Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 18

2006-02-07 11:08 (Kristen) I jinxed myself but good last night: Jamie woke up at 4:30, kicking and upset, but we were able to settle him down. No such luck at 7:00, when he sat up, rolled out of bed, and we proceeded to snarl at each other until 9:00, when Mio rescued us both. Bah. There isn't enough coffee in the world to make me productive today.

2006-02-07 21:01 (Kristen) I am sorry to add that Jamie has been turning into a music fascist. I was reading Dan Savage's book Committment, in which he describes how his six-year-old son D.J. is in charge of the car music, and likes Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, with a nod to the White Stripes, much to Dan's everlasting despair. I laughed and sympathised, and think that Jamie will soon be the same. For now, he has imposed a moratorium on parental singing and dancing. I am not allowed to sing any tune but a small group of three or four accepted and approved songs ("Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," the ABC song, "Ba Ba Black Sheep," and possibly one or two other nursery rhymes). I am allowed to play music on the radio or on a DVD player, but I am not, under any circumstances, allowed to dance. Jamie is a benevolent but firm music fascist: he will repeat himself until the message gets through, grabbing the face of the parent in question and looking them in the eye if they do not behave in a timely manner. John says that he gets the same treatment, and Gary is also banned from singing unless he sings thrash metal songs, which Jamie finds hilarious and therefore acceptable.

We are trying to come up with a reason for this. One is that Jamie is cursed, like his Uncle Ted, with perfect pitch, and that John and I are out of pitch. We don't think that we are, but may torture Ted the next time we see him to find out for sure. It doesn't explain the ban on rhythmic parental movement, where I know that I'm on beat. He may just find that embarrassing, or possibly worries that dancing will lead to another sibling. We're not sure. In the meantime, we have to confine our singing to subvocalizing, and dance in the privacy of the bathroom when Jamie lets us go by ourselves.

2006-02-08 22:14 (Kristen) Jamie woke up a little before 8:00 this morning, after I dosed him with Children's Advil last night hoping to avoid him waking in the middle of the night in pain again. He's starting to exhibit teething behaviour again, and I know that the top left molar is due. John tried (heroically) to get Jamie to go downstairs with him. Jamie was dead set against this, however, and I was his chosen victim...ahem...companion for early morning activities. Mio took over around 8:50, and I was able to go upstairs and get some work done before lunch at 12:00. Gary managed to get most of it into Jamie before I took the boy out for his afternoon walk. I was going to meet my friend Leslie and her son Simon for coffee (Simon is 2 1/2 months old, and very cute), and wasn't sure if Jamie would fall asleep in time: he's been falling asleep late lately. I shouldn't have worried: he fell asleep halfway down the block, still muttering "no nap, no nap, no..."

He stayed asleep for almost two hours, and his first word was (you guessed it) "toys?" We peeled out of the Second Cup swiftly, as there were no rice krispie squares to be had (sold out! augh!) and I didn't want Jamie to realize that he was missing his usual treat. Successful, Leslie and I walked over to Treasure Island, and had a good time before she and Simon left for home. Broadview Station finally has its new elevators working, and Leslie was happy for that news. Bumping a stroller down the subway stairs is not on anyone's list of favourite activities.

We played at Treasure Island for a while before coming home. Jamie was delighted when we ran into Taka and Mio on the way home, and they looked after him for a few minutes while I talked to our neighbours. We had dinner, and Jamie spent the evening playing with Gary while I got caught up on some work and John went to the Scrabble Club. Jamie came up at 9:00, ready for bed, and he was bathed and in bed by 9:50. He's sleeping peacefully, and we'll be up tomorrow to take him on the subway to Hakobune.

2006-02-09 21:58 (Kristen) Jamie woke up in his customary bad teething mood this morning, and was not happy at all when he asked for me to go on the subway with him and John as they were leaving for Hakobune, and was turned down (in my defence, I was wearing pajamas). John says that Jamie cried his heart out the whole way there, calling "Mummmyyy!", and only stopped crying around 10:20. John says that a few subway riders offered the supportive words, "Guess you're not the flavour of the day." Helpful TTC riders.

Jamie calked down enough for John to leave, and John says that the routine is for Jamie to sit beside Mr. Sasaki as he does paperwork and read books. John picked him up at 11:30, and they ate lunch together. I called around 11:45, and when John put me on speaker phone, Jamie took the phone and walked off with it to have a private conversation with me. When we met at the bus stop on John and Jamie's return, Jamie was happy to see me until I put him in the stroller for his nap and walk with Ken. I made it clear that I was staying with him, but he was Contrary Boy: in that mood, if he wants to walk, it's only until you put him down that he wants to walk; then he wants to be carried. Then he wants down. You get the picture. When he realized that I wasn't going to carry him but just hold his hand, he started crying for John. I got off more easily than John did, though, as Jamie fell asleep about five minutes after that.

He slept for an hour with Ken before he woke up, which is pretty normal for Teething Boy. We went home, and Jamie showed me how to eat a rice krispie square while wearing mittens: a true Canadian. He played with our tenants, and stayed with Mio while John and I went to a doctor's appointment. He was playing outside with Mio, Taka, and Gary when we got home, and came in to warm up when we did. We watched his Classical Baby: Dance DVD, and there is an episode where little babies dance to a samba. Jamie looked at John while watching, and said "Daycare?" Maybe day care isn't so bad. Jamie ate dinner with us and had a good time until we bored him, and he went to find Gary and Ayami. The brought hiim up at 9:50, and Jamie is now bathing with his dad. We'll hope that tomorrow is a better day for him.

2006-02-10 21:50 (John) Jamie slept very soundly last night, for the first time since in a few weeks. He eventually woke up after we had changed him into his day clothes, as we were putting his coat on. He munched quietly on a popsicle on the way to day care, and Kristen went along with us as far as Castle Frank station to call on a client. He was still pretty placid when we arrived, but hungry, so I fed him tamago-no-gohan with salmon and umeboshi* that Kristen had made and then packed for him. He asked to go upstairs to play, and while he cried for a few minutes when I had to leave (I could hear his quavering screams of "PaaaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaPAAA!" through two but not three fire doors), Mrs. Sasaki told me that he sat in her lap for song time (a first), and joined the table for snack time, thanks to the grapes I left.

When I returned around 11:30, I almost talked him into sitting with me for story time, but he caught sight of a backhoe dumping dirt into a dump truck outside, so it was papa-dakko for a while. Then it was craft time, and he made Kristen a Valentine's card with a little bit of help. Mrs. Sasaki gave him the heart-shaped piece of construction paper, he had me draw a baby Diesel 10 and a mommy Diesel 10, he drew the tracks, and a large, fairly accurate fish. I gave him a round piece of paper to draw a face on, and suggested he start with an eye. He drew a large maternal Eye of Sauron filling up the entire disc. Then he stuck a bunch of glittery heart stickers, Mrs. Sasaki assembled it and we were done. Except that he was supposed to put a lollipop in it as a treat, and he was having a great deal of difficulty letting go of it.

I sat and watched all of the kids playing for a while. Little boys imagining all manner of mayhem with emergency vehicles, gun fights, car chases and kaijuu* (movie monsters). Little girls barricading themselves under tables to quietly read Sailor Moon to each other. One little girl who moved from her position with her back to a corner of the room only whenever Jamie gently moved her so he could reach his train track. Another little girl who kept building a stack of blocks for her brother to knock down. One little boy who was bawling his eyes out in Mr. Sasaki's lap all morning, calling for his mom. Etc.

We met Kristen on the way home, Jamie gave her the card and lollipop and Kristen offered the lollipop back to Jamie, much to his delight and relief. He fell asleep in the stroller clutching it in sticky fingers and slept for three whole hours, waking up asking for his lollipop back. After a quick snack, I left to go grocery shopping and Kristen took Jamie to Treasure Island Toys. He didn't stay there long though, as he decided he preferred the lollipop (admittedly a nice strawberry-and-cream flavoured number) to playing with trains!

Dinner was chili night at Michelle's house thanks to her mom Tami. Jamie showed off what he's learned from burping lessons with Gary. He has impressive volume, and can projectile-burp cheese. I think it's cool. Kristen doesn't seem to agree.

Jamie played with Gary while the rest of us taught Ayami how we play Hearts. (Viciously.) Then it was time for a few frenetic laps around the house with Daniel and off to bed.

2006-02-11 21:10 (John) Jamie woke up at 7:00 this morning after a late night, for reasons that were not entirely clear. He spent a noisy hour or two with Kristen and then with Gary, then I got up and we headed out for the St. Lawrence Market over his brief protest, quickly silenced by a chocolate brownie. It still boggles my mind that any son of mine could be such a sucker for sweets: I couldn't stand them until I was a teenager.

I had one harrowing moment crossing the street when Jamie pointed out that I'd dropped one of my gloves (he's the best one in the family at keeping track of possessions) but then didn't stay on the sidewalk where I asked him. When we got to the market, we went straight for the samosas, and he was at his cheeriest and politest for Nupur. We did the rest of our North Building shopping, then went to play at the Early Years Centre for an hour and a half. Jamie painted a big red heart (and his hair and pants), had a snack, observed a song circle from a safe distance, and was enthralled by blowing bubbles. I extracted him at 12:15 thinking we were cutting it close to nap time, and by the time I bought my newspaper in the South Building ten minutes later he was already flopping limply on the floor. I revived him with the promise of a lollipop (first word out of his mouth this morning) from Wei's son's stash, and he fell asleep at 12:45 with the sucker stuck to his jacket. I raced to Mike's Fish market, back to the car, revved the engine to cover the sound of the cathedral bell tower, making it home at 13:11.

At that point, we thought he was still in the first half hour when you can hang him upside down without waking him, but failed to move him to the big stroller. I took him out for a little walk, but brought him home when he asked to, and he cuddled with Kristen for an hour or so. Then Gary had to go out, so Jamie and I tagged along until our ways parted. Jamie was eating an apple but unwilling to put on his mittens in the -5°C (23°F) weather (to be fair, neither was I), but it's a long walk to the toy store so we stepped into the Second Cup halfway there to thaw our fingers. Jamie had the whipped cream off a hot chocolate, then burned off the energy spending an hour in the church playground across the street, playing with a sled, a basketball, and one of the play structures, which he informed me was Bloor Subway Station, pointing out where the train was ("Hurry, Papa!" as the doors were closing).

This came to an abrupt end when he started urgently saying "Pee!", so we ran back into the Second Cup, juggling my tea, his hot chocolate, the stroller and the Boy Who Must Be Carried. He actually managed to hold back a few tablespoons for the length of time it took us to get into the bathroom and remove his boots and three layers of lower clothing, for which he was lavishly praised. Then we walked more or less to Treasure Island Toys, sometimes flopping down on the sidealk with fatigue, sometimes running at top speed when possessed by the spirit of Diesel 10. Leaning against the train table there led to the usual bowel movement, but our stay was otherwise uneventful.

He was looking tired and didn't struggle as I put him into the stroller on the way home, and insisted on the contrary that I bundle him up snugly. I was not surprised therefore when he fell asleep near the house, and I let him sleep for an hour while I made gyoza* for dinner. He woke up ravenously hungry, and ate almost as much as I did, definitely more than Kristen. At one point, he pointedly took a gyoza* off of Kristen's plate and put it in his bowl. I hope we all get to bed sooner tonight.

2006-02-12 20:00 (John) Jamie giggled himself awake today saying "Haku! Funny!" We're not sure what that Miyazaki character was doing that was so funny, but when I asked Jamie after he opened his eyes if Haku was funny, he said "Yes!" and started to giggle again. We bundled him up quickly for swim class and put him in the car with the stroller as the temperature was a frigid -13°C (9°F) with a brisk wind. Jamie started going on about densha* (trains), and when I told him we were going swimming, not on the subway, he gave me a "Dad, you can be pretty dense sometimes" look, indicated the snow brush in his hand and overly clearly enunciated "Densha mitai" ("It's *like* a train"). I dropped him off with Kristen for his lessons while I went to a market-research preview screening (a six-part drama entitled "At The Hotel", to air on CBC in a month or two, not bad, starring Maury Chaykin inter alia).

Kristen says that swim class went okay, but Jamie was very concerned about another boy in the pool, who was screaming the entire time. I'm guessing he's the boy I heard screaming from a block away as he approached the community centre. Jamie practised kicking and pushing off, and had a lot of fun being pushed around on a floating pool mat.

Jamie got slapped by a little girl at the play group afterward, for no good reason, but just looked puzzled and did not retaliate. He enjoyed the rest of the play, and did not want to go home at the end.

After lunch at home, I took Jamie out for his walk. He decided that we were going to go shopping for lollipops, and was quite talkative about the matter, but gradually nodded off as we approached the Danforth at Arundel. Just as we crossed over the subway though, a train passed, which Jamie heard through the ventilation shaft, perking him up again. I thought I was going to have to take him into the candy store, but he closed his eyes again just as we reached it. I pushed him a block further to be sure, but this time he was solidly out.

The Second Cup was packed, so Jamie napped at the back of the store for an hour and forty-five minutes, eventually finding it too difficult to sleep through the noises of coffee being ground and brewed. When he woke up, the boy at the next table was eating chocolate cake to celebrate his mother's birthday along with his godmother. Jamie asked for cake, but chose cherry cheesecake (with some guidance), and ate almost all of a slice by himself. He was horrified that the boy could get so much chocolate on his face and not wipe it off, and equally shocked that there was as much on the floor not being swept up, and even offered to get a broom to clean it up himself.

After the boys were finished with their cake, they both jumped down and started showing each other around their favourite# parts of the cafe, hand in hand. It's the first time I've seen him actually being sociable with a child more or less his age, so I started chatting with Burhan's mom, Salma (sp?). She said that her son was three years old, though he wasn't that much taller than Jamie, and a bit shy because he speaks only Turkish and when she takes him out to places like community centres most of the kids speak English. This didn't seem to stop Jamie, who managed to teach Burhan to say "ookii taiyou" (big sun, referring to a mural enclosing the notice board at the cafe). We exchanged phone numbers and I hope we can meet at a playground the next time the weather is nice.

Jamie took me over to the church playground, where he tried to dig in the sandbox but learned how damp sand behaves in February, then played for a long time with the playground's sled.

We stopped at Alex Farms' Adventure in Cheese on the way home, where Jamie excitedly pointed at all the cheese and the clerk gave him a handful of cheddar cubes to eat on the way home. Except we only went home to drop off the stroller, because what Jamie really wanted to do was go to Browning and try out all of Daniel's sleds that I'd been telling him about. We passed on the toboggan that I used to use as a child, and which has since seen a lot of use by Daniel and Ross, and chose instead a small yellow toddler sled. At Jamie's insistence, Daniel came outside to play, and the three of us took turns pulling each other all over the nearby front yards.

Jamie fell off the sled into the garden at one point while I was pulling, and got a mouthful of frozen dirt. Yuck. I didn't think he was too badly hurt, as he kept saying "Itai! Itai!" ("It hurts!") - as opposed to yelling it or just crying, but when we got home we found he had scratched and bruised his temple.

I thought we were going home when it got cold, but Jamie pointed out that we could just go inside at Browning to play with trains and have hot chocolate. We eventually had to get Daniel to go back outside with us to escort us home, and I was glad to get some use out of Daniel out of all the years I spent doing similar things with him :).

After a quiet evening in, it looks like Jamie is getting sleepy, so we'll hope for another earlyish bedtime.

(Kristen) John says that Jamie really likes the heavy-duty mittens that we bought for him, that have a zipper up the sides for easier application. John told him that he had to be careful because the zipper coupld pinch, and our Drama Queen says, in a very earnest voice, "No pinch! No pinch!" when John puts them on. Then, when John is finishing off zipping the mittens past Jamie wrist, Jamie will get a certain look on his face and yell "Itai! Itai!" ("It hurts!") just to mess with his dad.

I should also add that Jamie's oni* (demon) mask was at the breakfast table this morning, and was deemed kowai* (scary), forcing his mother to flee in terror from the breakfast table at least twice.

2006-02-13 21:00 (Kristen) Jamie slept in until 8:00 this morning, waking up in a good mood. He chose his own breakfast (honey toast and grapes), and went off to play with Mio at 9:00. Gary came up at one point, and there was much hilarity as Gary played "fishing" with Jamie, and there was much running around. When I came down to feed Jamie lunch at 12:05, Jamie was happy to eat his lunch in Mio's lap, and then to take her upstairs to play with Taka before he was taken out for his walk with Ken.

Jamie only slept for 40 minutes, and was awake when John met Ken at the Second Cup. Jamie flirted with a little girl, and drank his hot chocolate with a spoon again (so that he can point out full, or "mummy" spoons vs half-full, or "baby" spoons). He played with boxes of tea for sale ("Mummy, look! Blueberry tea!"). He also ate his krispie and some of John's cookie before I met them and took Jamie to his usual apres nap destination: Treasure Island. Jamie insisted on walking the whole way to the store, and pushed the stroller (often fast) much of the way. He played until I told him that it was time to go, and was content to ride in his stroller on the way back. We stopped off in Book City, where one of the clerks and I had a conversation about Japanese. I mentioned that people around Jamie (no names mentioned) use the less polite "urusai" to indicate someone is being noisy, at which Jamie let out a piercing yell to indicate that he knows what "urusai" means. Sigh.

We've spent the evening at Tom and Michelle's for our usual Monday night dinner. Jamie sat at the table and ate for the first part of dinner while sitting on a phone book. He felt a little unstable, however, and soon moved to my lap. He spent the rest of the evening running Gary and Ayami off their feet, eating pineapple and cake, and watching the Olympics with the rest of us. He finds the Olympics boring, but it can be interesting sometimes when the skaters go fast-fast.

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 17, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 19.