Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 28

2006-04-18 21:58 (Kristen) Jamie was up earlier than I expected this morning, given that he wasn't asleep until close to 11:00. He was awake a little before eight, and when he did wake up, he was between me and John, with his head near our feet. He had his apple, and then was in a pretty good mood when we headed downstairs. He had breakfast, and was pretty good about getting ready to go and see his friend Burhan, with whom we had a playdate. We walked up to Burhan's house, and met him and his mom, Selma, before heading out to Burhan's favourite# playground. It was a nice little place, with lots of small children, and a play structure that was just perfect for little explorers. They spent a good hour and a half there, running around, sharing trucks and shovels, and going down slides. Jamie found a slide that he would send trucks down, and then follow, head first. He usually doesn't do this, and it was a "safe" slide for this activity, but I kept a close eye on him, just the same. Burhan and Jamie played and shared very well, and manners were in evidence: there was much "please," "thank you," "excuse me," and "sorry!" all over. Burhan's mom, Selma, said that Burhan was very happy to play with Jamie, and kept saying (in Turkish, his first language) how much he loved Jamie. Jamie was very happy, too.

We also talked with baby Matteo (one year) and his mom, and marvelled at how of the ten or so children in the playground, all but two spoke at least two languages. One of the many reasons to love Toronto.

We headed over to Browning for lunch, and Jamie decided not to eat much until it was time to leave for his walk with Ken: then it was time to run to the table and eat as much as possible of his left-over lunch. Sigh. He finally went out, and slept for only an hour and a half before waking up five minutes into his father's work period. Sigh again. Jamie ate John's butter tart, and asked to be taken to the toy store. John suggested the sandbox at Withrow Park instead, and Jamie enthusiastically endorsed the idea. Even better for Jamie, a (diabolically clever) ice cream truck pulled up near the playground soon after, and Jamie managed to get a butterscotch-dip ice cream cone, which he ate all by himself. John says that Jamie was using his best manners again, always asking before touching even communal sandbox toys, which makes me feel like I'm managing to teach him *something*! It was a good time, but soon it was time to meet up with me, and to spend some time with Tai Tai, who requested some Jamie time.

We all ended up sprawled in Hisae's back yard, munching on snacks and negi* (well, Jamie did), and enjoying the late afternoon sun. We stayed for about an hour (during which I managed to obtain my first sunburn of the year) before heading home with a tired, hungry boy. It was a quiet evening in, and we managed to get Jamie into bed by 10:00. Yay us.

2006-04-19 23:40 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at 9 this morning, after sleeping for almost 11 hours. I thought to myself that this made up for the short nap he had yesterday, and shuddered at the the thought that he might be preparing to give up the afternoon nap (and the tatters of my life that would remain after such a catastrophic change in our lives). I shuddered a little more this afternoon, after I walked Jamie until close to three, hoping that Wide Awake Boy would close his eyes, if only for a little while.

He was a little couch potato this morning, which may have been part of the problem. I tried to get him to go outside repeatedly, but he wanted to sit on the couch in his underwear and watch television. This went on for an hour before John came by and offered to take him outside to plant peas. (John: Jamie won't stop doing what he's doing unless you make him a better offer.) Jamie thought this was a great idea, and happily went outside. I followed a short time later, intending to get a little gardening done myself, but just as I was digging up the yarrow for transport, Jamie decided to scarper. I chased him as far as Broadview, where he hugged a lamp post and declared that he was "hiding" and "funny." Hah hah. I explained to him, again, that he was to stop when I yelled "stop" because we didn't want him to get lost or hurt. He seemed to think about this, but I remember his going through a stage about six months ago where he would run off and not stop when I called. It seems to be a developmental thing, but that doesn't make it any less scary or frustrating.

He came in and had some lunch, and played with Gary until I took him out for his walk at 1:30. We walked to Jones and back, stopping to buy a plum that he insisted that Jamie Caterpillar needed. There was an excess of noisy machinery active in the neighbourhood today, which didn't help the cause. (John: Jamie is enthralled with the large sewer-cleaning vacuums running on the Danforth this week.) Finally, at 2:30, tired and desperate, I took Jamie into Book City, as he has fallen asleep in there a few times... perhaps the calming sight of books and the association with bedtime stories. Who knows the cause, but it did the trick, and he was finally asleep by 2:45. I headed over to the Second Cup, and John met with us an hour later. Jamie was awake by 4:00, however, and I took him to Withrow Park to play in the sandbox. He didn't spend much time in the sandbox, and insisted that I was Percy and he was Thomas, and that he had to go all over the playground. John came to collect us at 5:30, as I was trying to herd Jamie out, as I had put my cell phone down on the stroller since it kept falling out of my pocket, and hadn't heard him calling.

We had dinner at John's parents' place before heading up to the Scrabble club. Jamie made me read Maisie's Bath to him at least six times in the car on the way up, and had fun playing in the playground until the sun went down. (John: he is quite the agile little monkey now. He can climb regular ladders with careful deliberation, and was practising on a wobbly rope ladder with me helping a little to stabilise.) He watched the ballroom dancers practice, and insisted on dancing with me and John himself (which means spinning Jamie around and around until he is dizzy). We watched a little Schoolhouse Rock, and played until it was time to go home. It took longer than I expected for him to fall asleep, and I hope that he's going to be up in time to go to Hakobune tomorrow.

2006-04-20 22:17 (Kristen) We were all up late last night, and so I was surprised when Jamie woke up at 7:00, kicking and crying. I got him settled again, and he slept until close to nine. He really was waking up badly, and I had to rush him downstairs to calm him down so that John could sleep a little longer (he's been feeling a little wretched lately, and not sleeping well). A well-timed apple helped, and while he would have preferred to stay watching morning television, we got him and John out the door by 9:30. (John: mostly my fault, as I'm unwell and slept in until 9:15.)

John says that he had a good time at Hakobune: today was the first time that John didn't go in with him, but just sent him through the door with a wave goodbye. Jamie didn't notice when he left, or when John arrived for that matter: he was playing with a fire truck, and didn't notice the two slightly older girls who were in John's words "desperately trying to get Jamie to play with them." John explained that Jamie had to go, and they chorused "goodbye Jamie, see you next week!" He has friends. That's so cool.

He slept for about an hour and a half for his nap, and was happy to go to the toy store afterwards, with a detour for cheese at the cheese store. (Later: I forgot to mention that I was tired at the store, but the usual little chairs around the train table were being used by staff in putting a display together. One person asked me if I needed a chair, and I smiled and told her that I was all right. Jamie perked right up and said "Mummy chair? and before I could stop him, ran over to the window and asked the clerk in the window for a chair. They brought one over for me. I was so very touched!),We came home around 6:00, and John took Jamie into the garden when I went in to make dinner. (John: Jamie levelled some holes in the garden, topped up the leaf compost and stirred both compost piles. He's spending enough time messing with the compost that I've moved two big glass bricks in front of the bins for him to use as steps.) I looked around for them when dinner was on the table, phoned, and found them at Browning. John managed to get Jamie into the alley before Jamie spotted Daniel, Alexandria, Iain and Clare playing and that was that. John followed them around with food, and inserted it into Jamie at any available opportunity while the kids pulled Jamie around on wagons, and they had a blast of a time together. We feel so lucky that such great kids live in our neighbourhood, and Jamie is so lucky that they love to play with him! Everyone was driven indoors by the dark and the growing cold, and John plied Jamie with ice cream indoors. They're in the bath now, and I am off to get Jamie and put him into bed.

(John) I got Jamie to gargle for the first time just now. I showed him, he tried unsuccessfully, then I told him the trick was to look up just like when I'm washing his hair. He recycled quite a bit of bathwater before I called time.

2006-04-21 23:23 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 8:00 this morning, and in a good mood. He didn't eat a lot of breakfast, however, before heading off to Hakobune with John. John has a cold, and isn't feeling his best, sad to say.

He had a good morning at Hakobune, and came back for his walk with Ken. He didn't fall asleep until 2:00 again, and only after Ken bought him cookies to munch on so that he'd fall asleep eating (he'd finished the apple we'd sent him off with). He slept for almost two hours, at which time I came down to meet Jamie and John at the Second Cup. We then headed off to Treasure Island, which has German run bikes: little bikes for kids two years old and older, with no pedals. The kids just run along and coast occasionally, teaching them balance without having to worry about those pedals. Miro, Agnes's son, had one when we visited in Germany, and John and I had been thinking that one would be perfect for Jamie but had no idea of where to get one in Canada. So, when I saw one in Treasure Island yesterday, I was very excited. Jamie wasn't so sure of it at first, but it may also have been that he was more interested in playing with the trains at that point. However, by the end of an hour, we had him very enthusiastic about the bike, and even had bought him a helmet. Jamie's got a very big head, so he's in a medium large kid helmet, and not one of the toddler helmets.

I put the bike together at John's parents' house (the bike is a Christmas present from his grandparents, and they wanted to see it), and Jamie was just delighted. He rode it most of the way from John's parents' place to Daniel and Ross's, and in the words of a passing neighbour, was "screaming with joy" the whole way. He likes riding a few feet, and then letting the bike fall over: apparently, this is "funny." He is maybe half a centimetre too short for total comfort, but he'll grow that in a week or two, so I'm not worried. He particularly enjoys it when an adult doubles over and pushes him along, so that he can pick up his feet and coast along. His balance isn't bad but needs real work before he can run around solo, but I don't think that will take too long either. He's a happy boy.

We ate dinner at Browning, and Jamie (again) wasn't all that hungry. He played in the basement with Ayami while I beat Gary at Scrabble, and was mostly suggestible when we came home. Gary held him upside down to floss his teeth (at Jamie's request), although the toothbrushing was the usual difficult procedure. I bathed him and washed his hair while John rested in bed with his cold, and read him two books before he turned out the light (at my request: the physical turning out of the light is his job). We'll see what time he wakes up tomorrow. I am thinking that his teeth are bothering him again, as he is kicking at night and I've seen him chewing on his fingers. I hope that this one is easier than the last one.

2006-04-22 23:56 (Kristen) John had a fever last night, and so was under orders to stay in bed for the day, drinking tea and chicken soup. The market shopping still had to be done, however, and Jamie was a little squirrely because it was raining and he hadn't had a chance to run his little ya-yas out. The two needs seemed to combine themselves fortuitously, and so Jamie and I set off for the market around 11:00.

We took the streetcar down, which Jamie enjoyed despite the fact that I tried to sit at the front of the streetcar and not the back (horrors!), and being told repeatedly not to put his shoes on the seat as he tried to get a better view out the window. Today's interesting observation is that the two people who spontaneously helped me to get Jamie onto the streetcar today were both older women; one significantly so. One woman and one driver helped us off. At any rate, we got to the market later than usual, and had finished buying our groceries in the north building around the time that the Early Years centre was closing. Fortunately Jamie was quite tired, having woken us both up a little before eight and didn't feel much like running around. In fact, I think that the gloom and the rain almost put him to sleep before we even got to the subway station, and I had to keep shaking him awake because it was only 11:00 and an early nap would have been disasterous for me!

We visited Jamie's usual friends, and he fell asleep in his stroller while I was buying the fish at Mike's. His usual pose of utter abandon attracted smiles and pointing, and I had a quiet snack by myself (which I much appreciated). John's parents arrived at the market soon after, and took our food home for us in their car, while I took Jamie home on the streetcar again, via the Second Cup. (I did say that I was tired!) Jamie stirred on the walk home (around the two-hour makr), but stayed asleep for another twenty minutes or so, giving me a chance to talk with John and collapse on the couch. The rest of the afternoon would have been spent staring vacantly at a television if the doorbell hadn't rung. Standing outside were two black cats: Alexandria Cat, and her friend, Sara Cat. Jamie was delighted to see Alexandria and Sara, who had been going through Halloween costumes, and decided to come and see if Jamie was free to come out and play for a little bit. They ran around for about fifteen minutes, having a ball, before Sara and Alexandria had to go. Jamie came back in, had a small dinner, and a little more ice cream for dessert. We had to buy it, however, being out at home, and Jamie was very helpful in walking to the store and in helping me to carry the ice cream home again. He went and played with Gary and Ayami for an hour before bed, and had a bath with me before falling asleep around 10:30.

2006-04-23 23:07 (Kristen) It was pouring rain this morning, and it stayed that way all day. Jamie woke up around 8:30, came downstairs and had an apple, then we played for most of the morning before lunch. Jamie watched some television, and played with various track setups that John and I arranged for him. John has a particularly elaborate one that snakes into the kitchen, and makes it tricky for anyone who wants to get into the chest freezer.

I managed to get Jamie into his "duck suit" and out for his walk by 1:30. I don't rush for 1:00 anymore, since he rarely falls asleep by one (yesterday notwithstanding). He did fall asleep relatively quickly, and I decided to pay the "shopping on the Danforth" premium for a pair of rubber boots for him. They're more expensive than if I had gone to Zellers or some such place, even with bus fare factored in, but since I had been trying to get somewhere to buy hiim boots for the last two weeks, it seemed worth it to pay the extra. He now has a pair of blue boots that have dolphins on them, and they go well with the duck suit. I managed to slip off his sneakers and put his new boots on in the store, which kept his feet much drier, as they peek out from under the rain shield now.

He slept for an hour and a half, and I took him to Treasure Island afterwards. He had fun playing for about forty minutes, and was not a happy camper when it was time to go. However, he saw the inevitability of the situation and munched (relatively) happily on a krispie on the way over to Tai-Tai and Ho-Ho's for dinner. Ted, Alice, Ian, and Amy are in town for the evening and so we all had a big family dinner. Jamie had a great time playing with his cousins, and particularly liked Amy's Magnadoodle (a brand-name etch-a-sketch). We may have to buy him one. He ate lots of edamame* at dinner, some gyoza, ikura* (fish eggs), and apple cider. He kept saying that he was finished, and then would do the equivalent of "oops, just one more thing" as he'd scarf down more edamame* or fish. We came home around 8:30, and I bathed Jamie again as John is still not feeling up to doing much more than the taxes (eeewwwwww). Tomorrow Gary is to babysit in the morning as I have to go out, and John will still be doing the taxes.

2006-04-24 23:11 (Kristen) We all slept in until 8:45 this morning, which was a rare treat. Jamie woke up a little roughly, but calmed down much faster than usual even without the apple. He did get an apple, though, and spent some time watching television while I made breakfast. Then I had to run out the door to talk to a woman about a freelance job across town, by which time Gary (who had agreed to babysit Jamie this morning while John did taxes and I went out) was upstairs. Jamie was deliriously happy to see him, and ignored me when I said that I was going out. John thinks that Jamie thought that I was trying to get him to come with me, because he flashed me a *look.* John said that I was going out, and would see him later, at which Jamie said, in a lugubrious tone, "bye-bye mummy" as he kept playing. Hmmm.

Gary and John took care of him, and gave him some Thomas ice cars that came in the mail (yay eBay). They managed to get him fed, taken care of, and off on his walk before I got home, and I hear that Jamie was good, and ate well. I met Ken at the Second Cup, and watched Jamie until he woke up around 3:30 after an hour and forty minutes. He ate his krispie* while I gulped my (half-caf*) latte before heading over to Treasure Island. He was very good playing with the trains, while I looked for a magnadoodle for our upcoming road trip. They were sold out of the travel models, and the one I put aside for consideration was awfully big, but still worth thinking about. John will look for a travel model tomorrow, and we'll buy the big one if we can't find one. I also picked up a little magnetic book with Sesame Street characters for the trip (we can talk about forms of locomotion), and a workbook. One can only waste so many brain cells watching DVDs on a long trip: it seemed a good idea of find things that might keep him entertained on other levers. We'll see how that works out.

We headed home via John's parents' house to pick up some food for dinner. Tai-Tai gave Jamie a guava, which he ate (seeds and all) in less than a few minutes with glee. Then it was over to Browning for dinner, and play with Ross and Daniel. He had his usual good time playing with Ross's trains, and with his favourite people, and then it was time to go home. He went to bed late tonight (after 11:00), and i hope that he sleeps in a little tomorrow.

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

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