4 years 9 months 27 days

Day 1761. On Wednesday, Randy took Emmy to his exercise class - the last one before the summer break - while I stayed home with the other two.

On Thursday I had students in the morning and afternoon. Randy had found out in the morning that Tammy can only join the other kids on their kindergarten trip on Friday if she has a paper from the doctor that she's not infectious any more, and so Randy took her to the pediatrician in the afternoon who gave them the paper. That meant that I was unexpectedly alone with the boys. I had students scheduled from 2 to 6 pm. I asked Emmy to play with Sammy during the first hour and was impressed how well that went. I was actually able to teach. Then my 3 and 4 pm student canceled, which was helpful. I ended up having lots of fun with both boys, and then Randy and Tammy already returned, so that I was able to teach my 5 pm lesson without having to worry about the kids.

In the evening, Sammy wanted to show me a new skill, something I had never seen him do before, and I was really impressed as I had not thought he was possible to do this. He actually not only got on all fours, but pushed his knees up into the air, so that only his hands and feet were on the floor, like with a push-up. I was very impressed!

This morning the time for the special year-end trip to an animal park outside of Vienna had come. The kids had been looking forward to it. Because the bus was supposed to leave at 8 am from kindergarten, we had to set our alarm for 6 am, which was mighty early. Not even Sammy was up yet, when it went off. Randy made breakfast for the kids, while I tried to wake Tammy up. She didn't want to get up, and it took me a long time to get her to. In any case, it was too early for her to eat anything. As for me, I made them a sandwich each that I put into their backpacks for their trip. I also got them dressed, and at 7 am Randy left with them to take them to kindergarten.

I had gone to bed at 1 am and all I wanted was to sleep, but that's not possible, when I'm alone with Sammy. And so I kept busy with him until Randy returned just before 8:30 am. He went downstairs with Sammy, while I lay back down for an hour. Then the alarm woke me. I was very tired, when I got up, but I had to get ready for my 10 am student. Randy came back upstairs with Sammy before I was done teaching. Once I finished, he left to go to the grocery store, which meant again that I was busy with Sammy and couldn't lie down.

When Randy returned, we sat down to eat lunch. Then I still wanted to get a nap in before leaving the house at 2:20 pm. However, I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time and once I did, there was not much time left until my alarm went off. I had to get up and get ready to leave the house, making sure I had everything with me. I was so very tired.

I took the 2:26 pm bus, then another one, and got to the kindergarten at 3 pm. There was a lot of activity, as everyone was picking up their kids that they said would return at 3 pm. Their main teacher saw me and complained that Randy hadn't shown the certificate that Tammy is healthy to anyone. In any case, Randy didn't see her anywhere in the morning and nobody had asked for me. She then told me that there was a problem with the bus company they rented from so that there was no bus. That meant they could not go to the animal park and went to the zoo in Vienna instead, using public transportation. I couldn't believe it!

Tammy and Emmy got their backpacks and scooters, and off we went. It actually turned out that Tammy had NOT picked up her backpack, so it will spend the weekend at the kindergarten. I could tell that they were tired after an early morning and all day at the zoo. Emmy fell right in the beginning and cried for a while until I stopped and comforted him. We had to get to the bus stop and their tennis class in time. At the bus stop, a lady was handing out small cans of drinks for free, which was nice. We had just missed a bus and had to wait for the next one. We got the perfect seats in the last row, thank God. The kids were very tired, which was visible. Tammy leaned against me and Emmy actually fell asleep. It was a 17-minute bus ride. He was not happy, when I had to wake him up, as he'd only slept a few minutes.

We still had to walk down a long road to get to the sports center. Emmy was so tired that it took him a while to be willing to use his scooter again. And then we ran into Randy and Sammy who had come to go to the playground by the sports center. We each continued on our way. Tammy and Emmy got changed, then we headed to the tennis courts. We were a little early. Normally their class is at 2 pm, so they'd missed it, and the 4 pm class was their make-up class. But I wished there had been another day where they could have done it, as they were way too tired. Tammy didn't want to play at all. She said she was just gonna sit down on the floor. I had told the teacher that they were tired, but he wasn't even the one teaching them today. It was the trainee, the same lady as last week, who did the whole lesson with them.

And they got to sit more than usual. The other two kids were older, so the two played together, and then our two played together. When it was not their turn, they got to sit down and wait for their turn. I was proud that Tammy changed her mind and ended up playing the whole time.

At some point Randy and Sammy joined me in the restaurant, where I was watching them through the window. I got him out of the wheelchair, and he was watching with me for a few minutes, interacting with his siblings on the other side of the glass. But it got boring quickly, and he started asking to go home. I asked him whether he wanted to go home with Daddy, or wait for the rest of us. He changed his mind a few times but finally said he wanted to go home with Daddy, so the two of them left at 4:45 pm, 15 minutes before the class was over.

Once it was over, we went to the locker room, but they kept their clothes on, and we started our long journey home. Thanks to our scooters the walk to the train station wasn't as long. Once we got there, we still had to wait 10 minutes for our train. The train ride itself was about 15 minutes, and Randy called us. He and Sammy were on the platform of the subway and waiting for us there. Sammy was crying for us, and then he started screaming. He was also very tired.

And then Tammy started crying. Her leg was hurting, and she wanted me to carry her which was out of the question. She had to walk herself, and so she was crying and crying, as we made our way from the train to the subway. I carried her scooter and helmet, which was challenge enough as I had my own scooter and big purse. Only Emmy was a big boy. Sammy was also screaming, while we were making our way to him.

Once on the subway, I had Tammy sit in my lap and held her, which calmed her down. Sammy was still crying off and on. When we got off, she wanted to be carried again. I couldn't do it, but Randy ended up carrying her, while I pushed Sammy and had two scooters in my other hand.

We were all glad to be home. It was 6 pm, so I made their food right away. They ate, then got a quick shower, and I still had to put the white product on Sammy's bumps. His are now healing off as well, and on Monday he's gonna get his all-clear from the doctor to go back to kindergarten. He's had it worse than his siblings, so the bumps are very visible. It takes a while to cover his whole body with the white stuff that dries out the blisters.

Tammy and Emmy still wanted a story, even though they were so tired. Tammy looked like she was about to fall asleep, while I was reading. I then ended up lying down with them in Tammy's bed for a little while. I hope they sleep in a little tomorrow.