Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 11

2004-01-20 24:18 (Kristen) It has been a big day for Jamie, as he got his first set of shots today [John: DTP, polio, haemophilus influenza] and began work on getting his first passport. He woke up in a lovely mood again today, but still found the doctor's visit a bit of a strain. Dr. Kennedy recommended a dose of children's Tylenol before he had the shots, and so Jamie's first taste of a liquid not breastmilk was artificial grape flavour. Maybe not the best of entries into the gastronomic world...

He was alternately sleepy and fussy, but really was an angel as he could not have been feeling his best. We had a long wait in line in store for us at the passport office, which did not please me, but people were truly kind to us, yet again. Two people in line behind me offered to save my spot until it was time for me to go to the counter so that I could sit down with Jamie. I had a nice chat with a woman in a similar position with a five-week old, and the passport officer was very decent to us as well. There was a little Asian girl there who took a real interest in Jamie: one of those stocky little toddlers who is always on the go. Her mother came over to talk as she ran about, and spoke to her daughter in Japanese. So, when she was about to fall, I told her to be careful in Japanese. This led to a surprised exclamation from her mother, and a fun conversation about Jamie's background.

Ted wrote in response to my comment about Jamie being the Droolmeister to say that both Ian and Amy started teething at three to four months, and that's probably the reason that Jamie's drooling as much as he is. John's mother also said that John had teeth by four months, and so I think that we're back to the early teething hypothesis. This could get interesting.

(John) In the bath tonight, Jamie was smiling repeatedly and broadly at me as I bathed him and sang Rubber Duckie to him. It took me a little while to clue in that he was trying to imitate my facial expressions and singing, but once I did, we had a ball smiling and going "ah-WOO" at each other.

2004-01-21 23:28 (Kristen) I don't think that Jamie slept particularly well last night; he's been rather tired today, and very quick to cry loudly where he would normally cry quietly or just complain. However, he did get in a few good, long naps, and is starting to even out.

We took Jamie into the Math department today as John had a meeting, and introduced him to Steve Tanny (John's thesis advisor), and the secretaries in the office. I then took him into John's office for a nurse and a change. Jamie expressed his opinion of his father's mathematical theories by peeing on his file folders: his father has not been subjected to such harsh criticism before. Jamie will be refuting him more formally as soon as he learns how to write, I am sure, as I have told him that it more polite to do it that way.

We went to the Scrabble club tonight, and it was memorable. The club gifted us with a new Zooper stroller: the ZStreet model, which is much lighter and more portable than our Zooper Buddy. We are thrilled, both with the stroller (which will make life travelling with Jamie much easier), and with the generosity of Club 3 members, who have been so very good to us and to Jamie since before he was born. Thank you again, everyone.

2004-01-22 24:55 (Kristen) We packed Jamie up in his new Z-Street and headed downtown today, John to get his hair cut by Carlos, and me to visit the UTP office to show off Jamie. It was fun to see everyone, and Jamie seemed to make a good first impression. At least, he didn't spit up on anyone, and only drooled a bit. He got to get changed on the production department's shipping table, which caused one person to exclaim that they now had a good use for it.

2004-01-23 23:53 (Kristen) OK...Jamie slept badly last night, and was up early today, drooling like a maniac. He did have an amazing case of gas, but I think that my darling boy is teething. Tom was holding him tonight, and Jamie was actually chewing on Tom's thumb. We both think that we can feel something in his bottom gum, which would explain his uncharacteristic misery and fussiness today.

Jamie's hair is definitely a shade of red, and his eyes are beginning to take on a more brownish hue. He holds himself upright in my arms for minutes at a time, and his head is quite stable. He hasn't lost his interest in people's faces and in having conversations with them. He loves it when people sing to him, and isn't really picky--yesterday's tune was "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure. "Puff the Magic Dragon" will also do, or whatever else is going through our heads. I really enjoy those times.

(John) I think Jamie's been sleeping badly because he's been feeding more, and therefore swallowing more gas, which he finds harder to get rid of at night. I suspect he's simultaneously working on his first tooth (hence the drool) and getting ready for his three-month growth spurt. He's spending more of his waking hours happily burbling and smiling at people, which makes him even more adorable than he was before.

2004-01-24 22:00 (John) I have composed an ode in memory of a diaper change today. It is to be sung to the tune of the popular ditty "The Wheels on The Bus".

The baby on the table goes
Poo, poo, poo,
Poo, poo, poo,
Poo, poo, poo.
The baby on the table goes
Poo, poo, poo,
Just when you think you're through.

Scrabble players are of course warned that poo# is only acceptable in international play.

Kristen has stretched feeding intervals back out to two hours - it's easy to fall into the trap of feeding him continuously, but the doctor says it's not good for him because he won't get back-milk, and it's certainly no good for anyone's sanity.

2004-01-24 24:00 (John) We went to Ruth Ohi's house for a Pictionary poslparty this evening. Poslparties have changed over the years with the advent of the next generation of poslpeople, and so have the rules of Pictionary. We played family teams, splitting our family up because Jamie's hand-eye coordination and English fluency are still progressing, rolling the die once per turn regardless of whether or not the word was guessed, and allowing families to redraw cards that called for words not likely known to their children. Jamie was assigned to Tom and Michelle's team, and helped occupy one of Tom, Michelle or Daniel each round, which would have been of benefit to my team (the Miller-Beatons) or Kristen's (the Perrella-Ellises), had we been keeping track of score.

2004-01-25 24:00 (John) Jamie's been steady on the two-hour feedings today, and has scored some personal bests in the categories of Largest Single Poo and Total Daily Poo. Kristen's holding up well though. Major activities for today include rearranging the furniture in our bedroom (the head of the bed now points toward the bay window), a long penultimate pre-trip conversation with my mom (what supplies she needs brought down, and for a change what supplies we need her to lay in for us), and dinner and Diablo at Michelle's house (thanks, Tom!). Jamie's happy and burbling between feedings, and getting even better at letting lose with trucker burps.

2004-01-25 25:00 On the developmental side of things, Jamie has continued to make interesting progress. His vocal arsenal grows day by day in phonemes, phoneme combinations, timbre, volume and pitch. His eye facial movements are becoming more practiced and more subtle at the same time. He knows very well the social uses of making and breaking eye contact. Over the last couple of days, he appears to have developed a fear of falling, from which I infer that he has a sense of balance. I have to be very careful to move him gently, especially his head, or else he will startle and squawk in distress. I imagine he's getting ready for more complex tasks requiring balance, such as sitting up, standing, moving around, and playing first-person shooters.

2004-01-26 24:12 (Kristen) Jamie continued to be Ravenous Boy today, trying to shorten his daytime feeding schedule to about an hour between feedings. By the end of the day, he was starting to lengthen his intervals again and has been both very awake and in a reasonably good mood for long periods. He has been lifting his head up quite high when he's on his stomach, and can deliberately bring his hands together in front of himself. He is also stuffing any receiving blanket within reach into his mouth, and has required saving once or twice when he bit off more than he could chew. He loves looking at faces, the more animated the better, and is starting to exhibit all the outward signs of genius that any mother knows her offspring possesses.

* For the benefit of Scrabble players, words that are not in the Scrabble dictionary are marked with an asterisk.

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