Day 1332. Last night I couldn't sleep for a long time, so that I was even more tired this morning. Because of the Mobile Support lady coming at 9 am, we had to get up early. It was the first night in quite a while that Tammy did not come to sleep with us. It was Emmy who came in the middle of the night, earlier than usual. Randy got up before 8 am, and once they had eaten, I got up to clean them up and dress them. A few minutes after 9 am the doorbell rang. The kids were excited to see the Mobile Support lady who comes every Wednesday morning. I was just changing Sammy's diaper, and he was waving hello to her on the changing table, before she could even see it. She then carried him downstairs.
I turned my computer on and started working. At 10:15 I went to the kitchen to make the soup, as it needed time simmering on the stove. Before our visitor left, I gave her an invitation to my birthday party - the first one I've given out in person - as she's also a believer which makes a difference in our relationship. After I was done in the kitchen, I returned to the computer to work. Just after 11:30, Randy already came upstairs with the kids who then started watching the DVD we had taken out of the library last week and needed to return in the afternoon.
Just after noon we sat down to eat, and Tammy and Sammy both ate everything on their plate, not so Emmy. Then they had some dessert before Tammy and Emmy continued watching their DVD. Sammy wanted to hear children's songs and lay down in his bed for them. At 1:15 I told them it was time to lie down for a nap, and it took about 10 minutes before they were all settled in. I sat down by them and held Tammy's hand as usual. Randy had already left a while earlier on a grocery store run. By 1:40 they were asleep, so that I could leave their side.
A few minutes later I lay down myself for a nap, setting a 90 minute timer. I woke up before it went off. Just after 3 pm I got up, as I could hear that the boys were up, and minutes later Tammy was up as well. I gave them something to drink and then left them in Randy's care, as I had to get ready for my 3:30 pm lesson. I was still pretty tired. I taught until 4:20, then helped getting the kids ready to leave, and we all left the house together.
The train was leaving at 4:32, so that we had to hurry to get there, but the kids are already used to that. After the train, we took the subway for one stop, much to Sammy's delight, as he loves the subway (or maybe just the door button). Then we walked a short distance to the school building, took the elevator up and walked to our classroom. The previous class was still in session, so that we sat down on the couch in the hallway. Last week the train had been late so that we had missed the first third of the class. This week we were pretty early.
Once the people from the previous class had left, we walked into the classroom. I really like this new teacher, both as a person and also her expertise. She was really sweet with the kids, greeting them, including Sammy. Then the class started with an invididual greeting soon. The kid being greeted got to have the two sound bars to play. Sammy was the very first one to play them, then Emmy and then Tammy. The other kids always had rattles to play at the same time.
Then we all got up and she did an action song with everyone, then we sat down and she did another song. She then got papers out that had objects from American Indians on them, and she also had a hairband with a feather that every child got to put on their head. Then she taught them a tapping combination of short and long notes and what it meant, doing three different ones. The kids first had to copy what she was tapping. Then we got up and walked in a circle to a song, and when the song stopped, she tapped one of the three sentences, and the kids had to do what it meant.
Then she gave them drums to play while walking, before we sat down with the drums. Then she let the kids take some fabric each, and we walked in a circle with them. The kids know the songs, where they hide under the fabric, and so they all put the fabric over their heads, even though we were not doing that song. She did the boat song, where each child has to turn on the spot, and they were doing a great job. She also did a color song, using the colors of the fabric the children had. Finally we sat down on the mats, and she did the "boat in the storm" poem, where the kids had to move in their boats (on their mats), and in the end fell. Then it was already time for the good-bye song, and the class was over. But they still got a stamp each on their papers.
We put their shoes back on and left to go to the library downstairs. We had already returned the two DVDs and went to the kids' section again, where they were looking at DVDs and books. We ended up borrowing three DVDs and one book. After not too long we checked out and left to go back home. We took the 6:31 train, so that we arrived home a few minutes later.
The kids were rather cranky and crying at the prospect of not being allowed to watch videos while eating. They sat down at the table and started watching, while I'd bring them the food that I had prepared in the kitchen one after another. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating while playing. Then we got them out and ready for bed. I read them a few Bible stories, then prayed for them and flew them into bed. It was already going on 8:30, when I sat down by them. After holding Tammy's hand and talking for a while, Randy took my place, while I returned to my computer to work. It was only later that I got myself something to eat. Now it's after 1 am and time to clean up the kitchen and go to bed.
