Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 76

2005-04-19 22:32 (Kristen) We had Jamie all dressed in shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt today as the temperature soared to summertime levels. His skintone is deepening by the minute, and he is developing a knock- out tan. He woke up late this morning, and really only started to stir around 9:15 when John and I decided to gently wake him. This gave me a chance to make breakfast and get his clothes laid out for him before he woke up. I felt that much ahead of the game when he did get up. He played with Mio, whom he was very happy to see, and went off his walk with Ken. I took him out when Ken dropped him off at 3:00, but he only slept for another five minutes before he woke up. We stopped off at the school playground, where he had fun sifting wood chips through his fingers, and watching it ping off the asphalt. I took him back to the house to do some work, and he snacked and played until John got home from the dentist. We played, had dinner, and watched "American Idol" before heading to bed (and thought of my sister, whose birthday it is today, and who loves the show).

2005-04-20 23:47 (Kristen) Poor Mio spent time in the rain today with Jamie, who wasn't about to let a soft rain stop him from playing with his new bucket and beach implements (scoop, rake, and sieve). He was pretty tuckered out, since he almost fell asleep iin his high chair during lunch. We managed to keep him up, but I was surprised that he refused to eat natto for the second time in a row. We think it may be because he is starting to dislike sticky things, and natto is remarkably sticky. He doesn't much like rice for the same reason, but will eat it if it is mixed with something else. I've been making him miso shiru for breakfast, mixed with rice, ikura* (salmon roe) and nori, which seems to go over well as the soup makes the rice less sticky.

Since it was Wednesday, Ken wasn't available for Jamie's afternoon walk. John took him to the bank and back, and Jamie lasted almost half an hour in the stroller before he succumbed to sleep. He stayed asleep for almost two and a half hours, lulled by the sound of rain on his stroller's rain shield. It was a sleepy day, and I slept for close to an hour myself after intending to just close my eyes for a minute or two. He woke up in time to go to John's parents' for dinner and drive up to the Scrabble club.

He was pretty tired again early on, and by 9:00 was asking "babu glee?" (or, in translation, "car, please?") I managed to keep him happy until 9:30, when it was time to go home. His teeth have been bothering him for the last two days, and the drool coming out of his mouth was prodigious: he even choked a little on his own saliva a couple of times. While keeping him happy by letting him fall backwards and pulling him up again, I managed to get a good look into his mouth. I think that a first-year molar is about to come through on the bottom left, the eye teeth are still coming (almost there now for a week), and the top molar has finally broken through on both sides, and with a spot of blood between the points when I peeked in. Poor lamb. John said that Jamie was chewing on his fingers just before he woke up when we brought him in from the car. He's dosed up on Tempra right now and sleeping again, but the little guy is not comfortable. I hope that it won't be long before he gets a break.

(John) In the morning, Jamie, Mio and I were playing Scrabble, which was educational on many levels. First, when I asked Jamie to bring back the tiles he was gleefuly flinging across the room, he soon tired of the flinging. Second, Jamie is learning that tiles are oblong, and won't fit into the grid sideways, so he's having to learn his letter shapes better. He's still convinced that the letter V looks better upside down, like a caret, and then calls it an A, but we're working on it. Third, I tried to get him to put similar tiles together after laying out an alphabet in two rows in alphabetical order, but he pointed out (a) that there was no place for blanks in my scheme, and (b) that putting tiles on premium squares would score more, so I let him obsessively cover all the coloured squares.

Later, at the games room at the community centre, he picked up a large stray plastic domino, looked at it puzzled, then held it up to his ear and said "hello?". Clever kid. I'm off for three days in Boston tomorrow afternoon, and Kristen will maintain the blog in my absence.

2005-04-21 21:59 (Kristen) Jamie woke up after a pretty good sleep. He only woke up once in the night, around 2:10, when I took him back into bed. He's getting more and more used to sleeping beside us, rather than in the same bed, which is nice. He is very comfortable slipping out of bed in the morning when he has made sure that one of his parents is up, and we keep the bedroom door shut to keep him in just in case today is the day that he decides to explore solo. His teeth are still bothering him, and his food intake is down, I think, because of it. His nose is running clear mucus, but I suspect that this is because of the teeth as well. This is a hard time for him, but he's still distractable.

John left for Boston this afternoon, and explained to Jamie that he was going on a plane. Jamie understands planes, and part of me wonders if he is doing what I did not much older than him: I knew that my dad flew in planes, and wondered if my dad was in that one, or in that one...Jamie has asked where his dad is a few times, but seems content when I tell him that his dad is on a plane. He's missing John, but not traumatized.

He only slept for an hour on his walk, as he was woken up by a near traffic accident on the Danforth. He stayed in a generally good mood, thank goodness, as I took him first to the Jackman School playground and then on an errand or two. We watched the forklift across the street for a bit, and then came in for dinner. The evening was quiet, as we watched Totoro, read books, and picked up the set of Scrabble tiles that he threw about twice. By the time it was time for his bath, he was teetering on the edge of "nothing you do is right, even when you do exactly what I tell you to do!" I have discovered that the key to having Jamie brush his own teeth is to let him turn on the tap and keep sticking his toothbrush under the water. In fact, it's hard to get him to stop when you let him do this. We had a bath together, I washed his hair, and we had fun exploring how water feels against your legs when you swirl your hands around under the surface. When we went to bed, I calmed him down by offering to read Goodnight Moon to him. I ended up reading it to him three times, as he lay beside me, his head pillowed against mine, and he talked with me about the moon, the cats in the picture, and the other objects that he recognized. Then he fell asleep in about thirty seconds, nursing. I gave him a little Tempra to help him sleep through the teething, and I hope that it will be a quiet night.

2005-04-22 22:50 (Kristen) Jamie was up early today, which didn't surprise me too much as he went to sleep early the night before. So, unusually, we were just about finished breakfast when Mio arrived, rather than just starting. Jamie was happy to see her, and they had a nice morning together. Ayami came upstairs to visit, and they played with Jamie and the Scrabble set. Jamie is quite fond of the tiles, and likes putting the tiles on the premium squares and putting them back into the bag.

We had lunch at Browning, and Jamie was relatively hungry. He was quite ready for his walk, and for once stayed asleep long past the time that Ken brought him home. This, I think, is because Mio stayed until 5:00. Jamie woke up at 4:30, but would have been awake at 3:00 if she hadn't been here! As it was, I got a lot of work done, and both Mio and Jamie were sad when 5:00 came around, and it was time for Mio to go home. I took Jamie over to see his grandparents for an hour, and John's mom fed us soba and tofu while we talked and watched Jamie. Alissa, my sister-in-law, and my niece Amy can't make it to Toronto this weekend, as poor Amy is sick with pneumonia. Ted and Ian will be coming, however, but it will be a much more open weekend. The weather looks dire, and I am thinking of fun things for Jamie to do indoors that don't cost lots of money. We'll see how bad the rain turns out to be.

After visiting Sai, we headed over to Browning for dinner. Jamie ended up playing with Gary for most of the evening, and so it seemed like I hadn't seen much of Jamie all day. We came home, and Jamie stayed with Gary while I drew the bath and got everything ready for bed. Jamie gave Gary a big hug goodnight, had his bath, and got into bed, falling asleep very quickly. He misses his dad, however, and I think that John will get a royal homecoming when he returns. I tell Jamie that his dad is on an airplane, but I can't help but wonder if Jamie is thinking "How long can that flight be?"

2005-04-23 23:14 (Kristen) It was cold, wet, and rainy today, which made many of my plans for the day a washout. In the end, we went to the St. Lawrence Market with John's parents, and with Ted (John's brother) and his son Ian. Jamie enjoyed seeing his usual people, ate a samosa, a rugolach, and some California roll before it was time to sleep. I took him home on the streetcar, so that he could nap uninterrupted. He would have fallen asleep the instant he was in the car, and there was still Loblaws shopping to do. This way, he got a better, more rested sleep.

I wandered down Front Street to Yonge, and caught the streetcar at Yonge and King. Jamie had been asleep for half an hour by then, and slept through the ride and all the way to the Second Cup at Hampton and Danforth. There, I sat for a mostly restful hour, while Jamie continued to sleep. He was finally woken up by a car alarm on the Danforth, while I ran out of Book City with him when answering a phone call. We walked over to John's parents' place in the rain, and ended up staying there for the rest of the day. Jamie had fun playing with his cousin Ian, who chased him and let Jamie copy his moves. Ted had brought a lovely stuffed barn filled with little stuffed animals, including a pair each of chickens, horses, cows, cats, and dogs. The two cats were a particular hit, and Jamie talked all night about the 'meows,' and carried them with him almost constantly.

He was slightly off this evening, and at one point yelled in some extremis (fear or pain) at nothing visible, and spent five minutes just clinging to me. I think that his teeth are hurting him a good deal, as he kept drooling copiously, and was putting his fingers into his mouth and chewing on them. He was kept very happy, however, by the cats, and would walk from room to room with one in each hand. He caused a small commotion when he tried to shove the piano bench by himself closer to the piano, after listening to his uncle and grandfather play the violin and piano, respectively. The bench is top heavy, and went over, away from him, and into the foot pedals. The edge of the seat now has what Ted cheefully described as 'family heirlooms.' Jack was upset, but quickly got over it. Jamie, I think, thought that he could push the bench in the same way as he pushes most chairs around. Now we can say "you did this to the piano bench when you were seventeen months' when he is sixteen. I am sure he will appreciate the reminder.

We chatted with John on iChat, and headed home quite late (10:00). I was sure that Jamie would fall asleep, but he stayed awake, quite wound up, and with a cat in each hand. Ted walked home with me, as there were a good amount of groceries for me to take and I wanted also to download some photos that Ted had taken of Jamie today. Jamie, when we got home, was still bright eyed and bushy tailed, and decided that he had to take the cats for a walk in the hippo that he got for Christmas. He is so attached to these cats! Then it was time for bed, and he fell asleep quite quickly. I wonder if he will sleep in tomorrow, but I doubt it. We're thinking of going to the Science Centre with Ted and Ian, which will be full of Jamie-friendly buttons and lights. It should be fun.

2005-04-24 23:27 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 8:30, I think...I was pretty tired, and only got out of bed after Jamie insisted. We talked to Ted around 10:00, and decided to go to the Science Centre around 11:00. We walked through the doors around 11:45, all ready to explore. Jamie liked the roller coaster exhibit well enough, but came alive in the Kidspark! section. This is an area for kids 8 months to 8 years, and this was just around his speed. He liked the area for banging pots and pans (music theory), and really liked the area with music and toy instruments. However, the area with the balls and ramps made him giddy with joy, as he cried out "ba(l), ba(ll)!" and collected as many as he could to drop down tracks. The balls will loop-de-loop and go up and down hills on the track, and Jamie loved it. He learned to crawl under the track rather than go around. I could see the litle neural connections clicking a mile a minute as he ran around. He really liked the construction site they have, where there is a frame of a kid-sized house, and children construct it using foam bricks. There is a crane that carries blocks to the second floor, and that was cool. We stayed there for a while while Ted and Ian went and visited the rest of the Centre. We finally stopped for lunch, went back in, found Ian and Ted, and were home by four. This was a wonderful experience for him, and I think that we'll be getting membership passes pretty soon.

Jamie was three hours past his nap but holding up well when we got home, and I managed to nurse him down for an hour-long nap. But that was it, and we went over to John's parents' place for dinner. Nobuko and Tomoko were there, and it was a lovely feast. Jamie and Ian got along like a house on fire, and Ian said that he was going to miss Jamie when he went home, and that he loved his cousin. I was very happy to see them getting along so well. Jamie impressed us all by saying 'mango' (the 'ango' was very clear), and by saying 'ho ho' for John's dad and 'ba ba' for John's aunt Nobuko, who was christened 'Ba ba" by Ted when he was very young. He also gave both of his aunts hugs when I told them the trick of how to get him to give you a hug. They were very happy. Ted gave us a ride home, and we sent them off. Jamie and I spent some time together, and then I asked Gary and Ayami to watch him while I did some quick things before John got home. Jamie was still going strong at 10:00, and I tried to give him a bath to calm him down. He was not calm, and in fact is still up, having heard his father's voice when he walked in, and is cheerfully playing downstairs. He is drooling still in copious amounts, and I hope that the Tempra will kick in soon. I'm exhausted.

2005-04-25 23:00 (John) Tami picked me up at the airport last night, so I got home in time to play with Jamie for a while before bed. He wouldn't let go of my hand, and dragged me around the house, getting me to change the battery on his Brio train, serve him some frozen raspberries, watch while he showed his progress with his shape-sorting bucket, and showed off the collection of plush animals that Ted had brought for him; in short, fulfilling paternal duties that I had neglected while in Boston.

He was quite happy to see me in the morning too, though I confess I had to nap for a good three hours during the day to catch up on sleep lost while working at the tournament. Jamie impressed me with how much he's learned to do in the last few days. He's still as stubborn and clever as ever, and really surprised me when we played the Fisher-Price ABC Flash animation tonight. He clearly said "A" before the A came on, but I thought it was coincidence, so when the A appeared I asked him what was next, and he said "B". I think he actually knows the whole alphabet in order now, but he can only pronounce a few of the letters, which he did. "D", "mmm" and "O" are manageable. For "J" he did as I always do and drew a J on his chest with his finger.

(Kristen) We all slept in this morning, only to come roaring down the stairs to let Mio in a couple of minutes late. Jamie was not really awake then, which was not surprising, as he didn't fall asleep until midnight. He was happy to play with Mio, though, after a fairly rough time last night. He woke up multiple times, each time crying out and nursing. This morning, I saw the tips of two shiny eye teeth (both top teeth) poking out of his gums, and I think they were the culprits. The last eye tooth, the bottom right, is budding and should be here in a week or two. The molars don't seem to be as much trouble to him as the eye teeth, but since he has one of those coming in too, we can dare to compare once the eye teeth are done.

He was happy and cheerful today, and played with the usual range of people. I am very grateful to all the people in Jamie's life who treat him so very well: Browning people, Gary and Ayami... I hope that he will be as well treated in life as he is now, loved and cherished for the wonderful boy that he is.

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

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