Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 99

2005-09-27 21:30 (John) He's working more on his language skills. At Dairy Queen just now he was excitedly saying "People annin (his word for ice cream) ummamma (eat/food)!" and quivering with excitement that he could make a complete sentence with subject, object and verb.

He's also really, really excited with our new tenants, Mio and Taka, who moved into our blue room this afternoon. Kristen may be able to expand on just how excited.

This all seems to be compensating for the fact that he's not feeling very well, drooling up a storm and blowing green things out his nose. I think he's got a bit of Kristen's cold germ while working on those two-year molars.

(Kristen) I haven't seen Jamie this excited in a while. Poor Mio and Taka didn't get much of a rest after they moved their stuff here, as every moment that Jamie was not being actively entertained by me, John, or Gary, he was roaring off to the bottom of the stairs to yell "Mio!" or "Taka!" at the top of his lungs and go up the stairs By Himself (if not watched very closely) to get them. He didn't eat much dinner, despite the fare being noodles, which may explain his extreme owliness and corroborate the theory that his nose was clogged and his teeth hurt. I gave him some Tylenol Cold tonight, and that seems to be helping. I remember that this particular cold kills your appetite completely, so he may not each much for the next few days if the cold takes hold. Or, the reason could simply be that he wasn't eating in front of the tv. The sad story is that you can feed Jamie almost anything, and as much as you want of it, if he is sitting in front of the television. However, I think that he was just not feeling well.

He did have enough room for ice cream, though, so something made it into him. I think that Jamie would have room for ice cream under the most dire of circumstances. It is definitely his favourite thing to eat, up there with apples: he just has to see a picture of ice cream to get the idea into his head and to talk your ears off about going to get some. Actually, I was thinking that he will have long (if basic) conversations now: he and Mio were chatting the whole way to Dairy Queen about this and that, and he loves to be able to talk with people.

I should mention that we moved around a lot of furniture today, including moving the double bed from Jamie's room into Mio and Taka's room. Jamie now has the single bed, and I spent some time fixing it up with sheets, a quilt, blankets, and stuffed animals to make it look attractive to him. Then I explained to Jamie that this was *his* special bed, and he climbed up into it and pretended to sleep, made the stuffed animals pretend to sleep, and we talked about the blankets that I had draped on the wooden strip against the wall that acts as a longish headboard. He seemed pleased, and I was delighted that he enjoyed the new setup.

2005-09-28 24:00 (John) Jamie has been working hard on sentences and phrases. Suddenly, nouns just aren't good enough on their own, they must be qualified by adjectives. Are things "ookii" (big) or "chiisai" (small)? What colour are they? Then a verb: what are they doing? When he strings a few words together, he gets so excited he has to repeat them, and that excites him even more, until he has to run around in a little circle to burn off the energy and drop down to a lower state.

His imminent molar (we think) is really hurting him today. I make him ice cubes out of fruit juice, and he chews on them, and it helps for a little bit. Poor guy. (Kristen) We have some raspberry popsicles that I picked up at the Big Carrot the last time John had dental surgery, and they're nice and juicy without too much sugar. Jamie had a great time saying "Raspbery ice!" over and over.

After the usual morning with Mio, he fell asleep for me in the stroller on the way to the Second Cup, and stayed asleep long enough for me to work on my thesis for a couple of hours and bring im home. We had dinner at Pearls and then headed up to the Scrabble club, where he alternatedly played with tiles, sketched, and played shuffleboard.

(Kristen) Jamie woke up last night, as usual, around six AM. John's new idea was to have him sip water from a straw, since he needs to be more awake than he is to drink from a glass, and he's usually waking up then becuase he's thirsty. It worked like a charm; he woke up, and sipped from the straw, which he can do without really being awake, and was asleep again in five minutes. He slept until 8:15, when he decided it was time for his morning nurse: just as I was heading out the door to the dentist. However, it was a short nurse, and more because it was morning, light, and his due than because he was thirsty.

2005-09-29 24:00 (Kristen) Jamie is so happy that he can make sentences that we understand now. We're beginning to realize how much has been locked up in his brain that finally has a chance to make it out and be known. He gets so excited when he's trying to construct a sentence that he almost stutters, repeating the same word over and over again up to ten times before he can make it to the next word. He is also speaking much more loudly than before, also (I think), due to excitement. He repeats everything, and is having a great time with the "Mummy says x, Papa/ Mio/Tai Tai says y" game. He's not having much trouble separating languages when we do this, and will use the English word (if he knows it) with me and the Japanese word (again, if he knows it) with Mio most of the time. He's also not delayed in any way that I can tell. I've heard that many bilingual children are slower in acquiring language than monolingual children, presumably because they are processing two languages. Jamie doesn't seem to have that problem yet.

John and I went to check out a French-language Montessori school near us tonight, as they were having an open-house and there was a flyer in our mailbox. It was very interesting, and I think that Jamie would really enjoy it. Many of the toys are items that I remember from when I was in Montessori, back when I was four. Funny, that. However, it's not something that we're convinced that we're going to do, but I don't think that Jamie would have any trouble absorbing French if we did decide to do that too. I'm hoping that means that he has the Chew family facility for languages.

It was a very disturbed night last night for me and John, and less so for Jamie, as he didn't notice that there was a three-hour blackout. He did wake up close to seven, and wanted to nurse instead of having water, despite the straw (sigh). He ended up sleeping in until almost ten, however, and seemed to be in a better mood. He ate remarkably well at breakfast, staying at the table for most of the meal, and did the same for lunch, snack, and dinner. He was in the best mood that I've seen him in in weeks this evening, despite the fact that he only slept for 45 minutes this afternoon; it was cold, and the wind was very strong. He was cold when he came in, and he doesn't like strong wind at the best of times. I was expecting a very long day, but he was fabulous. He played with Mio and Ayami and me, went for dinner at Browning, and had a blast playing with trains with Gary, Ayami, Mio, and me. Gary has a new digital camera, and has been taking some great video and photos of Jamie. We all ended up, with John, laughing and having a good time in the living room, and it was a very pleasant evening. We came home late (at almost 9:30), and Jamie was happy happy hyperkinetic boy. I was expecting to have the usual fight about brushing his teeth, but he was amazing: he let me floss, and brushed his own teeth enthusiastically (if not altogether thoroughly--he needs work on reaching the back teeth). Then he was happy having his bath, didn't complain when John washed his hair, and was sweet and good about going to sleep. His teeth must finally have stopped hurting for a time, and he was just really happy about it. It's so nice to see my wonderful boy shining through: it was one of those times when you feel particularly blessed by your child's presence.

2005-09-30 23:38 (Kristen) Jamie slept in until after 9:30 this morning, after waking at 6:50 (it's getting later!) for a glass of water and then a nurse around an hour later. He played with Mio, both inside and outside, and enjoyed the large lunch gathering at Browning. For his afternoon nap, he slept for three and a half hours. I am still thinking that he is fighing some sort of bug, but he's staying cheerful which is a blessing.

I ended up waking him at 4:40, because Sam and Ben and Luke were playing outside. I asked him if he wanted to go play with them, and the moment his eyes were open he said "Okay." So we went, and played with balls (which he absolutely loves right now), and bats, and hockey sticks, and with Sam, Ben, and "baby Luke." Mio and Taka came out, and it was a big party in the front. We played for a long time before they went in, and John, Jamie, and I went into the back yard to do some yard work. He was helpful shovelling mulch onto the garden until he got tired and went to find Gary.

We went to play Scrabble at our friend Geoff's tonight, and Jamie very much enjoyed chasing their cat Quentin around while John and I took turns playing games. Jamie also likes the Monopoly pinball game that Geoff has, and is hapy to put coins into the machine and fire the ball. We were home pretty late, but he had slept late enough himself that he was still doing well until we got him into bed.

2005-10-01 24:06 (John) Jamie and I took the TTC to the market, even though by the time we were ready to go my dad was there with the car. Jamie just prefers the subway, and I don't blame him. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do with this part of our weekly schedule when my parents go to Mexico.

We were running late by the time we got there, but I'd called ahead to ask Nupur of Raani Foods to save us Jamie's samosas (see picture). He ate one up quite quickly and then fell sound asleep, staying that way for over three hours, long enough for me to finish doing the rest of the shopping, including walking down to the Queen's Quay Loblaws and back to King Station to subway home.

In fact he didn't have much else to eat today, so perhaps he's just finished a growth spurt, or maybe he needs a bit more exercise. I made him a potato salad from a recipe I'd asked Alison for the last time we were at her house, and he enjoyed it, though mainly for the opportunity to pick olives and onions out of it to eat. And he didn't say no to ice cream at Dairy Queen afterward either.

2005-10-02 21:30 (John) In the morning, Kristen set up Jamie's easel for the first time and let him paint and crayon at it. Jamie enjoyed the experience and stayed surprisingly clean.

In the afternoon, we drove around looking for a new clothes washer to replace the one that came with our house five years ago, and whose bearings are shot. We decided on a Frigidaire FTF2140ES, which is a widely available and relatively inexpensive front-loading washer. We tried Tasco first, where they promised us 110% of the difference if we found a store that advertised less than their $1000 price within three months. I say "we", but I sat in the car with sleeping Jamie while Kristen checked things out there.

Then I went into the Bay and Sears at Yorkdale while Kristen sat with Jamie, at least until he woke up and they went looking for lychee bubble tea. To make a long story short, we found the best deal at the Bay, where they were willing to come down from their list price of $1050 to $950 right away without being asked, then down to match Future Shop at $899 when we pointed out their price. The Bay however does installations (which Future Shop doesn't), and does them for free (while Tasco charges $150). So come Friday (the day after Jamie's root canal), we'll have a new washin machine. Whee.

Jamie was very well behaved at the Bay, largely because the washers were next to the vacuum cleaners and we took turns letting him try out all the thirty or so vacuum cleaners on display.

We spent half of the $300 or so that we saved by shopping around on winter clothes for Jamie, as the mall was full of excellent seasonal clothing sales. Then we bundled up back into the car and went to Pearls for huachinango* tikinchik*.

Jamie has been quite attached to a soft plush frog today, one that he's had since he was a baby. Every time he went in the stroller, he insisted that he have his frog and a blanket to keep it warm.

2005-10-03 22:00 (John) We were all a little tired this morning after a weekend of late nights, but routine got us through our Monday. Jamie spent a fair amount of time outside with Mio in the morning, thanks to unseasonable mild weather (26°C/79°F). He fell asleep on schedule during his walk with Ken and fell asleep for the usual three hours.

When he woke up at the schoolyard, we played for a while, at one point arranging four old stumps under his direction so that he could step from to the next. He tried that for a little while, then clearly asked "go?" and was delighted when we understood this the way he intended, as the Japanese number "five" and brought him a fifth stump. We've been working on his number sense for a while now, counting everything we can in English and Japanese (the latter using both "ichi, ni, san" numbering and "hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu" numbering), but this is the first time he's produced a practical use of it.

2005-10-03 25:12 (Kristen) Jamie was very tired once we got home from Browning and our usual Monday night dinner, and was having fun running up and down the hallway playing "bye-bye!" with me and John. He brushed and flossed his teeth, and ran about. Then he got me and John into the bathroom, and ran into my legs, burying his face into my skirt. I was wearing a longish skirt with lots of material, and I wrapped it around him in a hug. He plunged off to my right, still wrapped in the material, tripped over the foot stool, and fell head first into the floor. When I picked him up, he was taking a breath to scream and we saw that his mouth was covered in blood. John ran to get ice while I cleaned off his mouth and saw that his chin was cut, and that he was going to need stitches. John's dad brought over his car, and we were at East York General within twenty minutes of Jamie's fall. He was very upset, and his lip hurt a great deal, but he hated the ice that I had to apply to his chin and much of his yelling was for me to stop putting the ice on his face.

Once we got to the hospital, we found that only one of us was permitted to stay with him: there is a new virus that struck a nursing home and Scarborough General that has caused the province to invoke SARS-like protocols, and Jamie was very upset at first that John and I had to wear surgical-style masks that covered most of our faces. I explained to him that it was to make sure that Mummy didn't give any germs to the sick people (not the best of explanations) but he calmed down a little after it. (John: I just told Jamie I felt like playing "inai-inai-baa" (peekaboo) with him tonight, and he gave me a "Do you really think this is the time and place for it?" look but didn't complain.) John and Jamie stayed in the waiting room while I paced outside and called my mom, Gary and Ayami, and John's parents to tell them what was going on. John and Jamie watched Totoro on John's computer, and John finally got Jamie to sleep in the unfamiliar surroundings around 12:30 . Around 12:45, they finally got to see Dr. Emmanuel Kanetos, who said that Jamie's teeth were not at all loose, and that he didn't need stitches; nowadays, believe it or not, they use a surgical version of Krazy Glue. Hunh. Still, much better than stitches, and lasts for seven to ten days. John and I think that he whacked his chin on a wooden turtle that we had been using for a doorstop in the bathroom, and said turtle is now on a high shelf in the computer room, where it will not be in a place to injure Jamie again.

Jamie is asleep in bed, and didn't wake up once after he fell asleep at the hospital. John is doing all right now that Jamie's all right himself, and I am pretty upset and shakey, but improving now that I can hold Jamie again and know that any scar he gets will likely be a little one.

(John) If you're squeamish you may wish to skip the rest of this entry. Dr. Kanetos examined Jamie, who at that point had been asleep for about ten minutes. It was a good time, as he's usually quite sound asleep for at least half an hour after falling asleep. The doctor thought at first that Jamie might have managed to pierce the skin below his lower lip all the way through with a tooth, but th geometry didn't look right, despite the resemblance of the inside and outside wounds, each a fairly deep wound looking like it was caused by one tooth. Then the doctor considered using one suture in and one suture out, but after consulting with the resident settled on nothing for the inner wound and glue for the outer one.

Jamie stirred a little while the doctor swabbed the wound clean with sterile gauze and saline, but calmed down as I talked to him. The actual application of the glue and the squeezing closed of the wound didn't bother him a bit, and the rest of the evening has been uneventful (touch wood).

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

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