4 years 7 months 16 days

Day 1689. Randy is often up before the alarm goes off at 7:15, because Sammy is the first one up and is up early. Emmy then is the next one up. Tammy and I stay in bed as long as possible. When Randy had breakfast ready at 7:45, I encouraged her to get up and go have breakfast as well, though that's hard for her right after getting up. She's not a morning person. A few minutes later I got up as well and gave Emmy his 5-minute foot bath for his toe, then I dressed him and Tammy and got them ready to leave the house. Randy left with the three of them just after 8:15.

I went back to bed until my next alarm went off at 9:30 am. Then I got up and got ready for my 10 am student. Randy returned while I was teaching. I was done at 11 am and then did some other work. At noon I went to the kitchen to cook lunch, and Randy left to go pick up Sammy. He returned with him at 12:40 pm and left again right away to go pick up the other two kids. I got Sammy out of his chair and took his coat and shoes off and let him play. He played with the CD player for quite some time, then his tablet, and then his remote-controlled car. It was just after 2 pm, when Randy and the kids returned, so rather late. Randy had lunch then, while Sammy asked to go downstairs to play. However, that never happened.

At 3 pm I started getting Emmy and Tammy ready for their exercise class; they were supposed to take the 3:30 pm train. Sammy didn't want Daddy to leave again, as he still hadn't been downstairs. I asked him whether he'd rather have Daddy stay home with him than me, and he said yes. So I started getting myself ready to take Emmy and Tammy to their class. When Randy then talked to Sammy, Sammy said he wanted Mommy to stay home. He didn't know himself what he wanted, or rather he wanted both Mommy and Daddy. We were tired of the back and forth, and finally Randy left with the kids in time to make the train. Sammy was crying. I tried to comfort him and then told him we could take the next train and still join the others, rather than staying home. He was very excited about my suggestion. And so I got him and myself ready, and at 3:40 pm we left the house.

Sammy was really happy, when it was a new train that came just before 4 pm. We rode it for one stop, then walked in the direction of the school. Billa was on the way there, and Daddy was there at that time, so we went inside and found him. We finished in there and then walked to the kids' school together. We sat in the locker room with the many other parents and waited for the kids' class to end.

Then Emmy came out crying because someone had stepped on his toe. I comforted him, but he never went back inside. The class ended a few minutes later. We got them dressed and left to walk back to the train station. It wasn't even 5 pm, so we had lots of time until the 5:23 pm train. When we got to the station, however, we found out that the train was canceled. It was an hour until the next train, which was just too long. As the train in the opposite direction was just arriving, we got on it and rode it to the main train station. Then we walked to the subway, which was quite a long walk, got on and rode it to the second subway that would take us home. Emmy was extremely cranky, crying most of the time, especially because he wanted to be carried. I carried him for part of the time, and so did Randy. It was obvious that it would be a long time before we'd get home, so I canceled my 5:3o pm student. It was just after 6 pm, when we got home, which was the same time we would have arrived had we waited for the next train an hour later.

The kids were hungry, so I went straight to the kitchen to make dinner for them. They ate, then ate in the bathtub. I gave Emmy a footbath and new cream and a bandaid. His toe wasn't looking so good. After having put Sammy to bed with a prayer, I read a few stories to the other two. Then I prayed for them. They brushed their teeth and went to bed. Randy sat in the chair by them and took his nightly nap there. I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat and went back to work after having eaten. Now it's after midnight, and I can barely keep my eyes open. It's time for bed!