3 years 9 months 1 day

Day 1369. Yesterday we were all home all day, as Sammy did not have physiotherapy. It gave me the time needed to work, and I also had students.

This morning was a typical morning with Emmy being up early. Nobody ate much for breakfast, then I dressed all three (usually Randy dresses Sammy). Sammy has speech therapy every Friday morning, and today I was taking him. When I told Sammy, he was so very excited about Mommy taking him. As it was a beautiful day, and yesterday it had not worked out for the kids to go outside, I suggested Randy'd take the kids to the nearest playground, while Sammy and I were at the therapy center. The kids were all excited about the suggestion. I was surprised, when Randy got the stroller ready to take them; the playground was at quite a distance and he didn't want to carry them. I was also surprised at how excited the kids were to use the stroller again after it had not been used in months. Tammy sat inside, while Emmy stood on the board attached to it.

Sammy and I left just after 10 am, and the others left shortly thereafter. We took the subway, then walked quite a distance before reaching the center. His session started at 10:30 am. And right away I told her about the BIG milestone that Sammy had reached yesterday.

It was at lunchtime. I was sitting next to Sammy, and I think we were eating dessert, when Sammy suddenly said, "Die Nase rinnt." (The nose is runny.) That's the first ever complete SENTENCE I have heard him say! He usually says one word, and puts two words together more and more, but not a sentence. Sammy is getting there, continually making progress.

I sat by the door, while she wheeled Sammy to a table, where they stayed for the whole 45 minutes. She had a car with figurines inside and a car wash building. They played the whole time with that, including with water. She said she tries to use water every time because she knows how much Sammy loves it. In the end she suggested Sammy washing his hands, and so they went to the sink, where Sammy enjoyed doing just that and would have loved to continue playing with the water.

We said our goodbyes and left the center to go back home. I had been extremely tired all morning and was too tired to stop at the grocery store, even though Sammy kept asking for us to stop there as we've done the last few times. We took the subway home, and just as we reached our building, I could see Randy and the other two kids go inside. They didn't hear me so I had to use my key to unlock the door before we were reunited. I found out how much fun they'd had at the playground and was impressed that they're now big enough to use the zip line there. In the past, when we'd tried, they were not able to do it.

It was 11:40, when we all got home, and it was time for me to cook, so I went straight to work, tired or not. By 12:15 we were able to sit down at the table. Tammy amazed me today, when she ate her own bowl of food, and then finished Sammy's. Then had cake and icecream, and finished Sammy's, and had an icecream stick. Neither one of the boys had finished their food. Then they continued watching or playing, like they had done waiting for lunch.

At 1:15 I put them to bed. I now always hold hands both with Sammy (right hand) and Tammy (left hand) for them to fall asleep. Thankfully Emmy falls asleep really easily and all by himself and is the first one to sleep. Then Sammy fell asleep, so that I could withdrew my hand from between the bars. Tammy always tosses and turns and needs a long time to fall asleep. When she finally slows down and gets tired, that's when I usually leave, like I did today. It was 1:40 pm.

I did not even turn my computer on that had been shut all day but went straight to bed because I was so tired. I soon fell asleep and was thankful I did not have to set an alarm as my lesson wasn't until 5 pm. I was woken up by Emmy, as usual, and it was nearly 3:30 pm. In fact, all three kids were up, and Randy took them downstairs only minutes later. I was able to take my time getting up, then finally turned my computer on to get work done. We leave on June 28th, and I have yet a lot to get done until then. As I will have a few online students that I have to continue teaching in the summer, I'm trying to scan all the schoolbooks I need for them so I have them on the computer and don't have to take them with me. And scanning takes time.

Then my 5 pm student canceled the lesson, or rather moved it to tomorrow morning. So I used the time to continue scanning. Randy and the kids came upstairs around 5:45 pm. Tammy had hurt Sammy twice in the afternoon, and I had gone downstairs both times to comfort Sammy, and it seemed that it was intentional both times. And so she was not allowed to watch any videos before dinner. I gave her a page of a coloring book and crayons, and she was happy to color and actually did a really great job, putting a lot of effort into it. In the meantime Emmy had the tablet and was playing and watching, while Sammy was listening to his children's songs and pushing buttons, his favorite activity. At 6:15 I went to the kitchen to start making their food and then took one item after another to them to eat. Then they continued eating in the bathtub while having lots of fun. Once they were out and had their pj's on, we sat down to read Bible stories. Then I brushed their teeth, prayed for them and flew them into bed. It was just about 8 pm, their usual bedtime, and they were all wide awake, as they'd had a long nap today. I stayed with them until 8:30 pm, trying to get them to stop talking. Then Randy took my place, while I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Now it's midnight, and I still have to clean up the kitchen. However, I rarely make it to bed before 2 am.