Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 32

2006-05-16 22:18 (Kristen) Well, I spoke too soon. He fell asleep in the bath again with John, and we got him into his bed and clothes pretty efficiently, with almost no disturbance. He also slept until 9:00 again, and we were just a little bit worried that he was going to repeat yesterday's nap, or lack thereof. Jamie and I did some puzzles and watched a Japanese kids' video before heading outside to play a little shinny* (that's road or in our case driveway hockey to you non-Canadians). Jamie got the hang of how to hold onto the stick pretty quickly, and was able to give the puck a few surprisingly good whacks before it was time to have lunch at Browning.

We walked the long way around to Browning, despite a few complaints from Jamie about being "tired" (bored, I think, is more accurate given that he'd break into a run if he saw a bus). He was pretty thirsty, and Gary sat with hiim on the couch and let him drink as much juice as he wanted through a straw. Jamie gets very warm if he hasn't drunk enough, and that got his temperature right down again. We even got two pieces of watermelon, a red pepper slice, and a hot dog wiener into him!

I was nervous about his ability to sleep, but Ken says that he slept for an hour. The overcast weather and rain probably helped, although it wasn't so nice for Ken. I came to pick Jamie up and take him to Treasure Island, where he enjoyed himself, but he was in a very rangy mood when we left. Finally we stopped at the Carrot Common after Jamie complained about the rain the entire way (despite the fact that there was no rain that could get into his eyes, he insisted on hiding behind his coat and under the stroller canopy from it. Then he complained because the coat wasn't staying on his head, despite the fact that he wouldn't hold it up with his hands, and I had to keep draping it over his head. Anyway). I let him chase pigeons for a half hour, until John came to spell me off.

I went ahead to Browning, as John and I had agreed to babysit Daniel and Ross so that Tom and Michelle could go out for dinner to celebrate Michelle's (now past) birthday. Jamie enjoyed the pizza that we had for dinner very much, and devoured almost a whole piece on his own (pepperoni, black olives, and green pepper). Jamie spent most of the rest of the evening playing with trains and watching John and Daniel work on Daniel's science project before Tom and Michelle came back. Then Ross, in Michelle's words, "ratted out" Tom, and told Jamie that Tom also knew how to run the train simulator on the computer. Tom was then roped into setting it up for Jamie, who gleefully ran trains into buffers at high speeds. My son has a future in disaster testing for engineers.

Then it was home, and time for bed. He's in the bath with John again, and it's sounding like he's still awake. I should go and save John, and put Jamie to bed.

2006-05-17 23:03 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at this week's hour of 9:00 (and I am not complaining, by any stretch of the imagination). We came downstairs and had breakfast, which goes more quickly and is eaten more readily when he is allowed to play while eating. I'm torn between letting him do this, because he *eats*, and getting him more used to eating at the table with the rest of us, which he can sometimes do. He's bored, I think, or must be, but since he eats so much more if I follow him around with food, I worry that he's not eating enough, and so on and so on and so on. Bleah.

I took him out to try and find Burhan at the playground, but he and his mom weren't at their usual playground (they were doing banking, it turned out, on the Danforth). We walked back to Jackman, stopping for an ice along the way, and Jamie played in the sandbox there quite happily for a while. He also ran up and down the play structure, and had a great time ordering me to go up one way while he went up another. Then we would slide down the double slide holding hands. He thought that was just great. We took a ten-minute detour to the bathroom (the other reason for playing at Jackman: the bathrooms!) when Jamie told me he had to pee, then told me he didn't for ten minutes while almost literally hopping from foot to foot because all the children inside having lunch were much more interesting than going to the bathroom. Eventually, everything turned out well.

We headed home to lunch soon afterwards, and Jamie played with Gary while I made lunch. Then John took Jamie out, and I was to meet them at 4:00. The heavens decided to open up at 3:45, and there was thunder, lightning, and hail (small pellets, but still). John says that he got a few pieces while they were at the Second Cup to show Jamie. I thought that they would wait until the storm passed, but the rain kept coming, and I saw John (soaked to the skin) (John: literally) coming up the stairs with Jamie in the stroller (dry as a bone) (John: not true - he complained that he got a few drops of rain on his knee through a hole in the rain shield) at 4:15. Everyone got dried off, and Jamie played with Gary some more before dinner.

Jamie ate a good dinner at Tai Tai's before we set off for the Scrabble club. John ran Jamie around outside (the skies had cleared) for a while, and I did puzzles and read books with him afterwards, in addition to any and all running around left to do. He's in the bath now, late, because he decided he needed a bath before going to sleep. It's Hakobune day tomorrow, and I wonder if I'll be able to get him up in time.

(John) One of today's photos requires explanation. The playground sand was drenched, we hadn't brought our sandbox toys, and there weren't any kids around to borrow from, so I started drawing letters in the sand to pass the time. I drew an A, then Jamie said "Draw a T". I told Jamie "Your turn!" and he put a Q in front to make the famous Scrabble word QAT. I think Jamie and I just played our first game of bidirectional Ghost. I'm so proud.

2006-05-18 23:08 (Kristen) I set my alarm for 8:00 this morning, so that I could get Jamie's food and clothes ready for Hakobune. Jamie kept sleeping, despite both me and John being up, until I woke him at 8:30. Because I decided to go with John and Jamie to Hakobune (and from there to the university library), I ended up feeding Jamie his breakfast in the car so that we could get there close to on time. Jamie was very happy to see the teachers and students, and I felt a pang as we left with his cheery little wave and "bye bye!" It's not a sad pang; it's more that he's having a life, happily, without us, and it's a part that we only get a little glimpse into. Perhaps it's just seeing him grow up.

We came back to get him at 12:00, and he was just wired for sound. He bounced off the walls, ate only a little lunch, and entertained the church library ladies, who think he's great. I tried to feed him some more in the car, and had a little success, before we reached Browning. Ken took him out for his walk, and the combination of rain and overcast weather helped keep him asleep for three hours. time he opened his eyes.) I also think that an energetic day and waking up earlier than usual (for lately) helped. (John: I like to think that I helped too, by looking especially boring each When he woke up, we offered him the chance to go and see Alexandria's new cat, Rosie. Jamie had a great time playing with Rosie, Alexandria, and Lily (the older cat), while I chatted with Alexandria's parents. Jamie inserted himself into their dinner (spaghetti with a nice tomato sauce) before we came home.

Jamie played with Gary for a little bit between eating a little more dinner and other things, while John went out to meet with his high school reunion committee. Our neighbour, Kate, had invited me to a book club meeting tonight, but with John out, I thought that I wouldn't be able to go. It turns out that all the women in the club were in the same position as me, and so all our children came and played in the basement while we five women chatted in the living room. The surprise of the night was that my friend Claire, who is the mom of Oscar and Ellen, was one of the women there, and as it was the first night for both of us, neither of us knew that the other was going to be there. Jamie had a fun, hyperkinetic time playing with Alexandria, Clare, Iain, Ellen, and Oscar, watching SpongeBob, and coming upstairs for the occasional pretzel and strawberry.

John came and took Jamie home around 9:00, and I followed home around 9:30. When I got there, Gary and Ayami had helped John by flossing and brushing Jamie's teeth, which was a huge help. Jamie was very cooperative, which was amazing. Then it was a long bath, while John and I talked about our respective evenings, and off to bed.

I've been a little tired lately, and not as patient as I could be when Jamie is also tired, or fooling around when he should be doing something like climb up into his car seat. So, I have instituted the "I'm counting to 3" protocol: I tell Jamie that I am counting to 3, and if he doesn't do what he is supposed to do by the time I reach 3, I do it for him. He doesn't like that much, since he enjoys doing things on his own for himself, so I've found it very effective after the first few times, when he realized that I was serious. Now he says "No Mummy count to three!" and is pretty good about doing whatever it is that he is supposed to do within the time limit of 1-2-3. That's a big help for me.

2006-05-19 22:57 (Kristen) We all slept in this morning, and it was a mad scramble to get Jamie and John out of the house in time to make it to Hakobune. John says that one of Jamie's classmates had a birthday today, and that there was cake. John also said that when he arrived to get Jamie, that there were fifteen toddlers bouncing around the room like little water molecules. On the way home, John thought that he'd keep Jamie entertained by using the loudspeaker function on his cell phone, and letting Jamie talk to me and to Gary. When he talked to Gary, they talked about boogers, and Jamie took the opportunity to smear a few on the faceplate of the phone. John says that it took soap and water to clean it off afterwards, and we're planning revenge on Gary as I write. Jamie was still pretty excited when he got home, and getting ready for his walk with Ken.

He slept for a little over two hours, and woke up in a mellow, placid mood. That didn't last, as he returned to his kinetic ways. He said "Hello!" cheerfully to everyone at the Second Cup, and to many people (all strangers) he saw on the street. He ran into our local cheese shop, where Leo (who is in his early twenties and has a seven-year-old brother) gave him little cheese samples and treated Jamie very well. We left with cheese, and headed on to Treasure Island. Jamie had enough energy to walk there without complaint, except when I had my hands on the stroller the wrong way (the right way involves him walking in front of me, but with both of my hands on the handles. I have a little too much stomach nowadays to do this comfortably, so he was largely out of luck, right way or no). We played a bit at Treasure Island, then headed out to Browning, where we were looking forward to Ross's eighth birthday party (family edition).

Jamie was looking forward to seeing Gary, and was disappointed that he was not there. We called him and he came right over, and played with Jamie until John called to say that the valve on the pantry radiator had been knocked open sometime during the day, and that water had flooded the pantry and gone thorugh the walls into the basement laundry room. Gary went over to help mop up, and Jamie looked utterly bereft when he realized that Gary was gone, down to the quivering lower lip. Tom took over, fortunately, but Jamie was still thrilled when Gary returned. He played happily with all his people over the course of the evening, and enjoyed the cake and candles too. We all got home late, and he's in the bath now (at 11:08!) with John. I think that I'll go and collect him.

2006-05-20 18:00 (John) We set out for the market a little late today, as I slept in trying to sleep off the beginnings of a cold. Jamie was in a good mood, as well he should be, as a trip to the farmer's market always means a nonstop buffet of his favourite# foods, toys to play with and pigeons to catch, and this week was no different. Nupur was resplendent serving customers up to the last minute before she needed to leave to go to a wedding. We met a three-year-old boy named Ethan who lives in our general neighbourhood with his sister who is 19 months younger (and his parents); his mom praised the wisdom of our waiting until we had one child almost out of diapers before having the next. All the staff at Domino (bulk) Foods adore Jamie, and I had some difficulty persuading one of them that Jamie should not in fact be allowed to just take candies from the bins and eat them. ("But he's so cute!") By the time we were ready to go to Loblaws, Jamie looked like he was about to fall asleep in the stroller, so I took the long way to get there, but he perked up again ("Jamie go in Blah-Blahs!") and ran all around the supermarket, staggering toward the end with fatigue.

Kristen had better luck with Jamie. She bundled him into the stroller as soon as I got him home, and he was asleep within minutes and slept his usual two hours.

Jamie's bilingualism is having the unexpected benefit of making him easier to understand, at least by other bilinguals. His enunciation is still somewhat imprecise in some respects, and where unilingual children his age will just give up trying to be understood after a few goes, Jamie will switch languages and be able to communicate. The result is a child who is less frustrated with the idea of communicating with adults, more interested in doing so, and more cognizant of the onus on the speaker to express himself clearly.

(Kristen) Jamie also gets into trouble sometimes because he speaks very quickly. Michelle was observing last night that children who hear a lot of Japanese speak very quickly because Japanese is a very rapid language. The syllables are all very short, and the speed carries over into the way they speak English. I confess that I hadn't observed this myself, but that's because he's Jamie, and I understand 95% of what he's saying. It still startles me when people don't understand him because he's clear as a bell to me. I've heard of this before with other children and their mothers, and am finding it bemusing/amusing to have it happen to me.

I know that this is still Jamie's blog, officially, but I will toss in a few pregnancy items for those who wish to know (hi, Mom!). The baby is growing well and quickly, and I'm feeling just a little full and stretched right now. The baby is also all elbows and knees, as far as I can tell, and isn't afraid to use them. The placenta is anterior, which I've been told means that I shouldn't feel him/her move as much as if it were elsewhere, but no one told the baby. The baby also likes to move up and down, so sometimes I have to pee every five minutes, and sometimes I can only eat little bits at a time because there aren't enough Tums in the world to deal with the acid indigestion. I'm starting to feel tired again, and standing up is a novel experience every time, but I'm healthy, so I can't really complain (just observing). I have started to walk a lot more because I really need the exercise.

Jamie is really excited about being a big brother, which is the one thing that has sunk in most about this, I think. He is also very aware that there is a baby inside me, although he did ask tonight if I could "open up" and let him see the baby (for a while, he was convinced that he could see the baby through my belly button). He is starting to pat the baby, and give it "hugs." We're talking a lot about babies and big boys, and what one can do and the other can't. He's going to be a very good big brother.

2006-05-21 21:00 (John) Mom made us blueberry pancakes in the morning. Jamie was more interested in eating frozen blueberries. He carefully spooned them out of the tub onto his plate with 95% success, then again into his mouth with 90% success. I managed to scrub his face clean, set him to washing dishes until his fingers were paler purple, and we'll leave the tablecloth to Trifina.

I took Daniel and Jamie out for a walk in the Don Valley, mostly retracing our previous route, but taking the steps up from Todmorden Mills instead of walking all the way up Pottery Road. Jamie walked all the way, except for the steps back up. We had ice cream and onion rings at Dairy Queen, then I dropped him back off with Kristen so she could balance his diet (samosas and fruit salad, I heard) while I napped to keep fighting a mild cold.

I took Jamie out for his afternoon walk, and he fell asleep in about fifteen minutes, thanks mostly to continuing blustery wind and rain, which made him want to shut his eyes. I worked for about half an hour at my usual table at the Second Cup, then Daniel showed up to keep me company. I took Daniel to the Second Cup all the time until Jamie was born, so it was a nice nostalgic treat to see him and buy him a soda. We played Triplanetary in my notebook until Jamie woke up, then went to Pearls.

I marinated the now customary huachinango* tikinchik* while Nobuko and Tomoko made gyoza. Jamie had a big blueberry poo which stained his bum a light purple before I could change him out of it. Kristen came over when she finished her work for the day, we all ate well, came home and I for one am off to bed early.

(Kristen) I don't have much to add, other than to say that Jamie had a great day with his dad and Daniel. Jamie was in a wonderful mood, and happy to play with Daniel and Tomoko at dinner. He inhaled three of Tomoko and Nobuko's homemade gyoza, and was happy enough to sing the "Panda, Usagi* [Rabbit], Koala" song in public. He's gotten more comfortable with singing and with dancing in general--yesterday, he danced on the sidewalk to a street busker's guitar. It's pretty cute.

2006-05-22 23:53 (Kristen) Jamie was up before eight this morning, ending a pleasant week of nine AM starts. He was a little unhappy at first, but was calmed down relatively quickly by a cuddle in the kitchen. We headed into the dining room to play with trains, and I pulled out some of the educational workbooks that I've been collecting for him. I have one called "Ready for Reading," which uses pictures and such to introduce children to same and different, small and big, etc. with pictures that you are supposed to circle and x in response to different instructions. Jamie aced the "same" and "different" questions (which picture is the same as this one? Which one is different?) and after a few rounds with the flashcards that I made (two circles, two squares, two triangles), he could match each with its mate, and that was that. Boring! Next! I suspect that he already had a pretty good grasp of same and different before we even got started.

Then it was time for breakfast, which consisted mainly of watermelon, and settled into the dining room again to play with trains. He watched some Yukkipai! Tomodachi Power! for some song and Japanese language practice, followed by more trains, until John dragged us outside for some gardening. It was a good idea, as Jamie was getting a little crabby and needed to get outside and do something active. I got lunch ready, and he was finished eating around 1:30. Then Gary and Ayami came up while I got ready to take him out for his walk (John was very tired, and unusually took a chance to rest when offered). It was a little late to leave for a walk, and Jamie was overtired. He had a hard time falling asleep, and spent much of the first part of the walk complaining bitterly that he couldn't get out of the stroller and walk/play/do anything but sleep. Outside a Starbucks, he demanded a "white cookie," whatever that is. Hoping that a cookie would calm down Hysterically Tired Boy, as food in his mouth will often help him to sleep and the apple I'd brought was both gone and obviously defective, I bought a chocolate-chip cookie (not the white cheesecake-let, which he was just not going to get), and made the mistake of breaking off a piece of the Very Large Cookie to give to hiim to eat. You'd think that I'd stomped on his favourite stuffed animal. Tears and more tears. "Put it back together!" he sobbed repeatedly (in Japanese), and as we all know, you can't put together a crumbled cookie. He could not calm down until I bought Another Cookie (they're not cheap at Starbucks, just so he knows, years later when he reads this) that was Not Broken. He calmed down soon afterwards, and finally fell asleep as I gently took the half-eaten cookie from his hands, which let him fall asleep rather than stay awake, eating like a little cookie zombie. I should note that it was a very large cookie, and more than one person pointed out my son industriously munching on a cookie that was, I swear, as large as his head. Sigh.

He slept for two hours, and we went to Browning for dinner soon afterwards. Jamie was very excited about the fireworks that we were going to see after dinner, and John says that he was talking about it all day. By the time dinner was finished, he was bouncing off the walls, asking when we were going to see the fireworks, and crying out "hanabi! hanabi! hanabi!" in rapid-fire fashion, over and over again. Usually we got to Withrow Park for the community fireworks display there, but there was a very good display at Jackman School, which is much closer and doesn't have as many teenagers firing flares at each other (none, actually). Jamie loved watching the fireworks, and enjoyed it very much until Alexandria and her friend Ben wandered by. Then he dragged them and Ayami at various times all over the playground (which was both familiar and strange in the dark), watching fireworks and playing with glow sticks. He didn't stop much at all, and when the fireworks were over and Alexandria and Ben had to go home, he grabbed Tom's hand as he passed and dragged him to Browning as breakneck speed. Tom said that he was actually worried that Jamie was going to trip, and that he would have to tell us he had a broken child! We all met up at Browning, and had fun teasing Daniel and playing with Andy and Elspeth (a long-time posl-friend and his daughter) before Tom drove them home. Then it was home, and we put Jamie straight to bed as it was already 10:30. He had a great day, late nap notwithstanding, and I hope to have a day even close to today tomorrow.

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

Back to Vol. 0 No. 31, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 33.