Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 42

2006-07-25 22:25 (Kristen) We went to the midwife today after a somewhat late and disturbed night for me and John. Jamie slept well, and was up and happy around 8:00, as is his habit of late. Our usual babysitters weren't available so Jamie came with us, and was very well behaved. He brought me water when I needed it, and told Julie that he thought the baby was a boy. It was a hot day, and so we went straight to Browning (and their air conditioning) right after the appointment. Jamie ate a good deal before attacking Gary and dragging him off to play trains.

Ken took Jamie off for his walk, and Jamie stayed asleep for almost three hours in the humid heat. John took him to play at Treasure Island, and he came home afterwards with John and Tai-Tai to play trains some more at our house. He played a long time with Tai-Tai while John made dinner, and then helped outside while Tai-Tai helped John in the kitchen. He didn't eat a lot, partially because of the heat, I think, and partially because his tooth is still coming very slowly. In fact, his old salivary gland problem is starting to flare up, and his left cheek is a little puffier than his right. I hope that darn tooth comes in soon.

Our friends Evan, Pat, and Adam came to visit (Pat and Adam will be staying until Thursday), and Pat watched Jamie while John and I p;ayed Scrabble with Evan and Adam. He was very good and well behaved with Pat, and played quietly with her before Gary and Ayami came upstairs and took him downstairs to watch a little bit of Elmo. Jamie's in the bath with John now, asking for an apple to gnaw on before he goes to sleep. I'll be going down in a moment to get it.

2006-07-26 23:02 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at 7:20, asking that I get up with him and play trains. I got up, and we puttered about, having breakfast and what not, until 8:30, when we left with Pat to go on the TTC. Jamie was in a good mood, and despite my fears that his tooth would cause him trouble this morning, he had an excellent morning at Hakobune. I picked him up at 12:00, and we ate curry in the usual spot before heading out to the subway at his request.

There was an article in the paper a few months ago about how Toronto transit riders are supposed to be mean and ignorant to pregnant women, and never give up their seats. I have never had that problem, and people have been wonderful, even in the face of extreme heat, to me and to Jamie. On the way home, we got onto the train at the very front, as is our usual habit. There were two children already there, but one of them moved over so that we could sit on one of the seats and Jamie could look out the front window. They got off at the next stop but a boy who was a year older than Jamie got on, who is just as train crazy, it turns out, as Jamie is. They both must watch the train go over the Bloor viaduct, wave to the train before it leaves, wait to leave the platform until after it leaves, and so on. In fact, there were three train-crazy boys (Jamie included) crowded at the front of the front of the train today. When Jamie and Train-Crazy Boy got off the train, they did their ritual, ran to the elevator, negotiated who pressed what button, and made it onto the same bus. The older boy made it into Jamie's favourite seat at the back, but that was all right, as Jamie got a chance to talk with the baby in the front. Lots of friends all over the city.

We made it home, with Jamie complaining that he was too tired to walk. John took him out for his walk, and Jamie slept for almost three hours into the late afternoon. He woke up as I was buying a video tape at the local corner store (the "Spongebob store"), as John had been phoned an hour before asking him and Adam Logan (who is also the current World Scrabble Champion) to appear on a live MTV Canada show at 6:00, as the Beastie Boys were going to be on, and the Beasties are Scrabble fanatics. It was a very interesting afternoon. I took Jamie to Browning with a popsicle, as he was insistent on having one, and because Browning has more advanced cable (and therefore gets MTV Canada). Jamie was happy to go to Browning, but despite applications of trains and grapes, he was progressively more crabby as the time wore on. He was somewhat vexed that he wasn't allowed to watch "Wallace and Gromit" (a video, naturally) and was distracted only for so long by trains. I was quite surprised, however, when Jamie burst into tears upon seeing John on television. He kept crying "Jamie see Papa," and eventually I wasn't able to watch the television with him (thank goodness for tapes, so that I could watch Adam and John later). He broke down a few times about other things (having to use the downstairs bathroom rather than the upstairs when he wanted to use the upstairs, for example, despite knowing that the upstairs was non-functional--that sort of thing) as well, leading me to think that he was a)hungry, or b) teething. I fed him some cheese, and when the show was over, I took him to John's parents' place to wait for John.

Jamie was on John like a second skin from the moment John walked in the door. He was recovering from another meltdown when John arrived, and they hung out in the living room, eating dinner, while the rest of us sat in the dining room and ate ours. John and Adam left to play Scrabble at the club, while Pat and I convinced Jamie to come home. We dangled the promise of some Gary time in front of him as a carrot, and it seemed to work. Jamie banged on Gary's door as soon as we got in, and spent some quiet time with him as I drew the bath and brushed Jamie's teeth. We bathed, and he fell asleep without too much fuss after a book and a dose of Tylenol. I hope that he gets some good sleep tonight, and that it's a less emotionally fraught day tomorrow.

2006-07-27 17:52 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 8:00, asking for something to eat. We went and had some breakfast, but had to have two freezies first to deal with the discomfort in his mouth. The two freezies did the trick, however, as he had a good breakfast and was in a reasonable mood afterwards. I gave him a dose of Tylenol before he and John headed out to Hakobune. John says that they'll be taking the streetcar tomorrow, however, as the car is an oven.

John says that Sensei asked if Jamie and Christian-kun had managed to have their playdate (we've been trying to arrange one, but Christian's mother is very busy). John said no for the reasons I just gave, and Sensei said that she was asking because Christian and Jamie have been playing so well together lately. Jamie has a friend! We knew that they got along, and that Christian really likes Jamie, but it is so nice to know that Jamie is making firm friends. She also said that it was story time (kami-shibai) yesterday, and part of the story involved asking each of the children to contribute in some way. When asked where some children were going in a picture, Jamie immediately said "Going to see Big Thomas!" (Jamie told Sensei all about going to see Big Thomas, and Sensei says that he is not the first child from the daycare to have been to A Day Out With Thomas.) At a later point, each child was asked what their favourite toy was. Most of the children couldn't make up their minds what their favourite toy was, but Jamie immediately said "Thomas!" That's our boy.

They read five books together at the church library, and headed home at Jamie's request after lunch. Jamie came inside briefly at Browning, and then headed out with Ken. I haven't asked John yet how long he slept (John: almost two hours); I do know that John called around 4:00 to say that they were going to Treasure Island. Then he called a little later to say that they were going to be a while, as they had put out a new Thomas table with new engines at the store, and Jamie was just enraptured with the new equipment (which included the collapsing Sodor suspension bridge). John is resting now (John: a little heatstroke, just the thing to get ready for the trip to Phoenix), while Jamie watched Pingu with Gary and I write this while I can.

2006-07-28 23:31 (Kristen) Jamie slept in this morning, until just past nine, which gave me a chance to get up, make his lunch, kill some fruit flies (fruit fly infestation, thanks to the local raccoons...a bowl of apple juice and some soap does wonders), and have breakfast ready by the time he came downstairs with John. The guys set off, and we made arrangements for Jamie to have lunch at Hakobune on Wednesdays for the foreseeable future. He really enjoys lunch there on Fridays, so it seemed logical to try it out on another day. He got his report card (monthly), and apparently he plays well with his friends, especially Christian-kun, and is enthusiastic and energetic during exercises as long as he is in *his* spot, and no one else is in his spot. John and I laughed when we read it, as we had no difficulty whatsoever envisioning this.

Ken was at Browning late because he was helping to make dinner, and so was available to take Jamie out for his afternoon walk. Jamie headed out, and John met up with him at the Second Cup. Jamie had fallen asleep late, and so he was just at the hour mark or so when John called me to come to the Second Cup with his firewire drive. His three-year-old laptop had died again, and he needed some help getting it to boot. In the end, it did a bunch of things that later made the technician say "oh, that's not good," and John left to drop it off at the repair shop (yay warrantee, boo third breakdown in three months). Jamie was looking relaxed in sleep, in his usual fashion, and was drawing more comments and smiles than usual. He *really* flakes out, and we think that a lot of people are envious of his obvious talent at sleeping well anywhere. He woke up after about two and a half hours, when I left the Second Cup to go and pick up some groceries at the Big Carrot. He was sweet and in a lovely mood, giving me hugs and kisses, and we were both very happy to see each other.

After our errands, we headed up to Browning, where Jamie played with trains, wwe read a bit of a magazine, and we headed downstairs when John arrived to hear how John's trip to the computer repair store went. We're thinking that we may have to buy John a new computer, as this one has died just before a tournament for John three months in a row, now. This is not good for our stress levels, and the investment would be worth it in saving us time, stress, and time spent running downtown to the repair place (which isn't open on weekends). It was spaghetti night, and Jamie was a little too wired to eat much, even though he likes noodles. He did eat a good deal of the green apple that I bought for him, so he wasn't starving. He ran Gary and Ayami off their feet while I took the chance to rest (feeling very large and earth whale-ish right now). He was a little (a little?!) wired by the time we took him home at 10:00, and we decided to plop him immediately into the bath. Plans went somewhat awry when a blood vessel burst in John's cheek somewhat messily (*not* a good day for John), and he needed to spend time taking care of that so I bathed Jamie instead. I finally got Jamie into bed, where he took a while to calm down, and he was finally asleep by 11:15. Whew. Tomorrow is market day, and it is supposed to be hotter than all blazes, with high humidex warnings. John has been wonderful at letting me stay inside rather than fight the heat, but it's wearing on him too. We'll see what we can do to make things better for him.

In baby news, I went through all the baby clothes for newborn to six months today, and have them organized in the baby's dresser. I am going through to find what I need to pack my overnight bag for the hospital, as I'm 36 weeks now and could, in theory, go any day. For little Phoenix Arizona's sake (Phoenix Biltmore if it's a boy), I had better not unless they *really* want that name until after John gets back from Arizona. I'm also getting the receiving blankets organized, and I think that we're resigned to having to go shopping for a double stroller of some sort. Jamie's just not ready to give up his naps, and I really want to get the next baby as used to strollers (and sleeping in them anywhere in the world they find themselves) as Jamie is. It's the stroller equivalent of a mini-van, however, and I'll need to adjust my self image to reflect this. (tongue firmly in cheek).

2006-07-29 21:01 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 8:00 or so, and a little owly. I'm not sure if his teeth were hurting or he was just hungry, but he was demanding to "nurse," which he does when he's feeling out of sorts. Not that he even remembers how, mind you, but there's something that tells him it's what he wants to do for comfort even still. We went downstairs and had a big breakfast instead, and soon John and Jamie and Tai Tai went to the market, while I went shopping for Jamie clothes for next season, and for curtain fabric. I caught a great sale at the Bay, and bought him jeans, shorts, and other stuff for next summer at 50% off. Yay!

John picked me up on the way home, and we all went in together. John was suffering from the heat so he lay down, and Jamie decided that he wanted to sleep in the bed, rather than in the stroller. John decided to let him, and it took almost half an hour or more of wriggling, threats, and giggling before he finally crashed out. I slept for half an hour, sat with him for a bit, and then John lay down again with him until Jamie woke up over an hour and a half later. That's the first indoor nap he's taken outside of his stroller in I don't know how long. It's nice to know that he can do it, if pressed, and I can't say that I was too upset to stay out of the wretched heat. Gary and Ayami played with him for a while after he got up, and I made dinner (scrambled eggs with chipotle along with fresh crudites).

Jamie's teeth are hurting, so I let him have two freezies during dinner in exchange for eating the rest of it (worked). Then John took Jamie to the park for an hour, which theoretically has tired him out. He's bathing with John now, and I hope that he'll be asleep quickly tonight. I have to arrange for people to move furniture tomorrow, and I'm just not that organized--proof is that I'm trying to arrange for it tonight.

2006-07-30 22:12 (Kristen) Jamie woke up around 8:30, and we crawled out of bed in relatively good moods around 9:00. He ate breakfast, and shared some cereal with John, by which time it was 10:00 or so. I decided, since I had to go back to The Bay to exchange some things, that I would take Jamie out with me and we'd make a day of it. John had a lot of work to do, so it seemed an excellent way for us all to spend the day.

I took Jamie to The Bay first, but they don't open until 12:00 on Sundays, and it was 11:30 when we arrived. I took Jamie over to Indigo first, then, so that he could play with the train table there. He enjoyed it enough that it was difficult to extract him from the store (books as well as trains!) for lunch. We ate tuna pasta salad (Jamie's choice) and potato salad at a nearby restaurant, which improved Jamie's mood considerably. Then we went to get some lichee bubble tea, and it was back to The Bay to do what we had hoped to do originally. Exchange completed (and chocolate bought for John's trip), we headed off to the subway. Jamie had brought Baby (his doll), and kept good watch over Baby the entire time, holding Baby in his lap. I'm rather proud of the care he shows to Baby; it shows, to me, that he's developing empathy quite well. We got onto the subway going north from Bloor/Yonge, which is a good line if you want to get a child to fall asleep: there are long stretches of tunnel, which give the said child a chance to fall asleep without distraction of stations. Jamie fell asleep, fighting it but his eyes were closing as he knelt on the seat looking out the front of the train, just as we were pulling into Finch Station. Even the comment from me that he wasn't going to see the buffers wasn't enough to wake him up. Success! It was 3:00.

He slept through the trip back to the Danforth and a visit to Book City. He stirred when we left the store, but fell back asleep quickly. I sat for an hour in the Second Cup until Jamie woke up at 5:00. We went over to buy some milk at the Big Carrot, and wait for John to come and meet us. Jamie entertained himself and a number of watchers by chasing pigeons all over the Carrot Common. He would chase one, laughing his burbling laugh in utter delight, and then ask the birds to come down from their perches to be chased again. John met us, and we went over to the bank and back to Browning via a stop at the local ice cream truck. Jamie made John laugh when John said that he'd eat Jamie's ice cream if Jamie didn't sit in his stroller. This made Jamie rush into his seat, at which point John asked for a small bite of Jamie's ice cream. Jamie said yes, holding said cone, and John made to take a big bite by opening his mouth wide in an exaggerated fashion. Jamie opened his mouth wide in imitation, and moved the cone down so that John could only have a small bite. It was quite funny. We ate dinner at Browning, where most of the usual crowd were off doing other things, but Jamie still had a good time. We looked at a book of photos of galaxies, and Jamie declared that he liked star clusters and nebulae, but didn't like spiral galaxies. Showing him a photo of the Pleiades, Jamie said that the photo made hiim happy (quite unsolicited). However, photos of spiral galaxies "made Jamie worried." I love my son.He also helped to make dinner by shucking corn with me, and preparing the asparagus. He loved helping, and I wish that we'd had more for hiim to do.

I got Jamie to finish eating dinner, despite his manic state, by threatening to eat it myself. Hey: it's a strategy. After dinner, John took Jamie to the park, along with Daniel and Ross, while I went home to get prepared for a trip to Wasega Beach tomorrow. Jamie has been a little clingy tonight, possibly because he's tired, and we've been slow getting ready for bed tonight , perversely, for the same reason. However, Gary and Ayami are now here, watching Jamie so that I can blog and clean the kitchen, and John is finally showering. Jamie will be in bed soon, which will be a Very Good Thing.

2006-07-31 22:42 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at 6:15 this morning, crying out and asking for apple cider. I managed to figure out, in my sleepy state, that he was dreaming, and got him to fall asleep again. However, he kept waking up every half hour to 45 minutes until 8:45 or so, when we all decided it was time to get up. I suspect his tooth. We had yoghurt and frozen blueberries and other fruit for breakfast (he loves the frozen blueberries, another teething sign), and prepared to go to the beach. Jamie was very excited at the idea, and wanted to leave right away: he tried to get into the car while I was still putting the carseat in, and wanted to sit in the car (in the wretched heat--it was already over 27 C by 10:30) while we packed it. Finally, we were all ready, and blasted off for Wasega Beach, Daniel in tow, at 11:00.

The trip up was uneventful, except for Jamie eating almost a quarter of a bag of baby carrots. He insisted on sharing with me, John, and Daniel, and everyone had to have a carrot at any given time. We arrived at the beach at 1:00, just in time to have something to eat before heading out to the beach for some serious sand digging. Gary and Ayami had bought Jamie some sand toys, and they sat out in the hot afternoon sun with Jamie for a while as he dug, all building sand castles. Eventually John headed out and they all went into the water together. I sat and watched them, and thought to myself, "I didn't put Jamie's bathing suit on." Sure enough, Jamie was frolicking in the lake wearing his shorts and underwear, but didn't seem to mind at all. They all stayed out for a while, before coming in.

John said that Jamie was starting to look tired, and it was true that he almost fell asleep in the car on the way up. So, John loaded Jamie into his stroller and took off for what would be later termed the "Corner Mart Death March." He pointed out later the exact length of the walk, largely on asphalt, as we were driving out of the park, and it was a loooong way in the heat. First they walked a long way, and then made it into the commercial district of Wasega Beach. John bought Jamie a very long freezie, which Jamie drank in very short order (I say drank, because it was so hot that the freezie melted very quickly). Then they walked back, and Jamie got another long freezie, which he was still happily sucking on when John staggered back into camp...I mean back to where we were at the beach. Jamie finished his freezie and headed back to the beach, and we more or less gave up on the whole nap idea. He lasted throughout the afternoon and into the evening, through dinner and more swimming and play (which involved chasing seagulls) until he finally fell asleep in the car at 8:18 on the way home.

Highlights of the afternoon include playing in the lake with Jamie (Wasega Beach is on Georgian Bay, and is one sandbar after another: very shallow, and therefore very warm water on a day like today) and John. Jamie would "swim" between us as we sat on the bottom, cover us with bottom sand, and otherwise play and horse around. John actually got him to put his face into the water momentarily to blow bubbles (once, which was miraculous in and of itself). It was so lovely to see him have a good time playing with everyone. Right now, he is asleep, after waking up twice in the car, and I have heard him cry out sharply once already tonight in the house. That tooth is giving him real trouble, but I'm not going to wake him up for a painkiller unless he actually wakes. Tomorrow, we go to Hakobune for a makeup day, as the daycare is closed on Friday. It's going to be miserably, wretchedly hot, so I think that a nap on the subway is in order again.

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 41, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 43.