Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 0 No. 39

2006-07-04 25:00 (Kristen) We packed up the car this morning, and headed out to Wasaga Beach to spend the day and one night with our friends Reid and Luisa. They rent a cottage on the eastern end of the beach (it's a long, long beach) that is right on the beach itself, and Jamie has been looking forward to the trip very much. All yesterday, he kept asking "beach? beach?" and it continued through the car ride (uneventful) up to the cottage.

In case it isn't clear, Jamie loves the beach. We arrived about 12:40, and it is a good thing that Jamie had stuffed himself full of food on the ride up as it gave him the energy to run out and play in the sand for a few hours. Or, rather, it gave him the energy to run around and order John to build more and more elaborate sand edifices and public works. I sat with Luisa and talked for a while, and watched Jamie behave in what John calls "sandpiper behaviour." This means that, like a sandpiper, Jamie likes to do little things along the shore and play chicken with the waves. When a wave catches a sandpiper that is a little too bold or a little too slow, it yells "peep! peep! peeep!" in indignation. Jamie does approximately the same thing. Jamie started to flag around 3:00, and we knew it was time to come in when he did a little face-plant into the sand. The only thing to do was to take him into the water and rinse him off, which he appreciated as only a boy who likes to take an hour to get into a pool and don't rush me, please! would enjoy such a thing. At least the water was warm.

We all (Reid, Luisa, Michael and Ronnie, and us) went in for lunch, which Jamie inhaled a good deal of. His appetite is astonishing lately, and we're sure he's stocking up for another growth spurt. We tried to get him to sleep in the bedroom, as he kept saying that he would, but in the end there was only one recourse: the stroller. John took him out, and he was back ten minutes later with an utterly crashed Jamie. The area is quite breezy, as it is close to the water, but the lone mosquito in the neighbourhood managed to bite Jamie on the forehead before John could kill it (which he did, with extreme predjudice). It puffed up right away, and John put cortisone cream (a mild one) on Jamie's forehead immediately after it started. We also gave him some allergy medication after he woke up, but it's swollen. He's going to look like he did a few weeks ago, again. Sigh.

Jamie ended up sleeping, while appearing to wake up a few times but going back to sleep, for three hours. I gently woke him up at 7:00, so that he could get some time on the beach before the sun went down, and John took him down. The wind had really picked up by this point, and Jamie sat on John's lap as John acted asa windbreak. They came in for dinner after a little bit, which Jamie bitterly resented, but he cheered up when he saw the food and ate heartily. Then it was back outside, with John bringing a towel to keep him warm, and I took a sweatshirt out for Jamie a bit later. They played happily until sunset, and then came in as it was getting cold. We spent the rest of the evening watching television and hanging about, talking, and watching video and photos that Reid had taken of the day. We put him to bed around 10:30 and read him some books, but it still took a while for him to fall asleep in unfamiliar surroundings. We leave in the morning to make it back to Toronto, but we're planning for Jamie to have some more beach time before we do.

2006-07-05 23:26 (Kristen) Perhaps it was the strange surroundings, but we all slept lightly last night, and Jamie was up at 6:20. In Jamie's case, these reasons were likely compounded by his late nap and the brightness of the morning. He complained about the light, John closed the curtains, and he freaked out about the dark. Sigh. Jamie and I finally got up at 7:20 ("Mummy, no close eyes. Mummy!"), and staggered out into the living room. Luisa was just getting up, and thoughtfully made me a cup of (decaf) coffee as I set Jamie up with a DVD, as he was asking for a movie. I worked while Jamie watched, and I slowly became a more human, less crab-like individual. Jamie did too, in his own way. By the time John got up, around 9:00, we were ready for breakfast. Jamie ate cereal in his new fashion: dry cereal in one bowl, toppings in another, and milk in a third. He then mixes them together his way, at his own pace. He dragged John out to the beach for about 45 minutes while Reid and Luisa helped me load the car, and we finally hit the road at 11:00. Thank you again, Reid, Luisa, Ronnie, and Michael, for a wonderful time.

We made it home by 12:40 or so, but Jamie had fallen asleep in the car at 12:00. I stayed with him in the car, working on a project that had to be sent out today, until 1:50, when John had to return the car to the rental agency. We moved Jamie in his seat into the house, but he (unsurprisingly) woke up when we did. He stayed in his seat for about ten minutes, eating an apple, before he woke up enough to decide that it was time to get up. I had stayed up late last night, and was feeling a little sleep deprived, so I was delighted to see Gary come upstairs to spend some time with Jamie an hour or so after we got back. I made some lunch around 3:00, which Jamie ate all of, and we continued to putter about. I fell asleep on the couch for 45 minutes at one point, and Gary very kindly continued to look after Jamie while I crashed.

Jamie was tired and full of histamines from his mosquito bite, so getting him to Tai Tai's for dinner was a little difficult. We met up with Chaerim and Kyoup, with their mom and with our other neighbour Kate on the way to the playground, and Jamie played happily with them, and with Rayna and Maia who were already there, for fifteen minutes while John ran down to the Big Carrot for some lunch supplies for tomorrow. Getting Jamie back into the stroller was a real challenge, but we managed to do it without meltdowns on either side. Dinner was uneventful, and Jamie and I headed home around 8:00. When we got back, we played with trains, and did some Kumon folding and mazes. I bought Jamie some little Kumon books a while ago, and one of them teaches fine motor control by teaching children to fold paper: if you fold on the line, then you can play peek-a-boo with the rabbit; that sort of thing. Jamie likes playing with the results, and it isn't all that hard to get him to play with the old and the new folded pieces. Origami next. He also likes to do mazes: I've been showing him how with his finger, and tonight I asked him if he wanted to use a pencil. He did, and so we did six mazes with a pencil. He was very pleased that he was able to hold a pencil properly, and that he both was able to do the mazes, and to do them with the puzzle. I put a star sticker (he chose the blue one) on the last maze, and I hope that he wants to do more. He did enjoy the praise, but I have to make sure that I don't freak him out with overly effusive praise, too. But I was proud. I also asked him what his favourite colour was: he first said "I don't know" (his usual response to a question he doesn't want to think about or answer), but he quickly added that his favourite colour was pink. He also told me that my favourite colour was purple, which I found funny since it was my favourite colour when I was his age.

John got back from Scrabble at 10:15, and we were all in bed by 11:00. Much too late for a boy who woke up from his nap at 2:00, but he was in a good mood and not acting overly tired. I am absolutely blithering, so I am going to go to bed now. 'Night!

2006-07-06 21:14 (Kristen) Jamie slept in this morning until 8:45 or so, but it didn't help his mood at all. He blew up at me when I made him turn off Kiki's Delivery Service to get dressed and go to the bathroom before he went to Hakobune. It was a full on cry, which surprised me greatly. I finally asked him what the problem was, and he calmed down enough to do what he had to do, but it wasn't a good omen for the day. In fact, the teachers at Hakobune asked what was wrong with Jamie too, as he was very irritable and full of "no" all morning. He made a teacher carry him all the way to the playground, after denying that any of the pairs of sandals were his (they figured it out through the process of elimination), and then refused to go back when it was time. They say that he was just not himself.

(John) I thought at first that Jamie's irritability was because of his mosquito bite, but then Kristen noticed that he was working on a new molar. It's been a while since we went through this, which is I guess why we didn't recognize the signs.

Jamie ate well and wanted to take the streetcar home as usual, but was willing to be persuaded that it wouldn't do the groceries in the trunk of the car any good to be left at the day care. He also wanted to run laps up the wheelchair ramp and down the stairs at the Women's Bookstore, until I coaxed him into the car. He napped only for an hour and twenty minutes, but was in a reasonable mood, considering. He wanted one of the Second Cup's hideous shortbread cookies for its icing sugar, but eventually listened to my reasoning and settled for a blueberry-oat breakfast cookie and a chocolate milk with whipped cream. There seems to be a pattern here. At least my son is now letting me think I'm winning our negotiations.

We did agree that the place to go after the Second Cup was the Jackman schoolyard, and Jamie spent a few hours there, first with me and then with Kristen, showing off what he could now climb (notably the yellow ladder on the big slide) and playing tag with me on the kindergarten play structure. (Kristen: he also spent time running after a five-year-old girl he befriended, calling out "Jamie catch you! Jamie catch you!" We sat for a little while after she left eating "cake" [woodchips], which Jamie told me was, at different times, green, pink, red, white, or black cake. Our "plates" were pink [for me] and purple [for him].) He ended up taking his sandals off after getting mulch caught under his toes for the nth time; he then decided to name his sandals Thomas and Henry, for two of his favourite TTTE engines.

Kristen took Jamie over to play with Chaerim and Kyop while I made soba for dinner. Jamie ate sparingly, and Kristen made him a banana shake to help top him up, to which he insisted on adding some chocolate powder, which did seem to improve it. He also went a little pomo, deciding for a while that he would experiment with the dualization of trains on tracks, pushing long segments of track around as though they were trains, even naming the mine shaft entrance piece Gordon. He went to bed around his usual time, excited by the imminent arrival of tomorrow.

2006-07-07 22:40 (Kristen) Jamie was feeling better this morning when he woke up; he wasn't as crabby, and his mosquito bite is healing well. He was still somewhat contrary, and gets a big kick out of pushing my buttons first thing in the morning while I'm trying to get him ready to go out. I have to remember to hide any reactions to his dawdling, or refusals to do simple tasks, so that they aren't so much fun for him. John said that he was having a rough morning, and so he wanted some reassurances, and a cuddle did go over well, but he still has that "poke" impulse that I think he comes by genetically.

He had a good morning at Hakobune, and he ate lunch for the first time with his classmates, after asking where John was and being satisfied with the answer. He ate the peas and green onions that John had picked in the garden this morning, along with a small cucumber (storebought) and half of his butter chicken curry, then surprised Mrs. Sasaki by putting his hands together and saying "gochisousama" (thank you for the meal). This was a very polite thing for him to do, and they may have been wondering if they were going to have to teach him this in Japanese. Ha! My child has good manners in two languages!

I took him out for his walk this afternoon, and he didn't fall asleep until close to 3, after getting out on the road close to 2. I was tired, so I stopped at the Second Cup to have a coffee and work a little until my mom, my sister, and my younger niece Anna arrived. They did around 3:30, and came to meet me at the Second Cup. We chatted for a bit, and then wheeled Jamie back up to the house. Jamie was awake a little after two hours of napping, and was shy at first at all the people (my Aunt Millie had arrived just as we got home). He got over it pretty quickly, however, and soon was playing with Anna while the rest of us chatted some more. We went to the Silk Road for dinner, and met up with my cousin Scott, and John's parents. On the way, Jamie managed to get everyone but me (John was walking farther behind with Justin) into a long train, with him as an engine. I wish that I had a photo of that.

Jamie ate well, but was very energetic, and so John and Anna took him to the nearby playground while the rest of us finished eating. He took some convincing to go home, but I told him that it was mosquito time, and that we didn't want him to get bitten again. He seemed to groove on this explanation, and went home in his stroller without complaint. He negotiated two Thomas episodes to watch while having his teeth brushed, did a little spontaneous rock, scissors, paper (which I taught him earlier this week, and has the variant rock, scissors, paper, butterfly), and let him play with trains and Anna while John ran the bath. He and John are in the bath now, and I hope that he'll be in bed and asleep very soon.

2006-07-08 21:28 (Kristen) John has a Scrabble tournament to run this weekend, so he left early in the morning to herd Scrabblers in North York. Jamie and I hung out in bed for half an hour before getting up and looking for Grammie, Auntie, and Anna. It was Market Day, so we all got ourselves together to go down by car (with Mom driving!) to the St. Lawrence Market. We arrived at close to twelve, so the first order of business was to get Jamie his samosa. Nupur wasn't there, but her usual helper was there, and one other person. The other person was pleased to meet Jamie, as she had heard a lot about him, but was a little disappointed that Jamie didn't say "OK" or "yeah." Apparently, Nupur and her usual assistant love the way that Jamie says these two words, and will imitate his tones when they say "OK" or "yeah" at the end of the day. I laughed and laughed, but Jamie was too busy eating his samosa to talk to anyone. Then we bought him some kielbasa, and he demanded to go see Wei right away for his lollypop. Anna helped look after him while we got the rest of the North Building groceries, then we headed over to get Jamie's lollypop (and the rest of the groceries). Jamie ate some pizza, but it was almost 1:30 by then, and we had to run back to the car to beat the parking control person (and we did, by a minute).

Jamie almost fell asleep in the car on the way home, and Jen, Anna, and I did our best to keep him from falling asleep, as I have terrible luck in getting from from the car seat to the stroller. As it was, he needed to come in for a couple of bathroom breaks before we were able to set out on our walk. My aunt, my cousin Scott, Anna, Jen, and my mom, along with Gary and Ayami, all headed over to the Second Cup while I walked Jamie to sleep. It took about half an hour, and a purchase of an apple, before he finally dropped off. I walked back to the Second Cup and got some work done before we all walked back to the house for dinner, around 6:00. Jamie was hungry but insistent on doing certain activities, so it wasn't until John got home and helped out that I amanged to get some food into him. Then we all had leftovers for dinner, and sat around talking until it was time to go to bed for Jamie. Right now, at Anna's suggestion, he is sitting in the SpongeBob Chair, and brushing Gary's hair.

He's been happy to have his grandmother, aunt, and cousin visiting, and to see his auntie Millie and cousin Scott as well. However, all the people and all the chaos has made him a little unsettled, and he's been very Mom and Papa-focused today. It's a good dry run for when the baby's born.

2006-07-09 22:55 (Kristen) Jamie was up before 7:30, but stayed in bed until 8:20 or so. Then he made me get up, which since I had stayed up late talking with my sister, was not as easy as it sounds. He had a big breakfast, then spent the morning frustrated at the laws of physics as they relate to overly long trains and curves in the track, and running around a little outside. It was hot, and by the time we came in for lunch and a bathroom break, Jamie's hair was plastered around his face. Jen got up late, Anna played with Jamie after she got up, and Mom went off to spend the day with Auntie Millie. We cooled down and had lunch, and got ourselves together enough to be on the road by 1:30 to take Jamie for his walk.

Jamie fell asleep a little before 2:00, and slept for a little over two hours before waking up at home (Jen, Anna, and I walked him home after meeting up at the Second Cup). He was a little crusty upon waking, and needed some cuddle time, but was all right soon afterwards. Then it was time to putter around the house before we went to Browning for dinner (we were making salmon dinner tonight, rather than tomorrow night). Jamie enjoyed the very elaborate track that John made for him, and also the plastic bin that Tom had bought. He sat in it, and made Tom push his "ferry boat" around the house many times, and it was pretty funny. He ate a decent meal, a good amount of fruit and ice cream with pie, and is more than ready for bed now.

2006-07-10 22:45 (Kristen) We were planning to go to Wasega Beach today with the whole Sagara clan, but woke to the melodious sounds of thunder and the pitter-pat of torrential rain. Consultations were held, and it was decided (in our house) that the forecast of thunderstorms until the afternoon, followed by overcast skies with a 40% chance of showers afterwards and a high of 17 C, was just too dire to be attractive. The Sagara clan, motivated by Tami who had a ton of food prepared and "pouty faces" from Gary and Daniel, decided to go anyway. Gary was disappointed because he had bought little toy boats for Jamie to play with on the water, which Jamie (admittedly) would have loved. However, the idea of spending hours in the car with a two-year-old while the rain came and went was a greater deterrent. John says that Daniel promised him a "neener-neener" call if they all had a great time without us. We haven't heard from them, but neither have they returned, so we're not sure how their day went yet, and if our meterological pessimism was justified, or if we missed a great time.

As it was, we had a nice, quiet day at home. John took Jamie out around 12:30 or so with Anna and Jen, so I worked while they were out. John called at 3:00 to say that Jamie was still awake, and would I walk him around the block while he ran in and did a few things? I took him around the block once, with no company, and he fell right asleep. John needed a nap in the worst way, so I took Jamie down to the Second Cup and kept working. I checked my watch at 6:00, and saw that Jamie was still sleeping. Eek! Anna and Jen arrived at 6:30, and bought some coffee, and when we looked back, Jamie was quietly and happily awake, just staring off into space. He was in a sweet, lovely mood, and happy to see us (and us to see him awake!). That was a three-hour nap, which worried me considerably (what time will he go to sleep tonight?!!). However, we went straight home and Jamie played for a few minutes with Clare, Iain, Alexandria, and Sara before we went inside for dinner.

Jamie wasn't all that interested in the soba, but loved the rice balls left over from the picnic lunch that Tami left for us. He said that he was Chihiro in Spirited Away, and that I was Mummy Haku (who gives the rice balls to Chihiro). He was Jamie Chihiro through almost two rice balls. Around 8:40, my mom came back, and Jamie ended up going outside to greet her and my aunt, and then to play with Iain, Clare, Alexandria, and Sara again. He soon had everyone in a "long train," and they were running all over. Given the lack of exercise that he's had lately, and the lateness of his nap, I was all for his running his little feet off. Later in the evening, after we had all gone inside again, he decided that he was going to draw with his crayons (unusually...he doesn't draw much, because (I suspect) he gets frustrated that he can't draw what's in his mind). He got into drawing circles, which he does very well. Then he started drawing more of them after I praised him, and kept saying to himself, "This one not good" and trying again. It was very cute.

Right now, he is in the bath and taking his bathtub letters, wrapping them in a washcloth two at a time, and giving them to John and me as "presents." He is very pleased with himself.

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

Back to Vol. 0 No. 38, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 0 No. 40.