Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 40

2004-08-10 23:23 (Kristen) Jamie was up much earlier today; yesterday, he let his mother sleep in until 10:30. Today he was up much earlier...I think that it was around 6:30 ...but I was able to convince him that I didn't have to get up until 9:30, and that he should sleep a little more. Reasonable child.

John was still not feeling well, and so I took Jamie out for a walk to the Second Cup and the library. I have found a few videos for him that he might like, such as "Big Bird Goes to Japan" and three other Teletubbie videos. One is called "Baby Animals," which I'm sure he'll like, and one is a dancing video. It is my duty as a mother to ensure that my boy can dance, since we can be sure that his father won't teach him. They should arrive tomorrow or the next day on interlibrary loan. It should be said that the Toronto Public Library is the absolute best in its cheeful willingness to schlep books and materials from any library in its very large system to your library. Yay TPL!

Jamie and I accompanied John to Dr. Kennedy's this afternoon, as he isn't feeling any better and is perhaps feeling worse. It's nice to take him there when he isn't the patient, so that he knows that the doctor isn't always the one with the needle. Then he took a long nap between 5 and 7 before we went to Michelle and Tom's for dinner. Tom ended up being the one to feed him bits of chicken and asparagus tonight, after I managed to shovel in some chicken, sweet potato, and tofu into the maw of my child. Tom was great tonight, and Jamie had a great time roaring around. Too soon, however, only Mom would do, and we came home to a bath and bed.

2004-08-11 23:53 (Kristen) Jamie is nine months old today. It seems like so long ago that he was born, but nine months isn't really that long a time at all. Nine months ago at this time, I was lying on my back in a hospital room, not entirely sure of all that had just happened to me, and with a tiny little boy sleeping beside me who had the biggest eyes I'd ever seen. Now, I can't conceive of life without him.

To celebrate, Jamie had his first cookie. It was an organic berry-flavoured cookie for teethers, and he enjoyed it immensely in all its messy goodness. We had another of our long walks today, which he seemed to enoy, and he spent another good part of the day cruising around the house. We will sit in the kitchen together, and he will go from the freezer, where I'm sitting, to the high chair, to the cabinets, to the chairs, and back. He can do this for hours, and he is really enjoying the indepenence he gets from moving himself around. Half the time he doesn't want my help, and the other half it is to assist him quickly before he blows me off again on his travels.

He also really enjoys clapping his hands together. He has gotten quite good at it, and doesn't miss very often any more. He is very easy to entertain, and found the sight of Mom dancing in the kitchen hilarious today. It's so much fun to make him laugh.

2004-08-12 22:48 (Kristen) Something seemed to be bothering Jamie today, as he was unusually clingy and grumpy. He woke up early, yelling, which is not normal, and wasn't as willing as he normally is to be parted from me, even if we were in the same room. It is possible that he's feeling a little unsettled since John has been unwell for the last week and hasn't been able to spend much quality time with him. We're all hoping that John feels better soon.

Now, that isn't to say that Jamie was grumpy all day. He had a great time cruising around the kitchen and his bedroom, and visiting Tom, Michelle, Daniel and Ross. He wouldn't let Tami feed him watermelon (only I was allowed to do that), but was delighted when Ken took him for a walk. He tricked Gary into walking him around the house, and played with his toys. He enjoyed sitting on the front lawn and playing with the grass while watching buses on Broadview. And, he enjoyed being wrapped up in the Big Blue Towel after his bath. If you look at those photos carefully, you can see his new fang poking out on the left (your right) side of his mouth.

We went on our usual walk to the Second Cup and to the library, fed some birds, talked to a few dogs, and in general got out and saw the world. Jamie practiced clapping and waved at his dad. He free stood for three breaths. He was very busy exploring his world, and it was a very interesting world, indeed.

)(John) Jamie was still delightedly clapping and waving today. As we left Michelle's after dinner, he gave her the clearest wave I've seen yet, and then clapped much of the way home, I think at buses. Oh, and he likes pesto - no surprise there.

2004-08-13 22:17 (Kristen) Jamie is definitely fighting off a sinus infection or another @#$@ cold. He woke up early and ate a moderate breakfast, but then was crabby very quickly. I took him out for his walk in the pouring rain around 11:00 AM, andhe fell asleep almost right away. He loves the sound of the rain on his plastic stroller rain cover, and it kept him asleep for almost two hours. He was in a better if somewhat frenetic mood afterwards, and ran about until Ken took him out for a walk a couple of hours later. Then it was to sleep for another two hours, until Ken brought him back and I took him out to look for groceries.

He nursed a fair amount today in his favourite position, which is sitting on my lap, facing me, and leaning forward to drink, then look about, then drink again. He crows a good deal in this position, and thinks that it's pretty funny. His nose is all stuffed up, and today I learned the Japanese word for 'nose bubble,' "hanachochin." The literal translation is "nose lantern," as in a round, paper, Chinese-style lantern, which make sense. We're all pretty tired now, but John was better today for the first time in a while, which is cause for optimism.

2004-08-14 24:16 (Kristen) As if to make up for the two long naps he took yesterday, Jamie decided not to sleep much today. He woke up "with the birds," his father says, since John heard him while within sight of a clock. I fought it until close to 9:00, when I finally surrendered. We went for a morning walk, and he had a fair amount of chicken curry again. I think that chicken curry is about his favourite food in the entire world.

Luisa's annual water fight was today, and Jamie and I decided to go even though John wasn't well enough to come along. Gary and Ayami very kindly drove us out to Scarborough, especially since Jamie didn't want to nap on the way and was vocal in his fatigue. The waterfight was well under way when we got there (Luisa calls it Wetstock: we all like Luisapalooza better), and Jamie was collateral damage a couple times as we made our way into the house and to safety. Somewhere there is a picture that Debbie has taken of Jamie standing beside one of Reid's waterguns, which is much bigger than he is, which will be titled "Baby's First Armaments." He had a very good time walking around, eating cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and watermelon, and his mother ate far far too much herself. Ruth and Kaarel brought a high chair for us to use at Michelle's, and I am happy happy happy! Thank you!

It was wonderful to see all sorts of wonderful poslpeople, and we had a great time despite John's absence. Jamie was pretty tired by the time we came home (thank you Peter, Laura, and Jon for a ride and pleasant company) and was popped almost directly into the bath where he insisted on nursing as we shampooed his hair for the first time. We've just washed his hair with water up until now, as we've been very careful of using any sorts of soaps or such on his delicate baby skin. With our fiendishly clever approach, he barely noticed it was going on. Bedtime was preceded by a rousing game of "Where's Jamie" with the big blue towel before sleep finally caught up with him at the end of a long, interesting day.

2004-08-15 25:08 (Kristen) I was thinking today that Jamie is one of my favourite people to spend time with. He is quick to laugh, curious, and playful. He doesn't hold onto grudges, is brave, loving, and straightforward. He's also mischevious, and fun. We've spent some intensive time together over the last week and a half, and we've closer and more comfortable with each other than ever.

He is getting the hang of waving 'bye bye,' although it sometimes becomes 'hello,' and 'look at me, I can wave my hand bye bye!' I suspect that there is a lot more going on behind those eyes than he lets on. We ate lunch together, mom and son, at a local Japanese restaurant. I had soba noodles, which I shared with Jamie, and avocado rolls, which Jamie shared with me. It went remarkably smoothly, and the experience may trick me into thinking that I can do this more often. We went for a family walk together with John tonight, and Jamie was in the backpack that Badger and family gave to us. He loved it, and took the opportunity to pull my hair this way and that like a set of reins. Apparently he was also trying to stuff my hair into his mouth like this afternoon's soba noodles, but I kept pulling it away. It kept him amused, but I'm wearing a hat next time.

2004-08-16 21:00 (Kristen) Jamie stood today for a few seconds again: he doesn't seem to realize that he's doing it. He cruises very well, and is getting braver about wide gaps between bits of furniture, but isn't confident enough to take the plunge into actual solo walking. He isn't as crabby about being on his stomach now, curiously, as he used to be, and in his attempts to stand, may actually learn to crawl by accident. He can almost support himself on his hands and knees, and I'm curious to know if he'll find crawling as interesting or as useful as walking.

He enjoyed playing with Sam and Ben, and walking with his dad. He ate curry and peaches, and the crust of a piece of bread. The new highchair is over at Tom and Michelle's now, and is making our lives much easier. We're thinking that he needs a new bath book, since he has the two that he owns memorized.

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

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