4 years 3 months 6 days

Day 1558. On Wednesday I had a student right after Randy and Sammy left for kindergarten. In the afternoon Tammy and Emmy had their weekly exercise class. Because it works so well, I stayed home with Sammy, while Randy took them there. They had a substitute teacher, so I did not get pictures or a report this week. Sammy had fun at home with me, but did start asking for Daddy after a while. Once they were back, I still had a student to teach.

On Thursdays Sammy has his weekly physiotherapy session. It'd been weeks since I was the one taking him there, and as the doctor was going to be there as well, we decided that I would take Sammy. It meant that I had to cancel a session I had scheduled with a student. Sammy was really happy that I was going with him. He had not slept, as we're now at the point of giving up trying to get them to sleep, but he was fine anyway.

It was a little rainy and cold, as we walked along the road to the therapy center, where we arrived early. We sat down and waited for the physiotherapist, then went into her room. The doctor joined us a few minutes later. Sammy always does 60 minutes. I'm so glad that the previous doctor retired and that he now has this young, nice doctor be responsable for him. It's like night and day! She sat there watching the physiotherapist for most of the time, and only once looked at his legs. She said that because Sammy's legs are not ALWAYS tense, he's actually not a 100% spastic, which is really good news.

The physiotherapist is really great, and Sammy had a great time working with her. He was in a good mood and smiling all the time. I was not happy to find out that she's getting ready to retire and trying to reduce the hours she works, which means she also wants to stop working with Sammy. As the kindergarten has no fine motor skills therapist right now, they want him to get that therapist at the center, as he gets physiotherapy at kindergarten. However, it does not compare in quality to what he does at the center.

I found out that the insurance now pays for Sammy's diapers as he's 4 years old, and the doctor gave us the respective paper to take to the insurance. As she knew how much Sammy loves buttons, she said that Sammy could come and push the button on the photocopier. Sammy really enjoyed pushing it and wanted to do it more often than once!

We left the center and walked the long walk back to the subway, but then continued walking a little further to go to the bank. Sammy was not happy that we were not going straight to the subway, as he was looking forward to the door button on the new subway trains. After the bank we went there, and he was lucky that it was a new train.

Just before 5 pm we were back home. I had told my student that we'd start at 5:10 pm, and that's what we did. By 6 pm I was done. I was glad that my 6 pm student had canceled. After feeding the kids and putting them to bed, I then taught from 8:30 to 10:30 pm. Then I was finally done. However, it was close to 2 am before I got to fall asleep.

And so I was really tired this morning. However, the kids had eagerly been waiting for this morning, as it was the first of December and time to start with their advent calendars. I had once again gone overboard with the number of advent calendars. There was one for each kid to open this morning, and Emmy made sure I got out of bed so they could. Emmy's advent calendar was all about firefighting, and he was happy to get two firemen. Tammy had a Barbie calendar, and today she got the Barbie, with accessories behind every other door. And Sammy had one that had a button behind each door, playing a different Christmas song every day when pushing the button. He pushed it over and over again and greatly enjoyed it. And then there was one that was extra cheap on Black Friday, which is why I got it, one with dinosaurs, and Emmy was happy to get a dinosaur. Then we opened the one with a little kids' book each day, and I read the story to them. The candy advent calendars were for the evening.

Randy gave the kids something to eat and got Sammy ready for kindergarten, while I made Sammy's snack box. They left at 8:15, and being so tired, I got started working on the computer slowly. When Randy returned, he went downstairs with the kids. By about 10:30 I was so tired that I could not continue working. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I woke up briefly, when Randy and the kids came back upstairs, but fell asleep again. When Emmy woke me up, it was already 12:15. I could not believe it was already that late! I had wanted to start cooking at 11:45. I got up right away and went to the kitchen.

I was cooking, when Randy and Sammy returned at 12:45 pm, and just after 1 pm we sat down to eat. And suddenly it was already 1:45 pm, and I realized we already had to get ready to leave the house to go to dance class. We dressed the kids and left the house at 2:15 pm.

 Sammy was crying hard because he wanted his tablet where he listens/watches children's songs, but we had left it at home. I don't like all the kids being on their tablets so much. When we got to the train station, the 2:20 pm train was delayed and hadn't come yet, so we took that one once it arrived, meaning we arrived at our destination earlier than expected. We got some chestnuts, then took the subway, but it was an old train, which upset Sammy. Once we got off, we still had to walk a little, and it was half raining half snowing, so not very nice.

We reached the school early and took our time taking their coats off and putting their exercise shoes on. Then I took them to their locker room, where we left our jackets. The teacher was already there, so I left, and the three of us went to the library on the bottom floor. I sat down by the boxes of books with Sammy, and he started pulling one after another out. I'd open them and try to read them to him, but he was not interested. He just wanted to pull them out. After some time Randy took Sammy, and they ended up sitting on the floor, where Sammy could freely pull books off the shelf. But he kept asking for Emmy, and so we finally went back upstairs. When we got there, Tammy was already outside and waiting for us. We put all their coats and shoes back on and left the building to walk back to the subway.

This time Sammy was happy that it was a new train. After we got off, we stayed there for some time, as it's much warmer down there and we still had 15 minutes until our train's departure. Eventually we went to the train platform and got on the train home, where we arrived just after 4:30 pm. Randy took the kids downstairs, while I got ready for my 5 pm student. Right when I finished with him, they already returned upstairs - rather early, as I still had half an hour to work before going to the kitchen at 6:30 pm. And I didn't want them to be on their tablets again. And so they played rather wildly together, but I enjoyed hearing all three play together, whis is not that common, that Sammy is included.

At 6:30 I went to the kitchen with Sammy, where the two of us had lots of fun again, while I was making food. Tammy and Emmy ate their food at the table, while I was feeding Sammy in the kitchen. Then they all continued eating in the bathtub. After they all had their pj's on, it was time for the remaining advent calendars. There were three chocolate ones, and every day they rotate to the next advent calendar to open, so that they open a different one every day. They were all more or less happy with what they got. And the final "advent calendar" was a book with 24 chapters to read every night. And so I read the first chapter to them, which was longer than expected. I was surprised that Sammy was still awake, all the way to the end. Then we went to the bathroom so they could use their new electronic toothbrush with accompanying app to help them brush right. They've now been using them for about a week, and are enjoying them. As for Sammy, I brushed his teeth with a normal brush. Then I prayed for them all and put them to bed. It was time for Randy to take the seat by their beds, as he had finished eating, while I went to the kitchen to make myself something to eat.

After having eaten, I went back to work. Until 10 pm, when Randy and I had a meeting with friends in America. After that, time went by way too quickly, and so it's nearly 1 am already. At least I'm done in the kitchen.