5 years 2 months 29 days

Day 1916. We had to leave the house at 10 am, took the subway downtown, then walked to the music school, where their weekly class was starting at 10:30. Today Randy never even went inside the classroom with Sammy but stayed outside the whole time. I went inside with Tammy and Emmy and sat between them to help them.

The teacher started with the greeting song, then the kids had to open their books. But first he did the finger exercise with them that they aced. He plays it a lot more slowly than Emmy does, which bores Emmy a little. He always wants to play everything fast. They played a new song today, and also played a song they've been practicing all week. At the board, they had to show that they know what a step, a skip and a jump is. Tammy got the hardest one to do and she couldn't do it.  I don't know why it's so hard for her. Emmy is much better at it.

The teacher also revised the length of the different notes and introduced a new one, the dotted half note. He also showed them the repeat symbol that tells you to play the whole thing again. At the table, they had to do a matching exercise in their books. He also asked them to figure out how to play a sequence a notes that he had played at the piano. That's very hard for them. Then he called them up front again and taught them a new song to sing. He did a story at the end of the class, then all the kids got their stickers and stamps for the homework they've done this past week. He did the good-bye song, then we left.

We walked the opposite direction today, as we had to go a different way. A few days ago there was a fire on a subway train, and now five subway stops are closed and the subway was not running, so we couldn't take it to our destination. Instead we walked to the tram, rode it for a while, then another tram for a while, and got to McDonald's at 12:30, which was half an hour later than usual. However, we've always had more time than necessary, so it worked out fine. We had a good time eating, then crossed the square to the swimming pool. We paid then walked around the building to the entrance for the handicapped. We were let in and went to the changing room.

After we had all changed, we walked to the pool and sat down by it, watching the previous class. Tammy and Emmy already wanted to step into the water. Sammy stayed with me. I'm not allowed to take a bath or go into water for another month because of the operation, but I was hoping the baby pool's water level was so low that I could stand in it and take care of Sammy at the same time. I tried it, but the water came all the way to under my belly and having to help Sammy all the time, it was gonna get my belly wet constantly, so it was not working. I left the pool with Sammy again, and we sat down to watch the siblings during their class. That allowed me to take some pictures of them today. The teacher was reviewing the frog leg movement again and had them swim doing it, which was hard for them, but they were doing a lot better by the end of the class. Sammy was getting rather impatient, but I told him Daddy was gonna take him into the baby pool after the class.

The class only lasts 30 minutes and was over by 2 pm. Randy went into the baby pool with all three. They were having fun while I was watching them. Emmy kept calling me to watch what he was doing.

After about 20 minutes they came out, and we walked to the changing room to get dressed. Once again there was a diving teacher getting his equipment ready for his class, and Emmy kept asking him all kinds of questions, some that were out of place. Then we left and walked to the tram stop, buying some chestnuts on the way. We had to wait for a while, then we got on and rode it to the train station, where we were lucky that the next train was arriving 9 minutes later. Just after 3:30 pm we were back home.

I was very tired and would have loved some rest, but I had to get ready for my 4 pm student. Randy and the kids went downstairs. And then my 4 pm student never showed up. I lay down for a few minutes and got up again for my 5 pm student. I made some sandwiches for the kids before I started teaching, so they could eat them if they got hungry before I was done teaching at 6 pm. Once I was done, I went to the kitchen to get their fruit ready and gave it to them. After they were done eating, they took a quick shower, then put their pj's on. I prayed for Sammy and put him to bed, then read a story to Tammy and Emmy. They brushed their teeth, then also went to bed. I went to the kitchen to get myself some food. After having eaten, I started working on the pictures. Now it's after midnight, and we have an early morning tomorrow.