Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 11

2005-12-20 20:59 (Kristen) Jamie woke up late again today, and is sleeping about eleven hours a night. I have been told that kids sleep longer at night when they give up their day naps, but we're still not ready for that yet. He had his usual morning, and played at Browning before going on his walk with Ken.

I think that the cold wind we had yesterday was what kept him awake, as he won't let us put the rain/wind shield down. He almost fell asleep on Broadview, but started up when a gust of cold wind hit his face. I held his hand until he was almost asleep, and then he let me go as he went on with Ken. I got a call less than an hour later, however, from Ken telling me that Jamie was awake and calling for me. I met them at the Second Cup, and Ken left while Jamie decided that he had to have every pastry in the store, and roar about like a mad thing. He was pretty upset when I initially arrived, and while he cheered up, he was still hard to handle (for him). In the end, we left to go on the subway with John, but not before one woman with a one-year-old told me that she felt for me. Sigh.

We did some shopping, and dropped off a present for our dentist at his office. Jamie walked a good deal of the way, and wanted to push the stroller very fast in the Eaton Centre. We had a bit of a struggle in Sears, as my phone rang and he wanted to run all over without the stroller. We made it to meet John who was coming back from his errand, and went home. I had coffee with a friend to decompress, and Jamie played with John, Taka, and Mio.

Today's bit of bad news came with the phone call in Sears, as Gary called to tell us that Taka had not gotten his work visa, so he and Mio will be going back to Japan at the end of February. We hope that there will be enough time to get Jamie into the Japanese-language day care we've talked about, and have a transition time between when he starts and when Mio leaves. We're quite upset, not only because Mio and Taka have been good tenants and friends, but because Jamie is going to miss Mio so much when she's gone. It's what we've dreaded all along, and had hoped would not happen for some time to come. We know that he'll like day care, because he enjoys other children, and so we hope that we can get him a place that we can afford, and that he likes.

2005-12-21 20:28 (Kristen) Jamie's cold has gotten worse, and his little nose is all red and chapped. John took him for his afternoon walk this afternoon, and wasn't able to put him back at all: he wakes up, and there is something about being supine that disagrees with him deeply. It could be a breathing problem, or something else, but he only slept for an hour and a half today, and lightly at that. We'll hope that it eases up tonight.

He slept restlessly last night, spending most of the night on my chest, which is a sign of his not feeling 100 per cent. He also had nightmares, which is unusual. Today he was quite clingy, but in a sweet, affectionate way. I've had many kisses today, and lots of lap sitting and cuddling. I am, of course, sucking it up like a sponge while I hope to God that I don't get Jamie's cold for Christmas. Probably too much to hope for, there.

John has gone off to the Scrabble club tonight, while Jamie and I stay home. We ate some miso shiru* with rice, which helped, and he watched some Kiki's Delivery Service. He's playing with Gary and Ayami right now, and Mio has said that she'll make him some special rice gruel in the morning to help him feel better. With lots of love, and some comfort food, we'll have him on his feet in no time.

2005-12-22 23:10 (John) Jamie's feeling somewhat better today. He's certainly got more energy, and we should perhaps have let him exercise more today, as he only napped for an hour and is having trouble falling asleep tonight. Kristen walked him to Bloor and Yonge in the afternoon so that she could get some shopping done while he napped, but he was for some reason quite perturbed when he woke up that I wasn't there, and I got an earful on my cellphone ("Papa here please!") so we met at the Second Cup for the usual post-nap routine.

In the evening, we set up the outdoor Christmas lights and the (indoor) Christmas tree, with Jamie helping decorate the tree for the first time. He's quite dexterous, and has no trouble putting ornaments on trees - or taking them back off again!

2005-12-23 21:56 (Kristen) Jamie slept in this morning until almost 9:00, and woke up in a fine and pleasant mood. He was a little groggy, but his nose seemed clear for the time being. He had the usual sort of morning, and had fun over at Browning for lunch. He particularly enjoyed eating all the raspberries that he could inhale, thanks to Tami's recent trip to Costo.

Ken wasn't up to taking Jamie out for his walk this afternoon, and we had a number of errands to run in the afternoon by car. So, instead of putting him into the stroller, we put a tired little boy into the car. It turned out to be the right thing to do, as he slept for almost three hours in the back, as we went hither and yon across the city. For the last week, he has woken up too early, and has been hysterical and impossible to please when he's woken up for up to an hour afterwards. Today, he was a lamb upon waking, and was easy to get along with and a happy boy. Sleep makes a verrrrry big difference to Our Boy , and we're thinking that we're a little ways away yet from his dropping that nap.

Dinner was at Browning, and he was happy to watch Thomas, play in the basement, and play with trains. He's downstairs with Gary, and ready to come to bed now.

2005-12-24 23:46 (Kristen) Jamie woke up late this morning, which wasn't all that surprising given that he woke up soon after initially falling asleep, and was awake until close to midnight. His cold continues to ease away, to much rejoicing. His parents are beginning to wonder if they're catching it, however, to less rejoicing.

Jamie went shopping with John on a quick St. Lawrence Market run this afternoon, and fell asleep between the time that John got out of the car and the time that he got to the other side. John successfully got him into the stroller, however, and ended up spending some quality time at a nearby Second Cup after the shopping was done. He finally decided to walk Jamie to the nearby Loblaws after Jamie had been asleep for two hours, and Jamie woke up soon after they hit the outside air. They drove to Loblaws, but spent a good deal of time in the upper-level parking lot, watching a freight train pick up empty cars to (we assume) leave the city with. There were a great many cattle cars, and Jamie was rapt. They eventually tore themselves away, and went in, where Jamie was Very Helpful. He pulled the cart like a locomotive or sometimes pushed it, and helped John put the groceries on the automatic checkout scanner. Then it was time for home, where he played with whoever was available while John and I got Christmas organized.

He enjoys pulling ornaments off the tree and playing with them, and I've been finding the odd ornament here and there around the house as I neaten up. I haven't caught him doing it yet, however, which is probably for the good. We headed up to my Auntie Millie's to spend Christmas Eve with her and my cousins Scott and Jeff. I've been doing this for twelve years now, and it's a fine tradition. We were late (another fine tradition), but in time for a fire, lovely munchies, and some fun conversation. Jamie received some lovely scented drawer liners (really for me, I think!) and some Alpha-Bees, which are plastic bees that link, and can be put into a hive. This was perfect for Jamie, who enjoys putting things into other things, especially when he's tired.

The funny thing that Jamie did was make a beeline for my grandfather's old recliner, and sit right down in it, like it was his. He grinned like mad, and was happy to have me rock him back and forth for a while before it was time to do something else. Around 10, we put Jamie into his pajamas, and started to get ready to go. This was the signal for a fine game or three of chase, and he was a very happy, if hysterically tired, boy when we got in the car. He lasted almost until when we got home, and held my hand when he decided it was time to sleep. Then he was out like a light, and he's still sleeping peacefully. Tomorrow is Christmas, with its craziness, presents, and toddler stimulation overload. It's going to be a fun, fun day, and I can hardly wait to see Jamie's face when he sees his presents.

2005-12-25 25:03 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at 9:15 this morning, which I think may be the latest he sleeps in on Christmas for the rest of his childhood. He wasn't in the best of moods, and needed some coaxing to go downstairs to open the few presents that John and I had ready for him (to avoid present overload, we divided the loot more or less evenly between home, Browning, John's parents' place, and Ottawa). He opened two, and that was it for the morning, as he wanted to play with the things that he opened, rather than continue on for new stuff. I kind of like that in a boy... he's not been bitten by the greed bug yet.

(John) He enjoyed Agnes' "Der kleine Eisbär Puzzle Spielbuch" but found it frustrating that the book was designed so that some of the bumps and holes of the jigsaw puzzles were in the puzzle frames, which were bound into the book. We're working on that. We only had time to open one of Craig Rowland's presents, a 15-piece jigsaw puzzle that Jamie identifies as featuring Mavis (the friendly diesel) from Thomas the Tank Engine. It took him four minutes to do it the first time, and rather than wanting to disassemble it right away, he for some reason wanted to bring over his two- and three-piece puzzles of ducks and monkeys to play with Mavis. Always full of ideas, my son.

(Kristen) We made it to Browning by 10:30, in time for breakfast and the traditional wait until everyone was finished to start in on the presents. Jamie opened two of the trains from me and John (Gordon and the breakdown train), and Duck from Mio and Taka, and the Chinese Dragon car from Gary and Ayami. He got lots of lovely gifts, but those were the ones that made him stop everything and play. We didn't get far with gifts, again, but that was fine. It was close to 2:00 after he had had lunch and was in his stroller, and that was just too late. He was hysterically tired, wanting his mittens off and on at the same time, and I needed to stop at one point to pick him up and try to calm him down. Eventually, only going on the subway would make him stop crying, and we travelled out to the Main Street station and back. We got off at Chester, and went to the Second Cup (I needed a coffee). He got a shortbread cookie shaped like a tree, with green sprinkles on it. He licked the sprinkles off until the cookie broke and I had to explain to him that you can't put cookies back together. He finally fell asleep just before we got home, and I took him around the block again to make sure that he was asleep (he was... lightly).

John and I took advantage of the situation to visit our neighbours with their gifts, and gratefully accepted a drink and conversation at Karen and David's. We left Jamie in the (cold) vestibule, expecting him to stay asleep. Nope...half an hour later, he was up and upset. We brought him to say hello, play with Alexandria, and to meet their new (nine-week-old) half-Siamese kitten (as yet unnamed). Jamie liked the "baby meow," but didn't like having to get dressed again to go to Tai Tai and Ho Ho's for dinner.

He cried the whole way, and I sat with him for half an hour after we got there as he calmed down and resumed his usual sunny mood. He chattered away with Nobuko and Tomoko, played with his new bulldozer, puzzle, and a little windup plane, which caused much amusement as we made it go off the ends of the coffeetable repeatedly, crying out each time "Taihen!" ("Oh, no!") as in a similar situation in Kiki's Delivery Service. He ate cranberry sauce and stuffing with gravy (a favourite), all his vegetables, and demanded much "pie." He can now keep his aunts straight because Nobuko is to be called "Baba," just like John and Ted did when they were kids. He had a great time calling out roll call around the table.

Then it was time to go home, and we got ready for bed. He played with Gary and Ayami, playing the roll call game again, until he was too tired to think, and it was time to sleep. He's sleeping like a little log, unsurprisingly, and may wake up late again tomorrow, unless I just jinxed it, heck.

2005-12-26 24:30 (Kristen) We got up around 9:00, and it wasn't until close to noon that we finally blasted off for Kingston. Gary and Mio were stalwart in helping to look after Jamie while we did the thousand and one things that still needed doing before we left.

The trip went uneventfully, as Jamie was happy to look for trains along the 401 until he fell asleep an hour later, and he slept (for an hour and a half in total) until we arrived at Ted and Alice's place. He was a little out of sorts at first, but was happy to play with Ian and Amy, see Ian's new trebuchet, and to visit Ian and Amy's track and hamsters. Jamie received a Thomas the Tank Engine travel case from his cousins, aunt, and uncle, and also enjoyed lunch and listening to Ted play Christmas carols on the violin.

We got back on the road around 4:30, and thought that we wouldn't be in Ottawa until close to 8:00, what with heavy Boxing Day traffic and iffy weather. As it was dark, Jamie was happy to watch Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs, and to drink some hot chocolate from Tim Horton's. We managed to make it to Ottawa by 7:15, and ate Chinese food, and played with Becky, Anna, and Owen. After dinner and some Christmas pudding (saved for tonight for us, thank you family!), we opened gifts in the usual frenzy. Jamie actually asked for a few gifts to open when others were still tearing open theirs, and he opened James and Toby from me and John. Grammie gave him some lovely clothes and the mineshaft for his trains, while the Dahl family gave him a Duplo version of James the engine and some track. Jamie pointed out that the big James and the little James were the same. It was a good deal of fun all round, and it is already 11:15, and Jamie is not in bed yet. He's bathing with John, and threatening to "act crazy." I'd better save someone.

(John) Jamie's cousins were having fun throughout the evening imitating voices from the latest Harry Potter movie (which we haven't seen yet), in particular one teacher shouting "Potter!" Jamie got right into the act, and had us all antiphonally chanting "Potter!": great fun for all.

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 10, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 12.