Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 8

2005-11-29 21:05 (John) We left Agnes, Carl, Miro and Ezra and their house at 7:45 in the morning, after exchanging heartfelt hopes that it would not be another three years before we saw them again. The cab got us through Stuttgart morning rush hour traffic to the airport in about 45 minutes, and we were greatly relieved to be able to check our bags in straight to Toronto.

(Kristen) There were an unusual number of small children on our (John: second, Frankfurt-Toronto) flight, which was scheduled to last for almost 9 hours. I thought to myself, "Oh good. People who will think 'That could be us' instead of 'can't you do something about your kid?!'" One little firl was right behind us, and she and Jamie had fun talking, feedling each other, and patting each other's hands. This was after Jamie fell asleep in his seat just before take off, and slept for four and a half hours. Definitely the best way to spend a long flight with a child. He woke up in a beautiful mood, and stayed that way until we were almost in Toronto, when he started to tire again. We read books, watched a little Pingu (our DVD player decided not to work, so just a little on John's computer), and did puzzles.

Tami Sagara picked us up at the airport, and drove us (and our stuff) home. Mio, Taka, Gary, and Ayami were all there to meet us, and we were thrilled to see them too. Jamie spent the rest of the evening assuming his position, once again, as Lord Emperor, surrounded by his loyal subjects. We ate dinner at Browning, played with trains, and then came home to bath and bed. Mio and Taka gave Jamie his birthday present, which was a Gachapin video and a wonderful wooden box filled with picture blocks with Japanese hiragana characters on one side and pictures using those characters on the other; the Japanese version of letter blocks. but better. We're delighted with the thoughfulness of the gift, and Jamie thinks that it is a puzzle. Since he is obsessed with puzzles, we think this a good thing and haven't corrected him. We're all about to go to bed as soon as we can, happy to have been away, and happy to be home again.

When Jamie is very tired, he likes to do those things that he knows that he isn't supposed to do, like most toddlers. However, he also has an obsession for threading things through other things that is a big tip off for me and John that it's time for him to sleep. He also needs to clean his nose, and will happily take a kleenex from us once he starts.

2005-11-30 22:25 (John) Jamie woke up repeatedly last night due to jet-lag, but I'm not sure we wouldn't have woken up ourselves even without him. I was out of bed at 6:30, Jamie at 7:30, and after a quiet morning playing with Mio and a slightly early lunch, he had no trouble falling asleep in the stroller by the time we reached the Danforth.

When he woke up, he was happy to eat a Rice Krispies square, but then insisted on finding Kristen. When we got home, he made sure that all his people were present, and went back to playing trains in the dining room.

We had our regular Wednesday dinner of ma po tofu at my mom's, where again Jamie checked thoroughly to make sure nothing was missing or changed. Then I went up to the Scrabble club on my own, via a present delivery to Agnes' godmother Eileen Harding, and Jamie fell asleep around 20:00 in Kristen's arms, after being startled by a hammer pounding next door.

2005-12-01 19:07 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at 4:48, and did not go back to sleep. Instead, he yelled and cried until his sleep-befuddled parents figured out that he was hungry: he inhaled two apples, and two granola bars before slowing down. Well, it was almost 11:00 Germany-time, so it's understandable... He spent his time until 7:30 watching a Rubbadubbers DVD, while John and I either read or tried to sleep, ourselves.

Jamie spent the morning in his usual fashion, and ate lunch around 12:40. He had spent the morning snacking, so he wasn't too ravenous when lunch was produced. He had been up for almost eight hours at that point, and was Very Tired. He fell asleep before I even passed him off to Ken, who took him out for the afternoon. Ken returned Jamie to me at the Second Cup, where I had been waiting with a Rice Krispies square in hand. John arrived a few minutes after Jamie and Ken, and when Jamie woke up twenty minutes later, we both had our "krispie" squares in reserve. Oh well, we have one ready for tomorrow.

I took Jamie to Treasure Island to spend his birthday money from my dad and Nicole, and we came out with a Tidmouth milk tanker and two gold ore cars. Yay! Jamie correctly identified the milk tanker as a milk tanker when I showed it to him, and was quite excited about it. I was allowed to pick the other cars. He played for a while until Gary arrived, and we all walked back home. On the way, Jamie dropped some of his square on the ground, and I was reminded that he had stopped yesterday with John to feed some of his square to the local squirrels. I told Jamie that the bit that he dropped would be eaten by squirrels, which eased his agitation over the lost morsel. He brightened up and said "risu mamma?" (squirrel food?) I said yes, but that the squirrels wouldn't come while we were looking. We headed on home, and half a block later, as it was growing dark, Jamie said "Risu nene?" (squirrels sleeping?) I said yes, but that the raccoons would soon be out. "Bleah? he said with horrified glee, and we talked about garbage and raccoons until we got home.

He had dinner, and called for Mio and Taka any time he realized that they were out of the room. Finally, at 7:00, he asked to go to bed. We flossed and brushed his teeth, put him in the bath, and had him in bed by 7:40. I think that he was asleep at 7:41. John and I are laying in food for the morning, in case he wakes up hungry again, and are not looking forward to that 5:00 AM wake up call.

2005-12-02 21:30 (John) As we expected, Jamie was up at 5:00 A.M. but we were ready for him and took turns feeding him and playing with him until everyone else in the household was up and (sigh) the sun was up. He lasted until his usual 1:00 P.M. nap time, which I didn't, playing quietly with his trains and watching the occasional video. He then slept through until 4:00 P.M., waking up in time to meet one of our first tenants, Chie, who is back in town for a visit. We all had dinner at Michelle's house in the evening, and have managed to hang on to consciousness a couple of extra hours tonight, so perhaps we will be up a little later tomorrow morning.

When Jamie shouts for an adult's assistance, he's pretty random about the name that he calls. Often, he splits the difference and shouts for "Ma-Pa!"

2005-12-03 19:38 (Kristen) Jamie woke up sweetly around 5:55, with what I think was a kiss for me--it was either a kiss, or a gentle attempt at a face plant. He slid out of bed with a command of "mummy down" (which means that I am to get down from the bed), and we played quietly for a while until John got up around 9:00. I explained to him that we were the only ones awake, but that just amused him.

Jamie has his "people," with whom he spends time when he has a free moment. John and I are at the bottom of the interest pool, and Mio and Gary are the number one draws. After two weeks of being at the top, it's hard to be demoted, but given how tired I am, I can deal with the logic of it. However, we did get some time together when John and I took Jamie to the St. Lawrence Market. He slept through the market proper, eliciting oohs and aws from our regulars, and woke up as we were getting ready to go to Loblaws. He enjoyed that, but demanded that John and I stay in view. At one point, I was looking for them around Aisle 7, when I got a phone call saying that they were still in Aisle 2, and that they were Not Moving until I got there. Then all was well.

Jamie ate well for dinner, and is in a lovely mood, laughing and laughing in his bright, burbling way as Gary and Mio chase him around the house. Right now, he is downstairs with Gary, getting into some mischief or another. I can't imagine that he'll be up for much longer, but I'm hoping that he'll sleep in another hour tomorrow, and leave 6 AM far behind.

He is still obsessed with Thomas, trains and puzzles, and is dead set on having ALL his trains connected in one long super train. The problem is that a train that long likes to derail, so there is ample opportunity for 'oh no!'s and 'Mummy densha!" (his cry for me to fix his latest derailment). We can't convince him that a lot of smaller trains would be better: this is the only way. If you try to make smaller segments of train, he says in a worried, authoritative way, "Mummy no cut!" He is practicing his letters in English and his hiragana, but not making any progress on the toilet training (that's me--too tired to police). Otherwise, all is well.

2005-12-04 09:40 (John) Jamie likes chasing and being chased, which he calls either "get you" or "got you". When watching Totoro this morning, he delightedly yelled "Totoro got you!" when Mei chases the baby Totoro through the garden; and last night he was chasing me around the house yelling "Papa got you!"

The subject of yesterday's photo was an amusing rhapsody by Jamie when one of his Thomases the tank engine ran into a samosa that had been left in a bowl too close to the track. He tried first to say "Oh, no! Thomas! Samosa!" which came out "oh no mow muss mum oh saw" and the next few dozen iterations permuted the sounds with great hilarity.

(Kristen) Jamie got a new puzzle today, which he was happy to do with me and John, and later with John's mom after dinner. He still adores puzzles, and is very good at them, and also very good at getting other people to help him with them. He understands that puzzles can be social occasions. He can accomplish a 24 piece puzzle with a little bit of help, while 2-4 piece puzzles are too easy for him. He likes to do them, but they require no thought on his part.

Jamie is starting to wake up closer to his usual morning wakeup time, for which John and I are deeply grateful. We're not morning people, at all. This morning he woke up at 7:30, and was peaceful and happy to get up, have breakfast, and start in on a busy day of directing trains. He hasn't nursed since we got back from Germany, and seems to not be missing it. He needs to have his hands on my skin for comfort, but isn't even trying to nurse, or talk about it much anymore. Tonight, I tried to point out some nursing piglets in his new puzzle, as talk about nursing is usually good for a laugh on his part, but he refused to even notice that the piglets were nursing. I suppose that he's starting to grow up.

2005-12-05 21:14 (Kristen) Jamie was up at 7:00 again, and was happy to eat an apple rather than nurse. Two weeks of this, and I'll pronounce him weaned. John and I joke that apples have become an acceptable substitute because I drank so much apple juice while in labour: apples were his first taste experience. Either that, or he has apple juice in his veins.

It was a typical day, with a three-hour nap at the Second Cup while John and I worked, read, and drank coffee. Then it was over to Browning to play with Ross and Daniel while we made dinner. Tonight, our usual crowd was less Mio and Taka, but plus Chie, Leslie, Peter, and newborn Simon. Simon is about twelve days old, and was a great hit with everyone. Jamie was introduced to 'baby Simon,' and he smiled and said "wow." He wasn't so copacetic about me holding Simon, however, and pulled on my hand to play with trains whenever I had Simon in my arms. As long as the trains were running, however, he seemed OK with the situation, or was willing to tolerate it.

He tripped and fell as we were getting ready to go, which scared him somewhat (in addition to hurting a lot). He wanted to be held for the rest of the evening, until we convinced him to come home and find Gary and Ayami. He's downstairs as I write, and I will be heading down in a moment to drag him off to bath and bed.

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 7, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 9.