Back to Vol. 0 No. 38, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 40.

[a bar of photos of Jamie's face]

Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 39

2004-08-03 24:30 (John) Jamie was feeling better again today, and went through the whole day without a major "Where are Mom and Dad?" meltdown. He happily ate his breakfast with Jennifer and Laraine after we slept in, then ate well the rest of the day between walks inside and outside the hotel. In the evening, the five of us went out to Japanese dinner with Adam Logan and Pat Larash, where Jamie fed himself (at his own insistence) rice, avocado, cucumber and miso shiru.

2004-08-04 25:00 (John) Jamie was even better today, and not at all Dad-clingy, which while bruising to my ego reassures me that he is comfortable with the general state of the world. He spent the morning and afternoon with Grammy and Auntie, lunch with his parents, and dinner at the Red Fish Grill (veggie plate for Jamie) with everyone but his dad, who is still working 16-hour days. He ran around with his dad for an hour or so from 22:30 to 23:30, when Mom was tired, Dad had to run around preparing for tomorrow, and Jamie was still full of beans, but is now (phew) sound asleep.

2004-08-05 25:31 (Kristen) For the first time in days, I've been able to read the blog and see what John remembers from the blur of the last week. Jamie was asleep when we left the room this morning, and Mom slipped into my bed to ensure that there was a warm body beside him when he woke. He was a little unsure about missing his first conscious nurse of the day, but handled it very well, in much part because my Mom and my sister are so good with him and because he is so comfortable with them after a week of quality time.

He met up with me and John after the finals were over, and had fun playing with his favourite Big Board and with Lisa Kessler. He had a lovely time making friends, and was a happy boy when we (Mom, Jen, and I) set out on our afternoon walk. He ran around the hotel lobby until he was ready for his second walk, and slept for a while. He was unhappy when he woke, and I wasn't sure that we'd be able to stay at the restaurant we had found, but a small plate of vegetables changed the story entirely. He ate about 2/3 of it (squash, zucchini, and carrots), impressing everyone with his capacity for food.He finished the evening by running around the hotel room, laughing like a maniac, and being in the best mood I've seen in a long time as he cruised between and around beds under the adoring by watchful gaze of his family.

2004-08-06 22:45 (John) We're safely home after not too rough a trip home. We left the hotel at 8:00 after tearful goodbyes with a fairly large number of people who either came out to see us off or just happened to be milling around (Laraine, Jennifer, Lisa Kessler, Paul Avrin to name a few). We fed Jamie at the airport restaurant (baby food and grits), at a table we shared with Joe Edley and Laura Klein. We caught a flight to Chicago O'Hare Airport, and Jamie slept for almost the entirety of the two and a half hour flight. We think he might be coming down with another cold, or maybe he's teething. Whatever, he's safe at home now and we'll be better able to deal with anything. At ORD, he spent a good deal of time playing with Julianne (sp?) from Burlington, see photo, in the waiting lounge. He slept again on the flight to Toronto, and was as a result hungry and alert when he got home. The hunger was easier to appease: my mom had stocked our fridge for us with fresh fruit and tofu, and brought over some chicken curry that we all enjoyed. It's almost 23:00 though and Jamie's still wide awake, unlike Kristen and me.

2004-08-07 23:33 (Kristen) Jamie enjoyed being able to check out all his favourite places and things today after a week away. He went to the Market with John and Sai, played with the fridge magnets at Daniel and Ross's house, and went for a walk with Daniel, Ross, and Kelly. Kelly was on her roller blades so Jamie was able to go Fast in his stroller, which was built for speed. He said "ooh" a lot, Kelly says.

He's done a number of things fo the first time this week. First, he was able to walk around while holding only one of my hands. He prefers to hold two, because he can move more quickly, but it was a thrill for both of us to have him walking beside me instead of in front of me. He also instigated and controlled a game of peek-a-boo, when he realized that he could hide behind a receiving blanket and make Mommy say "where's Jamie?" He was so pleased with himself. He also plays the game by walking behind me while I'm seated on the floor and laughing like a loon.

Today's new trick was for him to realize that if he points while in my arms, I'll take him where he wants to go. He had a vague idea that this was the case before today, but it became an explicit understanding this afternoon. We were outside, and he was making the 'uh uh' sounds that meant he wanted something. I asked him where he wanted to go, and he stretched his arm out. Between the two of us, we worked out the finger-pointing sign, and he directed me up the steps to Sam and Ben's house. He then helped me rap on the door (they have a great lion's head door knocker that Jamie helped me bang), but they weren't home. He duplicated the trick a few times tonight, and I can say that this is the first "sign" that he's used more than once. He has waved 'bye' once or twice, and put his hands together for 'gochisosama' ('thank you for the meal' in Japanese), but this is a sign he can really get behind. I'm getting a little thrill now as I think about being able to communicate more directly and clearly with my son so that I can start to see the world through his thoughts, ideas, and feelings.

2004-08-08 23:23 (Kristen) Jamie has been fighting off another cold, but it isn't as bad as the last one (thank goodness). It certainly isn't affecting his appetite this time, as he has been inhaling food at an almost unholy pace. Apricots, cereal, cherries, blueberries (that was messy), tofu, vegetables: all have met their doom in the maw of my son today. The apricot was given to him after he got one out of the bag near him and he was "helping himself" anyway.

He was in a crazy mood today. We went for lots of walks, and he was quite crabby this afternoon, but this evening was fabulous. He was laughing at everything, and was in a warm, affectionate mood. He put his arms around my neck and hugged me, and was delighted with both me and John. It was fair to say that he was a real joy to be with. He didn't sleep much, however, and his afternoon nap was only twenty minutes long. That was bad news for me, since I had fallen asleep beside him and could have used a longer nap before being awoken by a lively little boy.

2004-08-09 22:40 (Kristen) John spent the day asleep, fighting off some bug or another, and so Jamie and I hit the town, looking for excitement and adventure, and giving his dad some peace and quiet in which to recuperate.

We left the house around 12:30, and Jamie chose that time to sleep for an hour and a half. We walked around to Tai Tai's after Jamie woke up so that Jamie could eat a good deal of mango, cereal, and salmon for lunch. John was still asleep, so we walked over to Withrow Park to play in the wading pool there. He wasn't sure at first, and I let him walk in and out of the admittedly cold water until a partially submerged car-like toy caught his attention and he was in to his knees. He met a few other children close to his age, and greeted them with his customary nose grab. I have to teach him to shake hands.

I then took him to Treasure Island, where I bought him a Teletubbie video. He was entranced by the package, and I thought that it might be fun for him to see Dipsy moving around on screen. He hasn't shown a huge amount of interest in TV, although the commercials (disturbingly) will often catch his attention if one is on in his vicinity. We picked up some curry for his dad on the way home, and met up with Sam and Ben with their mom, Betsy. Then Alexandria came over, and we had a great time outside. Karen (Alexandria's mom) made corn, and we sat on the front porch eating and talking. The kids all loved it.

I put on the Teletubbies video for him, and he played with his toys, occasionally tuning in and saying 'ooh! ooh!' as a Teletubbie did or said something interesting. He is getting more stubborn about what he wants and more vocal when thwarted. He cruised to the end of the couch and was two inches away from the tv screen when I pulled him away with the admonishment that it was too close to the screen. He was none too pleased with me, and let me know it. Ah, the emergence of will and personality. This will be fun! Finally, he went for his bath, with many kisses for his mom, and went to bed in a good mood.

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

Back to Vol. 0 No. 38, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 40.