Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 29

2004-05-25 24:01 (Kristen) We took Jamie to see Dr. Kennedy today for his next set of shots, but decided to defer them as Jamie was a little wheezy. We're unsure if this is the remnant of a cold or excess mucus from teething, but better safe than sorry. We did weigh Jamie, however, and he is 17 pounds 10 ounces in his clothes, which means that he's just about 17 lbs 5 oz., without them. This is a three pound gain over his last visit two months ago, which I attribute to his love of solid food.

Jamie went for his usual walk with Ken this afternoon, while John and I got some work done. He was a little fractious this afternoon, and didn't sleep as much as usual: quite possibly a new tooth is on its way. He ate mixed vegetables and peach/apple puree with oatmeal, and made a huge mess out of a quarter mango with some glee. Later this evening, he was attempting to make raspberries, but not quite succeeding. He also worked on crawling a little more. He can scoot himself backwards, and spin about, and almost had himself on his hands and knees. I suspect that he will suddenly get it all together and life as I know it will be over in about three weeks from now.

John notes that Jamie is afraid of getting his face wet in the tub and of lying back in the water, possibly because he might get his face wet. However, when we praised him for lying back tonight, he squatted down into the water and leaned back five times, laughing nervously all the way through, just to show us how brave he was. It was the first time that we have seen him deliberately do something that he didn'tlike doing in response to praise. He's a brave little boy.

2004-05-26 25:15 (John) Wednesdays are when we appreciate most how Ken takes Jamie out for a two hour walk on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. This time, it was a tired Kristen that took him out for his stroller nap, but they both came home happier and perkier after meeting up with Betsy and going on a spur-of-the-moment walking tour of Riverdale.

Jamie took four half-hour naps today at somewhat unexpected times. The walk over to my parents' for dinner, and as we were nearing home on the way back from the Scrabble club, for instance. Opinion is split as to whether or not he's cut his second tooth (that would be tooth 'P', the right mandibular central primary tooth, following tooth 'O', the left same). If it's not out though, it's imminent, and probably accounts for the disruption of his regular habits.

Today's new food was: zucchini. Tai-Tai added some hashed, cooked, soft zucchini to Jamie's okayu, and as with just about everything else, he happily ate it up.

2004-05-27 25:02 (Kristen) Jamie was a little off his food today, which makes me think that a new tooth can't be that far off. He will usually make a grab for the spoon as I feed him, since he wants to feed himself, but generally waits until he's getting close to full. Today, he was grabbing the spoon right away, but spent more time chewing on it than actually eating. He also has a little motion that he makes with his jaw that is a pretty good indicator of forthcoming tooth, and the drool has been even more copious than usual. His nap schedule is somewhat out of whack again, which is more evidence for the jury.

He still enjoys his walks, and will sit and watch the world go by him very happily. He doesn't like it if we go into a store, like Book City or the Second Cup, but will tolerate stopping on the street if it isn't for too long. Today he was very tired around 5:00, but wasn't falling asleep. He finally fell asleep on the porch as we got home, and I watched his little head droop once, twice, and three times as he couldn't hold his eyes open one more second.

2004-05-28 24:01 (Kristen) Yesterday's suspicions were confirmed as fact today as Jamie cut his second tooth. It's the partner to the first, the front right bottom to go with the front left bottom. I thought for a good part of the day that he was cutting the upper right as well, but I can't find the white line that I could swear that I saw this morning, and can't feel anything anymore. The bottom rightis unarguable, however, and while I can't say that he's any happier, we at least are sure of the culprit.

He didn't sleep this morning, as he and I got up around 10:30. I thought that I wouldn't be a stick-in-the-mud mom, and would let him do whatever it was he wanted to do with his cereal and his cereal bowl. He grabbed the spoon again and chewed on it, which was not unusual, but he also decided to get tactile with his breakfast. Much more of it ended up on his hands and on the highchair# than ever made it into his mouth, and while the experience was interesting, I don't know how much fun it was because he doesn't like being sticky. He slept for an hour and a half this afternoon for Ken, and then had something to eat at Tai Tai's. We went home, where he napped for ten or fifteen minutes around 5:30, and then again at Tom and Michelle's, where he had a little Summer Vegetable Casserole. Yum.

We went to Kurt and Alison's for a short visit and to pick up another exersaucer* that they were getting rid of. We now have exersaucers* for upstairs and downstairs...yay! Jamie and fourteen-month-old Toni seemed to enjoy each other's company. When Jamie is in the bath, he always plays with Mr. Rubber Duck, but tonight he found that Mr. Rubber Duck has two little friends and that they all live on the back of the Mother Duck. This was an epic discovery, and extended the length of the bath a bit.

(John) Jamie gets up each morning around 10:00 and passes through the study on the way to his first diaper change of the morning. He always greets me with a huge smile, and lately he's insisted on being passed to me to give me a hug, too.

2004-05-29 24:50 Kristen took Jamie for his afternoon walk while I took my mom to the St. Lawrence Market. We met back at my mom's house, where Jamie had his usual dose of grandmaternal cuisine (okayu with barley and miso, mangos). Then we spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for some Scrabble friends (Lisa, Lisa, Libero, Glenn M, Craig R and Josh) to come over to watch the latest Scrabble documentary on DVD (Scrabylon), and Jamie managed to hold it together way past his bedtime, finally hitting the sack around midnight. Yay, Jamie!

2004-05-30 23:45 (John) We spent the afternoon at Peter and Leslie's playing Rail Baron, and Jamie behaved the way he usually does at new places, absorbing his surroundings intensely and had no interest in napping. He managed not to squeeze their cat's nose (phew), had fun rolling back and forth on their hardwood floors, and watched for buses out their front window.

At one point, I was holding Jamie in my arms and he was leaning away from me, I think because he wanted to go look at buses, and I started spinning around. When I stopped, he looked startled for a moment, then said "Heh!" and smiled. For the rest of the day, he was leaning way back in my arms when he wanted to be spun.

Jamie had his first substantial amount of fish today (about a teaspoon of haddock) at his Tai-Tai's, as he looked hungry, and that's what we were eating. He seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.

In the bath, Jamie slipped and landed on his bum - very gently, as I was supporting him with two hands all the way. He started whimpering, partly because he hates the helpless sensation of being on his back in the water, but then over the course of a couple of minutes, gradually calmed himself down without anything other than verbal encouragement from me. I was quite proud, as it was about an hour past his bedtime, at a time when a week ago he would have had a total meltdown. Then when Kristen came in, he practised a few pratfalls for additional praise.

2004-05-31 25:06 (Kristen) We woke up very late this morning, and I'm thinking that I'm going to have to start getting Jamie on a New Orleans schedule if our trip to NOLA is going to be a success. He was in a very sunny mood, full of smiles, and we had a lovely family moment with all three of us in bed. John and I agree that Jamie has the look of wasting neglect, and that we should shower more attention upon him.

He went for his afternoon walk with Ken, but it wasn't much of a success. Jamie was asleep with Ken and John as they went to the bank, but Jamie woke up soon after they parted. Ken called me, and I said that John was still nearby, and Jamie was (of course) calm by the time John reached them. John then left, Jamie started to cry again, and Ken brought him home. I am wondering if Jamie is starting to feel separation anxieties when we're not around: he seems more Mom-centred, and I couldn't sort out any other reason for his crying. Tonight when he was in the bath, he was fixed on me when I was in the room, and he likes it less and less when I'm not in his line of sight. He still loves to see people, however, and showered Gary and Ayami with smiles and laughs tonight.

He's getting very good at rolling over, and can flip right onto his back and left onto his front again very quickly. He's also getting cleverer. I was playing peek-a-boo with him a few days ago, putting up my hands in front of my face and saying "Where's Mummy?" and he reached over to pull my hands down. He also knows what it means when I tell him that we are meeting Daniel at school. People go away, and they come back. I hope that this idea helps him get through any separation anxiety quickly.

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

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