4 years 9 months 12 days

Day 1746. The kids have been home all week, as we have to wait for Emmy to be declared healed of chickenpox before they can go back to kindergarten. We thought of taking him to the pediatrician tomorrow for that purpose, but decided to wait until Monday to be sure. His bumps are healing nicely, in any case, and I'm still not sure Tammy even had it. Sammy is showing no signs of it.

It's been a while since they've all been home all the time every day, and I do enjoy it. It's nice for Randy not to have to take kids or pick up kids from kindergarten. We now get to eat lunch together again every day, and we all eat at noon, while Randy usually eats at 2 pm, when he gets home from picking up the kids. I think the kids have also enjoyed their play time at home, since we moved the office not that long ago, giving them a new playroom in a way. I just got them a dinosaur tent that's sitting in an secluded area by the shelf where all their books now are, and they enjoy their little space there. I also enjoy having my office back - space, an external keyboard, a good office chair, and my own little area. Even though the kids come to my office, when they make necklaces or bracelets or the like with the beads I got them. Emmy has also made a few these past few days. And he's really enjoyed the new rings I got not that long ago, and now they have more room to use them. He climbs and does all kinds of acrobatics with them.

This week they've also been practicing the piano a little every day, so they can play their songs for their concert for their teacher on Saturday. Tammy is less eager to practice than her brother. I believe they'll be able to play their songs.

Tuesday is the day they don't have classes, and so we all stayed home. I just had two students in the afternoon.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I had a student in the morning, then one in the early afternoon. Then I dressed Tammy for their exercise class, and Randy took her there, while the boys stayed home with me. Randy and Tammy returned at 5:40 pm, which was the time I had my third student of the day.

This morning I set my alarm again, as I had a student again. I finished at 11 am and then reminded Randy that he needed to leave with Sammy. His night braces still have pressure points that leave marks on his legs, so that they had to go there once again to try to have them fixed. They returned home at about 3 pm.

I went to the kitchen to cook lunch, and just before noon the three of us sat down to eat. I was pretty tired, but I had little time. Just after 1 pm we went downstairs, as I had a 1:30 pm student, followed by a 2:30 pm student. Tammy and Emmy went inside their tent, while I taught, but Emmy also gave me some trouble, crying when his tablet ran out of battery power.

I finished teaching at 3:20 pm. There was just enough time for the kids to sit down at the piano and practice their songs. Then we went upstairs, where I dressed them for their dance class. At 3:45 pm Randy left with them to take them there. Their dance performance is in 10 days, so it was important for them to be there. And today they got their costumes and got to try them on. Unfortunately Randy only took a picture of Tammy in her costume, not Emmy.

Sammy and I stayed upstairs after the others had left the house, as I had to make their dinner and put it into the fridge. I took Sammy's bread with salami with us. Then I dressed him and myself, and at 4:20 pm we also left the house. We took two buses and got to the school rather early, 15 minutes before the class started. Sammy had really been looking forward to seeing his friend again that he hadn't seen in a few weeks, and today she was there. He was really happy. In fact, today there were more kids there than I'd ever seen there. We all went downstairs where the gym was, and all the parents except for me stayed in the locker room (or left). I went into the gym and sat down against the wall.

Sammy came to me a few times during the class. The main teacher wasn't there, which really made a big difference as she was needed with that many children. Sammy's friend was with him a lot, and she was trying to play with him, but Sammy didn't feel much like playing, and he didn't get the attention from the teacher he's been getting. He finally told me he was tired and wanted to go home. Given that he'd had that tiring 4-hour trip to the night brace place, I believed him, and so we left 20 minutes early.

We took the two buses home again and surprised everyone, when we were already home by 6:45 pm. Tammy and Emmy were already eating their food. I cut up some more fruit for them, then they went into the bathtub, and continued our evening routine from there.