop. I was not aware that it could bother the driver. Thankfully we were nearly home, so it did not upset Sammy too much to have to stop.

By 12:40 we were back home. They asked to watch videos, but I reminded Emmy that I had told him in class to participate or there would not be any videos for him. He had ignored me. He had a fit, crying hard because he wanted to watch. I sat him on my knees and asked whether he would want to go on the balcony and blow bubbles. The crying stopped, as he was excited about my suggestion. Suddenly Tammy did not want to watch either but to do the same. And so, while it had not been my plan to do this, I went on the balcony with the kids, where they blew bubbles for half an hour and had fun. Randy didn't want to come outside with Sammy, so they stayed inside.

When it was time for their nap, we went inside, and I put them to bed. I asked Randy to stay with them, as I had a 2 pm student and wanted to also lie down for a little bit before then. I set a 30-minute timer and closed my eyes. I quickly turned off the timer, when it went off, so as to not wake up the kids. Then I got up and got ready for my student. I then taught for two hours. By the time I was done with my first student, Randy and all the kids were already downstairs. Not long after I was done with my second student, Randy already came upstairs. He had a pick-up of a crosstrainer that somebody was giving away for free, and he wanted it for himself. He was gonna take the 5:30 pm train, and so he was getting ready to leave with his cart to transport it home.  I had a few hours of doing everything by myself ahead of me.

I went downstairs to where the kids were. Tammy wanted a balloon, and so I gave her one, and she was having fun blowing it up and letting the air back out. I had my computer downstairs with me, hoping to get some more work done. The kids were playing, but of course all three were involving me in their play time, coming to me all the time. At 6 pm we all went upstairs. Tammy wanted to draw, so I gave her paper and crayons and she went to work. Emmy wanted to watch Sam, so I gave him the tablet and soon Tammy was doing more watching than drawing. I put Sammy into his chair as well, and he did some drawing, while listening to children's songs on his headset. Then I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner and kept bringing more and more food to them that they were eating. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. Then I got them out one after another and got them ready for bed. We then sat down together so I could read them Bible stories, then I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was about 8:10 by the time we were done. I sat down by them, and especially Sammy kept asking about Daddy. I knew from his texts that he was on his way and was soon gonna be home. About 10 minutes after they had gone to bed, he arrived. Tammy and Emmy ran to greet him, and I picked up an excited Sammy to carry him to Daddy. After a few minutes I got them back to bed, and then Randy was willing to sit with them, while I got myself something to eat. Once they were all asleep, Randy left their side and got himself something to eat as well. After I was done eating, I went back to work. Now it's after 1 am and time to clean up and go to bed.