3 years 8 months 11 days

Day 1349. It was another tough morning of being very tired. I finally forced myself out of bed to dress the kids and get ready to leave the house at 10 am, which we did.

We walked to the subway in the sun, without any jackets, which was a welcome reprieve from the cold. We rode the subway nearly to the end, then walked to the kids' music school, where we arrived a few minutes before the start of the class. Just at that time the kids said they were hungry, so we gave them some food before going into the classroom.

The teacher started with the greeting song, singing it for each child. Then she started drawing a spider on the board and asked them how many legs it has. She then had each child draw a leg and counted them. Emmy's leg turned out really long. Then she sang the itsy, bitsy spider song, followed by a chicken song.

Next the kids sat down at the piano and she handed out green, yellow and red stickers to put on their pianos. Green represents low, yellow middle and red high notes. After the kids had put them on their pianos correctly, she played a song asking them to play one of those three categories. The kids were not very motivated, I have to say. Then she handed out the finger puppets and did the finger song so the kids can learn what number each finger represents. Next she gave them the tapping instruments, and the kids had to tap the little animals with the finger she was asking them to use.

Then she had them all come to the front, drew three quarter notes and a break on the board and had them clap those. Only Tammy was doing it, Emmy was just watching. Then she put the three colors on the board. The kids went back to their pianos, and she had them open their books and put the three colored stickers on a page in the right spot, or rather two stickers and the third one they had to color with a crayon. Then they got a stamp for a job well done.

She then called everyone up front again and did a dance with everyone to review which hand/foot was the mouse/lion hand/foot; I joined them for that. And then it was already time for the final story that they sat down on the floor for. The teacher then did the good-bye song, and the kids came to get the sticker books for their weekly sticker.

Randy had occupied Sammy the whole time, while I helped the other kids and tried to take a few pictures after a mother had complained about that last week. After class we put their shoes back on, Emmy went to the bathroom with me, now that they only wear diapers at night, and then we left to walk back to the subway and go home, where we arrived at noon.

I had made a big pot of soup last night that I put on the stove to warm up which only took a few minutes. We sat down at the table to eat, and Tammy was the only one to finish her bowl of soup even though she'd had the most in the first place. Then they all had dessert, and the kids sat down to watch a movie until nap time. I sat down at my computer and was reminded of the big coronation ceremony going on in England that I started watching live, while working. At some point Tammy came up to me and wanted to see what I was watching, and she was interested in seeing a real king being crowned. I then called Emmy to also look at the king and crown, and they both looked with interest. It was already later than usual, so I finally got up and put them to bed at about 1:30 pm. I sat down by them for a few minutes, but soon left before even Emmy was asleep, and it worked.

I returned to my computer to start the French translation of our latest newsletter and had the live feed of the events in England in the background the whole time. And so I never got to lie down and take a nap. The kids however slept longer than usual. It was 3:15 pm, when Emmy got up, and it took quite a few more minutes before Sammy was up. Some time later Tammy was up as well, and they all stayed upstairs for a while before Randy took them all downstairs some time after 4 pm. I continued translating and was nearly done by the time Randy and the kids came back upstairs just after 6 pm. I finished it and sent it out before going to the kitchen to make their dinner.

The kids sat down at the table and continued the movie from after lunch, while I brought more and more food to them. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating while playing, before we got them ready for bed. I read a few Bible stories to them, prayed for them, and flew them into bed. It was about 8 pm, when I sat down by them. They talked for a while, and I asked them whether Daddy could come sit with them. Tammy did not want that. I sat some more time with them, then Randy took my place, and I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Now it's only just after midnight, so I have some more time to work before cleaning up the kitchen and going to bed.