4 years 8 months 23 days

Day 1727. This morning we did not have to get up early, but of course the boys were up early. Emmy was whining that he was hungry, but Randy did not want to get up yet. And so Emmy came to me and wouldn't let me sleep. Eventually Randy got up to help Sammy out of his bed and then he also made breakfast for them. Tammy woke up from all the noise whining Emmy was making or she would have slept longer. As for me, I got to stay in bed, at least until 9:45, when I had to get up to dress the kids for piano class. I was planning on staying home with Sammy. But there was so much drama going on between Daddy and the kids that I decided we'd all go to piano class. I was gonna go every other week anyway and didn't go last time. Sammy had been looking forward to time alone with Mommy and was really upset about the change of plans. But at 10 am we all left the house together.

He was really happy, when it was a new subway that arrived. Thank God! We rode it downtown, then walked to the music school. I had never seen the school so empty. Because it's Pentecost weekend, there were no classes today - except for ours which took place to make up for another time, when the teacher was sick. And there were only two other students in our class today.

We sat down in the back of the room, and the teacher started with the welcome song. I sat between Emmy and Tammy to help them, but I also had Sammy with me the whole time, because he really wanted Mommy today. After the welcome song, the teacher gave them colored stickers for the keys on the piano that they know already. Then she did the song, where they have to hit those keys with the correct fingers. They did well. Next she had them get their books out and play "Mary had a little lamb". The correct notes with the correct fingers. It was hard for me to help them both at the same time. After they had all done it on their little keyboard, she had them come up front and do the song on the big piano each.

Their end-of-the-semester concert is just a month away. They'll be doing two songs probably, and the teacher said that they could play the piano if they wanted to. Emmy said he did, but Tammy said she didn't want to do that. Later she changed her mind, though. If they really did that song, they'd have to practice at home.

Next the teacher got her ukulele out and turned a metronome on which was a first. She had them step with the metronome, and they all walked in a circle to the rhythm, with her playing a song on the ukuele. She then increased the speed more and more, much to the kids' delight. Then she practiced bowing with them. Every time she clapped, they had to take a bow. The other boy was having fun with Emmy who played along, and they stayed on the floor instead of coming back up, which the teacher did not appreciate.

And then it was time for the story at the end. Sammy had already started crawling to the front during bowing practice. He then stayed up front for the story. When Emmy saw him coming, he asked Sammy if he'd sit with him. Sammy said "no" and hugged his sister. He stayed next to her.

After the good-bye song and receiving their stickers, the class was over. We left and walked back to the subway.

Sammy wanted to take a new subway, but we ended up getting on an old train. I told him we'd take a new subway home after McDonald's, no matter how long we'd have to wait. We had a good time eating together, then walked back to the subway. Gladly the first train coming was a new one, so we all got on.

Back home we all had birthday cake, then everyone got on their tablets. I was very tired and wanted to get a nap. I lay down, but there was too much noise for me to fall asleep. At 2 pm Randy took the kids downstairs to play, and I went downstairs as well. Yesterday I had not gone downstairs, and there was still lots of work to do to make it all beautiful and tidied up since we moved my office to another part of the room. And so I started working, emptying boxes out and putting stuff back on my desk and shelf. Tammy was eager to help, while Emmy did not want to work. He really enoys the new rings, though, and I wished he could do exercise classes that include more stuff like rings.

They were eager to receive my empty boxes to play with them, and Sammy was the first one to go go into a box. He looked so very comfortable in there and did not want to come out! Tammy then got into another box. I found some unused, old calendars and gave them to the kids to draw in, and so they sat down to draw right away. As for Emmy, he got into one box and had me to put the other box on top, so that he was completely hidden.

My 3:50 pm lesson was approaching, so I went back upstairs to teach. There was too little time to move my computer downstairs and be sure that it all worked. And so I taught both my students upstairs, until 6 pm. Then Randy and the kids came upstairs, and I went to the kitchen to make their dinner, which is the beginning of our evening routine. Now it's nearly 2 am - much later than I had intended - and I still have to take care of the dishes.