5 years 6 months 18 days

Day 2028. This morning the kids kept coming to me, keeping me from sleeping. At 9:30 my alarm went off, and I got up and got ready to leave the house. Just before 10 am I left with Tammy and Emmy. We took the subway downtown, then walked to the music school. It was raining and it was cold. We got there a few minutes early, and the kids started playing with the cubes, even though there were only a few there today. When another girl from their class arrived, she joined them in the fun.

Just after 10:30 am the previous class ended, and we went inside. One boy wasn't there today, but a new boy we hadn't met yet joined us. Then the teacher came, and she was not dressed in green. We had received an email that it was St. Patrick's Day and everyone was supposed to come wearing green. We asked and found out that that was next week, not today. However, next week we'll be out of town and not in class. In any case, the three of us were dressed in green today.

The teacher started with the greeting song, then she did a new guessing game. It was about guessing what everyone was doing after class. The kids were having fun. Then they had to do the finger exercise, touching their thumbs with each finger, one after another, then they played the finger exercises on the piano. Next they did shining stars. Then she asked who wanted to play it up front, and the three regular kids did. Tammy went first and played and sang it nearly perfectly. Emmy went next and also played it well. The other girl came next and did a decent job.

Today she had them mark three different notes in a new song, where they had already marked the skips. Then she had them touch the right fingers to the paper as if they were playing the song. After class I asked her whether they were playing that song next, as we were not going to be in class next week, and she said yes.

And again, she did a listening exercise, where they had to recognize steps and skips and whether they were up or down. This time she put little stepping stones of different colors on the floor and said that they were going up one way and down the other. She then played tones, and the kids had to recognize whether it was a skip or a step and up or down take the appropriate step/skip. They did pretty well.

The last thing to do was the sining song with actions, and they did a great job. Then it was story time, followed by them getting their stickers and stamps for having practiced. Last week Tammy had done 6 days, and Emmy 5 days. She did the good-bye song, and the class was over.

We put our coats and shoes on and walked back to the subway. We took the subway for one stop, then took another subway for 6 stops. How do I know that? Because Emmy always asks me how many stops we're going and I have to count to be able to answer that question. After we got off the second subway, we walked to McDonald's, where we arrived just after noon. Randy and Sammy were already there.

I ordered the food, and the kids enjoyed espescially the toys - dinosaurs. Then we left and crossed the square together to go to the swimming pool.  It was still raining a little, and the plan had been for Randy and Sammy to go to the playground while the rest of us are at swim class. Since Sammy got hurt yesterday, he was not allowed to go in the water. Because of the rain, the playground was not an option. I suggested they'd go home, but Sammy started crying. He wanted to come with us, go swimming. Randy hadn't even brought swimsuits for himself and Sammy! We then decided to all go inside after all, as it was warm there. And so we paid and went to the wheelchair entrance.

We got changed. Sammy only had his diaper on, and Randy only took his shoes off. Then we went inside. We still had over half an hour until swim class. We walked to the baby pool with warm water, and I put Sammy on the top step so that he could have his feet in the water. I sat down by him to make sure he wouldn't fall and keep him from getting his special bandaid wet. Sammy and I had a good time sitting there together and talking for half an hour. A few times kids around us were splashing, but thankfully his forehead stayed dry. While we were sitting there, Tammy and Emmy were having fun in the water and playing with other kids also in their class.

At 1:45 their class was to start. I took Sammy to Daddy, so they could watch us in class, and walked over to where the class was taking place with Tammy and Emmy. Later Randy got Sammy dressed and returned to us, but the lifeguard told us that they had to have swim suits on.

When the class started, we went into the water, and I did the greeting song with Emmy, while the teacher had Tammy. Then they were given swim noodles and told to swim down the lane - with correct arm and leg movements - and stack a building block. Tammy went twice, but Emmy quit after the first time there and back. He didn't want to do it again and came out of the water. As for Tammy, I suggested she'd try without the swim noodle as I could see that her movements were correct. And voilà, she swam the whole length there and back without any help. Tammy can now swim!!! Congratulations!

The teacher then did the good-bye song, and the class was over. We walked to the changing room and got dressed again and left. Emmy was not happy that we were not going into the warm-water pool. We walked to the subway and went home, where we arrived by about 3:15 pm. I was extremely tired and just wanted to lie down for a few minutes before starting to teach. At first the kids were really loud, but Randy then took them downstairs, and I actually fell asleep. But for way too short, as my alarm went off at 3:50 pm. I got up and got ready for my 4 pm student.

I then had two students and taught until 6 pm. Then I went to the kitchen to make their dinner, and they ate. After dinner, it was time for the bathtub - just not for Sammy. We then got them ready for bed. I read some stories to Tammy and Emmy and prayed for them, then prayed for Sammy, and they all went to bed. I went to the kitchen to finish making my salad and enjoyed eating it.

After some time, I went back to work on the computer. Now it's 1:30 am and time to take care of the kitchen before going to bed.