Day 1930. Yesterday was Saint Nicholas day. On Thursday night the kids had put their boots outside our apartment door for Saint Nicholas to fill over night. Once they were asleep, I filled thte boots up with chocolate, tangerines and peanuts and put them outside, and added the red bags from Grandma. In the morning, they wanted to go look at their boots right away, of course, and Daddy opened the door for them. They were very excited about what they found and that they were no coal or stones which is what naughty kids get.
I helped get the kids ready for kindergarten as Randy had to leave with them earlier than usual. Tammy and Emmy had to be in kindergarten by 9 am, so about 15 minutes earlier than usual as Saint Nicholas was coming there. All the kids gathered in the gym, and then they performed their poems and songs for him before they each received a gift bag. Sammy's kindergarten was also visited by Saint Nicholas which was the first thing Sammy told me, when he came home with Daddy. Randy had had to pick him up earlier than usual, as it was not a typical Friday for us.
The three of us left the house at 12:15 to take the 12:30 bus, then a second bus, to get to Tammy's and Emmy's kindergarten. The kids were excited to see me as I hadn't been to their kindergarten in a while. I helped getting them dressed, then Randy left with all three to take them to tennis class. As for me, I had a teacher-parent meeting with their main teacher.
We sat down in a little conference room for our half-hour meeting. Their main teacher is from Congo, and sometimes the kids complain about her being too strict or mean. She said that Tammy and Emmy were very well-behaved and very social. She said that Tammy was extremely protective of her brother. Tammy usually goes straight to the table to draw, when she arrives in the morning, but then starts interacting with other kids. The teacher also showed me both their papers that they have done in class as they have certain goals they have to reach now that they're in pre-school to be ready for school next fall. For example, they have to be able to write their names and recognize numbers. As Tammy enjoys drawing and does it a lot, she's far more advanced there than her brother which was visible in those papers. The teacher was actually surprised to hear how much Emmy enjoys maths. We'll have to do some work during Christmas break, especially for Emmy to do more writing/drawing.
After our meeting ended at 1:45, I walked to the tram that took me to the subway, but then I got off the subway early to go to the post office and send off the Malian kids' drawings, a Christmas gift for their sponsors. I was shocked by the number of people in line at the post office and waited for half an hour. Then I went to the grocery store. I hadn't been to one in a while so it was nice to be able to buy some stuff Randy would never buy, and I've been enjoying that food.
All those errands meant I got home rather late, after 3:30 pm, and at 4 pm I had my first student. He actually showed up 20 minutes late, just as Randy and the kids were coming home. I had two students, teaching until 6 pm, then made the kids' dinner which started our evening routine.
This was the morning when they could have slept longer. Some mornings I can barely get them out of bed, but of course the morning they could have slept longer, they were up early. And Emmy never lets me sleep, which is really annoying.
Just before 10 am we all left the house together.
We took the subway downtown, then walked to their music school where their class started at 10:30 am. I was able to hand in their Christmas presents for the Christmas party there next week without them noticing. Then the class started. Randy and Sammy stayed outside, while I went in with Tammy and Emmy.
Emmy is very gifted and practices well during the week, so he could play all the songs well. While everyone was settling in, he was playing one of the songs - by heart and fast without mistakes. The teacher noticed and commented.
Unfortunately it was once again the first half of the class that everything was going well with Emmy but not the second. One problem is that the teacher plays everything much more slowly - too slowly for Emmy. But where it always goes downhill is when Emmy makes a mistake. The teacher was playing sequences of notes and the kids had to tell which of the three patterns in the book he was playing. I had been practicing that with them during the week, but Emmy got it wrong, and so he was upset. And Emmy can't handle making mistakes or losing. His kindergarten teacher had also mentioned that. So that's where it started going downhill, but thankfully it was not as bad as last week. But for the second week in a row he did not get the gift I had for him if he had behaved well the whole class.
After the class we walked to the tram stop and took it to the subway, then rode the subway to the swimming pool/McDonald's. We had a good time eating lunch there, then walked across the square to the pool We paid and walked around the building for the wheelchair entrance. After we had all change, we went inside to where the teacher was doing the class before ours. It was still quite early so we sat down on beds there to wait until 1:30 pm.
Once the class started, Randy went into the water with Tammy and Emmy. Soon I'll be able to go into the water again, but not yet. So I went into the baby pool with Sammy and sat on the side with a swim noodle holding Sammy who was in the water having fun. He was talking to every kid and adult coming close to him. Eventually I got off and walked with him all across the pool and back. Once the swim class was over, we couldn't stay and have fun but had to leave right away. The day wasn't over yet.
After we had all dressed, we left and walked to the tram that we rode for two stops, then we walked to where one of our two churches has rooms for activities during the week. The Christmas program rehearsal there had already started at 1 pm. When we walked in, we could see them trying on costumes right there, and the kids went straight in as the lady in charge was about to leave. This year Tammy and Sammy play two of the Magi, while Emmy is a shepherd. All three tried their costumes on. Then we walked upstairs.
One of the ladies was practicing a dance with the older kids, while the younger kids were at the table making paper chains. Tammy sat down right away. She drew on three different-colored papers that were then cut in stripes, and I helped her make the paper chain with the stapler. She then hung hers up with the others. Emmy wasn't interested in doing one as well. They all got some snacks, and Sammy was crawling around for a while. Tammy and Emmy were doing some dance moves, together with other kids. Then they started doing handstands, and the lady doing the dances helped all the kids to do handstands against the wall. And all three did it. I helped Sammy.
Then it was time for the dance for the smaller kids, and I was surprised that Emmy was joining in as well. Even Tammy had just said she didn't want to do it after all, but since everyone joined in, they did too. Of course it wasn't that easy as they had never done it before.
After they were done, we were told that there was nothing left for them to do, so we could go home. And so we packed up and left. It was 4 pm. It was a longer walk to the tram that we then took to the main train station. We saw that they had a little Christmas market there and the kids wanted to ride the little caroussel, but Randy didn't want them to. On the way to our train we walked by the new Dunkin Donut shop and ended up buying two donuts for the kids. Then we got on the train and got home just before 5 pm.
I was really exhausted and went straight to bed and fell asleep. Randy and the kids stayed upstairs and so it was Sammy whining and Randy shouting that woke me up, and then of course Emmy who came to me. Just after 6 pm I got up to make their dinner, which started our evening routine. Now it's after 1 am, and I have yet to take care of the kitchen, and tomorrow we have to leave the house early.
