Back to Vol. 0 No. 58, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 60.

[a bar of photos of Jamie's face]

Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 59

2004-12-21 21:20

(Kristen) Jamie fell asleep on our walk for about an hour and a half -- he probably would have slept for longer, but I was hoping that he would have his afternoon nap as well. He didn't. Instead, he played at Daniel's, refused to sleep in his stroller, watched Teletubbies, read books, and ate a good deal of food at dinner. He helped me and John to put up Christmas lights, and was very interested in the Christmas tree that we put up in the dining room. He liked the one at Tom and Michelle's even more, because they have put their lights on theirs.

He was hysterically tired by 8:00, however, and we ended up coming home early so that Jamie could have his bath and go to sleep. He pleased his father by pointing out the baby lion again in his bath book, and his mother by giving her the sign for "nursing" when he had his pajamas on, and was ready for bed. I taught it to him yesterday, and he used it independently, and in context, this evening. I was so very pleased with him!

(John) Jamie also made two sentences today: "'ma glee?" (food, please?) and "da-da ge-i" (bye-bye, Gary). I was quite impressed.

2004-12-22 23:08 (Kristen) Jamie consented to eating part of his breakfast in his highchair#, I am pleased and surprised to say. Have the Teletubbies lost their hold on our boy? Don't think so, even for a moment.

He had a good long nap this afternoon, of about three hours duration, which was nice. He woke up in a good mood, and was very playful and fun to be with. He likes me to read to him while he watches TV, and while I would ordinarily say that he has to pick one or the other, I'm a soft touch when it comes to book reading with my boy.

(John) I got a head start on Christmas cooking, preparing one batch each of the cranberry sauce and the wild rice. As you can see from the photo, Jamie approved of my cranberry sauce.

(Kristen) We delivered some presents to our neighbours tonight, and it was snowing down gently. Jamie was still getting used to his new boots, and was a little fragile as we set out, but soon got into the spirit of the exercise. His favourite part was ringing the doorbells... Then we went for a short family walk, and Jamie sat on his father's shoulders, bobbing and oohing at the Christmas lights through the falling snow. He eventually was put down, and he enjoyed walking along in his new books, every inch the big boy, holding my hand and continuing to express in nonstop fashion his deep appreciation for the pretty lights and cars all over.

2004-12-23 22:26 (Kristen) Jamie's accomplishment today was to learn how to drink through a straw. You would think that the sucking reflex would be second nature, but it's a slightly different thing to drink through a straw than to drink through a bottle or a sippy cup. John has been trying itermittently to get Jamie to find the right motion, and succeeded today. He's pretty blase about it, and still prefers to drink from a big person's glass in big person style, but I think that he'll clue into the joys of straws soon enough.

(John) FWIW, I taught him using Ceres juice boxes, first by siphoning juice into a straw and eye-droppering it into his mouth; then once he'd gotten used to that, squeezing the sides of the juice box to fill the straw so that he could get juice with minimal effort; and finally gradually easing off on the squeezing.

We spent the day driving around finishing our Christmas shopping, and running a few extra errands to kill time waiting for my in-laws to arrive (delayed a day by freezing rain) and to save time tomorrow. Jamie enjoys about two hours in the car before he starts to get irritable, which is about the same as his dad, and a big improvement over when he used to not enjoy those first two hours.

Dinner was Tom's chicken katsu*, entertainment was Jamie imperiously ordering people to accompany him to their various stations. Today's photo is of Tom in his correct place (in Jamie's mind), touring the Sesame Street web site looking for Elmo.

2004-12-24 23:44 (Kristen) Jamie slept in today, and had a three-hour nap this afternoon to prepare himself for Christmas Eve with his family. Following both North American and Scandinavian traditions, we celebrate Christmas on both the eve and the day. My family (Grandma Laraine, sister Jennifer, brother-in-law Jason, nieces Becky and Anna, and nephew Owen, along with Auntie Millie, cousins Jeff and Scott, and Jeff's new girlfriend, Heike), and our tenants Rika and Gary (Ayami had to work at the restaurant) all got together for an enormous amount of food and present opening extravaganza. Tomorrow, we go to Browning to celebrate Christmas morning with Daniel, Ross, and their family in the North American tradition.

Earlier in the day, Ben, Sam, and Betsey came over and had tea and hot chocolate while Jamie slept, and dropped off a present for Jamie. The Ottawa crew arrived around 4:00, and waited more or less patiently for Jamie to wake up. He finally did around 4:30, and his awakening was sweet and gentle. His cousins and family were very glad to see him, and he returned the sentiment. Jamie then had a lovely time playing with his cousins and introducing them (again) to Teletubbies.

We made dinner while everyone took turns playing with Jamie, and settled down to eat a smorgasbord of food, including cumin guacamole, curried herring, bagels and gravlax, crudites, and lots of chocolate. The children decorated the Christmas tree, and we settled down to the serious business of present opening around 8:00. The funny food incident occurred when Gary came upstairs to play with Jamie, picked out the perfect bagel to consume, and had Jamie snatch it directly out of his hands and shove it into his own mouth, quick as a flash.

(John) The menu, from memory assisted by the photographic record: bagels (St. Urbain), cream cheese (Kettleman's), smoked salmon (Mike's Fish Market), crackers (PC vegetable and two other kinds), salmon spinach pate (Millie), guacamole (Kristen), curried herring (John), organic corn chips (yellow, red and blue), cheese plate (Kristen), crudites and dip (Jason), shrimp ring and seafood sauce (Millie), cherries (Nobuko), potato chips, Guylain chocolates (Laraine), chocolate truffles (Laraine), chocolate truffles (Leonidas), chocolate (Ritter Sport), Finnish liqueur-filled chocolates, Junior Mints, fruit cake, eggnog, cranberry-black cherry juice apple juice. chocolate cake.

(Kristen) Jamie made out like a bandit. His auntie Jennifer and family gave him a Fisher-Price Peek-a-Blocks Gobble and Go Hippo, which can be alternately pushed or ridden while it "eats" peek-a-blocks. They also gave him a set of Ocean Peek-a-Blocks to go with it. It is a thing of hippo beauty. Scott gave Jamie a gift certificate for Toys R' Us, Rika gave him a lovely red and black striped scarf (very soft), Grammie gave him a lovely picture of the two of them in New Orleans, a sweet sleeper, some books, and a Fisher-Price Ready- Steady-Ride On tricycle (just right for toddlers), Auntie Millie gave him a bath toy (a hippo puppetotamus puppet) and an electronic activity cube, while my mom's friend Rod Matheson gave him a sweet winter hat, overalls, and turtleneck onesie from Gymboree. Wow! There are other presents still waiting, but they'll have to opened tomorrow, as Jamie had just about enough presents and stimulation at that point. Tomorrow: more Christmas delight, and more Christmas debauchery. I should also mention that my father and his wife, Nicole,who are celebrating Christmas with Nicole's son and his girlfriend out in Quebec City, sent Jamie money as their contribution to Jamie's music classes in the New Year.

Jamie was just a little wired when he went up for his bath, and by the time it was done, Grammie, Auntie Jen, Anna, and Rebecca were all in the bathroom talking and helping out. Jamie was very wriggly after his bath, and had a good time chatting and saying good night to his relations before they left for the night. He took a long time to calm down enough to sleep, but did make the sign for "nurse" again before he did. He will not, of course, use the sign in front of anyone else, or during the day. We'll keep working on it, but I'm very proud of how quickly he picked this one up.

Thank you to everyone; Merry Christmas!

2004-12-25 21:45 (John) More blog to come when the evening's over, but Anna has just helped me upload, edit and choose today's photos. Enjoy!

2004-12-25 24:31 (Kristen) Merry Christmas! We went to bed far far too late last night, and were not entirely ready for the morning when it arrived. Jamie was whisked into his new outfit almost immediately upon waking, as Jennifer and family, along with my mom, breezed in for breakfast and turkey stuffing. Jamie, John, and I went over to Browning for our traditional Christmas with Daniel and his family. Jamie was so excited that he refused to eat anything but nori and sembei* ...slightly frustrating, but... He insisted on grabbing Gary and making him carry Jamie about and play with him. Poor Gary didn't get much of a break. He seemed only somewhat interested in the present unwrapping, and helped Daniel unwrap one of his presents, but didn't delve into any of his own. Tomorrow, we'll try again.

His nap, when it came, was late: Mom, Jamie, Anna, and I left home around 2:00, which is almost an hour past the usual time. Jamie fell asleep almost instantly, and his Grammi was very pleased to be pushing her grandson's stroller down the street. We stopped by the local Timothy's for a hot chocolate, and headed back home. Jamie was very good, and slept for two and a half hours while Christmas dinner was being prepared. It has been lovely having Jennifer and her family here: Jamie loves his cousins, and we don't see him for long stretches of time as they play together. It leaves us a good deal of time to do time-consuming things, like make Christmas dinner. Dinner was wonderful, with everyone contributing something to the meal, and Jamie enjoyed the cranberry sauce again. He was a little overstimulated at the table with everyone else, however, and so ended up sitting in his father's lap in the living room, being fed sweet potato pie and other delicacies while watching Teletubbies.

(John) He ate other delicacies only before he tried the sweet potato pie, as the first taste of sweet potato that he'd had since he stopped eating commercial baby food reminded him that it used to be an almost daily favourite.

(John) The complete menu, from memory assisted by the photographic record: turkey (organic, 23 pounds), stuffing (bread, cranberries, apples, onions), mashed potatoes, gravy, aspargus with basil, carrots and string beans (with ginger, apple juice and soy sauce), cranberry sauce, pickled herring, grape tomatoes, sweet potato pie, wild rice, white rice, two types of white wine, a variety of juices and bottled water, Christmas pudding with hard sauce, brownies with ice cream.

(Kristen) After dinner, he played with his riding hippo ("You can ride this thing? Woo hoo!), and ran about again with his cousins. He was acting pretty tired, however, so Grammi and I helped give him a bath around 8:30. He didn't want to sleep, however, and so he ran about some more in his little pjs until ten, when I tried to put him to bed again. This time, I got smart, and convinced him to sleep as well by pretending to sleep myself. He has been out almost solidly since then, with only one small disturbance. He's a tired, happy little boy.

2004-12-26 23:26 (Kristen) Jamie slept until around 9:00 this morning, and was eager to go downstairs and get on with his day. His cousins were over early again, and he had fun with them and the Tubbies. We had decided the day before that we would go to Yorkdale (a large mall) so that the kids could spend their gift certificates to various stores. John and Anna took the car, while Jennifer, Jamie, Jason, and Owen (and I) took the subway up to the mall. We met Auntie Millie there, and it was a zoo. Everyone split off to do their thing, and Jamie (who was supposed to be asleep, but woke up after only 40 minutes) ran about the mall, dodging the hordes of shoppers and finding interesting doors to shake and hide behind. He was stumblingly tired, but game. He refused the Christmas dinner leftovers that we brought for him, but ate the sushi that we bought for him. I wasn't so worried, since Rebecca had convinced him to eat a good breakfast earlier in the day. We didn't get much shopping done, and headed home with Auntie Jen on the subway while the rest went by car to our house, and John and Anna finished their shoe shopping. Jamie did, however, like riding in the little child stroller provided by the mall, which came in the shape of a big red car, complete with steering wheel. That was cool, as far as he was concerned.

Jamie fell asleep for a scandalously short period of time on the subway, but it was long enough to improve his overall mood. The rest of the evening was spent playing with blocks, watching Teletubbies, and eating dinner. At one point, everyone tried to make him say 'banzai!' and throw his hands into the air, and we did a wave around the table. Jamie watched us all iin a bemused fashion, before throwing up his hands at exactly the right time. The Christmas pudding (a steamed English pudding, akin to fruitcake) was an enormous hit. (John: I'm guessing Jamie's going to sleep soundly tonight too, given that the pudding has been soaked twice in rum.) At one point in the evening, I came across his new hippo peek-a-block cart with three of my books in it. We joked that it was now the library cart that Jamie was using to carry his books around the house. (John: Jamie spends a lot of time moving objects from one place in the house to another, to better conform with his ideas on how the house should be organized. The television remote control, for instance, belongs with his stuffed Teletubbies.)

At another point, Tom came over to borrow an iron (long story), and Jamie when Jamie saw him at the door, he kicked up a fuss wanting to go with him to visit Daniel. John told him "Coat." and pointed at his snowsuit. Jamie pointed at the door. John told him "No coat, no door.", accompanying the words with head-shaking and finger-pointing. Jamie sighed and pointed at the television instead, and John was quite impressed with (1) Jamie's newly displayed understanding of conditional grammar and (2) Jamie's ability to quickly weigh the pros of visiting Daniel against the cons of having to put on his snowsuit and then come up with the third option of watching Teletubbies.

Jamie also spent time playing with Gary and Ayami downstairs, before it was time to go to bed. He was wild and wriggly until I once again took my glasses off and pretended to sleep. We have a pattern.

(John) I also have a theory for why he throws food off his tray at the end of his meal. I think it's his way of coping with the stress caused to him by the conflict between his "see food, eat it" reflex and the discomfort of having a full stomach. When his stomach fill up, he always signs us to say so, and if we then don't take the food away, he starts getting rid of it himself to avoid overfilling his stomach.

2004-12-27 23:01 (Kristen) Jamie was up late this morning, and was greeted upon waking by his cousin Anna, who had stayed over last night after falling asleep on the couch. Anna helped change Jamie, and picked out his outfit for the day. Her siblings and Mom and Grammi showed up soon after, and we headed out for breakfast at the Detroit Eatery, our favourite local diner. Jamie was interested in running about the restaurant (which is narrow enough that we had to leave our stroller at the front), and charmed many of the other patrons. When breakfast arrived, he enjoyed ham and eggs and some potatoes; he may have also eaten some toast. He was quite happy with the repast, however, and was very mellow when we packed him back into the stroller for a walk home and his afternoon nap.

The Ottawa crowd headed home after breakfast, and we were sad to see them go, but very happy that they came. I think that Jamie will miss his cousins in particular, and I am already thinking of ways that they can see each other more often. He slept until around 4:00, then woke up for some Teletubbies and a snack. We decided to finish opening Christmas presents, as it was much quieter and we would be able to do so without too much uproar. Jamie received a sweet Hamtaro backpack from Trifina (our cleaning lady) and some cookies; a book entitled Close Your Eyes from Sam and Ben; a pair of slippers and ten dollars from Ken and Tami; a set of stuffed Teletubbies from Craig Rowland (which Jamie has been hugging); a Teletubbie video (Silly Songs and Funny Dances), socks, and a book from his loving parents; and a Thomas the Tank Engine train set from Michelle, Tom, Daniel, and Ross. He played with the train set with Gary and Ayami for quite some time today, laughing away as Gary did silly things with it. The train set is a remarkably noisy toy, as Jamie yells whenever track comes apart or a train doesn't go under the bridge easily. But we expected this...

He had a bit of dinner before running off to play again, and was quite tired by the time we put him to bed around 9:30. He is sleeping now, and tomorrow will be another bright and shiny day.

(John) Jamie learned his first word from a nonhuman source today, the Teletubbies' "Again! Again-again!".

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

Back to Vol. 0 No. 58, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 60.