Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 3

2005-10-25 21:45 (John) Last night Jamie and I took a longer bath than usual, as Kristen was out playing trivia and so we were on Jamie's schedule. One big plus for me was that Jamie insisted on thoroughly scrubbing my back, paying especial attention to either a birthmark or a scratch (I can't see), which he decided needed extra care to make the "itai-itai" (ouch) go away.

Kristen thinks this is part of his general thoughtfulness, which includes making sure everyone gets to eat when he does (whether they like it or not), and checking when people make sudden noises that they aren't injured.

He has spent a fair amount of today being a Scary Baby, which involves making what he thinks is a scary face (I would describe it more as a fierce grin) and roaring as he chases terrified adults around the house. It's a lot of fun.

I gave Jamie some hot chocolate at the Second Cup today because he seemed a bit chilled from the fall weather. He was interested in it, but not obsessed with it, as say with Rice Krispies squares.

2005-10-26 22:35 (Kristen) Jamie woke up around 7:45, and lazed in bed, nursing, until 8:15 when he went in search of Mio. I made him some honey toast (a little bit of honey and a lot of margarine on an English muffin) and some "special egg," and he also ate some frozen blueberries. Then I went to yoga, and met up with Jamie and Mio on their way home when I was coming home myself. Jamie had been to the park for the first time in a while (it was also the first day in a while that it wasn't raining), but his little hands were cold and they were coming back. He stopped to watch a wood chipper, but soon came in for lunch. I was so tired from my yoga class (and from the six hours of sleep I'd had the night before) that I went to bed, and John fed Jamie lunch. I was awakened by the sound of John calling for help, and I ran downstairs to find that Jamie had fallen asleep in his highchair after eating a large lunch. He was asleep a full half an hour early (yay park!), and we managed to get him into the stroller and out the door for his walk to the Second Cup with John.

I joined them an hour later, armed with a drink box of juice, but Jamie slept until 3:00. He groggily, and a little grumpily, ate his "krispie," and I walked him towards home. I thought to stop by the schoolyard, as it was almost time for school to let out, and we met up with Ross and Michelle. Jamie perked right up when he saw Ross, and they played "bye-bye!" all the way to Tom and Michelle's house. We went in, and Jamie happily played with Ross, and then with Ross's trains, and when Ross left, he watched Ross's Thomas The Tank Engine videos. His teeth are bothering him again, and I think that contributed to his strength of will today.

Dinner was at John's parents' house, where he didn't eat much food but drank a lot of Sai's protein drink and orange juice, and then it was off to the Scrabble club. Leo was there, which was great, as well as a crew refinishing the floor in the main part of the community centre. Jamie was fascinated by the "big nu-nu," and was happy to watch them work on the floor for a good part of the evening. He wandered into the main playing room, and John explained to him that he could stay if he was quiet. He seemed to understand: when they left the room, Jamie apparently turned to him with a sly grin and said "Noise?"

He fell asleep in the car, after eating a whole banana and some apples. He woke up for a minute after we got him home and into bed, but John seems to have calmed him down to sleep again.

We got a package in the main from Ron and Suzi Tiekert today, addressed to a certain about-to-be-two-year-old. His birthday is in two and a half weeks, and we're leaving for London in three. Where did October go!!!???

2005-10-27 23:02 (Kristen) When we got home from Jamie's walk this afternoon (Ken dropped him off to me at the Second Cup, and Jamie was awake a few minutes later after a 90 minute nap, sigh) I decided that I didn't have enough challenges in my life and thought that I'd give toilet training Jamie another try. He had accidents every half hour for two hours, and then managed to successfully use the potty (well...he sat down while peeing, but didn't get it all in, but we're not quibbling) twice. A poo mishap and a successful pee-in-a-cup later, and we weren't doing that badly. He's starting to realize that the wetness he feels is because of the pee, and that the potty is connected to that feeling. The first few times, he sat on the potty *after* peeing, but it was a start. The funny thing was that I would sit him on the potty at first for five minutes every half hour, but he would inevitably fight me only if he had to pee.

I'll keep working on it with him this weekend, if and when I can, but will use pull-ups instead of regular underwear out of deference to our various hosts. I think that he's going to get the hang of it relatively quickly.

In other news, he woke up aroun 8:15, played well with Mio, and watched more television than usual because I was much more tired than usual. Unsure why. He watched Pingu with Gary, and ate a big dinner. I think that he needs to eat more vegetables, as he is getting fussier about which ones he'll eat. He's always up for some fruit, so I am not worrying too much yet.

He's excited about the trip this weekend, and about seeing his grammie, his aunts and uncles, and his cousins. I think that it may be why it took a little longer than usual to get him to sleep.

2005-10-28 24:15 (Kristen) We were up at 8:15 or so this morning, in preparation for our trip to Ottawa and Kingston this weekend. Jamie was happily entertained by Gary and Mio, and then by Gary, Mio, Ayami, and Taka, as everyone got in their time before being parted for the weekend. I think that they are all going to miss Jamie, and vice versa.

We were on the road by 10:20, which was only half an hour later than we had planned, after saying bye! to the denizens of our house, and to John's mom, who generously supplied us with trip food. Jamie was a little tired, but we didn't realize how tired until we hit the 401 and he was asleep by 10:40. John and I looked at each other and shrugged: we then drove like heck, stopping not, until we got to Kingston. Jamie woke up just before we got there, for a morning nap of not quite two hours.

Jamie was very excited about the trip, and we kept him focused by telling him that he was going to see Auntie, his cousins, and Grammie. He was particularly interested in seeing Owen, and when we stopped in Kingston to visit with our sister-in-law Alice and have some lunch, Jamie's first request when he got inside was to see Owen. We explained that this was Mimi and Ian's house, and he calmed down. He particularly enjoyed playing with their train set, and visiting with the family hamster. Alice brought the hamster down in its cage, and Jamie lay down on the floor, rapt as he watched it. He loves to watch animals so much, that I think that it won't be long until we have fish, at least, for him to look at and learn to care for. It's getting harder and harder for us to think of reasons why he can't have one, although our choices are certainly limited by lifestyle and allergies.

We got back in the car, and stopped once to let Jamie run around. He enjoyed that until he fell and scraped his knuckles on his right hand (he wouldn't let go of the train he was holding when he fell). It hurt him a good deal, and he was disturbed by the blood: he kept saying "red ow, red ow." John distracted him with ice cream, but it kept him from falling asleep again until 5:00, less than 20 minutes from my mom's house. He woke up when we brought him in, but after spending some time in John's arms, watching his cousins, aunt, and grandmother, he decided to join in the fun.

The rest of the evening was spent playing "squish" with me, running around with his cousins, playing with Owen's toys, and eating a truly prodigious amount of pizza, ice cream cake, and popsicles. He had his bath, watched Rubbadubbers with his cousins, romped on the bed, and fell asleep without too much difficulty around 11:30. Tomorrow, it's back to Kingston and the annual Kingston-Toronto Scrabble tourney.

2005-10-29 24:19 (Kristen) We were up at 8:00 this morning, after a restless night that saw Jamie wake up crying twice. I was wondering if his teeth were bothing him; sure enough, his bottom left molar has finally broken through the gum. Yay Jamie! Poor Jamie! We raced to get dressed and out the door to breakfast with everyone at a local diner, which was very crowded on a Saturday morning. We ate quickly once the food arrived, and ended up taking Jamie's blueberry pancakes in a to-go box for the car. He really enjoyed his meal, and his time with his cousins in Ottawa.

Once on the road, stuffed with blueberry pancakes, Jamie fell asleep for almost the entire drive to Kingston. He woke up when we stopped outside the hotel that the tournament is in, and was very interested in little Alexander Boys, who is the new son of our friends Kate and Dave and is only two and a half weeks old. John and I kept marvelling at how little he is in comparison with Jamie, and Jamie marvelled at how Alexander got to nurse and he didn't. We ended up going for a walk with Kate and Alexander, and ate some lunch at The Sleepless Goat. Jamie ended up eating most of Kate's sweet potato quesadilla, and was a little owly by the end. Sure enough, once pointed into the sun, Jamie fell asleep as his eyes shut. This time, he fell asleep for another three hours, which amazed and unnerved me, as I began to wonder if he was either catching up on some sleep, or if he was sleeping all he was going to sleep for the day. We ate Indian food with a large group of Scrabblers, Jamie got a closer look at Alexander (fascinated, but unsure of how one touches a baby), and we ran about again while waiting for Ted to come and take me and Jamie back to their house for the night.

Jamie enjoyed playing with Amy and Ian, and was fascinated when Alice put her hamster into a hamster ball (an exercise ball for hamsters, where you put the hamster into a large plastic sphere). He wasn't quite in control of his own strength, however, and gave the hamster ball an overly enthusiastic swipe at one point early on. We explained that this hurt the hamster (who seemed only a little dazed), and he was much better at watching and not touching after that. It was a fun but quiet evening, and he wasn't too bad at having his bath, teeth brushed, and then going to bed without John around. John ended up coming home early, however, and so we all were able to have our usual good night routine. He was asleep close to midnight, but that's not much of a surprise, given how much he slept today.

2005-10-30 22:52 (Kristen) The first thing that Jamie did this morning upon waking up was to go downstairs and demand the "hamsterball," very clearly, by name, and over and over and over again in a rapid-fire fashion until we broke and Alice got one of the dwarf hamsters out and let it run around. Jamie was delighted, yet again, and patted the ball very gently whenever the hamster rolled by.

He was awake around 7:30 (6:30, really, with daylight savings time...ugh), nursing and squirming until I broke an hour later and we got up. We had a large breakfast together with Ted, Alice, and the kids, while John went off to the Scrabble tournament. Ted, with the kids, drove me and Jamie downtown for noon, so that we could have lunch with our friends Mike, Alison, and their almost-one-year-old son Rohan. Jamie and Rohan seemed to get along, although I wonder if Jamie was wondering where all the little babies were coming from. At one point, Alex Boys, Rohan, and Jamie were all in the same room, making three boys at 0, 1, and 2 almost exactly, and respectively. Jamie fell asleep (he was warm, and I think that his teeth were bothering him quite a bit) around 12:30, and he slept for the hour and a half that we were in the restaurant, having lunch. Rohan, on the other hand, was very active, awake, and happy, and watching them hold him and keep him entertained reminded me so very strongly of what life was like with Jamie only a year ago. You would think that this blog would help me keep a sense of the passage of time, but I'm finding that other babies are the triggers for the strongest memories for me.

Jamie woke up just as we were leaving the restaurant, and wasn't very happy. His teeth were causing him to cry "itai! itai!," but he started to perk up a bit when I fed him some banana (donated by Mike, Alison, and Rohan), and some of John's lunch, whinc we delivered as soon as we left the restaurant. We had a good time with them, and then it was time to go back to Ted and Alice's for dinner. More fun watching television, playing with his cousins, eating Chinese food, and with trains and cars later, it was time to go. He got his birthday present from his cousins, which was a very cute turtleneck, pat, and sweater set, and a box of die-cast construction vehicles. Ooooo. I don't think that Jamie noticed the clothes, but he sure noticed the vehicles.

He fell asleep in the car around 7:40, as expected, and we arrived home a little after ten. He woke up when we turned the car off, but John got him inside and back to sleep quickly. We'll be in bed soon ourselves, as I am sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jamie will be up early tomorrow, given his early bedtime. Or maybe he'll try to catch up on the sleep that he missed today, with the adjustment to standard time, and a slightly shorter-than-usual nap.

Heh.

Riiiiight.

2005-10-31 21:04 (Kristen) I was right: Jamie was up around 6:30 this morning, before the sun was up, and demanding his morning nurse. I managed to keep him in bed for an hour before we gave up and went downstairs. My sister gave him a big bag of toys when we were in Ottawa, which included one noisy toy dragged on a string, and one "popcorn popper," which is a plastic dome with little balls that go "pop pop pop" inside as you push it around on a long stick. I had one when I was Jamie's age, and apparently loved it as much as Jamie does. My mother hated it, and is probably laughing now. Come to think of it, she may have given it to my sister's kids in the first place. She looks nice on the outside, folks, but inside she doesn't forget *anything*. (Love you, Mom!)

Jamie is still adjusting to standard time, and fell asleep in his high chair at 12:20. We got him into the stroller and I got some work time in at the Second Cup before he was taken out by Ken, and returned by 3:00. He woke up when he came in with Ken, and then we took him back out to buy him winter boots and pick up some groceries from John's mom. We gave him some dinner, and tried to get him ready for Hallowe'en. He was having none of the bunny costume, and while we eventually got the body on him, we never did get him to wear the ears. John wore them instead, and Jamie had fun running around and watching all the weird costumes and strange people and goings-on. The scariest thing that he saw, however, was a car covered in fallen leaves. "Oh no! Happa bu-bu!" or "Oh no! Leaves on the car!" He did say "Scary house" when we passed by a particularly haunted house on the second pass, but wasn't as disturbed by that as he was by the leaves.

We played for a little at Tom and Michelle's, when Jamie saw me eating a small box of Smarties, and that was the last that I saw of the Smarties. He can fit a good number of them into his mouth at once. Then it was time to come home, and he's playing with Gary and Ayami while we get ready for the bath and bed. We're trying to get to bed earlier and earlier over the next few weeks, as we try to prepare ourselves for the time shift between here and London. We're already one hour on the way there!

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 2, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 4.