5 years 7 months 9 days

Day 2047. I've had two intense days of teaching - 6.5 hours yesterday, and 5 hours today, all the while I was still not feeling that great.

And Sammy has been home all week. His nose is still really runny, and his eyes are secreting as well. Thankfully he ate a little better today, and you can tell he feels better overall as well. Him being home has meant no chance for me to sleep after Randy leaves with Tammy and Emmy to take them to kindergarten. However, he's been able to occupy himself pretty well, mainly with his headset with music.

Yesterday I had a student at 10 am, so my alarm was set for 9:30, which was not really necessary with Sammy around. I then taught from 10 until 12:30, then needed some more time to wrap it all up. Randy had taken Sammy with him to do a hotel pickup, saving food from the breakfast bar. I ended up eating those eggs and bacon for lunch, while making a pizza for Randy and Sammy. 

Just before 1 pm Randy left to go get the other kids from kindergarten. Sammy and I had one-on-one time together and had fun, while I was trying to rest and/or work. I started teaching at 2:20 pm, right after Randy and the kids had come home. I asked them to put their exercise clothes on and long pants on top; everything else was already ready for Randy to take with them. Including mascot Max who was being returned to the teacher to go home with another kid next week. I had written the week's report with 10 little pictures in his diary the night before.

Randy and the kids left just before I was done teaching. Sammy was already impatient and standing up next to me, trying to play with the door. Once I was done, I was all his, even though I felt miserable and was tired. And I had more work to do, but there was always time to play with Sammy and make him laugh.

Randy and the kids returned around 5:20 pm, and I had my next student at 5:30 pm. In fact, I had two students in a row, teaching until 7:20 pm, which is why I had made their sandwiches and cut up their fruit before. That way they were able to eat while I was teaching. Once I was done, I took them downstairs for piano practice - a shortened version, as I had one more student at 8:10 pm. Time was short, but I still read them a story, moving my student to 8:20 pm.

And that's why it was 9:45 pm before I actually got to sit down and eat. Then I did some more work before going to bed a little earlier, around 12:45 am.

This morning started the same as yesterday. Sammy stayed with me, while Randy took the others to kindergarten. My alarm unnecessarily went off at 9:30 am as I had a 10 am student. After I was done, I did not have another student right away. Instead, I went to the kitchen to cook lunch, which took a while. Just before 12:30 pm we got to sit down to eat.

Randy left just before 1 pm to go pick up the other kids, so it was once again Mommy-Sammy time, and once again we had fun, while I was also preparing for lessons. Randy and the kids returned just before I started teaching at 2:30 pm. Tammy and Emmy got on their tablets, while Randy got Sammy ready to leave the house with him. He had an appointment to get his new shoes fitted. He's growing, so braces and shoes have to be redone.

I then taught from 2:30 to 6:20 pm. Randy and Sammy already returned at 4:15 pm. I was surprised they were back this early. They then all went downstairs to play for a while and returned upstairs before I was done teaching. There was some drama, meaning they were trying to come into my room to have Mommy help, but when Mommy teaches, no one is allowed to come in. I had to hold the door shut so they would not come in, but it did disrupt my lesson somewhat.

As soon as I was done, I opened the door to ask them what was going on and helped mediate the situation. Then I went to the kitchen to make their dinner. I gave it to them, and they sat down to eat.

I was sure glad that I didn't have any more students after that. While they were eating, I started chopping up my salad ingredients. Then I went downstairs with Tammy and Emmy for piano practice. Tammy did a great job, while Emmy was all drama again, and we couldn't finish. We returned upstairs, where they went into the bathtub, where they ate some more. Back out, Emmy wanted to go downstairs to finish his practice, which we did - not without more drama.

When we came back upstairs, I couldn't believe that it was already 8:30 pm. Their bedtime is at 8 pm. Even given the late hour, we sat down for a story, then I prayed for them. They brushed their teeth and went to bed. But there was more drama from Emmy - probably because he was tired. Just after 9 pm both Tammy and Emmy were still awake, and I was still making my salad in the kitchen. I was glad when I was finally done and could sit down to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Now it's already 1:30 am, and I have yet to do the dishes. And tomorrow morning Sammy will again be home with me, plus I teach at 10 am.