Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 4

2005-11-01 21:20 (John) It's another grey November day, Hallowe'en is behind us and the countdown to Jamie's second birthday and our trip to Europe is quickly ticking away. Jamie was up at 6:30 this morning, which is a little hard on us (especially Kristen) but we're not trying to discourage him as we'll need to shift by five time zones when we go to London anyway. He made up for it by taking a record four-hour nap in the afternoon, and what he does tonight and tomorrow is anyone's guess.

(Kristen) He was up at 6:30, and running around the house by 7:30, and Mio took him out to the park by 10:00 or so. They stayed out for almost two hours, and so I think that his record nap was in part due to a good deal of exercise. We ate lunch at Browning with Ross, Mio, Taka, and Gary, and Jamie started his nap with Ken before John took over at the Second Cup. I stayed home and worked on a project that I have to have finished before we leave for London, which is unnerving me somewhat.

He was in a very good mood when he came home, and we vegged out a little in front of the television. He's getting very very good at imitating sounds, and he really does know more than he is able to let on. We ate dinner at John's parents' house, and Jamie enjoyed eating a lot of fish, and playing with the blocks that were John's when he was Jamie's age. He had been very much looking forward to seeing Gary and Ayami, however, and when we came home the first thing that he did was look for them. We are all in the basement now, playing Katamari Damaci and playing with Jamie. It's a nice household.

(John) The Katamari video game reminds me of how Jamie's vocabulary is snowballing every day. His Japanese and English are still keeping apace, everywhere he goes he names the things he knows and happily absorbs the new words you teach him.

2005-11-02 22:39 (Kristen) For the first time in a month, Leo wasn't at the community centre with his dad. We hope that they come again next week, since we have such a good time with them. Jamie coped by playing with a Thomas the Tank Engine pull toy that was a gift from our club member, Idelle Weinstock, for Jamie's birthday. He nearly went out of his mind while we pulled all the little plastic twist ties off the wheels so that we could get it out of the box: then, he talked non-stop about Thomas, Annie, and Clarabelle (the two passenger cars that Thomas pulls). However, he wanted to watch the train as it went, so that meant that Mom had to pull the train. Once I found a piece of string to lengthen the cord so that my back wasn't bend double, I found it much more pleasant to listen to the conductor. Idelle also gave Jamie a Thomas DVD, which I think will be on high rotation soon. Jamie also enjoyed making a train out of two dollies, and having John push him around on them.

Jamie has been much pickier lately about what he's willing to eat and what he's not. At first, I was frightened that he was going to stop eating the wide range of food that he has happily enjoyed, and was going to become the Terrible Toddler, who eats three foods and never vegetables. Turns out that Jamie is just bored with the food that he's been getting, and that we're not varying his menu enough. He didn't want egg this morning, but happily ingested miso shiru and rice for lunch, and John's mom made him a noodle and salmon dish for dinner instead of mapo tofu. He ate almost the entire thing over the course of the night, including the green stuff. I hadn't made the miso shiru for a while, and sometimes it takes me a little while to realize that there are food that he likes that I haven't made in a while that I should try again. This behaviour (need for variety) is a lot like me.

On other fronts, his left bottom molar continues to come in, and he played outside with Mio for two hours, including a visit to the subway station to watch streetcars. He woke up at 6:30 again, but went back to sleep while nursing for the first time in weeks, and I actually got to sleep in until 9:00. Boy did I need it, and I think that he did too.

2005-11-03 21:14 (Kristen) Tonight, Jamie successfully used the potty twice, without being prompted. The first time was rather funny: I knew that he hadn't peed in hours, and was expecting something to happen any minute. He had sat without result for a little while, and I let him get up. He walked around for a minute or two, sat down without any fanfare, and peed into the potty. Bam. Later, he was visiting with Gary, and started jumping around and getting upset. John brought him upstairs, thinking that he had pooed, but I didn't see anything and we put him on the potty again. Sure enough, he peed. By George, I think he's got it.

Tomorrow morning, we'll try again, and see if he keeps it up. If he does, that will be just fantastic: that's two diapers that I haven't had to change already! Maybe this is more detail than many people want, but I'm really proud of him right now.

The weather was beautiful today, and Jamie spent much of it inside watching television with Mio and playing with cars, trains, and other toys. He did go for his walk with Ken, and was woken up by the backhoe across the street when John brought him home around 3:30. We ended up watching the backhoe across the street for a while before going inside. We played a little, and he played with Mio and Gary too. He gobbled down his dinner of red beans and rice, and spent his usual evening of playing with the nearest available adults.

I have noted that Jamie displays a remarkable lack of separation anxiety. Is this a function of living in a busy household with lots of people, or is he just secure? This morning, John and I went out for errands, and Jamie just waved and said "bye bye me" (bye, Mom) as he watched television with Mio. We get hugs when we come back, so that's all fine, then.

He's also turning into a good, polite little Canadian. He doesn't say "sorry" yet, but he does say thank you to people quite spontaneously. The funny thing is that he'll then thank the people around him one by one as well, even if they haven't done anything, if they smile or praise him for it. It's really lovely.

2005-11-04 21:30 (John) Jamie was in a fine and mischievous mood today, and spent his waking hours as he usually does, playing with all of his friends, adult and child. After dinner, he waited until Daniel had finished serving himself a bowl of ice cream before reaching out for it and saying politely (if gleefully) "Thank you!"

Ross was quick to spot Jamie's new Thomas the Tank Engine, and inspected it carefully before disapproving of the child-safe undercarriage.

He appears to have gotten over being disturbed by fallen leaves cluttering the landscape, and will gleefully go running through piles of them. Tomorrow, we must rake up the leaves in the front yard for him to play with.

(Kristen) I can't think of what to add, other than he was unbearably cute today, and willing to give me Big Hugs three times in a row, running to me from across the room. Just when you need to feel loved, there's your toddler. And he's so soft, and kissable, and he has the best laugh! It was a cuddly day, which was fabulous, since I had a headache and wasn't much fun, otherwise.

2005-11-05 22:30 (John) Jamie had plans for the day, and we didn't get the memo. Our first inkling of this was at about 9:45, when he started insisting that it was time to go visit Toby (the toy train) at Treasure Island (the local toy store).

Kristen reminds me that there might have been an earlier indication, when he woke up with the scream "No Floss!", but I think that was just a continuation of a bathroom discussion from the previous night.

Fortunately, Kristen had nothing better to do than to take him to the toy store until I was ready to take Jamie to the market. After I dropped Kristen off at the library to do some research, Jamie fell asleep and slept for two hours while I shopped at the St. Lawrence Market.

He woke up when he noticed that I had bought the Wrong Pizza (mushroom pesto, rather than tomato, olive, onion and goat cheese) and marched me back to the pizzeria to correct the error. The Right Pizza kept him busy through Loblaws (where he made the man behind us in the checkout line laugh by saying "Thank you, People!" when the man picked up Jamie's dropped juice box - anyone that Jamie doesn't know is "people" to Jamie) and almost all the way back to pick up Kristen.

Then (again from the missing memo) Jamie said it was time for Mommy and Jamie to go home on the subway. Downtown traffic being what it is on a Saturday afternoon, they easily beat me home from Spadina station, so I suppose it was a sensible decision.

(Kristen) There wasn't much left on the agenda, thankfully; leaves had been swept and run through, Treasure Island had been raided, and all the chores were done. He corralled Mio for an hour while I dealt with clothes for him (divided out by age and season) that were needing to be sorted. In his big boy underwear, he had one accident and two successful attempts to use the potty. We took him to Tom and Michelle's and set up a potty there, but were just a minute too late: he knows that it's there now, and I hope will start to use it too. He's doing really well, so far.

In fact, tonight in the bath, he started to pee when he got into the bath and his feet got wet. He stopped peeing while he asked John for a proper receptacle, and then finished what he was doing when it was promptly provided. There's a sure indicator that he's ready!

John tells me that Jamie dropped his juice box in the lineup at Loblaws, and a man picked it for him. Jamie looked at the man, and said (with little hand sign) "Thank you, people." The man laughed, and Jamie said it again. We tell him to look out for people, and to be nice to people, and so on...he has assumed from this that all people who don't have a name are called "People." Logical.

Tonight, while watching some Thomas the Tank Engine videos, we were watching the episode called "James Goes Buzz-Buzz-Buzz." In the episode, James the Red Engine is stung by a bee, and Jamie was very upset by this, even when I told him that James was OK, and that the bees just wanted to go home (rather than hang onto the warm engine). He didn't believe me, however, and was happy when the episode was over.

Jamie's birthday is in less than a week, and it is soooo hard to stop buying presents for him. We know that we should, but when you spend that much time in Treasure Island while your son plays with trains, it's hard not to spend anything. Smart people, the Treasure Islanders.

2005-11-06 21:50 (John) There were high wind warnings today in the region, with gusts of 90–100 km/h reported. The wind was so strong that Jamie let me put the rain shield down on his stroller! It's also blown all the leaves off the trees in the neighbourhood, and thank goodness Jamie is finding that amusing rather than horrifying.

My mom commented over dinner that Jamie's pronunciation is getting much clearer. It's certainly quite clear to Kristen and me, and I'm glad that my mom thinks so too. When Jennifer looked after Jamie in at the NSC in August, we gave her a quick rundown of his vocabulary, which while less distinctly pronounced was smaller and easier to for an adult to pick up. I was a little concerned about Laraine and the WSC next week, but less so now.

Jamie fell asleep last night watching Totoro while lying on my stomach, something he had never done before. I think he finds both the movie and me much more boring than he ever did before. :) Tonight, after reading a few books Kristen asked Jamie what he wanted to do and he broke from normal routine and didn't ask to watch a video, instead curling up on her chest to fall asleep. I think he's figured out that sleep is something good, fun and more importantly an activity that he can consciously initiate.

2005-11-07 23:45 (Kristen) Jamie woke up this morning in one of his (mercifully infrequent now) fugue states, where he demanded water, but wouldn't drink. He finally went back to sleep nursing (the sun was up, he was entitled), and crashed out until nearly 9 o'clock. He had a good morning, playing with Mio, and then ate lunch with Gary and Ayami. He wasn't wearing a diaper and was too engrossed in watching Pingu to notice the signs...my first clue was when Ayami cried out and I felt a warmth on my back (Jamie was leaning against my back, looking over my shoulder at the television). It was a prodigious amount of pee, and he succeeded in wetting me, himself, and Gary and Ayami's couch. I am washing their blanket for them. Jamie wasn't too pleased either, but he made up for it this evening by waiting until his father had undone the diaper and had the cup ready before he peed. A step back, a step forwards.

He slept for two hours, and woke up when Ken dropped him off at the Second Cup. John kept him happy with a krispie, and by teaching him some hiragana. Jamie can read "papa" in Japanese now, and recognizes his vowels. Yay Jamie! Then they went to the park, played, and I met up with them on their way home. I was walking with Gary when I called out to Jamie, who gleefully ran past me and into Gary's arms. He then made Gary carry him and chase Mio at the same time, to riotous laughter. I was grumpy, and Gary laughed and laughed. Tonight, however, I went out to play Trivia while Jamie stayed with John at Browning for the usual Monday night gathering. When I got home, Jamie had been brushed and flossed, and was bathing. When he got out, he clung to me, and wanted some quality "mom" time: he read three books with me, and fell asleep on me without any videos for the second night in a row. It seems that all other parts of the bedtime ritual can fail, but John and I have to be there. That's pretty cool, although John finds Jamie's willingness to jettison parts of the ritual, willy-nilly, is somewhat disturbing.

I should also mention that Jamie had a fabulous time raking leaves, and jumping in the huge leaf pile that we made for him. It's a good life when the leaves come up to your shoulders.

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

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