3 years 7 months 4 days

Day 1311. Sammy was up very early, and Randy gave him the headset with songs that he loves so much. Emmy was then up too. I had set an alarm for 8:15, but Randy was up before that. I was very tired, but that's just life for the time being. After breakfast, I cleaned them up and dressed them. At ten to nine the doorbell rang the first time; it was the cleaning lady. Once again she had candy for the kids who appreciated it. Ten minutes later the doorbell rang the second time; it was the Mobile Support lady. The kids went downstairs with her. As for me, I had a student at 9:10 am, so I sat down at the computer for my lesson that went until 10 am. Then I continued working on the computer. At 11:30 I put food into the oven to cook; I was so tired it had to be something simple. It wasn't much later that Randy and the kids came upstairs. By that time the tiredness had really hit me. The kids were continuing a movie, while I crashed and lay down in bed. Once the food was ready not long after noon, I had to force myself up. I portioned it, put the kids' plates into the fridge for a few minutes to cool off, and then we sat down to eat. The kids ate well, then wanted to eat the candy the cleaning lady had given them. After I had cleaned them up, it was already nearly 1:30 pm somehow, and so they went straight to bed for their nap. I sat down by them and left once they were all asleep, which did not take long today.

I soon went to bed myself as I was simply too tired to work and set an alarm for just after 3 pm. At around 3 pm the boys woke up, which woke me up, and so we all got up and got ready to leave the house, which we did just before 3:30 pm.

It was still pretty cold outside. We walked to the subway, got on and rode it a few stops, then switched to another line that we only rode for one stop. Once out on the street, we did not have far to walk to the French Institute. We rode the elevator up, while Randy took the stairs to open the door for us to get in. Then we went to the classroom, where another kid was already there. Only one more kid came a little later.

Once the teacher arrived, she started with the greeting song, going from child to child. The kids now know to say their name, when she asks the first question, and to say "oui", when she asks the second one. While Sammy had said his name weeks ago, he's still not saying it. Sammy was in fun mood today. He constantly wanted to be with the teacher, which was a first. It was funny to watch. The teacher did not mind and put him into her lap. Sammy was very interested in the bag that contained the box with the kids' pictures, and today he was the one who got to put it on the board with Daddy's help.

Next the teacher reviewed the numbers again. It was actually Emmy who started it first. Sammy was with her, while she was doing the numbers from zero to five with everyone. Once she was done, Emmy surprised her, when he suddenly said six. So far the kids haven't even been able to count to five in German or English yet!

The teacher got cards with object of different colors out again and tried to get the kids to name the colors in French. That activity didn't take very long. Sammy was crawling around, and one of the Moms was interacting with him.

Then she finally got the papers and crayons out that Tammy had been waiting for. She gave them red paper, and everyone first glued a big Easter egg on it and then a rabbit. I was helping Sammy, who sat with me. Then they got to color that paper. Tammy put a lot of care into it and did a great job. Emmy is still not holding the crayon correctly, but is still getting a little better at coloring. Sammy also put color on paper as well as into his mouth. When he was done, he wanted to show his drawing to the teacher and crawled towards her. He then held up the paper to her, and she let him know how impressed she was with his drawing. Tammy also proudly presented her drawing to me.

Then the teacher got the very same book out again that she's been reading every week. Emmy made his disapproval known, saying something like "not again". He then didn't listen either. Tammy listened somewhat. And then the class was over. The kids put away the stuffed animals and pillows and put their shoes and coats back on. Sammy made a point of waving good-bye at the teacher. And he didn't even know he was not gonna see her again, at least not any time soon.

It was the last class of this course, and I have not enrolled them for part 2 starting after Easter. I don't think the teacher has done a very good job, and as I'm a French teacher myself, I will make a point of teaching them myself now. I just have to fix a certain time each week to actually do so.

We walked back to the subway, rode one then the other one and were home by 5:20 pm. I had a student at 5:30, so Randy went downstairs with the kids, while I sat down at the computer. Before I was done teaching, they were already back upstairs. Randy had a pickup of a tricycle tonight, and so he left at 6:30 pm.

As people have given the kids CDs in the course of the last few months, I thought it was time to get them a simple CD player. It had arrived yesterday, but without batteries; those arrived today. The kids were impatient for me to put them in so they could listen to their CDs. The first one didn't work, but the ones with songs did, and it immediately became Sammy's favorite, as he loves songs. When they sat down at the table to eat a few minutes later, I put the CD player by him, and of course he started pushing the buttons - his favorite activity.

At around 7 pm they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating, while having fun. Randy returned before they were out of the water. The kids were excited about the new tricycle. We got them ready for bed, then I sat down with them to read them some Bible stories. After having prayed for them, I put them to bed and sat down next to them. It was already going on 8:30 pm. Once Randy had finished making his food, he took my place with his plate, so that I could go to the kitchen and make my salad. The kids were still talking for a long time, until about 9:30, which is about when I got to sit down to eat. After I was done, I went back to work, and now it's after 1 am and time for me to clean up the kitchen before being the last one to go to bed.