4 years 2 months 10 days

Day 1531. Yesterday, on the last day of week 6, it was the first time that Randy took Sammy to the kindergarten at 8:30 and then left and returned home, only to go  pick him up at noon. And it went really well. Sammy has now finished his transition! What a big boy!

And Tammy and Emmy also did school, but at home with me. We practiced some writing and line-drawing, but Emmy is hard to motivate. I've ordered some other stuff to try to make it more interesting and fun for him. Sometimes I wished I could put them into the school system (which Randy is against), but when I then hear what's going on in schools, it affirms that it's advisable to teach them at home.

On Friday's they already lie down for their nap at 1 pm instead of half an hour later, as we have to leave the house at 2:15 pm. Unfortunately I was not able to get Sammy to fall asleep, which meant that I never get to take a nap myself. I asked Sammy whether he wanted to stay home with Daddy, and while he went back and forth on his answer a few times, he actually wanted to come with us. And so we all left the house at 2:15, rode the train and then the subway, and walked to their school.

Tammy and Emmy had their dance class at 3 pm. I took them into the locker room and left once the teacher arrived (late). Then the three of us went to the library two floors below the school, where it was first me who was looking at books with Sammy, and then Randy looked at English kids' books with him. At 3:50 pm we picked them up again. I got to talk to a parent today as she seemed to know the teacher better and found out that her daughter has been in this class for 2 years because she likes it so much. As I'm not allowed to stay and watch, and as the teacher does not talk to us, I have no idea what she does, so it was nice to find out more from the parent.

On the way back to the train station we made a quick stop at a grocery store, then we took the 4:23 train home, where we arrived just after 4:30 pm. Randy and the kids went downstairs, while I taught from 5 to 6 pm.

This morning there was no alarm going off, but of course the boys woke up as early as always. As I hadn't been in their piano class yet this semester and am trying to review with them at home what they learn there, I really wanted to be the one in their class today. However, Sammy does not want to stay home with Daddy, nor does he want to go to the playground with Daddy. He wants to stay with me. And so we all left the house at 10 am to take the subway to their music school. The four times we took a subway today, it was alway a new train, much to Sammy's delight.

We went straight to the back of the room to disturb as little as possible. At first Sammy was with Randy, but he was not happy. Randy then took him outside, but he just cried even more. I finally left the room to take him, as he just wanted to be with me, and had him for the rest of the class. That meant not being able to follow as well any more what Tammy and Emmy were doing in class, but I had already seen the most important. They have now learned where the Do key is on the piano, and where it is on the music sheet, even though it's still a little challenging for them. They're doing just as well as the other kids in class, and today there were only two others.

After the class was over, Emmy wanted to go to the playground really bad. It was a sunny day, even though it was still wet from yesterday's rain. I was undecided, but we ended up going for just 15 minutes. Sammy was upset, as he wanted to go to the subway, but once I put him into the swing, he was excited and laughing the whole time, especially once I made the swing swivel.

By 12:15 we were back home, and I got the family-sized pizza out of the fridge to put some more cheese, salami and mushrooms on top before putting him into the oven. Tammy and Emmy were there right away to help me, and even Sammy stood up right next to us, wanting to help but being happy with eating some salami. After we were done eating, it was already after 1 pm and close to nap time. At 1:30 pm I put them down for their nap and finally got Sammy to sleep, then Tammy was getting close, but Emmy was still wide awake. I finally left, and Tammy also fell asleep, but not Emmy.  It was already so late that I did not get a nap in myself. At some point Emmy actually did fall asleep, but it was so late that he only got to sleep 5 or 10 minutes. At 3 pm I opened the curtains, and the boys were up right away, while it's hard to wake Tammy up.

At 3:15 pm we left the house to take the train and then the subway and go to church. We got there right at 4 pm, which is when the service starts. We stayed in the very back. Tammy and Emmy were running around and having (too much) fun, while I had Sammy who was enjoying this one-on-one time with Mommy, and so was Mommy. Eventually Randy took the other two kids into the lobby, while we were waiting for the kids' program to start.

Some time later I took Sammy outside as well. Tammy had just gone to the bathroom by herself, so Randy sent me after her. When I got there, there was Tammy who had just peed in her pants, making them all wet and creating a puddle on the floor. She was crying, and crying that she wanted to go home. Then Emmy was crying because he wanted to stay for the kids' program. I wanted to stay with Emmy and send the others home, but Randy wanted us all to go home, so we did. Emmy kept crying for a long time.

And then we lost his coat while walking through the whole mall to get to the exit to the subway. We noticed, when we wanted to put their coats on. So we stayed there and waited, while Randy retraced our steps to find the coat. Suddenly a security guard came up to me and asked, whether we had lost a coat. I guess he saw Emmy crying and thought that that was the reason. he said he had found it and left to go get it. I called Randy who then returned, and then we all got to leave the mall and take the subway back to the train station. We took the 5:23 pm train and wer home just after 5:30 pm.

It was still too early for dinner, but Randy and the kids only went downstairs for 5 minutes or so for some reason. They came back upstairs, where the kids were playing, while Randy returned downstairs to tidy up for the photoshoot tomorrow. It was a good bit after 6:30 pm before I went to the kitchen to make their dinner, and Sammy joined me as usual. He was in an extremely fun mood and was laughing even more than usual, everything being funny to him. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating while playing, then we got them ready for bed. I read some Bible stories to them, prayed over them, and put them to bed. It was a little later than usual, about 8:30 pm. Randy had finished eating, so he sat down with them, while I got myself something to eat. After having eaten myself, I went back to work. I didn't mean to go to bed this late, but it's already 1:15 am now.