Day 1722. It feels like it's been a really long and busy day, but aren't they always? This morning Randy only took Tammy and Emmy to kindergarten, so Sammy stayed home with me which meant no more sleeping. He wanted to join me in bed and watch videos of him and his siblings, when they were small and when Sonja was around. And so that's what we did - the whole time until Randy returned at 9:45. Then Randy got Sammy ready to leave and left with him at 10 am. I was very tired, but only closed my eyes for a few minutes, without sleeping.
At 11 am I started teaching a lesson; Randy and Sammy returned before I was done. Randy left at noon, and so Sammy and I were alone again, and he wanted to watch videos again. The two of us ate lunch, and then he watched music videos on his tablet. Randy and the other kids returned at 1:45, so earlier than usual. I was preparing my 4:30 pm lesson with a new student and my first math student since I started teaching online two years ago. Then I got the kids ready, and we all left the house just after 2:30 pm.
It was time for their weekly ball-playing class. We took the subway and then the tram and got there a few minutes early. The kids started playing with the balls right away. Tammy was playing ball with me, throwing it back and forth, while Emmy wanted me to try to hit him, while he tried not to be hit. Tammy went to the mat to show me that she can do a bridge. Emmy then showed me that he can do it too. I played with Sammy, throwing the ball back and forth, then Emmy came to play with him briefly.
The teachers called everyone to the mat, asked how they were doing and did a roll call. Then they explained the first game to them. They had a big cardboard box with a chord that they were pulling, and the kids had to throw all their balls inside. After the teacher, it was the kids' turn to pull it, and both Tammy and Emmy had a turn. Tammy fell and ran crying to me.
They then ran in circles around the big mat and had to throw the ball in the air and catch it. Then the teachers each had two hoops in their hands and called colors out to them, and the kids had to throw their balls through the hoop of that color. Then they stopped and had them throw their balls through two hoops at the time, then through all four hoops.
The last game was really fun. The ground was liquid lava, and they had to put down the hoops to create a path to the next map to cross it safely. It was an exercise in teamwork, and they did really well. Tammy was often up front, and Emmy also is leader, taking care of the other end. The exercise took some time, all the while to the end of the class. Sammy was with Randy and me pretty much the whole time today, and we were talking and having fun. I'm so proud of his development. He said a longer, complete sentence to me today. And he's been saying "I love you, Daddy" a lot recently. We finally got him to say "I love you, Mommy" as well, but he doesn't say it as often by far.
Sammy had asked to go to the playground, and the idea was for Randy to take all three to the one around the corner, while I go home to teach. However, Tammy wanted to go home with me, and then Emmy did too, and then we all went home together. Time was short, as I was supposed to start teaching at 4:30 pm, but I had told my student 4:40 pm. We actually got home before it was 4:30, which was perfect. I was hungry and had enough time to eat something. Randy took the kids downstairs to play.
I then had my math student, which was fun, and had a French student immediately after. By 6:20 pm I was done, and I was pretty tired. I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner. They ate, then went to the bathtub, where they continued eating. I then put Sammy to bed first, then read a story to the other two and put them to bed after having prayed for them. I got myself something to eat and sat down at the desk to prepare for my 9 pm student. It as a try-out lesson for a new student. I was looking forward to teaching German as a foreign language to an adult, but he never showed up. How disappointing.
I finally got to move to a more comfortable position, watch the news and download today's pictures. But I have not had the time to finish editing them. It's nearly 1 am, and I have an early student tomorrow morning, so I need to go to bed.
