Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 35

2006-06-06 22:30 (John) Jamie was up late again last night and was still sleeping when we left him in Gary's care to go see Julie Witmer, our midwife. Kristen is doing fine, pregnancy-wise, and we could feel for the first time the baby's head (pointing down) and bum. From here on in, we go back to the clinic every two weeks, though we'll be seeing our backup midwife Marlene Sagada and our second backup midwife Melida Jimenez for our next appointments while Julie takes a much-deserved break.

When I dropped Kristen back home at 9:45, Jamie was still sleeping and apparently didn't wake up until 10. I did some quick grocery shopping, then some light gardening. Kristen and I are still fighting Jamie's cold, and our energy levels vary from low to lower. (Kristen: I find that my energy levels in general are lower, as the baby gets bigger, and the weather stays very warm.)

We harvested our first strawberry (ever), and while Jamie was initially dubious about its edibility (I suspect because it just seemed so unlikely that something as marvelous as a strawberry could be found just hanging on a plant in our garden) (Well actually, given the population density of raccoons and squirrels, it is rather unlikely) he hoovered it up and was resistant to the notion that it ought to be shared with his parents. He then pointed out another strawberry that ought to be ripe tomorrow, and asked to eat it. I told him that orange strawberries are sour, and you have to wait for them to turn red and sweet. He sat down and patiently stared at it until I told him it would take a whole day.

We had lunch at Browning, and Jamie went out for his walk with Ken, staying awake until Ken was almost back at the Second Cup, falling asleep only after Ken fed him a cookie. When he's not feeling well, it's easy to underfeed him, but the problem is that he responds by under-sleeping. At any rate, he slept for an hour and forty minutes, waking up as Daniel and I were walking him to Jackman to say hi to Daniel's friend Rada Todorovic, who was revisiting her old haunts for the afternoon.

(Kristen) I passed by Rada on my way to the playground to find Jamie and John, and almost didn't recognize her. She's growing up, and it's startling to see. Jamie and John were hanging out on the big caterpillar, while Daniel was being chased around the playground by about five grade two children. They know who the target is. Jamie had a great time climbing up the big kid slide structure, and is quite the monkey. He went up a climbing pole that he hasn't made it up before almost completely by himself, and was getting creative in how he did it on the third try or so. Hmmm. Then it was off to the little playground for a bit while John went home, but John called soon after to say that Alexandria and Iain were outside, and wondering where Jamie was. Daniel and I walked over with Jamie, and soon all the kids were outside, romping away and playing with soap bubbles.

The fun part came when our neighbour, Hans, showed up with two quiet children in tow. The girl, Chaerim (9), and the boy, Kyop (6), arrived from Korea two weeks ago, and hadn't made any friends yet. Hans saw them watching all of us across the street playing together and not seeing them, and brought them over to play with us. Soap bubbles are a universal ice breaker, and soon all the kids were merrily playing together, chasing soap bubbles, blowing soap bubbles, and having races with the wagon. Jamie calls Chaerim "Green" and Kyop "Red," despite knowing that these are not their names, and dragged John over to their house across the street after Chaerim and Kyop had gone in because he wanted them to come out to play again. He was talking about them tonight in bed, as we were getting ready to sleep, establishing their names and where they lived. I asked him if he had fun today, and he told me about them. I hope that they'll be ready to play again tomorrow.

Chaerim and Kyop's mother and aunt came over, Kate gave us all lovely things to drink, and John brought dinner to me and Jamie as the play went on and on. Jamie chased Rosie Cat, and wasn't sure why she wouldn't come out from under the deck when he chased her and called for her loudly at first, and then more loudly. Finally, around 8:15, everyone went inside, and Jamie was Not Ready to go in as well. He made John (who had been playing and following him around for a good part of the evening) take him in the wagon over to Browning while I had a shower. They came back a little after nine, and John got into the shower. Jamie watched a little "Spirited Away," and then came up to the bath and washed off a remarkable amount of grime. He went to bed happily, and tomorrow he and I go to Hakobune together.

2006-06-07 20:44 (Kristen) I was up early this morning, which gave me a chance to get everything ready for Jamie when he got up, and before we went to Hakobune. Jamie woke up badly, unfortunately, and so decided to not eat breakfast, and to go to daycare in his stroller. He cheered up considerably once we got underway, and consented to eat his breakfast on the subway. We got to Hakobune, and Jamie wanted me to stay with him until he had a pee. Then I was allowed to go.

I picked him up at 12:00, and he was happy to see me. We ate lunch, and hurried home so that we could go to the Oxford University Press book sale (all hardcovers $4; all paperbacks $2!). It was hotter than heck, so we three did the sale in record time (it was already picked over after only an hour and a half), and headed home. John took Jamie for his walk, and Jamie didn't fall asleep until 2:40. That was all right, however, as he slept until 5:25 or so--the longest nap he's had in weeks, but not surprising since he was woken up almost two hours earlier than he's been waking up on his own lately. My cold is pretty bad (stuffed up nose and ears, sore throat, rumbly cough), so I stayed home while Jamie, John, and Daniel went to John's parents' place for dinner before Scrabble. John brought Jamie back because I was staying home, and we watched Spirited Away together: fine mother and son bonding time. Gary and Ayami came home about half an hour ago, and they're watching Tarzan II with Jamie now. I'm about to go upstairs and run the bath, and we're both going to go to bed early tonight.

2006-06-08 21:34 (Kristen) Jamie woke up this morning bright and cheerful, and we spent a little time in bed talking before heading downstairs. He had a reasonable breakfast, and headed out with John to go to Hakobune. He really enjoys it there, and likes playing with other children and the teachers. He and John had lunch with our friend Pat, who was in from Waterloo doing some research at the university, while I stayed home with a rotten cold. Fortunately, I'm doing better but still felt worse than I'd like and didn't feel that I should be sharing my germs with the world.

(John) Jamie spotted Pat across the large hall outside the day care, and ran over to her shouting her name delightedly. He also let her sit in the Favoured Position on the Lunch Bench, which had hitherto been my domain, even when Kristen accompanied us. Pat and I each read Jamie a book. Pat pointed out afterward that my interpretation of the books strayed from the text substantially, omitting mention of slavery or divine intervention in the story of the Exodus, and suggested that this might account for Jamie's interest in letters but not words. I hasten to point out that when reading more age-appropriate matter, I am word-perfect, and just think that Jamie doesn't need to learn about cruelty until he goes to junior kindergarten next year.

(Kristen) They came home and went out again for a walk, and Jamie fell asleep around 2:10 or so. He slept a good long time, waking up at close to five in the afternoon. I don't know if it's because he wakes up early to go to daycare, or if the exercise and stimulation do it, but he sleeps much longer on Hakobune days than he does on other days. He wanted to come inside and watch a little television when he woke up (John had brought him home before he woke up), and so we did that for an hour before dinner. He didn't eat much dinner, which perhaps offset the very large lunch he'd eaten, and was more anxious to do things than to sit around and eat. I distracted him from the television with the lure of bubble blowing outside (note to self: buy more bubble liquid!), and we had a good time doing that before we found Alexandria and her friends outside looking for Rosie-cat. We played with them, and had an excursion to the corner store for ices, before they went off inside and Jamie and I blew a few more bubbles. I pulled Jamie around the block in the wagon, and we ran into Misuk, Chaerim, and Kyop as they were coming home from the park. We walked back to our part of the street with them, and they went inside. Jamie, however, decided that they shouldn't go in quite yet, and so we knocked on their door and dragged them out again. They had a good time with bubbles and the wagon, while Misuk and I chatted, and then Alexandria and group came out again. We all ended up in Alexandria's back yard, and all the children had a good time playing together until the sun was down and it was getting dark. Then we all split up and came home, but it was really nice that we got to see Chaerim and Kyop again, as Jamie is quite taken with the two.

Once inside, it was time for a little more television, and a bath. He's watching Tarzan II again, thanks to Gary, and has been asking after Mio again. We explain that she's far away in Japan, and he asks if we can go see her. He's cheerful in his questions, as he is in most things, but it's proof that he hasn't forgotten her, more than three months after she left, and that he's got a good memory. It doesn't seem to distress him; he's just curious, and I'm thankful for that, as she was a big part of his life.

2006-06-09 21:34 (Kristen) Jamie woke up in a lovely mood this morning, and we chatted away for a few minutes before it was time to go downstairs and get ready to go. Jamie ate a little bit of breakfast, but really just picked at it: watermelon, and a little toast, and that was it. He and John set out together to go on the subway to Hakobune, which is a little unusual as they usually borrow John's parents' car and drive, but I think that Jamie enjoyed the change of pace. He had a good day at daycare, they say, and he told me yet again that he had fun playing with the "sensei." Japanese doesn't differentiate between singular and plural, but it may well have been all three of the available sensei that he dragged into play with him.

(John) Jamie was (not surprisingly) quite hungry on the subway. He asked for his lunch curry (the excellent butter chicken from Nupur of Raani Foods), but we were missing our Thomas the Tank Engine cutlery set, so he made do with his apple. By the time I picked him up for luch, he was ravenous, and hoovered the curry and a samosa in quick succession.

(Kristen) We weren't sure if Ken could walk Jamie until after 1:00, when he called to say that he could, but at which point I had taken him with me to Dr. Kennedy's (I had a 1:15 checkup). Jamie was disappointed that he wouldn't see Dr. Kennedy, but apparently fell asleep less than five minutes after Ken picked him up in front of the medical building. He woke up an hour later when Ken dropped him off at the Second Cup, which meant that John's working afternoon was brought to an unceremonious end. Jamie dragged John off to Treasure Island (where he hasn't been in close to a week), and succeeded in having his second or third fully successful poo in the toilet there. Woo hoo! I have to say, that I never anticipated that I would spend so much time thinking about someone else's digestive tract. Really.

(John) It was a Mighty Poo, too. 25 cm long in total. But enough about that. He went back to playing at the Thomas the Tank Engine table, and a child about half a year younger than him ran a train into the back of Jamie's train, possibly due to a signal failure. Jamie's finger was pinched in the ensuing train wreck, and rather than crying he put on his Manic Smile and said to the boy "That hurts! You say sorry!" The boy looked nervously around for his mom, who was distracted. Jamie fixed him with his best You Will Do What I Want And Enjoy It gaze, and repeated "'Sorry.' 'Sorry.' 'Sorry.' ..." until the boy was mesmerised and mumbled "'sorry!". Jamie, always delighted to find a willing subject said "Now you kiss my finger and make it better." The boy, still entranced, dd so, and then they went back to playing trains.

(Kristen) John made it as far as the Jackman School playground, before Jamie demanded a play break. I came to spell off John, and though I had brought a long-sleeved shirt for Jamie, I didn't think that my own shirt was going to be too cool for the weather. The wind was blustery and the sun totally obscured by clouds, and I walked Jamie into going home so that I could get a coat after about half an hour. We found our neighbour Alexandria standing by her house in a bit of funk, and Jamie grabbed her to play with for half an hour or so. It made both of them happy, and by the time she had to leave it was time to get ready to go to Browning.

Once there, Jamie soon showed that he was one Hungry Hungry Toddler. He ate two pieces of French bread, a slice of cheese, half a bowl of chili, assorted vegetables, and a tangerine before John arrived, followed soon after by Gary and Ayami. Jamie decided that he hadn't eaten enough, and so sat on Gary's lap to eat more cheese and all the kidney beans out of his chili (?!!). I am somewhat alarmed by this, and am anticipating a somewhat gassy night. He apparently also ate all the filling out of Ayami's blueberry pie, although she gallantly said that she prefers the outside of the pie to the inside anyway. They all came home around 9:25. Whenever Jamie leaves his grandparents' house, we all sing a particular Japanese children's song with hand gestures, and that makes a comforting routine departure for him. This evening, Jamie insisted on finding Daniel and singing the "Miffy" theme song as a departure song, a tune with which we have been teasing Daniel recently. I understand that Daniel's reaction was quite comical, as he loathes the song, but can't stand not to humour Jamie at the same time. Heh. Jamie is very tired, probably from all the digesting he needs to do, and is getting ready for bed.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but he's a very empathetic little boy. He likes to run up to me and to John and give us big hugs, and ask "Make Mummy/Papa happy?" He knows that hugs do make us happy, and he likes to do it gratuitously. He's really a great kid.

2006-06-10 20:11 (Kristen) Jamie slept for almost eleven hours last night, and solidly. He finally got up around 9:30, and went to the market with John and our neighbour Alexandria an hour later. He was thrilled to have Alexandria along for the trip, as he really enjoys her excellent company.

(John) We dropped Alexandria's mom, Karen, off for a reunion near the market, where it turned out that the streets were filled with stalls and crowds. Everyone and their dog has come down for a festival billed as Woofstock, which we would have enjoyed much more had it been held elsewhere.

Jamie stuck mostly to his regular routine, and everyone seemed to be happy to see him after his absence last week. He ate a pakora and a samosa from Nupur, then a chunk of kielbasa before heading to the Early Years Centre. Everything was quiet there because they too were celebrating Woofstock with a silent auction (we bid on and won a couple of pop-up books) and a little jumping castle (see photos).

Jamie ate a cranberry muffin from Stonemill (we don't shop there much anymore, ever since they stopped making a decent pumpernickel bread, but Alexandria needed to by baguettes), and a piece of a Zero bar, his usual lollipop from Wei and half a slice of black olive, feta, onion and cherry tomato pizza from St. Lawrence Pizza. My stomach is starting to feel full just typing this.

At Loblaws, he was clearly feeling quite tired, but Alexandria managed to keep him focussed enough for us all to survive, and he fell asleep just as we were arriving back home.

(Kristen) He fell asleep in the car on the way home, and John and I failed our rolls when we tried to get him into the stroller without waking him. I rushed off with him in the stroller the moment I could, but it was all for naught: he stayed awake despite my working hard for an hour and fifteen minutes to get him to sleep again. Grump. Eventually, I gave up and brought him home again. He played with John for a little bit, who was exhausted from the shopping trip, and then came in with me to watch a little Thomas. A little Thomas turned into a lot, and John made dinner while Jamie and I vegged on the couch together. Then we watched Spirited Away again during dinner, and while John had a nap. It's almost 8:20, and I'm wondering what we all have the energy for before we send us all off to bed again. I've been listless all day, for no good reason, while John is exhausted because he's been doing all the shopping and cleaning today. Jamie should be tired, given the amount he ate and did at the market, but he's content to slurp back more rice and gyoza, and to sit on my lap watching television.

2006-06-11 21:15 (Kristen) Jamie woke up around 9:00 this morning, after falling asleep around 10:15 last night. He's definitely sleeping longer, but I'm unsure if this is due, in part, to his sleeping in our bed again (he came back in when he was sick). He was in a chatty mood, and we went downstairs to eat breakfast after getting some essentials done, like a little cleaning and getting dressed. He ate an egg and some English muffin, and decided that he really wanted some more egg but got distracted. We soon went outside to get some gardening done, and got Jamie to participate as much as we could (he enjoys digging in the dirt). (John: he also helped me transplant a kerria bush by walking over to Browning with me to operate the garage door opener as we took our usual shortcut through Daniel's garage, then helped lug soil in a wagon and water in the plant.) Alexandria came over to give us some roses from her mom's garden, and was quickly grabbed and press ganged by Jamie into playing (not that she needed much convincing, bless her). At one point, Jamie was playing with the garden hose, and managed to splash Alexandria's mom, Karen, but good before we managed to grab the hose and redirect it (by accident: he did the same to himself a little later).

Alexandria came in with us to keep Jamie amused during lunch, when he asked for another egg and then ignored it, by and large, in favour of eating cherries, chicken, and cucumber. (John: I put out ten cherries in a bowl. Kristen and I each ate one, Jamie got the rest, less whatever ended up on his hands and face.) John and Jamie went out for a walk, and stayed out until 5:30 or so (John: he fell asleep after about ten minutes of munching on his apple, napped for two hours while I worked at my usual Second Cup table, then we played at the St. Barnabas' Church playground. Jamie persuaded two older boys to join in his imaginary subway ride, assigning them roles as the driver and the conductor.), when we all assembled at Browning to make dinner. We're having dinner there tonight, as we're all going out for dinner at the Oshawa Scrabble Club end-of-season dinner tomorrow night. Jamie ate somewhat well, and had his usual good time playing with all his usual minions. He was getting tired near the end of the evening, however, and zoned out in front of Thomas the Tank Engine for a little while before coming home with John.

Jamie has been somewhat fixated on issues and things related to nursing, and I'm starting to worry a little about how he's going to deal with the new baby using HIS "nurse-nurse." He's also having little reversions to "Jamie little baby," insisting that he's not a big boy. Mind you, this is followed five minutes later, sometimes, by declarations of independence and "big boyhood," so maybe it'll all work out. I spent a good part of the afternoon going through clothes for Jamie, figuring out what we have and what we need for the summer. We have a strange lack of summer long pants (we need just one or two light pairs for days when shorts won't do, and corderoys are right out), and possibly new shorts , as a number of his are about to be officially declared "too small." All the bins of clothes are now labelled with index cards on the outside, saying "18 months," "Two years," and other such things. It'll make it much easier when going through the closet to dig out the one that I need, rather than digging through them all (there are five or six). I think that I'll start going through clothes this time and getting rid of things earlier (I haven't gotten rid of anything before now!). As this baby is likely (75 percent likelihood) to be our last, I feel relatively comfortable doing this. Certain things will always be kept, of course, but a good part of it will look well on another child, rather than filling up one very large closet in our house!

I don't know what John is doing to Jamie in the bath, but the giggles coming out of that room are priceless. UPDATE: apparently, Jamie is pouring water on John's head, and laughing at the changes to John's hairstyle.

2006-06-12 22:36 (Kristen) We all slept in again; I'm not sure if this is necessarily a good thing, however. I've been waking up feeling rather muzzy, but the long sleeps haven't been affecting Jamie too adversely. Today, I had some errands to run downtown, and John did as well. Ayami offered to look after Jamie, and they apparently went outside and played with wagons while we were out. We made it home by 12, but Gary and Ayami had already taken Jamie over to Browning for lunch. Jamie ate a good lunch, and then asked to be taken upstairs for a pee. No problem: I can do that. When we made it up and onto the appliance in question, Jamie didn't pee; in fact, he declared himself to be all done without doing anything. Suspicious, I let him get down but didn't go anywhere. He paced around in a state of anxiety, briefly, asking for a diaper or a pair of underwear, and I put him back on the tiolet instead. Sure enough, he had a big poo, but was pretty pleased with himself when he was done. I was pretty pleased too, since there was a minimum of angst involved.

Soon after, Ken took Jamie out for his walk and John and I went home to work. John went to get Jamie and met Ken at 2:30: our little boy hadn't slept At All. A number of reasons may be at work: he was hot, a little dehydrated, and hadn't peed before he left on his walk. Jamie sucked back a good deal of chocolate milk, and played a bit at the Jackman playground, but ended up not going to sleep at all for John. John brought him home, where we played in the backyard for a bit hunting weeds and running around without shoes on. Eventually we went inside, after Jamie declared that he needed to poo. Intrigued, if not convinced, we went upstairs to the bathroom where he proceeded to do just that. Yay! An accident-free day!

We were scheduled to go to the Oshawa Scrabble Club's dinner this evening, and I dressed Jamie in the new Oshkosh pants that I found for him at the Bay, and a shirt that I'd bought for him last year for just this sort of thing. He fell asleep in the car around 6:45, as we (ruefully) figured that he'd do, and slept for the half hour that it took to drive to the restaurant. Once there, John woke him up as we went in, and Jamie stayed somewhat groggy for a little while afterwards. He spent most of the dinner sitting in my lap, eating salad and bits of my fish, and cuddling with me. He was very snuggly tonight, prompting me to call him a snugglebug. Jamie told me that he was a big bug, not a snugglebug, so I corrected myself and called him a big snugglebug. That was acceptable. He had me read him some books while the speeches were going on, and then it was time to go. He was just about the best-behaved that he has ever been in a restaurant, which was great! He was quiet on the way home, but didn't fall asleep again. We're all brushed and ready for the bath now, which I hear John running. Off we go.

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

Back to Vol. 0 No. 34, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 36.