4 years 1 month 14 days

Day 1505. It was once again not even 7 am, when the boys were up. I got Sammy out of his bed to make him happy, while Emmy lay down next to me in my bed. Once the alarm went off at 7:15 am, we all got up. They had breakfast, while I was making Sammy's snack for kindergarten. At 8:15 am he left with Randy, even though he wanted me to go with him. After they had left, I lay back down in bed, because I was so tired, and was able to get some more much-needed sleep. Then I got up and did some work. At 11:15 I went to the kitchen to start making lunch. Sammy came home the latest yet since starting kindergarten two weeks ago. It was about 11:45. However, Randy was not able to leave the room.

We sat down to eat, then the kids continued playing, while Randy left on a grocery store run. At 1:30 pm I put them to bed to sleep and sat down with them. Sammy was asleep quickly, but not the other two. A few minutes later Randy returned, which was perfect timing, as I had to leave and get ready for my 2 pm lesson I was teaching. Emmy started being loud because he wanted me to stay. Randy sat down once he had put the groceries away, but Emmy had succeeded in waking up Sammy who had been really tired and needed sleep. But once he's up, he does not got back to sleep. Emmy did fall asleep, but Sammy was cranky for the rest of the day because he was so tired. I could hear him cry while I was teaching and felt bad that I couldn't do anything about it. That's why I don't usually do lessons at 2 pm.

When I finished just before 3 pm, both boys were up. Randy then wend downstairs with them. At 3:15 pm I started trying to get Tammy up who sleeps really well. It took some time before she got up and also went downstairs. I worked some more, and at 4 pm they all came upstairs to get ready to leave the house. At 4:15 we left and walked to the train station. Tired Sammy wanted to take the subway, a new one, and was upset, when I told him we first had to take the train.

We took the 4:30 train, then went to the subway. Sammy kept saying "new subway", but it was an old one, which made him have a fit and start crying. We only rode it for one stop, then got off and walked the rest of the wayt to the school. It was raining, so we all had our umbrellas up. We went upstairs to the school, while Sammy kept saying "books", meaning he wanted to go to the library on the ground floor. I told him, after class.

Just after we reached the classroom, the previous class was done and came out of the room. We waited until everyone was gone, then went inside the classroom.

Now last Monday, the kids had gone to the first session of a crafts class. It went great, but then the school called me that the teacher was overwhelmed having a special needs kid in her class and didn't feel qualified to have Sammy there. I was confused, as I sat with Sammy and helped him draw and didn't really understand at all what her issue was, as she didn't even have to interact with him. How hard is it to draw! In any case, she wasn't budging, so I took all three kids out of the class. And then the teacher we know and love and who the kids were going to continue with in music class, all her classes got canceled on short notice. The new music class with a different teacher was on Monday afternoon, the afternoon that had suddenly become available, and that's why we were there today. This time I had asked them in advance whether Sammy could be a part and whether I could stay with him, as it was "no parents", and they said it was okay. Praise God!

While we were waiting for the class to start, Tammy and Emmy were doing all kinds of stuff as if it was exercise class. And Sammy didn't want to be there but be in the library. Just after 5 pm the teacher started the class. Everyone was sitting in a circle with their parents, and she did a greeting song going from kid to kid. Then the parents left the room - except for me.

Sammy was still not happy, as the greeting song had taken too much time, but I told him he was about to play instruments, which worked. She got all kinds of instruments out, and the kids got to play whatever they wanted. However, some said the drums were too loud, so she removed them. Sammy had played the drums. The one kid really just wanted his Mommy and ended up going outside to be with her.

We did a song walking in a circle with mainly rattles, as they were not that loud, with all the kids playing. I carried Sammy, but sure got tired carrying him that long. I was glad, when we sat back down. Then she got a huge, wooden xylophone out and gave them all sticks to play it at the same time. This time it was Emmy who said it was too loud, so he sat down at a distance for some time. Then she encouraged everyone to play more softly. They did that for a while, and then the class was already over, and she did the good-bye song. The other teacher had been so much better, but let's hope for the next few weeks.

We left the room; Randy had been sitting on the couch outside the whole time. We put their shoes back on and went downstairs. I had told Sammy we'd go read books, so we went to the library. As Sammy only pulls books out and doesn't want to read them, I ended up reading books to the other two, while Randy looked at books with Sammy. But we didn't stay long. It was time to make our way home, even though I didn't have any students tonight.

We walked to the subway in the rain, with Sammy again saying "new subway". I was going to make this important dream of his come true. There was a train arriving, when we got to the platform, but it was an old one, so we didn't get on. Usually a new one follows an old one. However, the next one was also an old one, so we did not get on either. It was rush hour, so it was only 2 or 3 minutes between trains, but we were only a few minutes away from our train leaving, so we had to get on the third one. I was shocked, when it was also an old one. Three old ones in a row?!? I felt terrible for Sammy, who was again throwing a fit. We only rode for one stop, then took the elevator up to the train platform. And the train was already sitting there. We ran to it and were lucky that the doors would open again. We had made the 6:23 pm train!

Just after 6:30 we were home. They had already had some bread with salami and apples, but I went straight to the kitchen to warm up soup and cut up more fruit. They ate some, then went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. Then we got them out and ready for bed. I read them a bedtime story and prayed for them, then put them to bed. Sammy was so very tired, that he fell asleep quickly, but not the other two. As Randy wasn't done eating, I stayed in the chair by them, holding Emmy's hand. He was upset, when I got up to leave, because Randy was taking my place, and Tammy always whines for me before falling asleep. I got myself something to eat, then went back to work. Now it's midnight, and I'm ready to go to bed.