Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 53

2004-11-09 24:20 (John) Jamie fed himself a large breakfast (half an English muffin, three quarters of an apple, lots of grapes, and the contents of a vegetable samosa), then headed to Browning for lunch and out for a two-hour walk and nap with Kristen. (Ken's still sick.) They played for a bit while waiting for me to finish work and chores (recaulking the bathroom, yay). He currently thinks that finger and hand puppets are the acme of comedic culture. He also likes being turned upside down, although not if it's part of getting dressed or changed.

I made myself a bowl of chicken curry to fortify myself for a walk in the freezing cold, and as usual Jamie helped himself to most of what I made. He didn't mind using his spoon today, and while getting the food onto the spoon is still hit and miss, he scored over 90% accuracy in getting the food from the spoon into his mouth.

We bundled him into his cute green snowsuit, in which he looked snug enough to draw comment from passersby. We went up to Dairy Queen to inquire about ice cream cakes (no preorder necessary at this time of year, imagine that), to Dr. Kennedy's office to ask about flu shots (I'll wait until all the birthdays are over to get mine), to the bank, to Pulp to pick up birthday cards, to Pearls for a bowl of misoshiru, and then to Browning to make dinner.

Everyone was busy tonight, so I made dinner all by myself for a change, with Daniel and Ross taking good care of Jamie while I did so. Daniel capered and pranced to make sure that Jamie didn't get bored, and Ross lugged pillows around on the floor to make sure that Jamie had a soft place to land if he got in the way of capering and prancing.

For dinner, Jamie had salmon, ikura*, chicken, rice and zucchini. He stopped eating partway through, gave the gochisousama* signal and then changed his mind when I poured myself a glass of apple juice. He asked for the juice, then told me that he did not require my assistance, which turned out to be about 75% correct (by volume).

He fell asleep on the two-minute walk home (small wonder, as he had spent two hours running around and one hour stuffing his face), and was not especially happy to be woken up soon after to take a bath, but is now sleeping peacefully.

2004-11-10 24:07 (Kristen) I have spent most of the day thinking about where I was and what I was doing just about this time last year. It seems so funny, and so strange, to think of a time when there was only the possibility of a Jamie, and when he wasn't here. He's been particularly winning, wonderful, and beautiful today, and as happy as I was in my pregnant state, I am that much more glad that Jamie is here.

This is particularly worth noting as Jamie had very little sleep today. He was up a little earlier than usual (a quarter before 9:00), and happily stuffed himself with fruit bits (apples, grapes, and banana), cereal, and little toast strips. He has finally figured out the non-spill sippy cup we bought for him months ago, and was happily drinking juice from that. We watched fifteen minutes of Teletubbies while he sat in my lap with his juice, as I narrated for him and gave him a big hug every time the Teletubbies said "Big hug!" He was very excited every time Dipsy (his favourite) came onscreen. Then we went for a walk together to do some errands, and he charmed everyone at the bank. We came back for lunch, played a bit more, and I saw him go off with John for some errands of his own.

(John) Which reminds me that the other big fictional character in Jamie's life is Elmo from Sesame Street. Or rather from his Bathtime Elmo book, and more recently from the Elmo web site, which features an Elmo that you can "tickle" by pointing the mouse at him, which gives Jamie the sympathetic giggles.

(Kristen) John says that Jamie was being particularly charming, and he got a few "awww, he's so cute!"s from passers-by. They did eight errands in three and a half hours (all over the city), and Jamie ended up sleeping for only half an hour, waking up while his father was in Sidney Smith Hall and while Tai Tai (who came along) was watching him in the car. The son of the owners at Sanko kept saying that he was an angel. Well, yes he is. (grin) They came back with dinner from Babur, a fabulous Indian restaurant, in honour of Hisae's 71st birthday. Jamie liked the Goan fish curry (which was very mild) (John: and beyond fantastic) and the mango chicken, but thought that the rest was a little too spicy. However, he loved the mango lassi# (a yoghurt drink with mango, rosewater, and one or two other ingredients), and drank a prodigious amount of it.

He was less happy on the way to the club tonight, and cried most of the way. We think it was because he was so tired that he couldn't fall asleep. It may also be that he didn't get enough exercise today, and so had too much energy to fall asleep, even though he was seriously undernapped. He was in a better mood once I sacrificed my dignity and let him grab my tongue at will. He thinks that this is really funny. At the club, we had a big ice cream cake to celebrate Jamie's birthday, as well as that of two other club members, Trevor Sealy and Ray Francis. Everyone seemed to enjoy it (there were no leftovers), and Jamie liked his first taste of ice cream (courtesy of his father, of course).

He ran around the community centre, having a good time, and impressing everyone with how much his walking has improved even from last week. He burned off enough energy to finally, grudgingly, fall asleep on the way home. I failed to translate him successfully into bed, so we ended up giving him a bath as he was up anyway. He was very funny in bed, as he was roaming all over, utterly nude, laughing and rolling away and full of energy. I had to wrestle him into a diaper and pajamas, at which point he decided that it had been fun, but it was time to nurse and sleep. And so he did.

2004-11-11 24:06 (Kristen) Jamie woke up to his first birthday in his usual fashion, happy and nursing. Today, however, he decided that he would share nursing with his favourite penguin, who "nursed" when Jamie shoved the penguin's beak into the spot that he had vacated moments before. Very funny.

Most of the day was spent cleaning the house and running about accomplishing last minute errands (with much help from Rika, Ayami, Tami and my mom), like picking up a present for Jamie that had just arrived at Treasure Island and buying balloons that twisted and clunked all about me when tied to the stroller. I said that I felt like a dork as the balloons bounced about in my hair, and John thought that this was really funny. (John: what I said was that she looked like she'd been seduced by the dork side, but she didn't think that was funny.)

His birthday party was at 6:00, and although a number of Jamie's friends (Sam and Ben, Ken and Tami) were unable to make it due to illness, there was still a good turnout. Alexandria came with her parents David and Karen, Daniel and Ross came with Tom and Michelle (John: in point of fact, Ross came with me, keeping a close eye on the salmon I had barbecued on his grill, Michelle showed up when she got off the phone arranging her weekend plans, and Tom and Daniel showed up much later, bearing the evil gift that they had scoured the city for), John's parents and John's aunts Nobuko and Tomoko, our tenant Rika, Gary and Ayami (even though Gary was not feeling well - he's getting resigned to Jamie thumping the door to his apartment several times a day)), and my aunt, Millie. Rosemary de Lisi dropped by to give us a gift for Jamie, but didn't stay to eat. There was a colossal amount of food: miso stew, bok# choy* salad, chicken rice, chicken chow mein, grapes, pineapples, and clementines, all courtesy of Tami Sagara; cherries, stir-fried vegetables and asparagus, and asari* clam soup, from John's mom; red beans and rice (Cajun style) by me; and a whole snapper, some grouper steaks, salmon steaks and corn barbequed by John; and some california* rolls, tuna rolls, cucumber rolls, and avocado rolls (Jamie's favourite) from our local Japanese restaurant. His cake was a Dufflet raspberry vanilla charlotte, which means sponge cake held together with whipped cream, madeleines, and raspberries on top. Jamie knew what it was for, right away, and had a great time having his first piece of cake all to himself.

People were very generous to him for his birthday. He got a "Where is the Bone?" soft book, coloured wooden Brio blocks, and a pyjamaed# Elmo doll that plays "hush little baby" from me and John. Rika gave him a great brown sunhat; my aunt gave him a great black and white striped hooded jacket (because he looks so good in stripes, she said) and a Raffi CD; Tony Leah at the club gave him a CD of children's songs that he put together himself; Rosemary de Lisi and family gave him a set of magenetic Megablox; Alexandria and family gave him a great picture book and some glow-stars; my mom gave him a fabulously cute one-piece warm suit (with ears on the hood) and some clay to make an imprint of his hands for posterity; Nobuko and Tomoko gave him his first real shoes (which he's been wearing for a few weeks now); Tom and family gave Jamie a fire engine that makes noise, flashes lights, and goes by itself (a huge hit) (John: a hit with Jamie, certainly, and allegedly nothing to do with Daniel's large collection of noisy toys that he received from his godfather); Trifina gave him a bee bib, a lovely, soft scarf, and a great hat and mitt set; Sam and Ben gave him a John Deere sorter bin; finally, Hisae and Jack gave him a Sony boombox that plays CD/MP3s. It was marvellous to have so many people come to see Jamie, and enjoy celebrating with him. What a wonderful day.

John and I are so grateful to everyone who has supported us, and helped us to get through this exciting and exhausting first year.

(John) Grateful, exhausted, yes. When we were planning the party, the guiding principle was that everything and everyone present should bring joy to our son. We invited his friends (and their parents), who are happily at this age still our friends too, and made or bought foods that we knew he would like. When I saw the raspberry vanilla charlotte, whose top is entirely covered in Jamie's favourite fruit, I knew his eyes would bulge when he first saw it, and I was right. I was relieved that Jamie kept going through the four hours that the party lasted without need of rest or even quiet time. He alternately ate and socialized, and was completely at home among a very loving group of people.

Time to start planning his second birthday party. :)

2004-11-12 22:52 (Kristen) It was a very quiet day today, largely because Jamie had a three-hour plus long nap this afternoon. He woke up cheerfully this morning, and was interested in getting his dad to wake up by crawling over him. He slept well last night, particularly with his new Elmo doll. When he started to stir, I pushed the little button that played "Hush Little Baby," and he went right back to sleep. I'm amazed and delighted.

He liked playing with his new toys, particularly the sorting set and the stacking animals (which make noise, which I didn't realize when reading the box). He grazed, went for a walk with Ken for a bit, and went for a walk with me and Betsy around the neighbourhood. I'm wondering if he gets enough exercise. We had dinner at John's parents' again, and Jamie went to bed remarkably easily tonight, given the length of his afternoon nap.

(John) He woke up again just now, and Elmo and I sang him back to sleep. Thanks, Elmo! Jamie was indeed quiet today, I think because he got a crazy amount of exercise, food and attention yesterday, but that's okay.

His desires are getting more complex and abstract. He will do some of the hand gestures for Japanese songs when he wants to hear them (Kaiguri and Gin-gin-gira-gira, so far). On the other hand, he's keeping all his basic desires too. He likes to see lights turned on and off, to feed himself a wide variety of food, and to laugh at his goofy dad.

He's becoming more sensitive to our moods. When Kristen tried hiding her face from him when he bit her (something we're having trouble getting him to stop), he was disturbed for half an hour, and kept calling for Kristen every time she left the room.

Jamie's cousins Ian and Amy are coming to visit this weekend, with my brother Ted and sister-in-law Alice.

2004-11-13 25:20 (John) We got up and tried to feed Jamie, who is still very much in a "I will only eat what I pick up in my own hand" phase. I sure hope it's a phase. Breakfast ended up being chicken, a tiny bit of rice, a little avocado, and grapes. Tomorrow I'll see if he'll sit in my lap again and let me help him manipulate his spoon, so he can eat more. By the end of a day of his new self-service diet, he was quite vocally hungry.

We went to the St. Lawrence Market with my mom, and Jamie fell asleep near the beginning of the shopping trip, staying asleep for two hours until we were almost finished. When we got home, it was time to get ready to go to Justin's birthday party.

The drive there took over an hour, and was made tolerable only when I made an emergency stop to dig a bag of rugalach* out that I had wanted to save for the party, and gave it to Jamie, who fell asleep soon thereafter with sticky fingers. Jamie and I spent much of the party in the basement, chasing after Daniel and Ross and doing whatever it was they were doing, because of course they are the arbiters of cool and fun. It was nice to see everyone there though, and show off how much Jamie has grown in the last few months, and how stable he is on his feet.

The drive home was much faster and less eventful, as I took the precaution of handing Jamie the rugalach* as we got into the car, with the result that he was asleep before we hit the highway. He fussed a bit when we woke him up to bathe him, but fell asleep right away again in bed, and let us both work for a few hours.

2004-11-14 25:10 (John) After a late night last night, we barely made it up in time to get to Mezes for brunch at noon with my parents, aunts, and brother and family. I'd tried to get some breakfast into Jamie in the morning, thinking that he might deign to eat from a spoon if I sat him in my lap and ate from the same spoon, but no: a very messy no.

Messier still was Jamie's brunch, which consisted in large part of the dip platter: tzatziki#, hummus, melitzanosalata* and a little taramasalata#. All eaten with fingers, with a surprising proportion (80%) ending up in his stomach, and an even more surprising remainder that Jamie on his own initiative wiped off his face with a napkin.

It had been two months since we last went to Mezes, but Jamie remembered the important details of its geography: the long flight of stairs down to the bathrooms in the basement, and the candy store two doors west on the Danforth, and insisted on walking to each. As soon as Kristen got him into the stroller after lunch though, he fell sound asleep and stayed that way for two hours.

I looked after Jamie until dinner so that Kristen could work, and he spent most of the time playing with Daniel and Ross' toys while Daniel, Ian and Amy ran screaming around the house (Ross was sick in bed). Kristen took over after dinner so that Justin could exercise his shiatsu skills on me, and he's been sleeping peacefully for a few hours now.

2004-11-15 12:15 (John) Jamie and Kristen apparently got up at 8:00 this morning, and were looking a little ragged by the time I joined them. On the bright side, Jamie ate a full bowl of chicken curry for the first morning in ages, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's decided eating well is at least as important as eating on his own.

2004-11-15 16:40 (John) Jamie went over to Daniel's house for a long while, and when he came home around 15:00, he helped me tidy the living room a bit by directing which lights needed to be on/off, and choosing which toys would go where on the floor. He then announced that he was hungry, and nibbled on a variety of food, before we discovered that he was not yet ready to drink a bottle of Yop (yogurt) unsupervised, about which the less said the better.

2004-11-15 24:30 (John) After playing with Ayami for an hour or so, and nursing himself to sleep (I think he's fighting a cold), Jamie went with me to Pearls for the first fish and soba meal in several days. Jamie was delighted, and gorged himself on both before deciding that to work on experimental proof of Einstein's theory of relativity. He put a kitchen timer on top of the set of blocks I played with at his age. The blocks all fit neatly into a box on wheels, which has a carved dog's head at its prow. My mom said that every kid that has spent time playing with the blocks has found something new to do with the box. I remember riding around in it and on it, but that's too passive for Jamie. Jamie insisted on pulling the set of blocks all over the ground floor, around and over each obstacle, sometimes complaining loudly but never giving up. I don't think he was able to measure any appreciable difference between the clock that was in his accelerating frame of reference and the others in our fixed frame of reference, but I imagine he'll try again the next time we're there.

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

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