Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 31

2004-06-08 23:38 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 6:00 AM this morning, and only seemed to doze until I gave up (finally) around 9:00 AM. He did nap for 45 minutes around 10:15, and did the same thing a few times over the course of the day, but I think that those halcyon days of three-hour naps are long gone.

It was very hot and muggy today, which is not weather that Jamie enjoys. He got overheated on his walk with Ken, which upset him, although he liked the apple juice he got when he returned home. He was chewing like mad on the bottle nipple, and Michelle observed that he was drooling a great deal again tonight, so his teeth may have contributed to his overall unusually unsettled mood. I was in need of a break myself this afternoon, and so John took Jamie out for some adventures while I slept for two hours. [John: we walked with Ken and Ross to Withrow Park and back, then visited Tai-Tai for afternoon tea al fresco, settling back in for a nap on the way home to Mom.] It sounded like they had fun.

It's getting harder and harder to keep up with Jamie, as his range of interests expands. I have to buy more board books for him, as paper books are in dire danger when he is around: books are for eating. He is fascinated by paper, and all forms of it are immediately fastened upon in place of any other object nearby. He will be much happier, I suspect, when he can sit up by himself with more confidence, and get himself from place to place without relying on an adult to get him there. [John: Yes, life will be much easier when Jamie can move around on his own and help himself to anything he wants.] He gets bored quickly now, and it's a challenge coming up with more and more new things for him to do to keep happy. Oh well...there's always buses.

2004-06-09 24:30 (John) Not too bad a day for a Wednesday, the busiest day of our week. Kristen and Jamie went to Bloor and Yonge to get out of the muggy 32°C weather, and Jamie of course fell asleep only when they got back and were walking outdoors on the Danforth. I went to the Scrabble club solo tonight, because it's the first of three nights of our annual June tournament, and I needed to be there later than Jamie comfortably could. Cooler weather forecast tomorrow, thank goodness.

2004-06-10 21:45 Jamie can sit up for long periods of time now, and if you put him down in something wobbly, like his stroller or a bassinet, he will happily sit and rock it forward and backward. With a little bit of guidance he managed to lift himself to a standing position grabbing onto our headboard, and cruising is still right up there with eating as one of his passions. When he's delighted, he crows "kak-kak-kak". When he is quietly content, he sighs "ah-goooo".

He napped well today, asleep for two hours with Ken and then for a little while before dinner. As a result, he was even happier than he usually is.

2004-06-11 23:40 (John) Another happy day in Jamie-land, as Jamie turns seven months old. We followed the usual routine until about 15:00 (get up with Mom, say hi to Dad at the computer, get changed, have breakfast, visit Daniel and Ross for lunch, take them to school and go out for a walk with Ken), then Jamie and I had to walk down to investigate a false security alarm at my parents' house. (The alarm goes off every now and then to give a false sense of security.) Then since we were there anyway even though my parents were out shopping, Jamie had some mango, and I learned important things about feeding him mango solo.

Always check his mouth first to make sure he's done with the last piece before offering him another.
Always check his mouth first before you put him on his back to check his diaper because he's fussing because he has too much mango in his mouth.
Do not use your finger to attempt to remove the piece of mango that is stuck to the roof of his mouth and making him fuss. A variety of results might ensue, but none of them are good or involve the mango coming out of his mouth, and not all of them leave your finger intact.
Always keep a baby spoon handy even when feeding finger foods, because it makes a dandy combination palate scraper and teething toy.

Jamie had his first significant quantities of fish today (aside from the odd morsel that he's managed to glom from me). Tai-Tai simmered him a flounder in soy sauce, sake and ginger and served flakes of it to him in its sauce with rice.

In the bath tonight, Jamie was mainly interested in knocking toys off the edge of the bathtub and seeing where they went on the floor. I tried to get him to sit down, but found to my mild surprise that he's quite capable of lifting himself up to a standing position. Eventually, I distracted him with a rousing game of Take The Rubber Duck Out of the Stacking Cup.

(Kristen) I've been playing the guitar and singing for Jamie over the last few days, hoping to show him that music doesn't have to come out of small boxes. He has been patient with my noisemaking, and is appreciative in small doses. Tonight, by accident, I figured out how to play the version of "Froggy Went A'Courting" that my father used to play for me and my sister. Jamie seemed to like it, which is encouraging. I'm also trying to learn how to play "Sweet Baby James," which seems appropriate.

2004-06-12 25:10 (John) Jamie, Kristen and I went to the St. Lawrence Market today, with Jamie mostly in his "octopus harness" quietly observing everything and everyone, then riding for the first time upright in the child carrier section of a Loblaws shopping cart, and enjoying the opportunity to gnaw on every reachable portion of it and its contents. When we got home, Kristen took him for a walk to the library while I went out on more errands. Then we went to check in on Daniel and Ross and their babysitting grandparents, and I took Daniel, Ross and Jamie to the Jackman School playground for a spirited game of tag, enjoyed thoroughly and equally by all.

2004-06-13 25:14 (Kristen) Jamie and I slept in this morning for the first time in about a week, staying slugabed until 10:30. It was a sleepy day for the first half, as John went back to bed and Jamie and I had his afternoon nap inside due to my extreme sleepiness.

Jamie and I went for a walk this afternoon, meeting up with John at Bill's Garden Center. Jamie was taken with the soft grey cat on the counter, and patted her very gently. He couldn't resist kicking and crowing when he was done, however. We three headed over to the (hush...whisper) Starbuck's nearby and tried to lure some birds over with crumbled cake, but succeeded only in attracting a pigeon. Jamie was happy enough with the pigeon, but I had been hoping for sparrows and chickadees, which I feel better disposed towards. Jamie was very happy to spend time with his dad, who took him to see trucks on the Danforth while I sipped my latte.

Jamie, in fact, more and more prefers to be with his dad, and always asks to be picked up by John when he sees him. I watched the two of them walking along, Jamie grinning from ear to ear and crowing as he sat on John's shoulders, and thought that the poet was right: the story of the universe really is about a boy and his dad. Dinner was a lovely bar-b-qued black sea bass that John picked up at the St. Lawrence Market yesterday that we ate at John's parents' place. Jamie was off his food a bit today, but he enjoyed a little bass and some mango. Sai lets him chew the mango off the stone, and the munchings and crunchings that came from him as he ate reminded me of a pride of lions eating a gazelle. Savage, and not a scene for the faint of heart. He is sleeping beside me now, as the rain beats down and the sounds of thunder recede into the distance.

(John) There are things that Jamie wants to do that he is not allowed to do. He is not allowed to pull the bee picture off the wall every time he goes through the front door, and if he looks at it without doing so, he gets lavish praise which is almost as good.

2004-06-14 24:08 (Kristen) Jamie is not finding his stroller to be the gentle sleeping haven that he once did. At least, he did not fall asleep in his stroller either yesterday or today. Perhaps it is the heat, but the magic stroller's magical sleep field seems to have weakened to critical proportions. He is more often insisting on nursing himself to sleep, which is something that I have some difficulty with: not with the nursing itself, but with the fear that he will not be able to fall asleep on his own without me. However, to put that fear into perspective, last night he fell asleep on John's shoulder, and today he fell asleep on mine, which he has not done for months. It is still nigh impossible for me to transfer him from one place to another while he sleeps...shoulder to bed [John: I did that one last night: woo-hoo!], lap to couch, carseat to shoulder...but it was lovely to have him sigh and snuggle into my shoulder as he slept.

Another person today asked me if Jamie had any Asian ancestry in his background. This is the second time in two days (and the second time ever) that someone has asked. Not many people seem to think that Jamie looks Asian at all (ok, there aren't that many strawberry blond Japanese out there) but I've always seen it in his eyes, and it's something that I love about his face. Possibly because it reminds me of his dad, but also because it's part of who he is. He's going to look so exotic and interesting when he grows up, and I'm going to have to buy a gun. Hold on...that's when you have girls. But I'm an equal rights kind of mom: I'm going to have to buy a gun.

(John) The highlights of Jamie's day were: the ceiling fan at Grassroots (ooooooh), my parents' neighbours' cat Spencer sitting down with Jamie, Kristen and Daniel (aaaaaah), and his first evening walk in my arms while we both held an umbrella (he looked like he was holding onto a pole riding the subway). He's also quite adept now at lifting himself up to lean on the edge of the tub, and shuffling back and forth along it, and with all things enjoys doing so for an audience.

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

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