Back to Vol. 0 No. 21, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 23.

Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 22

2004-04-06 25:15 Wow, that was a long trip. We're safely home, and I don't think we'll try another 2000 km drive this year. The drive from Manchester to Syracuse took from 16:00 to 23:00, travelling at 120 km/h whenever we could but stopping whenever Jamie started to cry. Sometimes it was a diaper, sometimes he was hungry, sometimes he was just bored and didn't like the car. Whichever, the routine was pretty much the same each time. Check the diaper, see if he'll nurse, pass him forward to me and roll down the window so that he can watch the trucks go by for a little while, then pass him back, check the diaper, and drive as fast as we can again. Dinner was takeout from our favorite Springfield, MA restaurant, the Sitar on Main Street.

We left late in the morning to drive along state route 20 to Auburn, NY, home of Seward House, the ancestral home of Secretary of State Seward who negotiated the Alaska Purchase with the help of then State Department Chief Clerk Robert Smith Chew, Jamie's patrilineal great-great-great-grandfather. We were warmly received there by the great-grandson of the famous Seward, who showed us the Emanuel Leutze painting of RSC at the signing of the Alaska Purchase, along with a photograph that I didn't know existed of RSC sitting by a river on some sort of diplomatic picnic. Jamie was not especially interested in all this, as nap time was rapidly approaching, so he was alternately in the care of a kind Seward House staffer and being nursed to sleep by Kristen.

From Auburn to Toronto was a fast, if not quiet, six hour drive through more pouring rain, brightened up slightly by live radio coverage of Canada's eighth consecutive women's world hockey victory.

2004-04-07 24:45 This morning was a tired blur. I dropped off the rental car while Kristen walked over to my parents' house with Jamie to welcome my parents back from Mexico. I then dashed off to City Hall to apply for a parking permit before Toronto South Community Council (formerly known as Toronto City Council, before amalgamation) and such august personages as Kyle Rae, Olivia Chow, Joe Pantalone and Case Ootes. They approved the request, and there's a really funny story about it all that I can't post here.

At dinner at my parents' house, Jamie had his first taste of (very dilute) miso shiru*. As with other new taste experiences, he loved it, especially the idea of being at the dinner table eating with the big people. It also seems to have sat quite well on his stomach, with none of the complaints he had when we tried the banana.

Tonight at the Scrabble club, Jamie amused himself by turning the pages of our EOSPD dictionary (he has apparently memorized pp. 138-141) and spinning a deluxe Scrabble board.

2004-04-08 23:45 Yesterday, Kristen mentioned that Jamie will pull his receiving over his head if people are being too noisy or the room is too bright and he wants to sleep. He did a lot of that yesterday too, spending much more time asleep than usual, and therefore spending his waking hours being much happier.

We visited Daniel's house for lunch and dinner, and in between Jamie went out for a walk with Ken to the Danforth and a walk to my parents' house for more miso shiru with Kristen, and was generally happy as a clam as long as he had a chew toy in his mouth.

I went shopping for Easter chocolate and picked up a spare Kooshee windup fish, as I had a nightmare about Jamie losing his favorite toy. The cashier said my behaviour was not unusual for a father.

2004-04-09 11:00 This morning, Jamie figured out how to grab the wire frame that supports the wooden beads on Bouncy Chair. This lets him not only Bite the Beads, but Bounce Up and Down, which he finds delightful.

2004-04-09 17:00 We went out for a walk along the Danforth and it took twice as long as usual because of all the people we met in the neighbourhood. I think I'm forgetting a few, but there were our neighbour Hans, my parents' neighbour and her kids, a woman who has the same Zooper Buddy stroller that we do and a baby named Oscar who was born two days after Jamie, a woman shopping at our favorite bagel store who recognized Jamie from this web site (she's Googled for Tia Sarkar), Robin Pollock Daniel's friend Sharon and her family (who live at #30 on our block) and Gary and Ayami. That's not counting the usual "Oh what a cute baby"s, and Kristen's Aunt Millie who dropped an Easter parcel off while we were out.

2004-04-09 23:38 (Kristen) Jamie's nap schedule is still not entirely back on track. Today, he had an unusually long morning nap, almost no afternoon nap, and then napped between 19:00 and 21:00, and then had a nap from 22:15 to 22:45. When we went over to John's parents' place for dinner tonight, we realized that he deliberately uses the floppy ear on his fleece suit to shield his face from the sun if it's directly in his eyes. We thought that it was an accident, previously, and that the hood was twisting around as he slept. Not so.

At John's parents' place, all was happy chaos as Ted, Alice, and Ian and Amy descended upon Toronto for a family Easter. Jamie had fun chasing Ian and Amy around the house (with help from his Dad), playing the piano with Mom while Uncle Ted accompanied them on the violin, and sitting at the table with the rest of the big people. Jamie had his own bowl of miso shiru* again, and everyone was very amused at the almost savage way he had of grabbing the small bowl John was letting him sip from and hauling it to his mouth. Jamie did succeed in spilling it once when he got the bowl away from his Dad.

2004-04-10 23:02 (Kristen) Jamie continues to nap between 7:00 and 9:00 at night, which is a trend that John and I aren't really thrilled with. I think it's because he's waking up during his afternoon naps, and we aren't settling him back again. Today, it was because we were all grocery shopping, and then his afternoon walk was truncated. He's a little crabby when he doesn't nap in the afternoon, so tomorrow he will get his full walk, regardless.

2004-04-11 23:45 (John) We organized Daniel and Ross' annual chocolate Easter egg hunt. First things first, here are the final scores:

Of particular note... We're still looking for five of Ross's green Leonidas eggs. We have no idea where they are. Kristen was nursing Jamie during the hiding phase, so she had no blackout colours. Jamie found two of Ross's eggs, one in a container of plastic straws that he was busily trying to squeeze into his mouth, the other in the sleeve of his yellow bunny suit. Neither of them made it anywhere near his mouth.

In the evening we went over to my parents' house for Easter dinner with my aunts and my brother's family. Jamie had a good deal more miso shiru*, which we tried at first feeding him in a sippy cup, but he didn't get the hang of the required sucking, so we switched him back to the feline bowl-lapping technique that he's already mastered. We stayed about an hour later than we should have, so we had a fair amount of trouble calming him down and putting him to bed, but he's there now and sleeping peacefully.

2004-04-12 24:43 (Kristen) We wondered, after yesterday, if Jamie was a little overstimulated and decided upon a calm day. We had a rare family walk down to the Danforth and the siren lure of Treasure Island, our local toystore. Jamie woke up in Treasure Island and did not go back to sleep for the rest of his walk, despite our best efforts (which included a roadside diaper change). He insisted on being carried for the last stretch, which was amusing (ha ha).

He went out for his second walk and his true afternoon nap with Ayami, who is rapidly becoming one of Jamie's favourite people. Ayami has been looking after Jamie for an hour or two a day while I get things done around the house, and Jamie looks forward to seeing "Ayami Ne-chan" every day. A true demonstration of his affection was seen this evening, when he leaned out of my arms and stretched out his own in an effort to get Ayami to carry him. A rare mark of favour, indeed.

We went over to Pearls (John's parents' house) to say goodbye to Ted, Alice, Amy, and Ian, who go back to Kingston today. Jamie played with his family, and then we headed back home. He was very sunny this evening, by and large, full of smiles to reward proper parental behaviour. His eyes are starting to become quite brown, and he has been experimenting with different facial expressions, likely because he's learned that he can. John calls them "chimp pouts" and "lion yawns," and that describes their looks quite well.

It is possible that Jamie is coming down with another cold; he's quite tired, and his breathing is a little rougher than usual. Also, he is having trouble nursing on one side. I noticed, however, that if I persist, the problem resolves itself, as though one sinus was blocked and then cleared. We'll keep an eye on him over the next few days: the places and people that he could have picked up a virus from are legion. Sigh.

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

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