Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 20

2006-02-21 20:00 (John) Jamie woke up at 7:30 this morning and had breakfast with Mom. We've been encouraging an early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule with him, because it makes for easier mornings three days of the week with day care and swim classes, and will make it easier for us to see Mio and Taka off next week. I can't say that it feels especially natural.

Jamie and I spent the morning together. We played trains while we watched Trifina vacuum and then wash Jamie's Scrabble rug. Jamie had been curious ever since I brought the rug cleaner over from my mom's house what it was for and how it worked. Then we went upstairs and Jamie helped me put away laundry (putting each person's clothes in the right dresser) and start a new load in the washing machine (The Bay is currently alleging that they will deliver on Saturday the new washer we paid for on October 1st). This took a surprisingly long time, at the end of which we sat down to watch Thomas the Tank Engine on DVD for half an hour, and then it was lunch.

Jamie and Kristen went to Browning for lunch. I took a nap, got ready for my afternoon and caught up with them just in time to see Jamie off with Ken. Ken said it was a brisk walk, especially with the headwind on the return, but Jamie slept soundly for almost three hours.

When he woke up, Daniel was there, dropped off by Tami to go visit one of his old teachers at Jackman with me. We grabbed our snacks to go, went to say hi to Carol Morgan and then took a tour of the first two floors of the school. We went outside and played in both playgrounds (senior and junior), and came home for hot chocolate when our cheeks were rosy red.

I should add that Jamie directed all of our itinerary in his usual firm but fair manner. I wonder when he will stop being so bossy.

Kristen made polenta for dinner, Jamie and Daniel played at our house for a while, and now we're getting ready for bed.

2006-02-22 22:32 (Kristen) John has been fabulous taking care of Jamie now that Mio is no longer doing so, but it was Wednesday (John's hell day), and it was my turn. I decided that it would be a good idea to take Jamie to the library, as I had some books to return, and it had been a while since we'd gone together. Jamie wasn't sure about leaving the house, but promises of a subway ride convinced him to put his coat and boots on.

We took the bus down to the station, and transferred to a streetcar. Jamie made us sit at the back (his favourite place), and was happy staring out the back of the streetcar until we got the library. Once there, he tore through the books, pulling book after book off the shelf and asking me what they were about. We found two books about trains, which pleased him immensely, and he managed to stay still for a little while when I read them to him. I searched for some other books for him, but nothing really caught his interest. Finally, the books that a little boy his age was reading attracted him, and left me time to find some picture books for him. We finally left with The Sun Is My Favourite Star (which is all right, but not fab), Blueberries for Sal (which he does like a lot), and a train book from Doring Kindersley (which is a little outdated, as it lists the TGV in France as the fastest train in the world, rather than the JR500 in Japan, but that's OK).

Jamie got a little wild, so we left. He decided that sitting at the very front of the streetcar was acceptable, but he wasn't going to be put off of a subway ride. We ended up going from Broadview a short way east, then back before catching the bus home. He ate some lunch (not a lot...he hasn't been very hungry today) before I took him for the first part of his nap down to the Second Cup. John met me at 2:30, and called a little before 4 to say that Jamie was awake, and happily drinking his hot chocolate and whipped cream (where Jamie gets his extreme sweet tooth is beyond both of us). He made John take him to Treasure Island, and I met them there. John left, and Jamie played for a while. I bought him a copy of Curious George, since he likes monkeys, and he is old enough for more complex stories. He likes it, and I've read it to him four times today, and Blueberries for Sal three times.

John picked us up at Mocha Mocha near Treasure Island, and we headed off to the Scrabble club. Jamie had a good time reading books and running around, and wasn't tired enough to fall asleep on the way home. He's playing with Gary and Ayami now, and I'm about to put him to bed. Hakobune tomorrow.

2006-02-23 21:10 (John) Jamie slept in a little today, but was in a fairly good mood, ate breakfast (Kristen made tamago-no-gohan for everyone) and was willing to be talked into going to Hakobune day care. He told me though that we were driving, and since we were late and the weather was nice, I had no objection. I followed the same route that we would have taken by public transit, and called out the names of all the stations along the way.

Jamie seemed tired and a little nervous all day. I suspect that his teeth may be about to move a bit again, but am not sure. He's been getting better at telling us about pain and localizing it, thanks to now several-times-daily (if not hourly) role-playing with ambulances and hospitals.

At Hakobune, Jamie weighed in (for his monthly checkup) at 14.5 kg (32 pounds) and at home we measured him at 91 cm (almost three feet). That's about 70th percentile for height and 80th percentile for weight, by American standards.

Jamie was not especially happy at my leaving him to go work, but today for the first time he was much less happy about having to leave Hakobune at the end of the morning, so I suppose that's progress. He wanted to eat his lunch at the day care, and we tried today but I'm not sure we'll repeat the experiment. They have a rule about minimal adult supervision at the children's table, and Jamie still eats much better with close supervision; they also don't start eating until 12:30, by which time we need to be leaving in order to get home in time for his nap/walk.

Crafts today was making ohinasama*. More on this, with photos, tomorrow once the glue dries.

I drove Jamie straight to Browning to meet Ken and Kristen with the stroller. We arrived a little early, so I got out one of Daniel's old tricycles for Jamie to ride. It was a lovely day for this time of year, sunny, dry pavement and maybe 5°C (41°F). He did much better than he did last fall, and had the idea of pedalling with his feet if not quite the requisite coordination. He was also easily distracted by the horrific imaginary body count he racked up: five babies and one doggy run down in as many yards, all sent by ambulance to the hospital for miraculous recovery.

When he woke up from his nap at the Second Cup, and after the usual Rice Krispies square, I asked him if he wanted to go to the playground or to the toy store. He told me that the slide hurt or could hurt him, and so he was a little scared, so we went to the toy store. We spent much of our time there playing with Folkmanis and other hand puppets, mainly of a Godzilla-type monster and a Super-Dinosaur (complete with tights and cape). Super-Dinosaur rescued many a toy train from the evil clutches of the monster.

I made gyoza* for dinner, which Jamie enjoyed slowly over the course of the evening. I was out for an hour and a half at a meeting of the Jackman Garden Club, and Gary and Ayami helped look after him. In fact, as I finish writing this, I can hear the happy sounds downstairs of Jamie burning off the last of Gary and Ayami's energy for the evening.

2006-02-24 20:30 (John) Jamie said "No day care!" this morning, but was willing to be persuaded to go, and for the first time did not cry when I left him there. He finished producing his Girls' Day ohinasama* and was playing with Hiroki when I came back to pick him up. Hiroki was "baking" layer cakes out of Duplo. Jamie was skeptically hoping that real cakes would result, and went as far as picking up a slice and bringing it to his mouth. Then he stopped in mock horror at the realization that he'd picked up an imaginary piece of cake with his bare hands, and spent a few seconds cleaning the imaginary icing off his fingers. My son can't stand even imaginary things stuck to his hands.

I mentioned to Mrs. Sasaki that we'd managed to measure Jamie's height last night once he got home, and when she recorded his current 91 cm height in the book she said "That can't be: he was only 87 cm last month." We checked, and he was and he has grown 4 cm in one month.

We had lunch with Hiroki and his mom. Jamie remembered that Hiroki didn't like red grapes, so he picked one and held it an inch in front of Hiroki's repulsed face, maniacally grinning and insisting "Chihiro [Jamie confuses Hiroki's name with that of the Miyazaki character] budo [grape]!" I'm not sure who he gets this from.

Jamie fell asleep in the car finishing off his grapes, and transferred to the stroller for his walk without trouble. He did however wake up about an hour earlier than usual, and to keep him busy I took him to the shoe store. I'd put two and two together and got four centimetres, deducing from his growth spurt and reluctance to walk outdoors that his shoes must be too small. He's now just a little bigger than a seven wide, and the helpful salesman at Corso's said that Jamie his Dad's wide flipper-feet so Jamie is now walking comfortably in size 8W running shoes. The salesman showed them to Jamie in the mirror and asked him if he liked them, and Jamie gave an enthusiastic "eeYEHus!". I asked him if his feet hurt and he said no, so Jamie's all set until his next growth spurt.

Then we went to Treasure Island Toys and saw one of the staffers unloading brand new rolling Thomas The Tank Engine rolling stock. Jamie grabbed the very first Old Slow Coach out of the box, said "Pay!" and ran to put it on the cashier's counter without waiting for my response. It's been a useful engine though, as I was able to get him through the rest of the afternoon by suggesting to him that the Old Slow Coach might want to go for a ride in the stroller, go visit Daniel for dinner, etc.

2006-02-25 19:20 (John) We had a good inch or two of packing snow early this morning, and rather than shovel it I got Jamie (and Mio and Taka) to help roll it into large snowballs that ended up making a snow sculpture inspired by the polar bear story in the Japanese book that we read each night. It's a rather abstract mother polar bear sitting in front of a baby polar bear sitting in front of a snowman.

Jamie and I drove Gary to Yonge and Dundas, naming all the subway stations along the way. When I drive Jamie downtown now, I always follow the subway routes so we can point out the subway stations, and I do my best impression of a Japanese subway driver announcing the next station name.

We got to the St. Lawrence Market a little late, in time to hear the cathedral bell sound noon. Jamie went straight to Nupur for our samosas, bolted one and a half of them down along with a chunk of turkey kielbasa and a bottle of apple juice, then caught the last few minutes of playtime at the Early Years Centre.

He looked tired and drowsy so I thought he might fall asleep in the South Building, but instead he grew increasingly goofy and obsessively contrary, I suspect because he had missed his morning bowel movement. He ate half a banana and a lollipop from Wei, then a bowl of mango ice cream from St. Lawrence Ice Cream and Pizza. We saw a long freight train go by into Union Station, and Jamie counted cars in English "One, two, three, four". He also chatted amiably with what I would guess was a nonagenarian named Madeleine, after first asking me if she was Yubaba, the old witch in Spirited Away.

By the time we got home, it was 14:30 and Jamie was still awake and clean of bottom, but he fell asleep in the stroller as Kristen prepared to take him out for his walk. He woke up two and a half hours later with us at the Second Cup, had a Rice Krispies square and a hot chocolate and came home to play first with Mio and Taka and now Gary. On the way home he tried poking his finger through the rip in the stroller's weather cover, then stopped and conducted a little conversation between his two index fingers where one of them told the other that he wasn't supposed to poke his finger there and made him apologize and say he wouldn't do it again.

Still no poo, so I've persuaded him that baby elephants (of which he is one right now) are fond of plums, and am waiting for them to take effect.

2006-02-26 19:11 (Kristen) Jamie woke at 7:00 AM this morning in one of his foul, dictatorial early morning moods. I took him downstairs and watched a little Zaboomafoo with him to distract him, and it worked until it was time for breakfast. Then, he asked for ice, and I gave him some, thinking that his mouth was hurting. Then he asked for honey toast and egg, but insisted on having me hold his ice for him at the same time. Faced with the impossibility of his mother accomplishing both tasks at the same time, he flopped forward in impassioned frustration at the waist and bit my knee. I think that he might have bitten whatever had been there--chair, cloth, other item--but he did give me a good chomp. I yelled, which scared him, and yelled "No biting! That hurt Mummy!" Jamie of course burst into tears, and I held him on my lap as he cried and I explained that you should never bite people, no matter how frustrated you are. John appeared a minute afterward, and we spent a morning together in a moderately better mood afterwards.

John drove us to swimming class today, since it was pretty darn cold outside (-12 C, but warming up!), and ended up staying to watch Jamie swim. His regular teacher wasn't there, but a replacement teacher was (named Jeanine). Jamie clung to me the entire time, but did a very good job of kicking, and Jeanine suggested that Jamie might be more comfortable swimming on his back if he rested his head on my shoulder as he did. Jamie's been pretty phobic about being on his back, but this worked like a charm, and he enjoyed watching his feet as he kicked. Yay! We went to playgroup afterwards, and Jamie had a great time with playdoh and puzzles.

John picked us up to go to Leslie and Peter's for Rail Baron around 11:45, and Jamie fell asleep five minutes away from Leslie and Peter's house at 12:17. We put him in the stroller and left him in the sunroom, where he slept for an hour and a half, until a crying baby woke him up. There were two infants present: Simon, Leslie and Peter's son, and May, two month-old daughter of friends of Leslie and Peter who were also playing. Jamie enjoyed watching the babies, and even asked at the end of the visit if he could hold Baby Simon. He did very well. Highlights of the afternoon included Jamie vaccuuming up every olive he could find, and playing with blocks, an abacus, and a jack-in-the-box.

He also ate two pears, which did the trick of "p" fruit to get Jamie's intestinal tract back on track. He's eating up a storm now, but has taken time out to play with Gary and Ayami now that we're home. An early night for everyone, I think.

2006-02-27 21:00 (John) Kristen modestly forgot to mention yesterday that we won at Rail Baron. I am slightly less modest.

Jamie has been very thoughtful lately. Whenever he sees that one of us has a headache or is tired, he comes over to give us a hug and sometimes a kiss, a pat on the back and a "There, there."

Kristen looked after him for most of the morning, with me working downstairs so that Jamie could at least know where I was, and when Gary woke up Jamie went downstairs for a visit. Mio and Taka fed Jamie lunch one last time and took him up to Sobey's by way of a detour on the way to his walk with Ken. The nap walk was abbreviated, as Ken had to do some shopping en route and Jamie woke up an hour early coming out of a store. Jamie was in a good mood though, if tired, and was happy to spend more than an hour hanging out with me at the Second Cup before Kristen took him off to Treasure Island Toys.

Jamie's also very funny, and very much aware of humour even when he doesn't fully understand it. He will laugh hilariously whenever anyone else does, and is quick to join in on jokes. Ross was running around the house looking for Tom, shouting "Dad! Dad!" tonight, and first Gary, then I started pretending we were Tom: "Yes, Ross? "You're not Dad!" Jamie chimed in with "Yes, Ross?" without missing a beat.

(Kristen) I also forgot to mention that when Jamie was playing with the abacus yesterday, he very deliberately counted off "6, 7, 8, 9, 10." He didn't count off that many beads, I don't think, but he may have. I was too busy picking my jaw up off the floor to make proper note. He can't count to 5 reliably (he likes the number 5 too much, and likes to skip 4 in particular to get to it), but apparently can get from 6 to 10 without difficulty. I'll report back as to whether or not this was an anomaly.

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 19, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 21.