Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 51

2004-10-26 25:50 (John) Jamie is happy by day and really grumpy by night. He's been waking up every hour since he went to bed, screaming in pain. I'm a little worried, though I know it's just teething and the remnants of his cold. He's been eating well. Kristen said she cut (I think) avocado and toast into soldiers and put them in a bowl with hummus and let him eat it himself. Very brave. I let him try his first bites of eel, but wouldn't let him feed himself (little bones, ouch).

In the bath, Jamie's new discoveries were how to open the bottle of Aveeno bath oil (and close it, about twenty times), and that he can stick his finger up the faucet and make the knob that switches the shower on pop up (who knew?)

We welcome Rika back to our household for a few weeks. She's staying in Jamie's room until Momoko leaves on Friday, then gets her old room back.

ジェイミは初めて鰻を味わった。おいしいけれどもイクラの方が好きだって。

2004-10-27 11:40 (John) You may notice a new "RSS" box near the top of this page. RSS is a way of using XML to present summary information about web sites in a standardized way, so that if you have hundreds of blogs and news sources to keep track of, you can get an RSS client that does the dirty work of checking which pages have been updated for you.

Jamie's feeling a little better but still fragile today. He and Kristen got up at ten o'clock, had first breakfast (cereal) and went off for a walk with Betsy. Back for second breakfast (natto*) and now we're off to the U of T so that Kristen can get some peace and quiet to do some editing.

2004-10-27 16:30 (John) The first time I went to Sid Smith was when I was about three years old; I don't clearly remember it. The first time I remember going, I must have been five and a half. My mom was working nights training the Ontario Pavilion staff how to speak Japanese at Expo '70, my dad was teaching a night class and brought me along with a pile of books, blank paper and crayons to a language lab in the basement of Sid Smith. He set me up behind a one-way mirror, so that I could see him teach the class, but he and the class couldn't see me. I don't remember what I drew or read.

Jamie has been going to Sid Smith since his intrauterine days. He knows the layout of the lobby and the math department pretty well. He slept all the way down, and woke up as we were going into the elevator, and therefore about to do Something Interesting. He's still recovering from his cold though, so he was happy to sit in his stroller in a trance for ten minutes, so I could get a little work done in the computer lab. Then we went to make our rounds, saying hi to anyone we knew (Ida Bulat, Steve Tanny), smiling at new faces, and eventually heading back to the elevator to push buttons, stopping along the way at each electrical outlet to say it was dangerous, studiously avoid it and receive lavish praise. At each vacant office, we had to stop so that Jamie could make washboard noises on the office door air vents. Then we had to see if Emile Leblanc was an evil ogre or a friendly giant. Jamie still hasn't made up his mind about Emile, but came within a cautious metre to reassess the situation.

2004-10-27 25:20 (John) In the evening (after dinner at Tai-Tai's), Tom helped look after Jamie so that Kristen could do some work while John went to run the weekly meeting of the Scrabble club. Thanks, Tom! Jamie's still feeling a little congested and crabby, but definitely doing a lot better again than yesterday.

2004-10-28 23:10 (Kristen) Jamie woke up well today after a relatively good night's sleep. He got dressed, and headed downstairs for cereal and bananas, after which he ran around the house exploring and being chased/getting chased. It was the usual Thursday lunch at Browning, and an afternoon walk with Ken. I have two freelance jobs right now (embarrassment of riches), so Ken and Tami kindly offered to keep Jamie for an extra hour while I worked. Then Alexandria came over to look after Jamie while I did some more work.

Jamie was not quite himself this evening, and he seemed to have a bit of a fever. It went away after we gave him his bath and a dose of Tylenol. It could be anything: the tooth that is breaking through, his cold, or something else entirely. His teeth are bothering him, though, as he kept chewing on his finger and actually bit me hard at one point this evening. [John: and his left cheek looks even puffier than usual. And he's gassy.]

2004-10-28 24:10 (John) We say goodbye to Momoko today, who is going back to Japan early tomorrow morning. Rika is back for another short stay, and I was happy to see that Jamie recognized her right away despite her two-month absence. This bodes well for his upcoming two-month separations from his holidaying parental grandparents, though I'm not sure how we're going to explain their absence or make up the large soba- and fish-shaped hole in his diet.

Jamie woke up just now while Kristen was taking a shower. I picked him up, burped him and sang him back to sleep, just like he was four months old again.

2004-10-29 14:20 I have a group of friends who sometimes get together to play "Bad Dad". The rules are pretty straightforward: you take turns trying to one-up each other with horrifying tales of your childhood. I like it because in a way, it's the opposite of a Spelling Bee, where everyone but the winner ends up disgracing themselves in public by flubbing a word. In Bad Dad, everyone but the winner ends up feeling much better about themselves, their upbringing and their father.

So I was walking down Ellerbeck with Jamie and Kristen yesterday, feeling more than a little tired because I'd replaced my usual afternoon nap with a dental appointment, and scolded myself: "Bad Dad!" Without missing a beat, Jamie gleefully chirped "Bad Dad!" I hope when he grows up he always loses at Bad Dad.

I think Jamie's feeling a little bit better today. He's gnawing away at everything like crazy though, so he must be working on more teeth. His cheek is still quite swollen, and we're debating taking him to the paediatrician. He ate a huge first breakfast (cereal), then a light second breakfast (natto*), eventually eschewing the latter in favour of gnawing away at a sippy* cup.

We walked Daniel and Ross to school as usual, but then stayed to watch the Jackman P.S. Hallowe'en Parade (link to my photos). Jamie wasn't freaked out by the costumes, could tell that the kids were all having some sort of big kid fun, and wanted to join in, so we let him run around a little while before his nap. He came home from his nap a little early and ravenously hungry, nursed, ate a bowl of chicken curry, stole some more out of my bowl, and had some yoghurt before giving me the "I'm done" gesture.

2004-10-29 23:00 (John) Kristen took Jamie over to Dr. Kennedy's with a pot of chrysanthemums and a thank-you card for taking on my parents as patients, and he fell asleep on the way home at about 5:00, a sure sign that he wasn't feeling well. He then stayed asleep with me for another two hours while I went out to do month-end errands, despite our frequently stepping inside shops. Toward the end of it I was checking his breathing and pulse, it was so unusual for him to be asleep for so long so late in the day. The grey, drizzly weather probably helped, but I'm still concerned about what manner of virus he's fighting.

As I write this of course, he's gleefully playing with Mom, wide awake and (it sounds like) they're practising Staircase Safety. And she's just gotten some chicken curry into him, so with any luck and a diaper change, it'll be bedtime for Jamie.

2004-10-30 22:00, Jamie was not especially hungry this morning, I think because of his late meal last night. After a few attempts at feeding him, Rika, my mom, Jamie and I headed down to the St. Lawrence Market for our Saturday morning (well, afternoon) shopping. Jamie was his usual amiable and chatty self, was not spooked by all the Hallowe'en costumes but was clearly trying to figure them out. We ran into fifteen-month-old David and his parents in the North building, whom we hadn't seen in several months, which reminded me that we should visit the Second Cup at King and Jarvis where his mom used to work more often.

Passing by a farmer's display of apples, Jamie cadged one from the vendor, and feeling guilty I bought a little more than I usually do. I then carefully shared about half the apple with Jamie before leaving him to wreak havoc on it himself. He seemed to enjoy the teething action and flavour equally, and was asleep in the stroller with a thoroughly savaged apple core in his sticky hands half an hour later.

Of course, he passed out just as we were getting ready to drive down to Loblaws, and woke up when I put him in the car, so he didn't have much of a nap. But like his dad (at least on those rare occasions now when his dad gets a nap), he seemed very much refreshed by the catnap. After about ten minutes in the shopping cart though, he wanted to walk and wander, and we bumped into Chris Szego at the checkout line. Walking made him hungry, and he ate enough of a container of raspberries (I think a dozen of them) that it failed the weight check at the U-Scan station. He would have eaten them all, except that my mom had brought along food for him in anticipation that his appetite would eventually return, and he happily ate all of his food and a good portion of my mom's.

In the late afternoon, I went for acupuncture and moxibustion# and came home to find Heather Jopling (and David and Rissa) visiting, but I think I'll let Kristen describe the rest of the day.

2004-10-30 22:00, (Kristen) I thought that I could get Jamie to nap if I took him for a walk when he got home with John, but no luck. He really enjoyed watching the leaves fall off the trees in the wind, and all the lovely fall colours, but the unseasonably warm day was a reason to stay awake and not to sleep. We got home and David, Heather, and Rissa arrived soon after. Jamie and four-year-oldRissa got along very well: Rissa would build towers with stacking cups and Jamie would knock them down; Rissa would open the Sesame Street pop-up characters, and Jamie would close their lids. They made a good team.

After they left, we went over to Tom and Michelle's (Michelle is away for the weekend, but it's still Tom and Michelle's) for chicken katsu. While we were there, Jamie impressed Tom by pointing out Jamie's J, and that M stands for 'mum mum' on the Fisher-Price ABC website. He also watched Ross have a bath and wash his hair, although he was quite dubious about washing hair in case we got the idea that it was his turn to do it.

When we were home and getting ready for bed, Jamie startled John by walking off with one of his pens. John had been making pointed comments earlier in the day about how *someone* in this family redistributes and hides his pens. We now know who the real culprit is, ahem. He brushed his teeth without any fuss, and can crawl using his knees rather than his little crab crawl. He progresses steadily.

2004-10-31 23:39 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at an hour that would have been early if it hadn't been for the switch back to standard time. His father, earning many husband points (redeemable for amazing prizes), took Jamie for an hour (John: feeding him breakfast -- chicken curry -- and cleaning up the kitchen) while I tried to rest after a restless night. He was in a good mood, and enjoys playing around the bed in the morning.

Most of the day was spent getting ready for Hallowe'en. I finished making the wings for Jamie's costume (each feather is hand-sewn, folks: not one of my swifter ideas, but the effect was nice) and the halo, while John, Ayami and Rika carved the pumpkins and Jamie slept upstairs. John took Jamie out for a short walk earlier in the day (John: It was an hour and a bit. Jamie munched on an apple all the way but didn't fall asleep, possibly because he was distracted by the Danforth being shut down for the Greek Oxi celebrations. I gather Oxi is Greek for Hallowe'en (not).), but Jamie had a late morning nap, and wasn't interesting in napping again until later in the afternoon.

He had a good dinner of tuna, soba, and asparagus, and managed to snag and eat a whole samosa by himself (John: at least that portion that wasn't spread over his bib). Yum. He wants to feed himself more and more, now, and isn't that interested in having other people feed him unless he is in a hurry. After we hosed him off, we waited for Alice and Amy (John's sister-in-law and niece, respectively) to arrive so that we could take Amy and Jamie trick-or-treating together. (John: Rika kindly offered to stay at home and hand out candy. We ran out after 83 visitors, more than double last year's count.)

Amy was a very cute giraffe, and Jamie was (of course) an angel. I was a valkyrie of sorts, although I was thinking that I could have done a silent vengeful spirit from Don Giovanni, with the helmet and all. John was a math geek (he hates dressing up for Hallowe'en, but we love him anyway). Jamie was very cute, and got many compliments. The funny part was that most (John: all) of the people who saw him thought that he was a girl, unless they already knew him (John: and there were a large number of kids who recognized him that I didn't know at all!). He tolerated the costume well, although the halo (a glow stick) bothered him somewhat. We made it to his Tai Tai's place before taking the costume off. Then we saw Sam and Ben, Jamie played with them for a bit while the majority of the adults sat and drank wine while decompressing, and we went home for a well-deserved rest.

(John) I'll post the link to my 2004 Hallowe'en photos again, as I've added to them tonight. The ones that aren't of Jamie are of the crazy things he saw our neighbours stage for Hallowe'en: dry ice machines, rear screen projection horror movies, puppet shows, along with the usual over-the-top graveyards.

2004-11-01 24:07 (Kristen) Yes, I write a lot about what time Jamie woke up in the morning, but I'm the one who usually gets up with him, so it's a big part of my day. He woke up before 8:00, much to my sincere regret. He was his usual cheerful self, and ate breakfast with his usual relish. He napped a little, ran about the house, and played with Gary and Ayami in the basement. We went to Browning for lunch, and then he went with Ken on his usual afternoon walk. Ken and Tami very kindly kept him after his walk, so that John and I could get some work done (deadlines for me are looming). John took him out for a walk afterwards, and has more to tell.

John came home with Daniel and a sleeping Jamie around 6:30, with dinner courtesy of John's mom. We had a lovely evening, sitting around the table eating, reading, doing homework and playing. Jamie was so tired that he went to bed at his usual time, despite his late nap.

(John) Daniel, Amy and I took Jamie out for a walk along the Danforth as far as Pape, stopping at the hardware store (where Daniel and Amy did a great job of keeping Jamie amused while I returned the clothesline winches that I'd bought, not realizing that Kristen had already bought enough), Sun Valley Foods (Amy played with Jamie, Daniel was lost in a book) and Treasure Island Toys (Amy distracted by Brio display, Daniel amused Jamie by repeatedly sending cars down large parking spiral). That last stop was to pick up a starter pack of crayons for Jamie, as he's been trying to draw with my pens, so far unsuccessfully because I won't hand them to him with the caps off.

Whenever Daniel left Jamie's sight on the walk, Jamie would call "Da-el" and Daniel would come running. Likewise, when I left the kitchen after dinner, Jamie called out "Dada!" and we homed in on each other Marco Polo fashion, me yelling "Jamie!"

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

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