Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 69

2005-03-01 22:30 (John) We survived a busy day thanks in large part to our friend Chihoko, who spent the whole day with us keeping an eye on Jamie. Chihoko used to be our tenant, and before that she was a pediatric nurse, so I can't think of anyone better qualified to do so.

As a result, I got a fair amount of work done and Kristen got to go meet with a headhunter, but I can't report in too much detail on what Jamie did today. I know he had red beans and rice for breakfast, and alternately played with his trains and watched Totoro in the morning (sitting in Chihoko's lap for the scary grandmother scenes). After lunch at Browning, I took Jamie outside to follow me around as I shovelled snow (another 10 cm or so of packing snow last night, and it's continued to fall all day) until he started to yawn. Then I packed him into the Zooper, pushed him down to the end of the block to put him to sleep, and brought him back to sleep in the cool air of the pantry for two hours.

When he woke up, I gave him an apple and he sat with Chihoko watching more of Totoro. After an hour or so, he asked for more food, so he snacked on avocado, guava and chicken. Then Kristen came home and Jamie remembered he was behind on his nursing, but was happy to go back outside fairly soon to join Daniel and Ross in extending our snow fort.

Dinner was our first barbecue at Browning since we got back from Mexico, and the kids dug into their favourites# like hyenas: Ross his salmon (arranged in alternating bands with rice to resemble a sergeant-major fish), Daniel his veggie plate (okra, spinach, zucchini in the form of a spotted eagle ray) and Jamie his salmon roe and barbecued corn.

At bathtime, Jamie again insisted on climbing into the bath with me while the bath water was still running, then sitting on my chest. I think I have to review the bath scene in Totoro to see if Mei (his current role model) does this. He's sound asleep now, and with luck I will soon be so too.

2005-03-02 23:07 (Kristen) My Neighbour Totoro is definitely Jamie's new video obsession. We held off showing it to him until after his afternoon nap today, but when we did, his face lit up and he bounced, literally, as the theme music came on. He pointed out Mei, the smaller girl character, and actually said "Mei" very clearly when questioned about her. He thinks that the grandmother character is scary when she first appears because Mei is startled by her, and that the wind storm is too because Mei is nervous about it. We reassure him that Mei isn't scared, and he won't take his eyes off the screen anyway. He's a very empathic little boy.

Chihoko came over to help us again today, and will bring a friend tomorrow who may come and look after Jamie on a more formal basis. We'd love it if Chihoko could, but she will be starting class next week, and so won't be available. She has been amazing, and an enormous help to us. Jamie is thriving under the attention from so many people. Today he played with Chihoko while I worked, sometimes in the same room, shoveled snow with his dad, and then slept for three hours (for the first time in ages). He's also nursing a lot less, which is good but requires a little adjustment on my part!

He is learning to dance, which I find hilarious. A song came on the CBC today while he was in his highchair# that had him waving his arms, he was bumping against the wall in time to some music at the community centre tonight, and also was waving his arms in the air again and walking about to some other music he heard there. My son is a dancer! He will learn to dance, and wow all the girls/boys: no bad "guy dancing" for him! I sing and dance around him frequently, and "wave my hands in the air like I don't care" to any song that I like on the radio, so I'm delighted that he's picking up on the fun and joy of it.

He ran his legs off at the community centre tonight while John and I took turns playing Scrabble. I finally remembered to bring his sleeper with us to Scrabble, so he was all ready for bed when he fell asleep in the car on the way home. He's asleep now, and we hope that he stays like that for the night.

(John) At the club, Jamie was in a very pushy mood. He pushed a blue recycling box all over the lobby for a long time, then found the playroom unlocked and inhabited by boys aged about 9 and 4, who were busily "helping" their mom put things away. Jamie got in the spirit of things and "helped" park the toy strollers and fire engines. Okay, he wasn't helping at all. But he had a very good time, and was intrigued with how the stroller seemed to have a mind of its own, and gradually came up with the notion of "steering" it, or in catastrophic cases picking it up and pointing it back in the right direction.

2005-03-03 23:39 (Kristen) Jamie didn't sleep well last night, at one point sitting bolt upright and crying out. I can see the teeth below the gumline, but no sign of them emerging through the gums yet. He was up at 8:20 this morning, which is earlier than usual, and he was wide eyed and bushy tailed. Chihoko came over around 10:00, and her friend Mio came over at 11:00. Mio is interested in watching Jamie in the mornings for us while we wait for Jamie to be old enough for daycare in May. This will let John and I both work and hopefully be that much more productive. She seems very nice, speaks mostly Japanese, and has five nieces and nephews, so is used to children. We'll see how she gets along with Jamie, and I hope that it will all work out.

Jamie went for a walk with Ken this afternoon, but only slept for an hour. Teeth again, we think, as he woke up crying, Ken says. However, he was happy to stay outside and go for a walk with him, so that was alright. I convinced him to have another nap around 5:40, and he slept until 7:00. Actually, we both did. It took the edge off what would have been a long night, and he happily ran around Tom and Michelle's house chasing Ross and Daniel, and being chased. At one point, I saw him sitting with a little musical rocking horse of Daniel and Ross's, swaying back and forth happily to the music. He also, Tom says, not only knows where his nose is and Tom's, but also where the nose of a stuffed animal was, demonstrating a working knowledge of abstract concepts. His hair is now long enough that it gets in his food, but I don't know how much longer I can put off cutting it. I am terrified of giving my sweet, beautiful boy a lousy haircut, and we can only cut it when he's asleep: no chance he'll sit for it awake. The problem is, it's so curly when he's asleep after a bath, when it's wet, that it doesn't look a thing like it does when it's dry and he's awake. He's got my hair, so maybe I have a few hair issues getting in the way... The impossibility of finding someone to cut your hair who knows what to do with the curly bits.

2005-03-04 23:30 (John) I write this in a slight analgesic haze, after having spent much of the day flat on my back with a pulled muscle from yesterday's snowball fight with Daniel and Damon. Mio helped us with Jamie again in the morning, we had lunch at Browning, and Jamie slept for two hours while walking with Ken and then spent the rest of the afternoon running errands with Kristen.

In the evening, we went to Geoff's condo for Scrabble for the first time in a few months, and Jamie fell asleep on the way there, not waking up until midway through the second round.

I hope he's working on more teeth, because I can't otherwise easily explain his crankiness and drooly-ness today. He watched Totoro at least twice today (which according to a New Yorker interviewer is twice more than Miyazaki's recommended annual allowance), and I think his favourite# part is the opening credits, where he shouts "Mei!" every time he sees little Mei-chan walk across the screen.

2005-03-05 24:15 (Kristen) After a rough start to the night, Jamie slept reasonably well until 8:30 or so. It was St. Lawrence Market Day, so we trooped down as a family to pick up sustenance for the week. (John: because my back was better today, but not yet up to lifting Jamie in the morning.) Jamie ran about, and enjoyed eating a snack on the tractor ride (just a loonie!) in the basement of the south building. The highlight of the shopping experience was going up and down the escalators at Loblaws about four times. He insists that he doesn't need me to help him, but he will suffer me to hold his hand when he starts to get tired. On second thought, it may have been finding a smaall car shovel (telescoping handle) which is exactly the right size for him. He has been coveting John's big shovel for two weeks now, and this fit the bill perfectly. Now, of course, as John says, it's the end of winter and we won't see any more snow.

He fell asleep in the car, and we successfully brought him inside. He was awake again in less than an hour, however, as his father's footsteps on the stairs woke him. We decided then, on the spur of the moment, to go with John and Gary to Chinatown, and to walk around while they saw Dr. Ling. A trip to Kikiwai was noisy as Jamie didn't understand why he couldn't play with the (very expensive) Totoro toys. We went back to Dr. Ling's, played with the store cat, and watched John and Gary get fixed up. Then it was home to some Totoro, over to Browning for chicken katsu, and home to put a very very tired little boy to bed.

2005-03-06 11:28 (John) Kristen noticed early this morning that Jamie was hot, and the thermometer read at least 39°C (102.2°F) so I'm guessing it isn't just teething. A dose of Tempra at 7:00 A.M. brought the fever down, but it's starting to climb back up. I'm off to Boston and Greenport for three days tomorrow morning. Aargh. On the bright side, he has an appointment with a paediatric specialist tomorrow morning concerning his asymmetrical cheeks, so we don't have to dither about whether or not to take him to the doctor's.

2005-03-06 12:45 (John) He's slept solidly all morning, nursing intermittently. It's been about six hours since his last dose of Tempra (acetaminophen), so I checked his temperature (38.8°C = 101.8°F) and we gave him another dose of 1.5 mL. He's sounding tired and little hoarse, so I suspect the virus is hitting his throat.

2005-03-06 16:30 (John) He's been up and playing quietly for a couple of hours now. He's eaten some banana, and some bread soaked in soup, and his fever is still under control with the Tempra. He looks tired, but no other symptoms at this point (the hoarseness in his throat went away when he got up).

2005-03-06 23:05 (Kristen) He perked up this evening, and even ate a good deal of tofu and soba for dinner. John's aunts Nobuko and Tomoko came over, along with John's brother Ted, with whom we were supposed to go out for dinner tonight. Instead, John's aunts made dinner (unagi-don*, tempura, and other assorted yummy things). Jamie spent the entire day watching Totoro (OK, because he was sick), and my Japanese is improving too. He is still warm, and I think that his fever is on the rise again, so we'll give him a dose of Tempra again after he gets out from the bath. I don't know how the night will go, but have been resting when he does, and sleeping when he does, so if it goes badly, I'll be somewhat rested for it. He still hasn't any other symptoms, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he won't get any worse. The pediatrician's appointment is rather well timed, I must say.

2005-03-07 03:20 (John) The Spanish have a word for the period of time between midnight and daybreak. Right now they would say "son las tres de la madrugada". Jamie woke up and wouldn't stop screaming until I picked him up, then followed his directions downstairs to watch Totoro. See photo. Kristen says she was expecting something like this, given how much he slept during the day yesterday. On the bright side, his illness isn't affecting his mental alertness any.

2005-03-07 07:30 (John) It was a somewhat rough night, but Jamie's fever is down a bit without medication for the first time in a day. It's 38.2°C (100.8°F) so we'll keep an eye on him for awhile instead of giving him the acetaminophen. I'm off to Boston in a few minutes. Kristen will be in charge of the blog until my return Wednesday night.

2005-03-07 22:38 (Kristen) It was a long day today. Jamie was up around 8:00 (AM...argh), and ready to get on with his day. I, on the other hand, felt like I had spent the night on Hell's spare bed, but thankfully Mio was early this morning. We took Jmie to the pediatrician, who suspects that he has a stone in a salivary gland. It will likely clear up on its own, but can get infected in the meantime. It is a good candidate for Jamie's fever, and so he is on antibiotics. He's being very good about it; he's usually good about medicine; but it's rough on the little guy. His fever broke in the afternoon, and hasn't gone up again since. However, he was extra clingy and slept at odd times today. In the end, he only slept around two hours total, and was a very tired boy at the end of the day.

Mio was a great help, although she didn't feel like it as Jamie wouldn't spend much time with anyone but me this afternoon. I did get some work done, and may manage to get my latest manuscript in to its publisher only one day late. We went outside to help Ayami and our neighbour, Rosemary, to shovel and chip ice. Jamie loved his new shovel, but found the ice chipping a little too intense. I, however, will be sore tomorrow. We had dinner at Daniel and Ross's, and a strange accident happened as we were getting ready to go. Jamie was pretty tired but in a good mood, when Ross asked me if Jamie would ever give him a hug. I said yes, but that he should ask Jamie for one instead of waiting. Ross threw open his arms and Jamie joyfully plunged into them, but Ross had no balance and they fell backwards into a pile of toys. Jamie managed to give himself a small cut just beside his left eye, which we were much more worried about until we got him into the light. It's tiny, but close to the outside corner, and has left a nice red mark. John, we're all OK. Gary and Ayami helped me give Jamie a bath, and he is sleeping sweetly as we speak.

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

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