3 years 9 months 8 days

Day 1376. Monday was a holiday. On Tuesday morning I had to make an unexpected trip. Sunday night I had lost a filling, and so I went to the dentist to get it fixed. Just what I needed, a whole morning lost. In the afternoon and then the evening I taught.

Wednesday morning the Mobile Support lady came, as usual, and played with the kids for 90 minutes. In the afternoon I had a student, and then we went to music class, like every Wednesday. We stopped in the library after, and did not go to the playground, as Randy had his third pickup of the DAY that night. And I was feeling rather terrible. I must have had food poisoning. As soon as Randy got back some time between 8:30 and 9 pm, I went straight to bed and slept for two hours before doing some work.

On Thursday morning I was still feeling miserable, but by that night I was over it. Even though I felt terrible, I left the house with Sammy at 10 am for a bi-yearly doctor's checkup at the therapy center where he goes twice every week. I'm so glad that the doctor he had had retired, so we were going to meet the new doctor for the first time. In fact, we had already briefly met her in the hallway. I didn't know the meeting was gonna be nearly 90 minutes, which was sure long and getting pretty tiring for both Sammy and me as time went on. She spent most time playing with Sammy, but was also talking with me. She said that Sammy had more dystonia than being spastic, whatever the implications are. It sounded like it was the better of two bad deals. Sammy enjoyed playing and only got scared, when she said that she wanted to measure him. She weighed him (11.3 kilos) and measured him and then we said our goodbyes.

it was about 12:15, when we got home, and I immediately started making a quick meal. However, I still couldn't eat anything myself and let Randy handle the meal with the kids. I lay down until it was time to put them to bed for their nap, then did my job. After they were asleep, I got a little sleep myself before it was time to get up.

I taught from 3:30 until 6:20, so pretty much all afternoon, and before I was even done teaching, Randy left once again for a pickup. Four pickups in two days, and just when I was so sick. I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner and put Sammy in the kitchen with me. He was sitting on the floor next to me and then pulled himself up into a standing position which is what you see on yesterday's picture. He was so proud and did it over and over again. A few times the drawer opened, but he held on to it and didn't fall, and I immediately closed the drawer again. I ended up not even putting him into his chair at the table, as he didn't want to leave, but put the food into his mouth right there, while I was cutting up all the fruit. Then they all went into the bathtub. Before they were out, Randy had returned, much to my relief. We got them ready for bed, and I sat down with them for a little bit but left at about 8:40 to get ready for my 9:30 pm student. Randy sat with them instead of me. Those two nights, Tuesday and Thursday, are long nights for me as I teach until 10:20 pm, then need some time to wrap it up and send the student some materials and exercises. I'm glad we don't go anywhere on those days so that there are no pictures or reports.

Last night it got really late for me, and with Emmy being up so early, I was extremely tired this morning. I was glad that Randy was the one taking Sammy to speech therapy, not me. And so I stayed in bed as long as possibly, constantly being visited by kids anyway, and not just visited but also jumped on etc. Randy and Sammy left at 10 am, and then I forced myself out of bed. One lady Randy had picked an item up from had given him a bunch of DVD's and games for free as well, and the kids were eager to play a particular one. So I got it up, looked at how it worked, which was simply, and put it on the table for them to play. The frog was moving, all his arms, and the kids' job was to put seven balls into his moving hands. The first kid to succeed won. They played three rounds, and Tammy won each one. And so Emmy had a fit and was crying really hard. He's never had the ability to lose yet. That was the end of the game. They then started watching or playing, while I turned my computer on to work. But not for long as it was already time to go to the kitchen to cook.

Just before noon the boys returned. By 12:20 we sat down at the table to eat. Sammy would not even eat ONE spoonful of the lentil soup but wanted his favorite dessert, a "ball" (Raffaelo), instead. I told him he had to eat some of the real food first, then he could have a ball, but he started crying instead. Tammy and Emmy didn't finish their food either but ate enough to get dessert. Sammy cried for a long time. Then I got him out of his chair and held and comforted him. He calmed down, and I asked him once again if he wanted a salami sandwich instead, and he said yes. Once again he sat on the kitchen floor with me, standing up like he had done yesterday, showing his ability to Daddy, while I fed him, and he ate a whole piece of bread with salami. Then he got his ball.

And by then it was already time for their nap. They were not happy about it, and it took nearly until 1:30 before they were finally in bed. I sat down by them, and the boys fell asleep first. Tammy needed longer. Once they were all asleep I left them to return to my computer. I prepared for my next lesson, and by the time I lay down to close my eyes for a few minutes, it was already 3 pm. I could only set my timer for 15 minutes, which was not enough. By that time Sammy was already up and downstairs with Randy. When I got up at 3:15, I opened the curtains and stopped the ocean waves, and so Emmy was up right away and Tammy a few minutes later. They were both downstairs before I started teaching at 3:30 pm.

And they were all back upstairs before I was done at 4:20 pm. After I had finished, we got ready to leave the house and left at 4:30 pm as planned. It was a really hot day. We walked to the subway and then got on a tram we rode for one stop. We walked the rest of the way to the school, where the previous class had already ended and the teacher was just asking the kids for our class to go inside. There were only two other kids there today.

The teacher started the class with the same game as usual, the "stop dance". Every time the music stopped, the kids had to stand on one of the colored blocks on the floor all over the room. I was dancing with Sammy; at first he was in his chair, then I got him out. He was having lots of fun and wanted to stay with me for the whole time. One time Emmy needed to go to the bathroom, and he was not happy, when I passed him on to Randy. I had him as much as possible, but when he was getting too heavy for me, Randy took him until I could take him back. Tammy wanted to dance with Daddy, while Emmy was dancing by himself most of the time. A few times they got to briefly dance with me.

Then the teacher got the hot air balloon like fabric out that the kids love and do rarely. We sat in a circle holding the edges of the balloon and made waves with it. I had Sammy, Emmy was next to me, then there was the teacher, and then Tammy. And Randy sat on the other side of the balloon. Then each kid got to sit in the middle on top of the fabric, while everyone else made waves with it. They all loved it and were laughing. I put Sammy in the middle, and he sat up in the middle of the waves. He always wants to sit or stand. When I pulled him back out so the next kid could go in, he had a fit, as he didn't want to leave. He cried for some time, until the teacher was doing the next activity. All the kids got to crawl under the ballon, while the parents made it go up and down above them. Sammy sat up again, with all the other kids, and was loving it.

Then it was on to the next activity, the "fire water ice" game. Everyone was dancing to the music, and when it stopped, the teacher would say one of the three words, and the kids had to act appropriately. Water meant getting on the chairs, fire lying down on the floor, and ice standing in the corner. For some reason Tammy stopped participating half-way through it.

And then the last part that Sammy had been waiting for the whole time - his favorite song that is now playing on YouTube at home for much of the time upon his request. I told the teacher about it, and she then told me that the song was from 1978. I couldn't even believe it! I had certainly never heard it before this class. I put Sammy back into his chair to roll him a circle with everyone else walking. Then Emmy hurt his sister, and I ended up putting her on my shoulders, which she loves, and did the song with her up there, while pushing Sammy. She actually sang along to the song and did a great job.

And then the class was over. We left to walk back to the tram stop, then rode it back to the subway, then rode the subway home. I had brought along some apples and pears that they were eating. By 6:30 pm we were back home.

I was glad that Randy wasn't going anywhere for a change, as he'd been gone the last two nights. I immediately started making their dinner, and they immediately started eating. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. It was 8:15 by the time we were ready for the Bible story, then I prayed for them and flew them into bed. Tammy had done something she hadn't asked forgiveness for, which Emmy was really concerned about for his sister. He is always quick to ask for forgiveness, contrary to his sister. It took her quite some time, but before she fell asleep she did ask forgiveness.

I stayed with them for some time, as they all wanted me to stay, but just before 9 pm I did leave and Randy took my place. I started working and only got myself something to eat at 10 pm. I'm glad that I'm feeling well again. Then I continued working. Now it's nearly 1:30, and I still have to clean up the kitchen before going to bed.