Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 30

2004-06-01 25:16 (Kristen) We were asleep late again last night, and up around 9:30 this morning. When we went outside to talk with our neighbour Betsy, who has two boys aged 2 and 5, she reminded us of how lucky we are that Jamie lets us sleep in as her boys are up at 5:30 AM. I used to do that to my mom, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that Jamie doesn't indulge my mom's thirst for revenge.

Jamie enjoyed watching the wood chipper and the garbage trucks this morning, and then had some breakfast. I gave him some small, chopped up bits of watermelon, which he enjoyed as he could feed himself, crunch them, and smear them around. He walked with Ken, and then we went out again to pick up a cake for John for dinner (John's 40th birthday is tomorrow). He was blithering , but wouldn't fall asleep until I put him into the blue Baby Trekker sling that we call the Octopus. Then he slept for about 20 minutes, when he was woken by a passing garbage truck. Tom very kindly played with Jamie this evening while we made dinner, and even took him out for a walk and got him to fall asleep on his shoulder. Then Tom sat down, and that was the end of that. Jamie helped his father blow out candles, and even licked one or two of them.

Jamie impressed me tonight with his ability to stand for long periods, and is starting to figure out how to turn around in place. He was in the exersaucer* at one point, and raised his arms up to get out. I picked him up and put him down outside the saucer, as he clearly wanted to examine it from the outside. He thinks outside the box, my son does. And, just now, he laughed out loud in his sleep, quite loudly and for the first time in ages. He must have had a good day.

2004-06-02 25:00 (John) Jamie helped me celebrate my 40th birthday today. We walked to It's My Party on the Danforth to buy me a balloon for Jamie to play with (the leftovers from Ross' party are starting to lose helium after ten days), went to my parents' for a sushi banquet brought in from Mariko, and then to the club where Lisa Kessler had arranged a cake with a photograph of a clabbers board printed onto the icing.

When we got home, I shouted downstairs to ask Ayami if she wanted some leftover cake, and Jamie wouldn't let me close the door. I thought he wanted to see Gary and Ayami but no, he wanted to see their kitchen mat (see photo). It took me a few minutes to figure out what was so gosh darn funny about the mat to a toddler's sense of humour.

In the bath, Jamie insisted on practising his "cruising" - walking with me steadying him with one hand, and with both his hands on the edge of the tub. Back and forth, back and forth, until he got tired and (still standing) rested his head gently on my knee and sighed contentedly. I like being a dad.

2004-06-03 24:12 (Kristen) Jamie was amazing last night--he slept for almost 12 hours, and didn't get up until 11:30 today. I don't think that I've slept so well since before he was born. He also didn't nurse for what must have been close to eight hours, and as pleased as I was for the sleep, I was getting desperate for him to have a nurse!

He is less and less patient with not being able to do things for himself, but getting better at working around it. He very clearly expects that when he lifts his arm up, that he will be picked up. Most of his signals aren't so clear, however, and I'm working on getting him to pay attention to other signs, like "eat" and "drink." "Diaper change" isn't a bad one to learn, either. He gets so frustrated when he can't communicate, and is so happy when he can.

He is also teething again. I can't tell which one he is working on, but it is very clear from the drool and chewing behaviours that he is not very comfortable right now. On the bright side, the two little teeth that he does have are growing in very quickly, and he is enjoying being able to bite soft foods like mangos with them. Did we say that he likes mangos? Boy, does he like mangos. He practically inhaled a good portion of one tonight at Daniel's birthday dinner, to the amazement (and amusement) of onlookers. He is also getting the hang of bottles with rubber nipples, and absolutely loves apple juice and pear juice.

2004-06-04 23:35 (Kristen) Jamie slept for 12 hours again last night, which was amazing. He didn't sleep for as long a stretch as he did the night before, but it's hard to complain. He was up around 11:30, once again allowing me to get some work done before he woke up.

We went on two long walks today, and he watched bits of My Neighbour Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) for the first time (one of the best children's movies ever, by Hayao Miyazaki). He smiled at it, and watched a bit, but prefered to practice walking. Speaking of which, he surprised me by standing freely tonight for about three seconds. John says that Jamie's been doing this for a few weeks, but only when he's not thinking about it. I seem to remember him holding his balance for a split second or so, but this seemed different somehow. It was a thrilling moment.

(John) Jamie was big into splashing in the tub tonight. We may need to start bringing more towels into the bathroom.

2004-06-05 24:42 (Kristen) Jamie was up between 9:00 and 10:00 this morning, which made cleaning up the house more of a challenge. I knew better than to count on him sleeping until 11:30, however, as I continue to learn how to be a wise mother.

Sleep wasn't really on Jamie's list of things to do today, as there was far too much going on that was interesting. I took him for his afternoon walk later than usual, and he didn't sleep at all. I checked my watch at 2:30, and thought 'this could be interesting.' He finally fell asleep, of course, as I reached Daniel's house for his birthday party at 3:00. Daniel's parties always have a large percentage of girls, all of whom were interested in Jamie, and he was not asleep for longer than ten minutes. [John: I did take Jamie out for a calming walk to Broadview Avenue once, to look at the buses go by.] Another ten minute cat nap was all he had until 7:30, when all the kids had gone home. In the meantime, he greatly enjoyed watching all the joyful chaos and attention from everyone. The big bundle of balloons that Michelle brought, judging from the look on Jamie's face, was the highlight of his day. He spent some time happily tugging on balloon strings and making the balloons make bouncing sounds against the ceiling.

Tonight, in the bath, he read an Elmo bath book given to us by my former co-worker at UTP (now at Random House), Maylin Scott. He read it, he devoured it, he wouldn't be parted from it until after he came out of the bath, had been dressed, and was taken to bed to finally get some sleep.

2004-06-06 24:42 (John) Today was a long happy blur, as I spent most of the day hosting a party in honour of my own 40th birthday (see also Rika's blog, but let me see if I can tell it from Jamie's point of view. It's his blog, after all.

Woke up at about ten-thirty. Didn't sleep all that well. Parents seemed excited about something. Dad was long gone, out of the house early, probably off somewhere exciting with buses. Mom dressed me in a blue dress shirt that I hadn't worn since Mexico. Something's definitely up. At eleven, I'm eating breakfast in my highchair#, when Mark Thompson shows up. Weird. I smile and go along with the gag.

Then all heck breaks loose. About thirty adults and ten kids storm into the house, the dining room is rearranged so that more food than I've ever seen in one place can be stacked on top of it, and wouldn't you know, I'm full of baby food. Everyone plays pass-the-baby with me for a while, then someone sets fire to a cake again (this seems to be national Burning Cake Week), and I've had enough. Thank goodness Ken was there to take me out for a walk and a nap.

When I get back, things are a little quieter, and eventually everyone wanders home except for Justin. We go out for a walk over to Tai-Tai's. We eat (of course), then walk up to the Dairy Queen to watch buses. Justin goes home, I chew on my Elmo book in the bathtub and say hi to the rubber duckies and Mr. Windup Fish, then it's off to bed.

2004-06-07 23:59 (Kristen) Jamie was up by 9:00 this morning, and could easily have been up earlier, if I hadn't been trying to stay in bed myself. He spent a good deal of time outside, which made him a little crabby in the end because it was a hot day today and he hates being too hot. We went for our first walk of the day after we walked John to Jackman School to be a Parent Volunteer as Daniel's class (and half of Jackman) took the TTC to the movies to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I bought Jamie a new super- duper UV-blocking sun hat that is still a little big, but should fit him well by the end of the summer (my son has a big head). He protested, but was distracted by trucks long enough to forget about it. He then fell asleep, and even stayed asleep long enough for me to get a coffee and an almond croissant at the Second Cup before walking to Michelle's for lunch.

We also went to Treasure Island to buy Jamie some new toys to help stimulate neural connections, and because, ok, we like buying him toys. We got a soft book with little flaps about summer, and a great set of stacking cups with a sorter bin. He liked them all very much, and we spent the evening playing with them while trying to ignore the fact that the Flames were losing in the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Sigh. Also, John fed him a lichee today, and we can add that to the list of Acceptable Foods.

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

Back to Vol. 0 No. 29, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 31.