Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 24

2006-03-21 19:50 (Kristen) It's hard to tell if he's really teething or not. He's crabby, and he's drooling, but when I ask him if his mouth hurts, he blithely says "No." I don't feel a tooth where I expect one should be coming in, so I am full of dread, and wonder if this will be going on for a much longer time than I was hoping. Aargh.

Jamie woke up around 8:00, and we played with trains, had breakfast, and read some books. Gary came up and played with Jamie for a few hours, which was nice for us but harder on Gary, as he hadn't eaten much. I took Jamie to Ken for his afternoon nap, and he fell asleep at 1:30: this is much earlier than usual for the last week. Yay! He did, however, only sleep for an hour and twenty minutes, which was a Boo!, but he was very funny and very excited over the idea of going to Treasure Island. Apparently when I told him on the phone that I was coming down to get him and take him to the toy store, he told other people excitedly, and did a happy dance. He was also a Good Samaritan, and cheered up an upset baby by making faces for it. He's very interested in babies, and patted a young baby (maybe one year old, barely) at the train table when we got to Treasure Island.

We were at the store for almost two hours, but it wasn't enough for our boy: there was an unusual amount of teary protest when it was time to go. He was pacified by a little bug in a nut (a wooden toy that has a bug with mobile legs, which he loves), and the bug was his companion on the way home. He shared some cheese with the bug in Alex Farms (charming the staff), and was lots of fun on the way home. When we got home, Jamie and I watched a little television while John made dinner. At dinner, I gave Jamie a pair of children's chopsticks (joined at one end) with a panda at the top. The panda proceeded to eat its dinner, and was very hungry. It was eating to keep its energy up, then turned into a train and went through a paper towel tunnel. It's important to keep up with the imaginations around here, or you'll get left far far behind.

2006-03-22 11:24 (Kristen) Jamie and I got up very late this morning, after a restless night. He was waking up every half hour from 5:00 on (I think...), and needed soothing back to sleep each time; fortunately, not too much. It did make for a disturbed sleep.He had his favourite honey toast for breakfast, along with a little tamago no gohan*. He played a bit with me, and then he decided to help John with a little cake baking that he is doing today. John says that Jamie, after helping with the dishes (he loves to 'wash' dishes), helped to put the water into the bowl, then the cake mix, and then mixed the cake mix and water together. Finally, he threw out the box. Yay Jamie! John notes that Jamie did not put the cake into the oven, however.

2006-03-22 11:57 (Kristen) Jamie was hilarious tonight on the way home from the Scrabble club. He overheard John talking about "training raccoons," and he immediately picked on it..."Oh no, train!" he said, obviously commenting on the ability of raccoons to drive trains. This led to a very funny five-minute conversation about raccoons driving trains, and the inevitable results ("Crash!"). He was big into sound effects: he had made John pull out an old copy of "Operation!", the board game, and enjoyed watching John try to get the little bones without making the game go "bzzzzt!" The ride home was filled with Jamie making the "bzzt!" sound so that John would say "Itai! Itai!" (hurts! hurts!). He was full of beans tonight, and ran all over the place. He is getting stronger, and can push the trolley by himself with a person standing on it, and open the door (by pushing) to the club room. He grabbed a thirteen-year-old player named Wesley, and made him play with him between games. A good time was had by all.

2006-03-23 24:00 (Kristen) Jamie and John were off to Hakobune this morning a little later than usual, but everything went well. We tried Jamie out in his "big boy underwear" at Hakobune for the second time, but didn't have as much success as the first time. We'll try again tomorrow. He came home and fell asleep around 2:00 for about an hour and a half, and woke up at the Second Cup. The fun part was when he asked for John, and John said "Jamie!" Jamie hadn't seen him sitting at a seat near us (John and I both require a full table to ourselves when working), and his face just lit up when he saw his dad. It was lovely.

Jamie ran around the Second Cup for a bit, and then we walked to Treasure Island with the idea that John would follow us later with the stroller. He walked there relatively well with only one spill, and was delighted to be playing with his favourite trains for an hour or so. John came to get us, and we walked back to Tom and Michelle's for dinner. John carried Jamie on his shoulders, which Jamie loved, and we meandered along at a Jamie pace as Jamie explored and selected different rocks to take with us at various points along the way.

It was my birthday, so we had a small gathering at Tom and Michelle's. Gary and I played Scrabble while Ayami looked after Jamie, and Peter and Leslie brought little Simon along with them. Jamie was very happy to see Simon, and was helpful in bringing him his teething toy and in keeping Simon happy. He was less happy to see Tom holding Simon, but got over it. By the end of the evening, he was insisting on sitting in the big chair while watching Thomas and with Simon beside him. He would occasionally reach over and pat Simon on the head. It was hilarious, and very sweet. Earlier in the evening there was cake, and Jamie sat beside me and sang "Happy Birthday." I got a lot of wonderful presents tonight, but that was one of the best. We all got home waaaayyyy too late, and now I'm finishing up the blog in a hurry to get to bed in preparation for a long day tomorrow. Jamie fell asleep pretty quickly after reading Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, and can reliably read the word "Max" on Max's boat. That's cool.

2006-03-24 10:15 (Kristen) Jamie and John made it to Hakobune a little later than usual today, as we all stayed up late last night after my party. Jamie was also a little cranky, and had a big meltdown before departure. It took some time before he decided that there was something in the universe that might make him happy after all, and he finally consented to leave my lap and get ready to go. John and Jamie left by car a little before 10:00, and I hear that Jamie had a good time. He wore his big boy underwear much more successfully (I think that he prefers them now to diapers), and made a bracelet in crafts. Everything went well until Emi-sensei tried to put Jamie'sfinished bracelet on him; bad move. Jamie hates anything that might be considered "binding" on him--John mused that he should have warned them about that.

(John) On the bright side, Mrs. Sasaki said that Jamie cooperated readily with his monthly physical, and that he is still the same height (91 cm) and weight (14.5 kg) as last month.

(Kristen) They came home in the car, and Jamie fell asleep at 1:00. John called to say that he was in traffic, and to get the stroller ready. I did, and was outside just as they pulled up. The transfer from car to stroller did not go well, however: Jamie woke up, and was screaming as I rushed off with hiim in the stroller. Usually, I can get him to go back to sleep quickly, but not today. He was very upset until a stream of mindless, bright and happy chatter from me finally got through, and then he kept his eyes 3/4 closed for an hour while I wheeled him around and we watched fire trucks, police cars, noisy trucks backing up, and garbage trucks on the Danforth and on side streets (there was nowhere to hide today). Finally, I gave up and took Jamie with me on the subway to run an errand at the local NDP constituency office. The office is near a subway station with no handicapped access, so I was thinking that we would have to walk home (a 45-minute walk). Jamie didn't care, as he was getting admiring looks and cookies out of the office. John called and rescued us, however, and took us home by car.

When we got home, we ran into Iain, Claire, and Alexandria, and then Iain and Claire's mother, Kate, and Alexandria's mom, Karen. Karen and family had just come back from Peru, and had lots to tell, and so Alexandria, Claire, and Iain took Jamie off to play while I sat in Kate's kitchen watching them and working on the work I hadn't gotten done earlier in the day. Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold! Jamie wasn't ready to go after having so much fun playing with the kids, but was lured home with the promise of spending time with John and Gary. Gary ended up babysitting Jamie for a few hours this evening while I ran out to scrutineer at a local advance polling station, and while John rested after his massage treatment this afternoon (which he sorely needed!). When I came home, we had a short video conference with Mio and Taka, which we hope that we can do more often. Jamie was very pleased but too tired to be lively. We put him straight to bed without a bath after he melted down again (and who can blame him? One tired boy!), and he asked to read Where the Wild Things Are again, and Goodnight Moon too. I think that he fell asleep in a minute and a half, if that. Sweet dreams, Jamie.

2006-03-25 17:30 (John) Kristen woke up this morning violently ill, having apparently despite our best efforts at quarantine this past week picked up the bug that's tearing through Browning. She remained bedridden for the day. Justin (visiting for the weekend), Jamie and I had breakfast together, then we dropped Justin off at Union Station for a two-hour tour thereof and Jamie and I did our market shopping. Jamie ate normally, played at the Early Years Centre and was delighted to find a copy of Where the Wild Things Are there, which he made me read for him twice. He didn't fall asleep though, a problem that I put down to constipation, as he had missed his morning movement.

I dragged out our shopping trip until 14:30, hoping that Jamie would fall asleep, but to no avail. When we got home, remembering the most useful piece of child advice that anyone has ever given us, I gave Jamie a quarter of a pear, and ten minutes later his diaper was full. Thank you, Betsy Harney! I then asked Gary and Ayami to look after Jamie for half an hour so that I could put away the groceries, do the dishes, take out the trash and disinfect everything that might have been vomited on, and took Jamie out for a walk in the stroller.

(I removed the front bars on both strollers today, to facilitate getting Jamie in and out more easily. His initial reaction was "Oh, no!", but he seems to appreciate being able to slide out more easily.)

Jamie fell asleep within a few minutes, and I was working quietly at the Second Cup forty-five minutes later when I heard him crying, then gurgling, then crying again. I looked in, and saw that his face was covered in vomit. It looked like creamed ham, or more precisely creamed kielbasa. When he saw me, he tried to get up, and most of it slid off his face. Then the abdominal effort caused him to project another load, which landed on his coat, the stroller, and thanks to some fancy footwork on my part, the floor. Then he cried some more.

I whipped out my cellphone, considered it for a few seconds, and regretted that it did not have any Java applets for dealing with the situation. I put it back.

I told Jamie that he was fine, that he was just dirty, and that we could clean him up in the bathroom. He stopped crying and waited patiently while I packed up my computer and wheeled the stroller and Jamie into the bathroom. I used a large quantity of toilet paper to wipe off every visible fleck of vomitus, then removed and rinsed each piece of bevomited clothing, wiping to remove hidden vomit as it became visible.

I made a show of being startled by the electric hand dryer each time I accidentally triggered it, which amused Jamie greatly, and had him in good spirits by the time he was looking clean, if not microscopically so. I called Gary and asked him to come down with a spare coat for Jamie, and called Kristen to warn her that her son would be joining her in quarantine. I contemplated taking Jamie home wrapped in two blankets, but thought he might throw up on them and leave me in a difficult situation on the walk home. Gary ran all the way down to the Second Cup, and Jamie was happy to see him and talk to him as we walked back home.

Jamie played with Peeka (the neighbourhood cat), who celebrated the warm weather today by coming over to mooch some salmon, and I brought the stroller in and unloaded it. Since then, Jamie and Kristen have been watching DVDs in bed, and I'm off to go check on them to see if they need anymore ginger ale.

2006-03-25 18:00 (John) Jamie was delighted to see me, asked me to carry him downstairs. I picked up a plastic container as soon as we reached the kitchen, and asked him if he wanted to vomit again. He said no, then burped ominously. We went back upstairs, and he vomited a mixture of apple juice and stomach acid. 90% of it made it into the container, 9% hit my shirt, and only 1% landed on my face. Yay!

2006-03-25 18:45 (John) We just had close to a repeat of what happened 45 minutes ago, except that he got about half of it on my face, with the rest split evenly between the container and my shirt. I've rinsed my mouth out as best as I can, and showered to wash out my eyes and nose. As before, Jamie seems fine now, if a little more tired and drained than before.

2006-03-26 11:00 (John) Jamie had a fairly good night last night. He woke up once around 3:00 with a stomachache but we were able to soothe him back to sleep without anyone throwing up. Jamie asked for honey toast (a breakfast favourite#, English muffins with margarine and honey) and has been slowly nibbling at it all morning, washing it down with ginger ale in a crazy-straw cup I bought for him a while ago that he just noticed again. Kristen managed to keep down a small bowl of okayu* (congee), and they're currently watching Dora the Explorer. Jamie is excitedly answering each of Dora's questions.

2006-03-26 21:00 (John) Aside from his reduced appetite and Mom being out of commission, Jamie had a fairly typical Sunday. He spent a quiet morning at home playing with trains, reading books and watching videos with Mom. Gary and Ayami looked after Jamie for a bit at lunchtime when I needed to run out on an errand, and he was as usual a little unwilling to go out for his afternoon nap in the stroller, and tried to negotiate walking alongside the stroller. I managed to talk him into it by pointing out that it was safer to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the comfort of the stroller.

He fell asleep in about five minutes, by the time we reached Logan Avenue, did not wake up as we walked through the Greek Independence Day parade on the Danforth, and slept for two hours in the Second Cup. When he woke up, he asked for a hot chocolate, but I told him it would make his tummy hurt and he was fine with a piece of my apple cinnamon cookie.

We went to play in the playground at St. Barnabas Church (across from the Second Cup), and Jamie exercised his new social confidence by approaching two other fathers playing with their kids there. The first one was playing tag, so Jamie grabbed him by the hand and took him to the far end of the playground "to save the children". The second one was playing hide-and-seek, so Jamie went over to where he was crouched hiding, pointed and declared "Hiding!".

He then wanted to go to Treasure Island Toys, which closes early on Sunday, and I told him so. He looked at me and said "Jamie see toy store closed?" As Damon Runyon said, "Trust, but verify". I took him there, he confirmed that the store was closed, and we went back home for dinner. We heated up some minestrone that I'd frozen a few weeks ago in anticipation of this evening. Jamie nibbled a bit of it but was more interested in nibbling the fresh veggies that I was cutting up for the next batch. Kristen had a little soup, and seems to be feeling better, if tired.

2006-03-27 21:00 (John) Jamie ate lightly for breakfast, spent the morning playing inside and outside, but seemed slightly subdued. He had a little rash scattered about his body, and I noticed late in the morning that half his left cheek had turned crimson and was starting to welt up in hives. We rushed him to see Dr. Kennedy, who said it was just post-viral urticaria and said we could give him some Benedryl if it got worse.

He ate lightly for lunch and slept normally, but woke up the way I usually feel when I have post-viral urticaria: irritable and buzzed from histamines.

2006-03-27 22:41 (Kristen) John called me to say that Jamie wanted to go to the toy store, and I took him while John did some errands. He met up with us at Treasure Island again, and managed to convince Jamie that it was time to go home without too much fuss. We walked up Carlaw, and Jamie saw three children playing across the street. We crossed over and Jamie played with them until it was time for them to eat, and for us to keep going. We still wonder where this social trait of his comes from.

We went to Browning, where it was time to make dinner. Jamie played with Tom and Ross for a bit, and then with me. John came over with the rest of the dinner fixings, and I made some of the dinner and then Ayami finished up. Jamie was buzzed, but I had managed to get only a little Benalyn into him (he seems to dislike bubble gum-flavoured medicine. Who can blame him?) before dinner, and he wasn't that interested in food. He managed to drag John off at the earliest opportunity, and went into the basement as soon as he could to play with Ross, John, and Daniel. He then came upstairs for some apple crisp (without ice cream, alas--poor tummy) and went home with Ayami to watch (yet again) The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

He was tired and very histamine-y when it was time for bed, which was a surprising ordeal. Finally, John and I had to get into bed with him to read Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are He's asleep now, and I hope that he's over this histamine thing by tomorrow.

John says that the POTD is one that Jamie asked him to take. John's cellphone has a photo of John's eye as wallpaper, and Jamie wanted to know if it was his own eye. John told him no, but that he'd take a picture of Jamie's eye if he let him get really close (which Jamie doesn't usually like). You see the result.

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

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