Today went by really smoothly, except for a couple little problems that surprisingly had nothing to do with the kids. First, Amelie bit me during our walk this morning. She really didn't mean to, she just got a little overzealous about the stick in my hand. She didn't want to wait for me to throw it, so she jumped up to grab it and instead grabbed my finger. I tried to take a picture of it to put on here but my camera was focusing on everything but my finger, so it didn't work out. Anyway, it's really not bad at all, it just hurts like hell. So there it is, my first injury of the trip.
The next thing that happened was that I slept through Amelie's afternoon walk. I had set an alarm for 3 pm in case I fell asleep while I was resting in my room. When I heard the alarm, I turned it off and then immediately fell asleep. Awesome. Esther woke me up at 3:45, which was 45 minutes after I was supposed to take Amelie and only 15 minutes before I had to leave to pick up Gustav and Pauline. I'll have to take Amelie on a long walk tomorrow to make up for it.
And finally, while I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I knocked a glass off the counter and it shattered on the floor. So none of these three things was major or detrimental in any way, which is good.
Aside from that, everything was great. When I went to pick up Gustav from Kindergarten, I found him outside, kneeling on the floor of a playhouse and leaning his head on a shelf. It looked like somebody had been mean to him or he was for whatever reason ignored by everyone else, because he just looked so sad. I went over there to find out what was wrong, and he was hesitant to talk to me at first. He wanted his mom, of course, but I explained to him that she was at home working (I cheated, actually, and told him in German so that he would understand and not get angry with me). It turns out he was just really tired. So once he acknowledged that she actually wasn't there, he came walking over to me and quite willing into my arms. He fell asleep in my arms with his head on my chest on just the short time that it took for me to walk to the car.
When we got home, I left Gustav sleeping in the car and went to ask Esther if she wanted me to put him in bed or leave him there for a while. She needed to use the car, but she knew that he would have a fit if he saw her and then she left. So Esther walked out through the garden gate as I brought Gustav in through the front door. He didn't fuss at all when I took off his shoes and jacket, which was a first. I took him upstairs to get ready for bed, but while I was in his room to find his pajamas he went looking for Esther. First he went downstairs to her office, then upstairs to her bedroom. When I first walked into the bedroom I found him on the bed, crying, and he yelled at me twice to go away. Again I explained that Esther was gone, and that I would help him get ready for bed. He kept crying but let me get him cleaned and dressed without fighting with me, and the second I put him in his bed he stopped crying and went to sleep. Hopefully after today he'll realize that I'm here to help him, and that I'm capable of doing what he needs to make him feel better.
Pauline, as usual, was no problem. I had given her a cup of chocolate milk to keep her occupied while I was upstairs with Gustav. When I came back downstairs to check on her, there was chocolate everywhere. Her mouth was covered in chocolate, she had it splashed on her cheeks and nose, on her forehead, in her hair, and all over the table. I don't know how she managed to do this, because she hadn't spilled her cup. I wish that I had me camera on me at the time, because I would love to have a picture of that. It was hilarious.