Day 1584. Yesterday we had a day at home, with the kids playing with all their new toys. The kids have been up early every day, including this morning. However, this morning we could not take it easy and disregard the time. I had set my alarm for 8:30; by that time even Randy was up already.
At 9:40 we left the house and took two subways to go the ice-skating rink, where the kids are taking an ice-skating class every Tuesday right now. They offered a class during the Christmas holidays, and with everyone on hold during the holidays, I thought it was a good idea to go there. There was a long line of everyone who had registered their children for that class, as we had to pay at the cash register there. As it takes time to put their skates and helmets and gloves on, it meant that we were 7 minutes late for their class.
Emmy was not having his best day today. He left his class twice to come get something to drink, and complained again that his shoes were tied too tight. His teacher loosened them, which took a while, so that he was missing them skating backwards. They did it again later, so he had another chance. He also fell a lot, and always wants someone to help him up, rather than to get up himself. However, he skates a bit better than his sister, as he can already glide and go pretty fast, while Tammy does more walking than gliding.
I was really proud of Tammy, though, and told her so. She had said repeatedly in the morning that she did not want to go ice-skating, but then she never complained and did everything the teacher told her really diligently. What a great attitude! The two of them are so different! The class today was a little more demanding than their usual class, and our kids were the youngest and the least advanced, but they still did well.
Sammy was with Randy and me, and we had once again the job to keep him happy for 90 minutes, which is not easy. He wanted me to take him home again, like we do now on Tuesdays, but at first we had planned to all go eat at McDonald's after, so I told him, not today. He was not happy.
At noon the class ended, we put their regular clothes back on, and left to take two subways home. I still had turkey soup from yesterday in the fridge that I could easily warm up. When we got to the subway station, the kids wanted to go to the playground right there first, and so we did.
It was still rather muddy in some places, but not as bad as last time. I put Sammy into the baby swing and stayed with him, and he was having lots of fun. The other two were climbing, then also swinging. Emmy has now figured out how to make it move himself. Then they climbed up a rope ladder. We got Sammy out of the swing, which made him cry hard, as he did not want to come out. They then sat on a spring that moved, which made him laugh again, then we went over to the other side of the square, where they had a climbing construct with a big slide. I waited with Sammy by a bench, while Randy and the other two went inside. Tammy was first making it to the top, climbing up the ropes, and sliding down. Emmy aborted his first try getting up there, but then tried again and made it. He was really proud he had overcome his fear. They went up and down a few times, then we walked to the subway to go home.
By 1:20 pm we were back home. I put the soup on the stove right away, and soon we were able to sit down and eat. After lunch, the kids got on their tablets or were playing. At 3 pm Randy left to go to the grocery, and once he returned at about 4 pm, he went downstairs with the children, so they could play with all their toys. I continued working on the computer but got so tired that I closed my eyes and fell asleep. At 6 pm Randy came back upstairs with the kids, so it was time for me to get back to work. At 6:30 I went to the kitchen to make them some food for dinner. They ate, then continued eating in the bathtub. Then we got them ready for bed. They had some candy, I read them a story, they brushed their teeth, I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was 8:30, and Sammy was already asleep by them. Randy sat down by them, while I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Now it's nearly 1 am and time to clean up the kitchen before going to bed.
