Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 49

2006-09-12 17:55 (John) In Jamie's extremely rich fantasy life, we are often assigned roles from whichever happens to be his current mythos of choice. If it's Kiki's Delivery Service, then he is invariably Kiki and you are her familiar, Jiji, the little black cat. If it's Wallace and Gromit, he is Wallace and you are Gromit, though upon further questioning yesterday Jamie said that Mummy and Liam were also Wallace in absentia.

I have been wondering about Jamie's distance vision. He has lately started asking if people at a distance (say ten metres or more) are people that at least to my eye (without its customary -1.5 dioptre corrections) they clearly aren't. They're always people that he wants to see, and usually people that he knows are out of town, so this makes me wonder if it's a sort of game that he's playing, and I should be playing along with it somehow. He's asked so far about dopplegangers for Uncle Ted, Becky, Alexandria and Tomoko.

Last night, at the big birthday party, he caused a bit of a stir by picking up a copy of the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, slipcase and all, and carrying it across the room to ask me what it was. I haven't weighed it, but according to Amazon it's more than 15 pounds, or about half of Jamie's weight. Good to know Jamie's pronounced musculature isn't just for show.

We took Liam to the midwifery clinic for a checkup with Julie Witmer, leaving Jamie in the care of everyone at Browning. Liam weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz. (4280 g), for a gain of 7 oz. in 9 days, which is within the expected range of 0.5-1.0 oz. per day. He was very well behaved, despite having been very unsettled since last night, we suspect because of abdominal gas. Kristen is about as perky as one would expect a mother who has been nursing her child every two hours to be. Kristen is off soon to introduce Liam to our family doctor, Dr. Kennedy, and to make sure that there is nothing further that she needs to be doing to make sure her Caesarian section scar heals properly.

(Kristen) Dr. Kennedy was happy to make Liam's acquaintance, and commented on his lung power in passing as Liam demanded a snack in the waiting room. John and Jamie made it to the doctor's office before we headed in, and Dr. Kennedy confirmed that we were doing the right things for my incision. We headed home separately, as John needed to buy something at the pharamacy and I needed to feed Liam, and so John and Jamie came in later. Jamie wanted to stay outside to play, but it was raining, so he settled for some Kik instead. He wants to know where characters are at the beginning of the movie, long before they show up onscreen. It's a Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern kind of thing, and I'll have to remind him that he always wanted to know where characters where when they're offscreen when it's time for him to watch that movie.

We played some Memory game, and some Hi Ho Cherry Oh!, and John reorganized the toys (remarkably like the way that I would have done it...). Jamie and I read some books, and then he played with Gary and Ayami while I talked with my friend Sue and later got things ready for the bath. He was very wound up, and took a long time to fall asleep. Liam did too, and I have to go now, as Liam is awake and demanding to be fed.

2006-09-13 21:49 (Kristen) Today was a Hakobune day, and Jamie woke up around 8:00, despite the gloomy weather. We got ready, and despite a few hiccups, were out the door by 10:00. John dropped me off at the university library, and took Liam and Jamie to Hakobune. He introduced Liam to the church staff, and to the people at the daycare. The other children were very interested in him, and John says that they formed a circle around Liam and all had a look. It sounded very nice. Then John dropped me and Liam off near Yonge and Bloor, so that I could run a few errands and introduce Liam to my old friends at UTP. I had a very pleasant visit, and Liam was very well behaved. Suzanne gave him a very sweet outfit, with a onesie with trains on it, and a pajama with feet that have "choo" on each foot. Very cute!

Liam ended up needing a nurse at Indigo, where he got some attention as the little baby who looks like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's baby, Suri. Apparently, Suri has a lot of hair too. I haven't seen the pictures, but two people have told me this today. I guess I'll have to look at the pictures to find out for myself if there is a resemblance or not. John and Jamie picked us up, and then we headed home. I took the boys for a walk this afternoon, and Jamie slept for about two hours. Liam gave me opportunity in the Second Cup to remember that you can nurse a child very discreetly when you have them in a sling. I took the boys home around 4:30, but it took a while because I met a few people who hadn't met Liam yet. John played with Jamie and Liam outside for half an hour while I rested, then his mom dropped dinner off (we have children with colds; not good to combine with John's parents) and we ate. John left to go to Scrabble, and I let Jamie watch Babe. Afterwards, we read a few books, Jamie played a little by himself, and then Gary and Ayami started to help out with both children around 9:00 while I got the kitchen cleaned up and got Jamie's gear ready for tomorrow. Thank you, Gary and Ayami! I'm about to pop Jamie into the bath, and hopefully get him to sleep soon.

2006-09-14 20:37 (Kristen) Jamie fell asleep around 11, and woke up a little after 8. He and John made it to Hakobune without incident, and Liam and I had a quiet morning too. I took Liam to Browning with me for lunch, and then we ran down to the Danforth to visit with my mom and Rod Matheson, briefly. Mom has a cough, so she isn't staying with us tonight before she leaves, but it was great to see her, even for an hour. Rod gave us a little fleece jumper for winter wear (which is very cute), which we appreciated greatly.

Jamie didn't sleep for Ken, which makes two naps that he's blown off in the last seven days. This isn't good. He had some chocolate milk with whipped cream, and we spent an hour and a bit at Treasure Island as a treat. We picked up dinner at Mocha Mocha, and came home to the usual child-fest/free-for-all in the front yard. Jamie ran around with the neighbourhood kids for an hour, and then came in to eat a reasonable dinner. It has been a quiet evening as John prepares for the Mike Wise Memorial Scrabble Tournament this weekend, and Jamie and I stay out of his way. We've read books, and watched a movie, and I'll be trying to get Jamie into bed as soon as possible so that he can get a goodnight's sleep for tomorrow. Ayami is holding a fussy Liam, who is gassy, and I hope to get Jamie's lunch ready for tomorrow in a few minutes. Wish us luck.

Oh...before I forget...Jamie has been asking me and John to recite the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to him in bed after the lights are out. Last night, he started to correct John as he told the story...apparently, instead of beds, there were three strollers that Goldilocks tried out. She didn't fall asleep in the third one; her mother came and walked her in the woods, she fell asleep that way, and that was the end of the story. No bears.

2006-09-15 23:26 (Kristen) Today would not have happened (or would have been much more messy and scary) if not for our friends. John, as many of you know, was off running the first day of the Mike Wise Memorial Scrabble Tournament (early bird tourney) and so it was me and the boys. Gary and Ayami drove me and the boys to Hakobune, saving me from dragging them and their stuff on public transit three weeks after surgery (not a great idea). Gary then drove me and Liam downtown, where we sat and had a nurse in a coffee shop while Gary found the second season of House on DVD for us. Yay! Liam had been yelling in the car, and there was no way we were making it home without a nurse first. Then Tami fed us lunch, and Gary picked up Jamie with me and Liam again. Ken offered, unexpectedly, to walk Jamie, which I gratefully accepted.

Jamie didn't sleep, however, and so I took him to Treasure Island for a bit. Liam is feeling much better, I think, and making up for lost time sleeping. We made it back home for around 4:45, when our neighbour Kate (Iain and Clare's mom) offered to watch Jamie for an hour or so while I had a chance to relax. As Tom says, life certainly has changed when you see an hour alone with the baby as a chance to relax! Jamie had a great time playing with Clare and Iain, and with Chaerim and Kyup too. Then we went to Browning for dinner, and Gary and Ayami did their best to help get Jamie fed and entertained. Jamie was a little wound up and not aware of his surroundings, so needed more supervision than normal. Finally, Gary and Jamie watched Son of Godzilla while John and I got Liam ready for bed. Liam is getting better about noise, and cracks on eyelid only occasionally, when Jamie rolls over and bumps his feet in his usual manic, pre-sleep fashion. Both boys were asleep by 10:00, which is noteworthy in and of itself. So, as I said, if it was not for the kindness of friends and neighbours, today would have been much much messier.

We're giving the market a pass tomorrow, as I'm just not up to it after today (and most likely in general). I think that I might take Jamie to the library as a consolation, and we'll take a subway trip to get him to fall asleep. Two days in a row without a nap is quite worrisome: we need him to nap a little longer!

I think that the boys did cute things today (both of them), but I've hit the foggy mental state that comes with newborns, and I don't remember specifics. I'm not remembering much, and am glad that I can make it through the daily routines that we have without too much disaster. I note that most of our pictures of Liam involve him sleeping, and that he's really an interesting person who doesn't really sleep all the time. Boy I'm tired: to bed.

2006-09-16 24:30 (John) I do not know much about what the kids did today. I managed to come home a couple of hours early from the tournament, around 21:00, and found Kristen violently ill, her visiting friend Sue looking after a mildly dehydrated Liam, and a dazed Jamie and Gary entranced by the television. With Sue and Paula's help, we got Kristen to bed and hydrated her, I bathed Jamie, Liam skipped his bath, and Jamie fell asleep shortly after I got him to bed.

When I checked in with Kristen earlier in the day, she had taken both kids out for a walk for over an hour before Jamie fell asleep for two hours in the stroller. I am baffled as to why she did not ask one of our friends or family members to take Jamie out for his walk today, as had been our plan for the weekend.

2006-09-17 18:11 (Kristen) It was a busy day yesterday, and a good one except for the end. Jamie was up early (a little before eight), and so we had a relatively quiet morning. He played with Gary and Ayami, and had lunch at noon. I made myself a southweatern tomato tortilla soup, which was great but it had chipotles in it, which weren't so good for Jamie, so he had cheese, crackers, and kielbasa. I took him out for a walk at the crack of one, as he was complaining that he was tired, and was having one meltdown after another from fatigue. It took about half an hour for him to fall asleep, and he stayed asleep for two hours.

I sat in the Second cup to rest during Jamie's nap, and Liam was all snug as a bug in his sling. He really likes the sling; today he has been extremely fussy (I suspect gas, and maybe a little of what I had last night), but he finally settled down once I had him in the sling again. He wouldn't let me put him down all day, and wasn't sleeping any longer than a half hour at a time, so this nice long nap he's having now is very good for both of us. We hung out in the front yard while Jamie ran with the neighbourhood pack, and our former tenant, Chihoko, came to meet Liam. My friends Sue and Paula came over for the evening, and we eventually all went inside to order pizza for dinner.

We had a great time with Sue and Paula, and Jamie very much enjoyed eating pizza (one of his favourite foods, without a doubt). I started to feel rather crummy around 8:30, however, and was actively ill for an hour or so after that. Sue looked after Liam (who seems to have enjoyed hanging out with her for a few hours) and John was home by that point to help by bathing Jamie and putting him to bed. Thank you, Sue and Paula, Gary and Ayami! I probably overdid it yesterday, but I'm still at a loss as to why I was unwell. I feel fine today.

Today, Jamie slept in until 9:30. After a two hour nap yesterday, and falling asleep without a fuss last night at 10:30, I was worried that he wouldn't nap this afternoon, and I was right. We had a quiet morning (likely part of the problem), but he was acting very tired by the time lunch rolled around. Ayami agreed to take him out for a walk, and I thought that he would crash out because he was acting like he did yesterday at lunch. I dream in technicolour. Ayami took him out, and ended up letting him play in the parkette near Pape for 30 minutes, as he didn't fall asleep. They stayed out for almost two hours, however, which was when Alice, Ian, and Amy came by to meet Liam for the first time. It was a nice visit, and Alice gave Liam a beautiful blanket that she knit for him. Yay! I was a little tired when Jamie came home, however, and so I let him watch another movie (he watched a lot of movies today). Eventually he rousted Gary from his lair, and they played for a bit until John came home.

John's aunt Toshiko has come to visit from Japan, along with her younger daughter, Takako, and Takako's husband, Yo-chan. Toshiko has never left Japan before, so this is a great event. Ted, Alice, Amy and Ian have come to Toronto for this, and we had the traditional Big Dinner tonight with Nobuko and Tomoko present as well. Jamie had a very good time playing with his cousins, and managed to keep it together while dancing on the bleeding edge of meltdown goofiness all night. He went through three shirts, managing to spill something on each one, but that was the worst of it. Liam has been fussy all day again (gas, I think), but managed to be winning and charming for his aunts. His aunt Kimiko sent two lovely little yukatas (one blue and one yellow) for Liam, and Keiko (Takako's sister) and Takako went together and bought a Catbus rattle for Liam, and a fabulous Totoro blanket for Jamie. Jamie was so thrilled with the blanket that he grabbed it, declared "Jamie needs to sleep," and crawled under the coffee table with it. John reports that Jamie then told him that it was snowing (Jamie has developed a passion for the idea of snow, and building snowmen. Brrr.) He also received a musical book from Toshiko, which has a number of traditional Japanese children's songs which play at the push of a button, and the words and music to go with them. It's great, and Jamie was enjoying playing with it tonight when we got home.

Eventually it was time to go home (at 10:30!) and Jamie walked all the way to Broadview before finally throwing in the towel and making John carry him the rest of the way home (the wagon was too full of stuff to fit him too). He was finally in bed and asleep by 11:45, by far the latest he's been to bed in a long time. I'll make sure that he's up no later than 9 tomorrow, despite the inevitable fatigue, because he'll otherwise sleep until 11:00, and that would Just Not Be Good.

2006-09-18 00:45 (Kristen) Jamie was up a little after eight, which wasn't a lot of sleep for him. We had plans to meet John's aunts and Ted's family for dim sum at Harbourfront, and we managed to get out the door and be only half an hour late (this is good). Jamie was acting pretty tired when we got there, but enjoyed anything with noodles. Tomoko was great at following him around when he got bored hanging with us. Jamie managed to impress his Aunt Toshiko by singing some songs in Japanese, and Liam impressed by being quiet and sociable. Toshiko held him for close to fifteen minutes without a squawk from Liam, and I felt badly about taking him when it was time for us to go.

John had to leave early for a dentist's appointment, and the weather was lousy, so I decided to let Jamie fall asleep on the subway. He was utterly exhausted, and did so relatively quickly. Then we headed back home, and John watched him while working on the front porch. Liam and I headed inside for a nurse. Jamie woke up badly, crying out (a bad dream?) and John soon calmed him down. I took him around the neighbourhood, looking for kids to play with, but the weather had them all indoors. It was time to leave for Browning anyway, and Jamie ran around and had a good time there. Liam was progressively more and more fussy as the night wore on, and by the time we got home, he was deeply fussy and not minded to stop crying except when held or actively nursed. We're wondering if he's having his growth spurt; I feel rather drained, in many ways.

Liam is on my lap, sleeping lightly, and Jamie finally went to sleep at close to eleven, wound up to the end. I was going to mention that I asked Jamie a couple of days ago, after he had woken up in the morning, if he had had any dreams. He told me that he had a dream about flying, and that he likes those dreams. How cool.

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

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