4 years 1 month 4 days

Day 1495. Yesterday I took Sammy to kindergarten on his day 4. In the afternoon I had students. Randy took the kids right outside so they could run their scooters, but they didn't stay long. Emmy was the last one to get sick, and he's still the most effected of the kids. Sammy still coughs a little, while Tammy is over it. Randy now not only has a cough but his eyes are red and secreting. And as for me, I have these terrible coughing spells that even make me vomit and break into sweats. During the night, I still can't sleep because I cough all the time.

This morning Randy took Sammy to kindergarten. And it was the first time that he left him for half an hour, but it didn't turn out well. Sammy was screaming for Daddy and was sent home early as a result. They're gonna make us leave for periods of time until he's at the point, where we can just drop him off in the morning and pick him up at noon. I'm wondering how long that's gonna take.

At home, I was "doing school" with the other two again, and I also moved some furniture around to continue getting the space the way it should be, where we set up the kids' new bunkbed before our US trip. I did all that feeling terrible and tired. I hadn't even sat down yet, when Randy and Sammy arrived.

At 11:15 I went to the kitchen to cook, and at noon we sat down to eat. I was so very tired, I was ready for a  nap. The kids had to lie down earlier today anyway, as we had to leave the house early, and so I put them to bed at 1 pm. They protested somewhat, but were soon all asleep. I lay down as well and set an alarm. Just after 2 pm I woke everyone up and got them ready to leave. Tammy was in tears, which is typical when waking her up, and so was Sammy, but we still left the house on time and made the 2:30 pm train.

Then it was Emmy who was crying, as he did not want to take an old train with steps. He cried until the train arrived and until he was safely inside it. I lifted the kids in, then we carried the wheelchair over the steps, and did the same again, when we got off. Then we took the subway for one stop and walked to the school building. The library is on the ground floor, while the school is on the top floor. Randy and Sammy went into the library, while I took the other two to the school for their dance class. There were two identical dance classes going on at the same time, and so there were a lot of parents with children there. We found the room and went inside. Tammy and Emmy were clinging to me, especially when the teacher said that I could not stay to watch. Emmy even came up into my arms, where I held him. I just stood there with them, while all the kids were arriving, until they were about to start and I had to leave. They were not happy, but they were okay, when I closed the door behind me.

At first I sat down with all the parents there, but after a few minutes I left to go downstairs to the library. Randy and Sammy were just coming out of it, when I got there. Sammy was crying for me, and so Randy was gonna come upstairs to find me. Instead the three of us went back inside, and Sammy kept pulling out books for me to read to him. He was having fun. At the same time Randy was looking through their DVD library, and we checked two kid movies out to take them home with us.

Just before it was time to pick the kids up from their dance class at 3:50 pm, we all took the elevator up to the top floor. Then we were the first ones into the room. I soon saw Tammy and Emmy, who were happy to see me, but also all excited about their class, telling me what they had done. They'd had fun, and that was all that mattered. Together we left the  building and took the tram to get back to the train station. They wanted to go to the playground, but I had a student at 5 pm. Having just missed the train, we got home a little later, at about 4:40 pm. Randy had decided he wanted to take them to the nearby park, so he did, while I was teaching French. But they already returned after about half an hour. Sammy had been crying the whole time. He then took them downstairs instead.

As soon as I was done teaching just before 6 pm, Randy and the kids were back upstsairs. Randy then went to the grocery store, while I soon went to the kitchen with Sammy to warm up the rest of the chicken soup. Sammy kept pulling himself up into a standing position and was standing there in the kitchen for pretty much all of the time.

Once the soup was ready, the kids sat down at the table to eat it, while I fed Sammy in the kitchen and made their bread with salami and cut up fruit for them. Randy was back before they were done, but then they soon went into the bathtub. We got them out and ready for bed, and I read a story to them. It's about all my voice could take. I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was about 8:30. Randy then sat down with them after he had finished eating, while I got myself something to eat and then started preparing for my 9:30 lesson. I taught until 10:20 pm, then went back to work. Now it's later than it's been since returning from the US, nearly 1 am, and even Randy is not even in bed yet. Please pray for a good night's rest for a change.