Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 5

2003-12-09 24:00 Jamie's four weeks old today! I got a good night's sleep last night, catching up on several nights' worth of missed REM sleep. Jamie (and hence Kristen) had a rougher time, I think because he had a touch of gas, and is also trying to grow even faster.

We went out to brunch at Kettleman's on the Danforth with our friends from Boston, Sherrie Saint John and Gregg Foster, and our friends from Montreal, Kate Doe and Canadian Scrabble Champion David Boys. Everyone took pictures of Jamie but me. D'oh. Maybe I need more sleep.

In the mail today (yesterday?), a package from the NSA staff! I'll go back and fill in the details of this later, as I was completely asleep when I saw it, but I remember that it was a beautiful blue outfit sized right for him to wear in the spring.

I went down to the Purolator depot to pick up a parcel I thought was coming from my aunt Kimiko, but it turned out to be from our friend Chie Inoue instead, who sent a beautiful blue outfit for the baby, white mitts and a little wooden toy, along with cool and funky Christmas presents for all.

2003-12-10 24:30 (John) I'm just at that early stage of a cold where I feel like a truck hit me, so I'll keep this very brief. Ruth Ohi dropped by for a visit, with books from Mable's Fables, homemade cookies, and gelato. Mmm. Lisa Kessler made Jamie a beautiful dreamcatcher, which Jamie took to right away. Jamie's a bit gassy again today, which makes him fuss, but is also spending much more time quietly contemplating the world, and is really enjoying "dancing" with his mom and dad, who help him by guiding his hands or feet.

2003-12-11 23:00 Celebrated Jamie's one-month birthday by trying to sleep off my cold, going to a wrap meeting for the CNSC, and Daniel's school's winter concert. I'm sending away for my Bad Dad club membership card.

2003-12-12 14:30 In today's mail: two parcels from my aunts Toshiko and Kimiko. One had three Japanese children's music CDs (collections from Columbia, catalogue numbers COCC-11995, -11996 and -11997), the other Japanese children's books (volumes 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12 and 14 from the Hajimete no Meisaku Ehon series, and box set #6 (Douyou) of the Akachan no Tame no Ehon series). Also a Christmas card from Heather, David and Rissa, a thank you card from Alice, Justin and Melda, and from Mrs. Engelbrecht: a baby sling! The baby sling is the faded denim colour that I originally wanted (we settled for a cloudy sky blue for the one that we bought), and while Mrs. E says that we can return this one if we already have one, I'd be more tempted to return the first one and keep this. Kristen says we'll keep both though, because she's tired of having to readjust the length of the sling every time I use it. This one came with an instructional video and pamphlet too, which Kristen is now glued to.

2003-12-12 24:45 Jamie's still gassy, sleeping not as well at night, everyone tired, John still has a cold.

2003-12-13 24:45 No presents in the mail today! Well, it's Saturday, so there's no mail delivery. Peter and Leslie dropped by though, freshly back from their sabbatical, and brought along some Provençal bibs which Jamie will look very cute in if Kristen doesn't reserve them for decorating the kitchen.

Today was Jamie's first trip to the St. Lawrence Market, where he was duly cooed at by all our regular vendors, and the usual quota of random passers-by.

We're all doing a little better today. The working hypothesis is that if Kristen nurses when leaning forward, Jamie swallows too much gas. So she'll try avoiding that, and I'll work harder at getting Jamie to eructate.

2003-12-14 11:20 We opened the blinds this morning to look out on Jamie's first day of winter. Everything is already covered in a blanket of snow, and the snow is falling so thick you can barely see the house across the street. Jamie did not settle down last night, we're not sure why. He was up every two hours to feed and poo.

2003-12-14 12:40 Jamie's in a good mood at least, and continuing to eat and poo at frequent intervals. He was nice and calm on the change-table just now, so I measured him at 57 cm (just under 22.5 in.).

2003-12-14 25:30 Chihoko came by in the afternoon so that I could run an errand and Kristen could sleep. People are welcome to do this anytime. We took Jamie out to Mocha Mocha for dinner (his first time there), and he slept through the whole experience. Phew. Boy, has he been fussy today.

2003-12-15 26:00 Not a bad day, certainly not compared to yesterday. We've got him stretched back out to a 3-4 hour schedule, and I hope it sticks. Kristen slung Jamie and went out for a long walk, down to the library at Pape and Danforth, then met Daniel and me at our local Second Cup after school. The kids at Jackman School have turned all of the 10 cm of packing snow in the schoolyard into mammoth snowballs, leaving a landscape reminiscent of Easter Island.

In the evening, we were the guests of the Oshawa Scrabble Club at their annual Christmas dinner, where Jamie was fairly well behaved, and attracted a good deal of attention. His own attention though was concentrated on the lighting in the bathroom: recessed fluorescent lights covered by a half-inch grid-shaped plastic grille, making a rectilinear pattern of light and dark that stroked his brain like catnip. He gurgled and shimmied his way through all three diaper changes, and fussed only whenever I had to take him back out of the bathroom.

A highlight of the club dinner each year is their Christmas Gift Giving and Purloining. Each guest places a wrapped gift on a table, then in random order they are called up to either choose an unopened gift, or purloin an opened gift from another guest. A limit on two "purloinings" per victim introduces interesting strategy. Do you steal a coveted gift that you aren't interested, in the hope that someone will steal it away from you, giving you two-theft immunity when you take the gift you really wanted? Vinnette Francis did something like this to get a musical water globe, which she then gave Jamie as a Christmas present!

Back to Vol. 0 No. 4, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive or forward to Vol. 0 No. 6.