Day 1356. It was a typical morning. Emmy is now often up before 6 am and gets the headset that tells stories, but sometimes he does fall back asleep at some point. Today they were done with breakfast earlier than necessary, so there was still some time before we had to leave at 10 am. I dressed them and got everything ready for us to leave the house.
We walked to the subway, then still had quite a walk ahead of us after we got off. It was a chilly and rainy day, though it never rained hard while we were out and about. We reached the school a few minutes before the class started, took their shoes and jackets off, and walked into the classroom.
Sammy started playing the piano right away, and then his siblings joined in. The teacher did the greeting song, then had everyone come to the front. She drew a fish on the board and did a fish song that I hadn't known yet, then she did a turtle song that I did not know either. Then she had everyone sit by their pianos and handed out the finger puppets to do the song that teaches them what number each finger is. Next she gave them little animals to tap to make a noise, and they had to tap them with the finger she mentioned in her song.
The teacher usually starts in the front, when she goes from child to child to let them choose a puppet or animal, so that our kids rarely get what they would like. That was the case with the puppets, and then she started in the back, with our kids, for the animals. Emmy was excited to get the only blue animal that he wanted. Then the kid after Tammy started crying. It turned out that he'd wanted the blue one, and so his Mom asked whether they could trade. Emmy said no, and that was the end of the story. I told her that Emmy really wanted that one too. She then had to go outside with her son until he had calmed down.
Next she called everyone up front and handed out drums with sticks to every child. Emmy and Tammy were very excited about that. Then she taught them a rhythm they had to do, and she did a song where they could play any way they liked to. Then the kids sat back down and got their books out. They had to color the rhythm they had just played in the right colors - green for low, yellow for middle, and red for high tones. Of course they wanted to color more of the page than just that. They got a stamp for what they had done, and then we put the books away again.
Next she had them sit on the floor in the front, and each child got a guitar. So far they had always played it whichever way they wanted, but today she gave them some instructions on what to do with them. Then they were put up again, and the kids sat down for a story, as is always the case in the end. After the story, she did the good-bye song, and then the kids got a sticker in their sticker book, and the class was over.
Randy had taken care of Sammy the whole time; most of the time Sammy was looking at pictures or songs on Randy's phone, which he enjoys doing.
We left the room, put their coats and shoes back on and left to walk back to the subway. On the subway, Tammy suddenly said that she had peed in her pants. I had not thought to ask them if they needed to go to the bathroom before we left the music school. By noon we were back home. I immediately started making a quick lunch, and by 12:15 we were sitting down to eat. After they had had their desserts, they started watching videos until 1:15, then I put them to bed. By 1:30 I was already able to walk away, and some time after 2 pm I also got to lie down for a nap.
At 3 pm I was woken up by Randy, who had also just woken up the kids. It was hard getting up, but we had to get ready to leave the house at 3:15. We then walked to the train station and got on the 3:32 train. Once we got off, we got on the subway and rode it for a few stops. Then we went up to street level and followed the directions on my phone to a kids' theater we had never been to. My friend invited us to go there together, and we said yes.
We got there at 4 pm already, and the performance was gonna start at 4:30 pm. When I tried to pick up the tickets, they didn't have any. Then they figured out that my friend had accidentally purchased tickets for the early performance. The theater told us we'd have to wait until it started, and then they'd see whether there was any room left for us. A few minutes later my friend arrived, and togethere we waited until 4:30. The kids, especially Sammy, were getting a bit antsy, as they also wanted to go inside, like the other kids.
It was after 4:30, when they told us we could go sit in the last row, but only two adults, and so Randy stayed behind. After it had started and there was still room, Randy was then allowed to join us in the last row. That was a good thing as I had Sammy in my lap who was not happy. He really wasn't interested in the performance. He was happy to see Daddy, and switched between him and me a few times during the show.
Tammy and Emmy really enjoyed the performance of two little mice going on an adventure, even though my friend said it wasn't as much fun and fast-moving as other shows they had seen. There was a 10-minute break in the middle that our kids and most other kids used to run around the room.
After it was over, we all got ready to leave together. My friend was so sweet and had brought me flowers for my birthday tomorrow. Together we walked back to the subway, where they went the opposite direction. Our subway arrived right away, and so we said good-bye and got on.
Originally we were gonna go to church today, and as we were not far away, we decided to still go and get there at the end of the service, as it was gonna give us the chance to talk to people. We got there at about 6 pm, and the preaching was still going on. We sat down in the back, and I asked the kids to be quiet, telling them it was about to be over. However, the preacher still went on for a while, then everyone got up, he prayed, and then started a long time of prayer ministry. We left the sanctuary and went outside, where quite a few people already were. We got to talk to a few people, but some that we would have liked to see never came out of the sanctuary. By 7:30 we decided it was time to move on, so we left.
We walked through the shopping mall again, bought two Happy Meals at the exit, as they were hungry, and continued on to the subway. We rode it for three stops, then needed to take the train home. It was annoying that we had just missed one. So we stayed by the subway, as it was warmer and there was lots of safe space for them to run around and play. Once the departure of the train was approaching, we rode the elevator up to the platform and got on the train just before 8 pm. Emmy said he needed to go to the bathroom, so we had to cross much of the train to get to the bathroom. Of course Tammy had also joined us, and both of them used it. Then we walked all the way back to Randy and Sammy.
By 8:15 we were back home. I cut some fruit up for them to eat, then we put them into the bathtub for a quick rinse. I had not felt so well all day, with a sore throat, and had even canceled the 2:30 pm lesson I was supposed to teach. As it was already 8:45 pm, I told the kids I was not gonna read a Bible story tonight. There was some tears, but I was just not up for it, and I had not eaten since lunch, which had been my only food of the day. I prayed for them and caused more tears, when I did not flew them into bed either. I sat down by them, and once Randy had made his food, he took my place. I got myself something to eat and finally got to sit down and rest. After I was done eating, I went back to work. Now it's 1 am, and I still have to clean up the kitchen before going to bed.
It's my 50th birthday tomorrow, and I've been preparing the kids for weeks that my gift from them to me was to give up the pacifiers. Please pray for the upcoming battle once all the pacifiers disappear tomorrow.
