5 years 7 months 13 days

Day 2051. Yesterday I forgot to pass on the important news that Sammy has now also lost his first tooth - two weeks after his identical brother, the tooth next to the one Emmy had lost. As for Emmy, that tooth is already moving, so it will be his second tooth to come out. Tammy is disappointed that she does not have a wiggly tooth yet and that she'll be the last one to lose a tooth even though she is the oldest by 1 and 2 minutes. We did not find Sammy's tooth after we had realized it was out.

What a day this has been! A day of unexpected turns! Randy got up as usual and made breakfast for the kids. Tammy and Emmy dress themselves now, but if I can, I look over what they put on to approve it. Just after 8 am they came into my room. I jumped up as I realized they had an excursion today and were supposed to be at kindergarten at 8:30. I did not want them to miss this one-time event, so there was only option for them to still be able to participate: drive them to kindergarten. They grabbed their backpacks, while I called an Uber that arrived a few minutes later. Randy and the kids got on, and they arrived just after 8:30 - in time to join everyone for their exciting trip into nature.

Randy called me from the kindergarten, as he needed to sign a paper for the kindergarten sleepover Emmy is going to participate in, while Tammy does not want to. While the teacher was talking to me about it, she suddenly said that the other teacher had found lice eggs in our kids' hair. That meant they had to go home immediately and cannot come back until they have a paper from the doctor saying that they have no lice. We've been battling this ever since the first time they came home with lice last fall, and it seems to be a never-ending story. I was devastated for them that this had to happen on the day of their trip.

I was home with Sammy who was not ready to let me sleep today. Randy and the kids came home around 9:30 am. Finally, my chance to get some more sleep, which I did. Randy left with Sammy just after 10 am to take him to his horsetherapy session. Sammy always has fun there.

At 11 am I went to the kitchen to make lunch, and after Randy and Sammy had returned home, we all sat down to eat. After lunch, it was time for the louse shampoo - again. The kids got into the bathtub, the shampoo was applied, and 15 minutes later washed out, then their hair combed with a special comb. After they were all done and out, it was my turn to apply the shampoo. It all takes quite long, especially with long hair.

I had wanted to do piano practice with them, but there was no time. I had a 2:30 pm student, and that time was fast approaching. I discovered that I needed to scan a few pages for him, but my scanner wouldn't work. I did fine without those pages. At 3:20 pm I was done with my student, and I went to the kitchen to make their dinner sandwiches. Just before 4 pm Tammy, Emmy and I left the house together, while Randy and Sammy stayed home. In the midst of all the unexpected turmoil of the day I had forgotten that Sammy had a physiotherapy appointment in the afternoon that he missed. After paying an Uber for nothing, now we have to pay physiotherapy for nothing.

But the day wasn't over yet. The three of us took two subways, then walked to the Robbo club offices. Most Mondays I've taught students online there while the kids are in class, as it's a 90-minute class. In the beginning, I sat down in an empty room. Then the receptionist told me that was not allowed any more, so I sat down in the foyer, where the receptionist was, as well as other parents that were waiting. It wasn't ideal, and I didn't like being listened to, but at least I had my headset so they didn't hear my student. When I got there today, the receptionist told me I was not allowed to teach there any more after today, as I was disturbing her work. She told me to go to a coffee shop. She said it was okay for today. I said, good thing it's 3 weeks until the next class as it's going to be warm by then so that I can sit outside.

I got my computer out and turned it on. Then I got my mouse and headset out. I sat on the same desk as the receptionist. Just before I was to start teaching at 4:50 pm, she left the room with her computer. Probably to work in the empty room in the back where I used to sit. I was left alone with two other parents waiting for the kids' class to be over. When my student came, I discovered that my headset wasn't working. Everyone could hear my student loudly which was not going to work. Even when I turned audio off, I could still hear her loudly. Everything I tried made no difference, even restarting my computer. I was at a loss. My student had an exam, and this was the only chance to do this last lesson before it. I only had one option: I had to go outside.

I took two chairs outside and put the laptop on one of them. I was sitting right outside the door, and it was extremely cold, about 5 degrees Celsius today. And then the internet signal was so weak that I wasn't sure whether we'd be able to do the lesson at all, but it got better, and we did our lesson. As time went on, my fingers started freezing more and more while I was typing on my computer. I couldn't wait for the lesson to be over, which was the case at 5:50; I added ten minutes because of the trouble in the beginning. Then I went inside, where I did not take my coat off, to warm up. Five minutes  before the end, I went inside the classroom to see what they had done.

They had a device connected to their computers, where they had written a little program, and noise heard by the device made their figure on the screen move and leave trails of color. After both kids had shown me their work, they turned their computers off, and we left.

We walked to the subway and rode two subways, then got off early to pick up some bread and pastries for a third of the price. It was not 6:30 pm yet (pick-up time), so we stopped at the pharmacy there. Then Emmy said he needed a bathroom, and gladly the mall had one. By the time we got to the bakery, the pickup window had started and we got our bag of bread and pastries and walked back to the subway.

A few minutes later we were home. The boys had already eaten their sandwiches, only Tammy didn't want to. I went to the kitchen to make their fruit plates and gave them to them. Then I turned my computer on to prepare for my 8 pm student. The screen stayed black.

During the day I put my computer on standby rather than turning it off, and that's what I had done leaving the house for their class, and leaving their to go home. I turned it off and on several times, but the screen stayed black. I started panicking and looking on my phone what options I had. I'd had the issue before  but couldn't remember how I'd resolved it. Recently, my computer had started crashing regularly. I sat there in front of my turned-on computer with the black screen and informed my student that my computer was not working. All kinds of things were going through my mind. Suddenly, the screen started slowly lighening up until its brightness returned. Only then did I remember that sometimes the computer stays on or comes on when shut, rather than staying on standby, and then it turns off the screen because of the intense heat to protect it. After it had been sitting there open for long enough and cooled off, the screen came back on. Thank God!

It was time to go downstairs for piano practice. They both practiced without drama, then we went back upstairs. As they had already taken their bath, they put their pj's on right away. I quickly prayed for them all, then I had to sit down to teach. There was no time for anything else. Daddy was the one to tell them a story before they went to sleep.
I taught until 9 pm, then went to the kitchen to get something to eat. After having eaten, I started doing ministry office work until I realized that a crazy day like today's, I just had to write it all down. Now it's nearly 1 am, and I have yet to do the dishes.