5 years 5 months 23 days

Day 2002. It was Sunday yesterday, and a day of rest. Both Tammy and Emmy had had a rough night, and I was hoping to sleep in and get some rest, but Randy stayed upstairs with them, as he was tidying up, and so it was too loud for me to get decent sleep. Eventually I got to make lunch.

We were going to go to church in the afternoon, but Tammy was still not feeling well, which was visible. She was also still a little hot. And so it was clear that we were going to stay home to rest. I was thankful given how much I had to get done. I called Paul in Mali to get an update and wrote my first newsletter in three months, which is way longer than usual. I would not have been able to do so had we gone to church. I stopped to make dinner for the kids, and after they were in bed, I continued writing the newsletter. I finished it and sent out the English version.

Today was Monday. Tammy had been home since Wednesday of last week, but it was time to go back to kindergarten, as she didn't have any fever any more. Both she and Emmy had slept very well, and Emmy had not even come to my bed, which is rare. Sammy is always up first and early, then Emmy wakes up from the noise. Tammy was still sleeping next to me, when the boys were at the table for breakfast. I then woke her up and told her to go eat so she could go to kindergarten. She started crying saying that she did not want to eat and did not want to go to kindergarten. I forced her out of the bed but she continued screaming and that went on for about half an hour. It was a challenge to get her dressed like that, as she did everything to keep me from succeeding. She was still fighting me, when I tried to put her coat and shoes on. It was terrible. I felt bad for her but she had to go. She kept saying that she wanted to stay home with me and that her teacher was too severe. Only once she was ready to leave the house did she stop screaming. She then left with Daddy and Emmy, as if it was any other morning. When she came home, she told me she'd had a good time at kindergarten.

Sammy does not go to kindergarten on Mondays, as he goes to horsetherapy. I'd already been up with Tammy for a while and was very tired and tried to go back to bed, but this time Sammy did not let me sleep as he'd done one time last week. What a shame. He was playing with the door but kept bugging me that he wanted to watch our home videos. I finally gave in, turned my computer on and put Sammy on my bed next to me. He watched his favorite videos, then I started showing him the videos of our time in the USA two years ago, as we've just purchased our tickets to the US for this summer. He was so excited about seeing his American family that that was all he talked about today, and he wanted to see those videos again later.

It was Randy who put an end to the videos, when he got home at 10 am. He grabbed Sammy and got him ready to go and left with him a few minutes later to take him to horsetherapy.

I could have finally gotten some sleep, and I was very tired, but I tried to work, as I still had the German translation of the newsletter to do. Soon I gave up and closed my eyes, but I'm not sure I actually fell asleep. I've been coughing pretty bad which also keeps me from sleeping.

Randy and Sammy returned home just before noon, when I was already in the kitchen to get lunch ready.

We all ate, then Randy took the 12:30 bus to go pick up Tammy and Emmy from kindergarten. Sammy and I were again home alone, and again Sammy wanted to watch videos. I let him watch on one side of my screen, while I was doing the translation on the other half of the screen.

Just after 2 pm Randy came home with Tammy and Emmy, and they were both happy. Thankfully Tammy was also perfectly fine health-wise again. Yesterday that had still looked improbable. I went to the kitchen to make their sandwiches, to take those for Tammy and Emmy with me, and leave the one for Sammy at home.

Then I sat down at my computer to get ready for my 2:30 pm student.

I taught until 3:20 pm, while Randy was downstairs with the kids. Then I went downstairs to do piano practice with Tammy first, then Emmy, but Emmy had a fit so we could not do it. The three of us went upstairs to get ready to leave the house, and we did at 3:50 pm. I'm so glad that Sammy is now perfectly happy staying at home with Daddy, as he wasn't for the longest time.

The three of us got on the subway, then took another subway and walked to the "Robbo-Club" premises. We were the first ones there, as we were 10 minutes early. Only the teacher was there to get her class ready. I sat down on a chair by their desk like I had done last week. Slowly the other kids were arriving. At 4:30 pm the class was starting, and the teacher threw all parents out of the classroom. I mentioned to her that the kids could not have done it without me last week, as they don't know how to operate a computer yet or use a mouse. It was their first time to do so last week! She said she was there to help them, and that was it. I had no choice but to leave the room. 

I went to a small, empty classroom right there and sat down at the table. I had some papers to read and my phone that kept me busy for the next 90 minutes. And Randy/Sammy called me one time, and we talked for a few minutes. Tammy and Emmy had a break in the middle of the class and were given a cereal bar. They came to me and showed me their computers, what they were doing. Then their class continued. I could hear the teacher's and the kids' voices while in my room.

Just before the class ended, I walked inside the classroom to see what they had done. I had already figured out that that was the custom so the parents could see what the kids had created. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures. The kids showed me that they had created a game. They'd used the same programming software for children that they had used last week, but today added some pictures of themselves and voice recordings. I could actually see how Emmy was using the mouse much more confidently already than last week. I was impressed with their achievement.

They shut their computers off, and we left the room to put our coats on and leave. We walked to the subway, and took two subways home, where we arrived just after 6:30 pm. Sammy was at the door to the apartment playing with it. Before I went to the kitchen to cut up their fruit, I took Emmy downstairs for piano practice. It only took 5 minutes. Then they ate their fruit before going into the bathtub and continued eating in the bathtub. My 8 pm student once again canceled on short notice, which meant I was not rushed. I was able to read a bedtime story to Emmy and Tammy, then put them to bed. It was time to get something to eat, and to finish the German version of the newsletter, and I did both. I also finished all the paperwork for Sammy's school, where I have a meeting in two days. Now it's going on 2 am, and I still have to clean up the kitchen.