Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 48

2004-10-05 23:55 (John) As the photo shows, Jamie has been a bit clumsy lately, as I think we all have, what with how long he's taking to cut his seventh tooth. It's like the first tooth all over again, the drool, the shallow sleep at night, the sudden throbbing pain that makes him go from giggling to bawling in a split-second. The scab on his forehead is several days old, the scratch on his cheek is self-inflicted, and the egg on his forehead is from yesterday when I watched him run too quickly on the sidewalk, put out his hands carefully to slow his fall, then lose concentration and bang his head anyway, ouch.

Ken took Jamie out for an early afternoon walk, for which Jamie stayed wide awake. I took Jamie down to the university by subway and he fell asleep on Ellerbeck halfway to the subway, and didn't wake up until we were leaving the subway on the way home.

He's looking skinny again, but he hasn't lost weight, so we deduce that he has grown taller. I'll check his height the next time I can get him to hold still. Maybe I should start marking it on a door frame.

Just now, as Kristen was taking a shower, Jamie woke up and started crying. I went to take a look, he looked at me dubiously, I told him that Mom was in the shower and that he had to wait for her to finish, he looked reluctant, I started singing "Rock-a-bye baby", he sighed, rolled on his right side, started suckling air and was snoring in a few minutes.

2004-10-06 13:30 (John) Jamie's definitely got a cold now. My implant surgery notwithstanding, I don't think the runny nose that comes with teething is contagious, so I think I've got a bit of what Jamie has. His congestion was bad enough that he was having trouble sleeping and nursing last night, and he was a little off his food this morning. I hope that tooth comes in soon.

Oshawa Scrabble Club director Trevor Sealy sent us some pictures he took of Jamie this weekend, and I've added them retroactively to Friday and Sunday's entries. Thanks, Trevor!

Clearing the Scrabble gear off the dining table (a rare occurrence) so that my parents could come over and have dinner with us while their block's water main is being repaired put a SamTimer within Jamie's reach. As today's photos will show, Jamie spent quite a bit of time delicately using his index finger to push the buttons to start each player's clock.

2004-10-07 12:00 (John) Jamie slept the sound sleep of the medicated last night, and I think he's doing a little bit better today, though he's still a little off food. Still definitely wildly obsessed with lights though, as I'm told I was at a similar age. Kristen pointed out that since yesterday, he's been walking around a lot with his open palm against his left ear, but was puzzled as to why. It was easy for me to figure it out when he started doing it this morning when I answered my cellphone. :)

2004-10-07 23:41 (Kristen) Yesterday, we met our friend Nalo at the Big Carrot, and sat with her at the Second Cup while I tried to feed Jamie some lunch from a jar. He was having none of it, and I couldn't figure out why, until I realized that Nalo had put a small plastic container of very nice raspberries on the table, and that was what he wanted, drat it. He proceeded to eat all her raspberries, which was very sweet of her. Today, I thought that I'd buy him another container, if they were still as good, since he's off his food a little and I wanted to get him a treat. That little container was $5.99! Expensive, and all gone in one sitting yet again.

Jamie's ability to walk has taking another quantum leap. He realized today that he can walk anywhere he wants to without me. He walked all the way across the schoolyard multiple times from brick to chainlink fence, and walked down sidewalks, across yards, and I realized that he can run into traffic now without any difficulty whatsoever. That was a bad thought. He is pleased as anything with himself, and despite a few spills, is getting better and steadier with each step. I can't take my eyes off him for an instant.

(John) I was woken up from a nap by the sound of Jamie crying in the front yard. He knew he could walk to the stoplight at Broadview and Chester Hill, but couldn't reach the pedestrian crossing button. When I came outside, he happily grabbed me tightly by the finger and dragged me to the light, where we proceeded to cross back and forth (five times each way) until I grew concerned at the effect that we might be having on rush hour traffic.

2004-10-08 23:41 (John) There was an Incident today which seemed to afford almost everyone present Great Amusement. Kristen mentioned that in reading old entries in the blog, she came across mention of Daniel warning Jamie how strict a dad I was going to be. Jamie burst out laughing at this point, and I Am Sure that Only To Save Jamie Embarrassment everyone else joined in.

(Kristen) In his defence, John is the strictest marshmallow that I've ever met. Moving right along, Jamie's big accomplishment for the day was to pee in the toilet for the first time. I've been periodically getting him to pee in the empty bathtub first thing in the morning to get him used to being aware of the sensation of peeing rather than the wet results. Lately, and it's not just that the porcelain is cold, he doesn't want to stand in the bathtub and so today I thought that I'd move him to the toilet, telling him that he'd be just like Daddy. He insisted on standing on the edge rather than sitting, and then dribbled a little, so I praised him. Then, the deluge. I had to pick him up and tilt him towards the bowl to avoid having to clean up even more than I was going to have to. But, it was a success more than a failure, and I will try it again to get him used to the idea that he can pee in the toilet too.

His walking improves, although he remains quite cautious. He prefers to cling to my hand, but walks at an impressive clip. Our neighbour, Betsy, was driving along and pointed out a little boy walking beside his mother before she realized that it was me and Jamie. I let him sleep after a long afternoon of walking at the witching hour (silly me), and he didn't sleep again until 11:45. He had a good time, sitting in bed with John and reading bedtime books, but it would have been nice if he had gone to sleep Earlier. Maybe he'll sleep in? (hahahahahaha)

2004-10-09 22:44 (Kristen) Jamie had a rough time between 3:46 and 8:00 this morning, when I gave up and got the both of us up. He fell asleep again in the middle of his breakfast (around 9:00), and I translated him to the couch with little difficulty. He slept until 10:30, and woke up in time to go to the St. Lawrence Market with John and his mother. I stayed home, cleaned a bit, and slept. A nice treat from my guys!

They got home around 2:30, after Jamie had just fallen asleep in the car. John told me that the big event of the trip was when Jamie told him that he was hungry in the Loblaws by using the sign for "eat" that I've been trying to show him for two months or more. I'm thrilled. Jamie woke up around 3:00, and John brought him into the bedroom where I was sleeping. I nursed him back to sleep, and slept some more myself, and he didn't get up again until 5:30. He hasn't had a three hour nap in months: I wish that I'd been awake more to enjoy it!

He played with Sam and Ben at their house after his nap, ate half a pint of raspberries (John found them on sale, thank goodness), and had a good time visiting Daniel and Ross too. Ross wants to know why Jamie says Daniel, but not "Ross." I told him that Jamie was working on it, but Ross is harder to say. The 'Da' sound is one of his favourites. He can also say "bye-bye", and is working hard on the word for light in English and Japanese. The boy is a communicator! Did I mention that he loves to sing, and to listen to female vocalists? I have to learn more songs to teach to him.

(John) I should clarify that Jamie's vocabulary is growing in quantity, but is still something of an idiolect Some words have recognizable cognates in English or Japanese:

"Eh" (pronounced like the name of the letter A, sometimes stretched out Fonzarellily) From Japanese "denki" (light), applied to any artificial light source

ooh ooh

"Da" (flat A, like the first part of "dam") From "Daniel", applied to his godbrother Daniel.

"Dada" (rhymes with "ta-ta", accompanied by hand-waving, rarely pronounced "bye-bye") From "bye-bye", means that something or someone is leaving or has left but is still in Jamie's mind.

"Ghoo" From "good", but applied always to food.

Some words are onomatopoeic:

[nasalized dorsal velar fricative] Exhaust fan

Some mimic our nonverbal noises:

"Ooh" He has just noticed something exciting, but not food, like a bus.

"Ooh-ooh-ooh..." Continued excitement.

[contented sigh] Relief from discomfort - a very useful one for explaining to Jamie that he's about to receive first aid

He's been known sporadically to mimic Kristen's sounds for cow, cat and motorcycle when reading along in a book.

Some are purely gestural:

(Rocking head from side to side) Music appreciation

(Rocking head from front to back) "Faster, faster!"

(Waving hand in front of object) Forbidden, dangerous

(Pointing at object) I want that (probably in my mouth). Followed a few seconds later by "eh", rhyming with "meh".

He has a much larger vocabulary of recognized language, which I will save for another day.

2004-10-10 22:50 (John) I don't think Jamie slept well last night, as he fell asleep at odd hours during the day today, and as a result seemed crabby and clumsy at unusual times (usually immediately followed by his falling asleep and our suddenly realizing what the fuss was about).

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' house, with my aunts Nobuko and Tomoko. Jamie ate dinner four times, recording quite the impressive turkey intake. First, while everyone else was bustling around the kitchen, Kristen and I sat him down on the floor with a bowl full of scraps of turkey, green beans, asparagus and sweet potato, which he was quite happy to feed himself. Then he sat between us at the dinner table and at turkey dipped in cranberry sauce until his customary mid-prandial walk to settle food into his legs. Then I think he had another little pre-nap bite, followed by a long postprandial walk where he managed to stay awake until we were climbing the steps to get back inside the house. After a half-hour nap, he woke up hungry for more turkey, and we took turns feeding him while packing up the leftovers.

His teeth are still bothering him, and he was trying to teethe at the breast a little while ago. Telling him it was wrong upset him, because he knew it was wrong, but he really needed to chew on something. Giving him a teething ring didn't help, because he's also trying to nurse himself to sleep. So I got him a bottle of water, and Kristen and I did yet another little pantomime (biting people: "no, no, ow, ow"; biting teether "good boy, aah"; biting bottle nipple "good boy, aah"), and he smiled and started alternately nursing at the breast (gently) and at the bottle (like a wolverine), basking in our praise and adoration.

2004-10-11 23:03 (Kristen) Our dearest boy is eleven months old today, and I'm starting to have those white-knuckle moments where I think, "this is all passing by too quickly!" Maybe it's just that my mat leave is about to end and I'm jobhunting. No...it really is passing quickly, in a "trapped in crystal" kind of way, and I really do have a little boy who is going to be a year old soon. Ack!

He celebrated his month birthday by waking up at 8:00 in a good mood, rather than a bad mood. He slept well enough, compared to the last week, through the night, and we didn't get one of the sessions where he will start crying in his sleep, and not wake up. Instead, he will stay in a fugue-state/half-sleep, crying away, until he finally gets settled back by being walked and patted on the back (nursing doesn't work). It's the most peculiar thing, but thankfully he didn't last night. He had breakfast (cereal and raspberries), but didn't want to eat right away: instead, he wanted to play a little and then finish the cereal that he'd started. We then went for a walk, so that John could have some quiet work time, and bought him a new pair of "big boy" shoes with his birthday money from his aunts Nobuko and Tomoko. They're very cute, and he is able to walk in them quite well.

He ate two turkey meals today, and we have learned that turkey, while good on its own, is just the vehicle for cranberry sauce. He will eat that straight. He is still the Death of Raspberries, and wants to be the Death of Cherry Tomatoes too. He went with us to the Second Cup, and watched while John and I played Scrabble for the first time since March. He didn't sleep much, unfortunately, and so was Crazy Tired Boy for much of the evening. However, he was still willing to be entertained by endless rounds of his favourite Japanese children's songs provided by doting parents and grandparents.

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

Back to Vol. 0 No. 47, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 49.