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Back to Vol. 0 No. 64, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 66.
2005-02-01 22:00 (Kristen) Our day started before Jamie's, and he wasn't entirely happy to be awoken at 7:05 AM to be dressed and put into the car. He was very good on the ride to the airport (John: with a novice driver who took twice as long as I would have), and in the various (remarkably short) lineups that we were in in the new Terminal 1 at Pearson. (John: we had a very helpful porter, who for $10 whizzed us through the unfamiliar terminal with our 100 kg or so of luggage.) He wanted to walk around after we went through the security check, and was deeply disturbed that the two escalators leading away from the checkpoint both went down, rather than one down and one up. We made up for it at the next set of escalators by going down and then up and then down again, making the universe work properly again.
We met up with John's aunts Nobuko and Tomoko, who are staying with us at Nancy Wenker's house in Puerto Morelos, and enjoyed the early boarding privileges that you get with a small child. Jamie slept on the plane for two hours, which was marvellous, and was very good for the rest of the way. He ate curry, nursed, and played with his dad. He seemed very copacetic with the change in venue (I think that he has already forgotten what a snowsuit is), and enjoyed the drive to Puerto Morelos with us and Beatriz, who came to pick us up. (John: I did notice a slightly puzzled look in Jamie's face, as though he were wondering why in fact we hadn't come here sooner, and possibly concerned that his parents might be complete idiots. The cars btw were not completely full, but it took quite a while to figure out how to make everything fit.) He had his first al fresco diaper change (the first of many, I am sure), and was especially delighted to see John's mom. He looked hard at her when she came up to him, and then put his arms around her neck and demanded to be held and carried: a mark of extreme favour.
(John) I was touched, as was my mom. I wasn't sure how well he would remember his Tai-Tai, but it was clear that he had missed her a lot. He won't let most people at the Scrabble club pick him up, even though he sees them every week. We'd explained to him in the morning as we left that he was going to see his Tai-Tai, and he seemed to understand what we were saying. When he saw my dad for the first time at the airport, he also clearly asked "Ta(i)-Ta(i)?".
(Kristen) We went for a short walk, hoping that Jamie would fall asleep since he was well past time for his next nap, but no success. On our return, we went for a cerveza (a beer) with John's aunts (we had the limeade), and Jamie made short work of the good guacamole, using fingers when the tortilla chip failed to do. (John: again with his "Why haven't we done this before?" look) We then went for a diaper change and nurse at Nancy's, where we're staying, and were joined by Nancy's four-year-old granddaughter, Chloe. Chloe was very interested in 'baby Jamie,' and was very talkative. (John: sort of like Ross, but not as reticent, or as quick to drop a line of questioning. (I'm being sarcastic.)) She's a very friendly child, and happy to play with Jamie, and Jamie enjoyed her company too. However, during dinner (when I was lying down, sleeping off a killer headache), I am told that Jamie would shove Chloe off Hisae's lap whenever he saw her there, prefering that he sit there and eat whatever Hisae was having. He ate a ton of chicken, asparagus, and other good food.
Jamie was kinetic by the time 7:30 rolled around (8:30 home time), and had lots of fun with a ball, a sort of hockey stick, and learning to negotiate the small step into the dining area from the living room. He wasn't going to sleep the regular "nurse in bed" way, however, so John took him for a walk in the stroller to ease things along. He is out like a light upstairs, with his hair all curly from the humidity. It is very, very cute.
(John) Lastly, I'm sorry we can't send out our regular "we made it safely here" e-mail, as the math department main server is down tonight for a hardware upgrade. Of course, it makes no sense to apologize here as the message is only reaching those people who check Jamie's blog and would therefore know we've arrived safely.
2005-02-02 21:45 (Kristen) We got Jamie to sleep, finally, around 8:30 last night, and I had high hopes for a good night's rest. He slept relatively well, with a few instances where he yelled in his sleep and needed reassurance. I think that is when he was bitten by some wretched mosquito, as he has three bites on him this morning. He isn't scratching them, however, which I am grateful for.
He was awake by 6:30 AM, which was about ten minutes later than his dad. (John: I missed the 6:23 sunrise by a few minutes, but I'll catch the next one tomorrow.) We went for a walk on the beach, when we discovered that Jamie really doesn't like sand on his feet. (John: or on his dad's feet, either. He made me clean my feet each time he saw sand on them, for fear that I might be trying to set a precedent. Jamie's big on preempting precedent.) He also finds the ocean to be fascinating, but a little scary: again, he doesn't want to dip his feet into it. (John: he likes to walk along the beach at a safe distance, his attention riveted on the ocean, chanting "Ohh... Ohh...".) We went to the Wednesday farmer's market and bought lots of fruit and vegetables for the week. Jamie found it interesting, and liked the stroller ride. He walked on the way back, but tripped and scraped his knee a little, and raised an odd welt on the top of his foot where his sandal strap was. Polysporin and antiseptic wipes, kept handily in the diaper bag, took care of it on the spot and he was fine. The joys of a well-stocked medical kit in the diaper bag.
Nancy has a TV with a built-in VCR, and Jamie has been very happy to watch his Teletubbie tape ("Big Hug!") on it. It's a little bit of home for him, and a much needed break for me. In this new environment, with new steps, new couches, and new worries, he has needed more than the usual amount of watching. We have DVDs of the Tubbies for use on the computer in our next place, which has no such amenities.
We tried to get him to fall asleep around 11:00, thinking that it was the equivalent of his 2:00 PM nap, as he'd been awake for over five hours. He did finally fall asleep in his stroller, and I met another mother with a fourteen- month-old on the walk to the zocalo*. We've made arrangements to have our kids play together on the beach sometime, and I'm hoping that it happens. The baby's name is Aziz...the mother's name starts with F! He slept for about 20 minutes before waking up, overheated, after I went into a (book)store looking for James Bond books for John. We had an emergency stop at a cafe, where I stripped Jamie and filled him with water and milk. John met up with us, shared some croissants and chocolate milk, and headed home. (John: we've borrowed Motorola walkie-talkies from Daniel and are finding them quite helpful substitutes for our cellphones in keeping my general anxiety levels down. :)) Jamie, however, did not sleep again until 4:00, when he fell asleep in front of the Tubbies in his stroller. (John: that was my clever idea, and we'll try it again tomorrow.) He slept for 2 hours, and woke up starving. I don't think that I've seen him eat quite so much in a long time. (John: and that's saying something.) He's happy, eating plantain, soba, and left-over fish. (John: and when he finishes eating for a moment, he goes from being happy to being gleeful, running circles from the living room to the dining room to a third unnamed ground-floor room and back again. He'll stop to put some oversize checkers pieces through a slot in a stool, then stack up the pieces, then go back to eating.)
Jamie is still getting used to his aunts Nobuko and Tomoko, and hasn't let either of them hold him yet. Hisae and Nobuko tried a bait and switch, where Jamie would grab Hisae's hand, but she would substitute Nobuko's when Jamie wasn't looking. They did this three times, and three times Jamie caught on and gave them a very dirty look before grabbing Hisae's hand again. He's been very snuggly with me, and with John as well. He likes playing with the toys left here, and running around and around the living room, dining room, and eating room, and still gives no sign that he thinks that this trip was a bad idea.
2005-02-03 23:30 (Kristen) Jamie was starting to stir at 6:40 when we got him up to accompany us to John's Aunt Jean's yoga class. Jean teaches drop-in yoga classes that are an essential part of the Puerto Morelos experience for me. John came along to say hello to his aunt and Uncle Jack, and to babysit Jamie while I did class. I told Jamie that I was off to learn to do what he does naturally (everyone in that class would be very happy if they were flexible enough to suck their toes like Jamie, who also does a beautiful, natural, downward dog pose). I saw Jamie and John in the doorway a few times, and was told by another student that the noises that I was about to hear were just Jamie getting changed (a note passed on from John). He told me later that Jamie had explored the entire (large) house, talked with a group of yoga enthusiasts going on a trip, and found the cats.
(John) And gone for a walk around the block, seen some chachalacas*, bragged about seeing an owl on the way to Jean's, and eaten breakfast.
(Kristen) We had breakfast at Mama's Bakery (Jamie appreciated the fruit plate), and headed back so John could take a nap. Jamie did too, while I did some work.
Jamie woke up about an hour later, and John got ready to take his mom and aunt Nobuko to Cancun for groceries and other necessities. This left me, Jamie, and Tomoko for the afternoon, watching Teletubbies. Jamie was very clingy today, and nursed almost constantly all afternoon. I let him, since I didn't want him to get dehydrated, and because I knew that he was feeling a little odd about the newness (as much as he relishes it). I fed him snacks and noodles, and some guacamole late in the afternoon. He finally fell asleep again on a walk to the zocalo* and back, and slept for a good while from 5 until almost 8.
(John) Tomoko managed through persistence to win Jamie's acceptance, and a Big Hug from him. Nobuko is still trying, and the Elmo and Ernie Bumper Cars that she bought for him at Chedraui are going a long way. No, really, they're like Energizer bunnies. :)
(Kristen) We are still trying to find a nap rhythym for him, as his day is much longer here than it is in Toronto. There, he wakes up around 9, has a two to three-hour nap from 1 until 3 or 4, and then goes to bed around 10 on average. Here, he wakes up at 6:30, has a nap around 10 to 12, and then again around 4 or 5, and goes to bed around 9:00. Tonight, he was dead tired, but was easily startled. We ended up having John push him around in his stroller until he fell asleep. John tells me that he fell asleep at the hotel, looking out over the Caribbean at the waves and the stars in the moonless night. Earlier in the evening, he had been a little overtired and so I took him out for a walk along the beach and back through town to calm him down. I had him in a Mayan-style sling that my sister-in-law Alice gave me, and he rode peacefully beside me, on my hip, staring at the waves, and pointing out the lights. His eyes got very big, however, when we stepped onto the beach and he could see all the stars. They got a big "ooooh." The ocean itself is still scary, but he loves the sound of the waves.
Jamie is getting more and more interested in books. He particularly likes books with pictures of food, and will point out the food (umma!) as he finds each picture. He's doing this with a Lonely Planet food guide to Mexico that I have, and has been pointing out the bowl of mush (umma!) in Goodnight Moon for some time now. We are slowly sliding into the "book before bed" routine, and he is getting better at turning pages on his own. He was so interested in Goodnight Moon tonight that he stopped nursing to point out the "umma," and to turn the occasional page.
2005-02-04 23:00 (Kristen) Jamie was up with the birds again this morning, who wake up a bit before 6:30, as far as I can tell. He was happy and cheerful, and eager to start his day. We put little surf boots onto Jamie in the hope that he'd be more willing to walk in the sand, and he was only a little more willing. He doesn't like surfaces that shift: sand, grass, snow...when he's older, it'll be different. John was talking with a father of an twenty-month-old in the area, and that baby as well also hated the feel of the sand. He's over it now, and it would be nice if Jamie learned to enjoy the sand before we left, because we think that he'd like it.
(John) I think I'd put it a bit more positively than that. With his surf boots on, Jamie's reaction to the sand was more or less the same as his first reaction to being asked to walk on snow. His trademark "Are you insane?" look, followed by grudging compliance, as long as there seemed to be a good reason to walk (through the snow to someone's house, or through the sand to get off the beach). He'll be fine with it in a few days, as long as he doesn't get any more bites or weals on his feet.
(Kristen) After John took care of Jamie while Hisae and I had an early morning swim (7:30 is a personal best for early swims), I took care of Jamie while John rested. We got breakfast into him (lots of fruit, some yoghurt), and he had fun playing with the new toys that John bought for him in Cancun yesterday. He had a nap at 10:00 or so, when I took him for a walk, and again at 4:00. This seems to be his pattern here in Puerto Morelos, and it's a reasonable one for all of us. He nursed very frequently again today, but not as much as yesterday.
(John) It's worth mentioning that we had an atypical, north wind today, which brings with it rain and cold weather (high in the low 20s C or low 70s F), and a perfectly flat lagoon without an onshore breeze to drive the waves. Ideal snorkelling weather.
(Kristen) We were reading Silly Sally today, which is currently up there in the running for Jamie's favourite book. As Silly Sally reaches each silly animal, I make a sound for that animal. The pig is oink oink, the dog is a panting sound, and so on. His favourite is the loon, for which I use a very silly loOoOoOn sound, and he will turn the pages back to that animal over and over again so that I'll make the noise again. It's pretty funny. He also played with the puzzle that John and Jack (in the main) are doing, by taking pieces and putting them on the edge of the table. He found an oversize plastic hockey stick/golf club (ask an American or a Canadian what it is!), and had fun batting at a ball until he almost knocked some dishes off the shelf underneath the counter.
(John) He has decided that ceiling fans are called "goo", short for "guru-guru", Japanese for "rotate". He has also decided that all ceiling fans must always rotate, on pain of aargh.
(Kristen) He was full of beans tonight, and it was hard to tell if he was exhausted or if he was just in need of a good run. He ate an incredible amount today...I kept thinking "Ok, that's it...he can't fit any more in," and he did, so I hope that it means that he'll fall asleep on his walk with John. He went on at least four walks today, including one where John took him to the zocalo* with Hisae and Nobuko to buy chicken and other goodies, while I worked. It was nice. The time with Jamie has been wonderful, but I appreciate the help and support that we get at home (with attendant breaks!) very very much. It's only 9:30 PM, and I'm bagged!
(John) He was just full of beans. It took an hour for him to fall asleep in the stroller, but Kristen and Jamie are sound asleep now.
2005-02-05 23:15 (John) We got up a little late this morning. I was up late talking genealogy with my Dad; Kristen and Jamie may have been lulled into sleeping in by the unseasonably cool weather. We needed blankets in bed to keep warm, imagine!
We decided early on that we would try going into Cancun to take my mom shopping, so we spent the first part of the day getting ready for the expedition. No room in the Beetle for four people, an ice box *and* a stroller, so repack the baby gear (diapers, wipes, ointment, hand sanitizer, first aid kit) in my knapsack. No telling when we might have lunch, so pack Jamie a wide range of food options (water, juice, chicken, refried beans, rice, tortillas, cut up tropical fruit (mangos, papayas, guavas), a few emergency snacks). Take a look to make sure that the ocean is still there, and that Tai-Tai's house is still there. Arrange the car, including a sun shade improvised from a receiving blanket wedged at the top of the window.
We left mid-morning, stopping at Mama's Bakery to pick up an order of sticky buns. Jamie started to give off his very loud "Nap time!" signal, so I put a sticky bun in his soon very sticky hands and he was asleep by the time we hit the highway.
It was the only time in my life that I wished that downtown Cancun was more than 40 minutes away. We had to wake Jamie up to take him inside, and he was a little grumpy about it. We kept him entertained throughout Costco with some effort, then took a break when we got to Soriana to feed him some of his packed lunch.
He wanted to go back to sleep at that point, but couldn't, so I put him in the shopping cart child section, grabbed a beach volleyball from a display and started playing basketball with him. Push the cart, bounce pass the ball to Jamie, try and catch his return as he deliberately tries everything he can to make the ball hard to catch. Pump fakes, misdirection, releasing the ball laterally just before we enter an aisle, he's the boss.
We caught up with Tai-Tai and things were quiet for a bit as we worked our way through her magic bag of rice crackers. Then we went to the Irori (a palindromic Japanese, but not Japanese palindromic restaurant) for a very late lunch. On the way, Jamie practised his burgeoning sense of humour with a toddler equivalent to a knock-knock joke. He would say a word (e.g. "daji" = Japanese "neji" = "screw"), then laugh theatrically ("ha ha ha"), repeating this dozens of times. He thought it was hilarious when I joined in, and it passed the time quite well.
(Kristen) I couldn't believe how many small children there were at Irori, and it doesn't seem like it was the first time: it may be the first Japanese restaurant I've been to with a toy corner for kids. Jamie appreciated the gesture, and ate most of his kid's meal (a very nicely done breaded fish and fries) while playing with a shape sorter. He ate the california roll by sticking his finger through it like a ring, and then eating around it, and prefers tonkatsu sauce to ketchup on his french fries. He didn't fall asleep on the way home the way that we hoped, but the ride was kept happy by my reading Silly Sally over and over again, and by continuing to stuff his mouth full of fish and french fries. As John said, there is certainly something to this "kid's meal" idea.
When we got back, I put him into his stroller for a walk while John and his mom went swimming. He fell asleep for a bit under two hours, which refreshed him enough that he could start eating again. He nibbled more or less constantly, in between playing with his new ball, stacking tins, and cleaning the floor with whatever cloth he could find. He is learning to be helpful, and enjoys being part of what's going on.
Jamie and I ate before everyone else, and I took Jamie for a walk around the zocalo* before heading back home. He didn't fall asleep, but was ready for bed very soon afterwards, and is now getting all the rest that he should have had earlier today! It was clear to us that he was teething again: he would not keep his fingers out of his mouth, and was chewing away on my shirt and whatever came to hand. I gave him the chewy man (a teething toy with arms and a head), which he put to very good use.
2005-02-06 20:30 (John) This may be a little briefer than usual, as I'm writing this after a long dinner party for my parents, my aunts, my parents' tenants, and by telepresence (iChat video) my brother and his family.
On the advice of Diane of Mama's Bakery, we went to the beach with a towel today, and sat down with Jamie and a ball. If nothing else, we got some great photos out of it, and Jamie did seem less sand-averse than before, though not by much.
Kristen brought Jamie down to see my mom and me off on our daily snorkelling expedition. Aside from a large jewfish (I'm not sure there is any other kind), the sight of the day was definitely the large number of comb jellies (ctenophores) that have invaded our waters. My dad very helpfully pointed out that even though they look like jellyfish, they have no nematocysts and are not poisonous. I'm glad he did, as I ran into two, and stayed calm enough not to levitate out of the water. Laureano told us at dinner that turtles like to eat ctenophores, and that with any luck we'll see some in the water in a few days.
We gave Jamie a bath outdoors in a big tub today, using boiled water, with all of his bath toys, and a lot of noise. I've never seen him so angry, and I don't know why, apart from the obvious fact that he didn't want to take a bath that he very much needed.
During the meal, when Jamie needed to take his customary mid-prandial stroll, we went down to the beach and found two children just a little older than Jamie playing in a boat on the beach. We joined them and Jamie was willing to play at pushing sand off a bench in the boat with a toy car. More progress.
That's it for now. Kristen may add more the next time she logs on.
2005-02-07 18:30 (John) Jamie now has two pronouns in his active vocabulary. "Ma" (or more commonly, "Ma!") always refers to the first person: Kristen. "Da", which used to refer just to me (Dad) and then grew to include Daniel, apparently now is just a generalized second-person pronoun referring to me, my parents or my aunts.
I went for a lovely snorkel with my parents, under close to ideal conditions. Calm, clear seas, excellent visibility and plenty to see, including the biggest barracuda I've seen so far this trip (but nothing like the packs we saw last year). Then it was Kristen's turn to go in with my aunts Nobuko and Tomoko, and I sat on the beach with Jamie for more sand desensitization therapy. Armed with plastic pail, shovel, bulldozer and beach towel, we made good progress.
The bulldozer loosened up the sand (vroom-vroom, beep-beep, zzt-zzt), the shovel picked it up (zzt-zzt) and dumped it in the pail, then tamped it down (bam! bam!). Pick up the pail (zzt-zzt), upend it (ha! ho! ha!), wiggle it to loosen the sand (ni-ni-ni) and reveal what I'm sure looked to Jamie like a comically sculpted representation of a large breast (ta-da!).
After watching a few of these, laughing hysterically at the end result, Jamie grew brave enough to help out with the shovel. This led to a little sand on his feet (Aah! Aah!), which we brushed off, then a lot of sand on his feet (Aah! Aah!), most of which we brushed off leaving more than a little. He's not quite at the point where he's willing to walk on the sand, but he does consider a little sand on his extremities a reasonable price to pay for construction simulation fun.
We're off shortly for our annual dinner with my aunt Jean and uncle Jack Loew, proprietors of Villas Shanti, leaving Jamie in the care of my parents and aunts. Wish them luck!
(Kristen) When I was watching Jamie during John's swim, he found the yellow pail in question. He held it out in front of him, and made loud, delighted growling sounds which I realized were his way of imitating the sound of a bulldozer. He realized that I got it when I made "beep-beep" sounds when he backed up. I explained this delightedly to John, who let me know that it was old news, and that I also need to make "brrzt-brzzt" hydraulic noises when he lifts the pail up and down. I'm really excited by his ability to use his imagination. He has also been watching a lot less Teletubbies, and reading a lot more. Today, he was reading Goodnight Moon by himself before he noticed that I was there, and demanded that I read with him. He then pointed out the stars to me on the page "Goodnight stars, goodnight air," which pleased me as we had been talking about the stars in the night sky (which are large and legion here) the night before.
Yesterday, Jamie and I went for a walk along the beach in the afternoon, and he had a great time watching the kite surfers. He had dragged me down to the beach specifically for that purpose, and we watched them for a good half hour. Today, when he was playing in the sand with John, I went swimming and splashed in the shallows, jumping up and down in the water at the edge of the ocean. He thought that I was nuts, but was a tolerant dictator. We've been having Teletubbie flashbacks, as he has a ball now and John was running up and down the beach with it yesterday, as the wind blew the ball back to him whenever he kicked it into the wind. We kept hearing "Jezel's got the ball!" "Where's the ball?" in little British kids' voices.
Yesterday he also made the sign for "dog" (sticking your tongue out and panting) spontaneously as one of the many village dogs went trotting past. Every day, he's learning something new and demonstrating something new. He has warmed up to both of John's aunts, realizing that they are the purveyors of yummy foods too, and will let them hold him and play with him. The fact that Nobuko makes really good avocado rolls (one of Jamie's favourites#) doesn't hurt at all!
(John) We're back safe and sound after a lovely meal at John Gray's Kitchen. Jamie was asleep when we left, woke up not long thereafter, was irate that we had snuck off without telling him, calmed down when Tai-Tai took him out for a walk, then let everyone appease him with food until we came home. When we walked in the door, he leapt into my arms and had me show him how all the light and ceiling fan switches worked before, his point having been made, condescending to allow Kristen to nurse him.
* For the benefit of Scrabble players, words that are not in the Scrabble dictionary are marked with an asterisk.
Back to Vol. 0 No. 64, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 66.