Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 50

2006-09-19 18:35 (Kristen) Jamie was up before 8 again this morning, after going to bed late last night. His nose is running, replete with green goop, and John and I are getting a little concerned. He has had cold symptoms of one sort or another since the beginning of the month, and we are wondering if he has a sinus infection that he can't kick, or if he has developed an allergy to ragweed. The one bright spot is that Jamie has figured out how to blow his nose. Small children can't do this before a certain age, and I think that it will make his life much easier to be able to do this. After breakfast and a movie, i took Jamie to the playground at Jackman. He puttered about with sand and climbing a little on this and that, and he made me "cake" out of wood chips. THe innovation was that he walked all the way there, as my sling was in the wash and I needed Liam to ride in the little stroller. There was a good deal of complaining, but he walked to the playground and back to Browning, which was good exercise for him.

Ken took him for his walk, and he slept for about an hour and a half. Liam has been very quiet and sleepy today, but managed to pee on his father and also to get his feet and hands messy with another change (also done by his father). For the last change, all I heard was a rapid-fire patter of "damme*, damme*, damme*! (don't, don't, don't!)," which John tells me was him asking Liam to keep his hands and feet out of his diaper. Last night, Liam pooed in the bath, which Jamie never did. The mess was caught in the towle that Liam was wrapped in against just such an event, but John was a little traumatized. We had an appointment with Julie this afternoon, who weighed Liam in at 9 pounds, 14 oz, which means that he's gaining an ounce a day. Not surprising, given how much he's been nursing.

Dinner was at John's parents' house, where Jamie picked meticulously away at the piano, pressing one key at a time, rather than banging away at many keys at once. He's got a very strong meticulous streak: he puts his shoes away just so, and likes to build towers that are just so. We wonder if there is an engineer in the making, here. Jamie miscellany: He says "scomito," instead of "mosquito." John says that iit's an improvement over "gomito," which was the way he pronounced it earlier this summer. This evening, we were talking about the Olmec tribe in Central America: Jamie perked up and said "Olmec Donald Had A Farm?" He loves that song.

2006-09-20 23:42 (Kristen) Jamie woke up around 7:30, asking his usual morning question "Sun is up?" I said that it was, but that we needed to sleep a little longer (or something like that...can't remember as I was asleep), and he drifted off again. I woke up not long afterwards because Liam needed to eat, and left Jamie asleep upstairs while I went downstairs and got things ready for the day. I woke Jamie up around 8:45, and he came downstairs willingly, and without too much fuss. He didn't eat much, but I knew that he would be sharing John's cereal later, so I didn't worry. We all got into the car to go to Hakobune, as I had some errands to run and I was going to have lunch with my friend Suzanne.

We left Jamie at Hakobune, singing and working his way up to the hokey-pokey with the rest of the kids. I went to the Gap with Liam, and spent some gift certificates that Idelle Weinstock gave to us for Jamie and Liam. I bought Liam some socks, a little pair of jeans, and what looks like a jogging outfit in blue (it looks really comfortable), and bought Jamie a pair of pajamas and more socks (sale on socks! 5 for $10! Usually 4 for $16!). The pajamas have spaceships on them, and now he has two pairs of size 3 pajamas. It's hard to find nice pajamas for kids. Then Liam slept through lunch, which was thoughtful of him, and we headed home afterward with John and Jamie.

John was feeling a little ragged, so I offered to take the boys out for Jamie's afternoon walk. I nursed Liam while walking down the street as he was in his sling, and felt mighty. Jamie fell asleep well enough, but it was a tremendously windy day, and he was woken up when some recycling bins went flying across the street in front of us. The clatter and the sound of the wind startled him awake after he'd been asleep for only fifteen minutes, and that was that, as they say. I was exhausted, so I took him home, put on a video and fell asleep, more or less, for an hour. I say more or less because Jamie would declare, occasionally, that he was going to sleep with me, and then lie down on my in a way that meant that I had to spot him so that Liam and I wouldn't be in any danger.

We went to the Scrabble club tonight for the first time in months (Jamie and I, that is). Liam was well received by the club members, and everyone seemed genuinely happy for us, and delighted to meet Liam. Lynda Wise spent a good deal of time walking around with him, and I think that she wasn't the only one. Jamie fell asleep in the car on the way home (which included a pit stop to feed Liam), and now both boys are asleep beside me. Off to prepare for bed, and an early rising (for us) tomorrow.

2006-09-21 22:55 (Kristen) I woke Jamie up around 8:30 to have him eat breakfast and get ready to go to daycare. Jamie asked his usual question, "Sun is up?" and I told him that it was time to have breakfast. He was to have raisin toast, and he told me that the sun was hungry too. I asked him what the sun ate, and he said "Clouds." That answers that.

Jamie had a good morning at Hakobune. There has been some turnover, as some children have graduated to kindergarten this fall, and some new children start. Christian-kun, Jamie's friend, has started going to Hakobune in the afternoon only, and kindergarten in the morning, so we won't be seeing him very much any more. However, there is a new boy named Kai who lives near us, with whom Jamie is getting along, so I hope that they start playing together after Hakobune sometimes. Jamie went for his walk with Ken, and slept for an hour. John took him to Treasure Island afterwards, where he got a great popup book about trains. Then it was over to John's parents' place, where we had a farewell dinner for John's aunt Toshiko. Liam and Jamie were both very good. Liam has had some trouble with gas again tonight, but his bath seemed to ease it somewhat, and he is finally asleeping after two hours of intense discomfort. Jamie fell asleep without too much trouble, and now I too will go to bed. We're all fighting colds again, and I fear that this will be the pattern for the next few months, as the weather changes and the winter sets in.

2006-09-22 22:35 (John) I have the worst case of the second cold that's passed through our household this month, so I'll keep this brief before passing the edit session to Kristen. Liam is doing well. He rotated 90 degrees on my tummy this afternoon (around a vertical axis, staying face down all the way). He is practising holding his still somewhat wobbly and large head up, and can do a good job of this when on his tummy, even starting to push up with his arms; when he's vertical in your arms he has too many degrees of freedom and gets a bit confused. I've added links above to take you 1017 days backward or forward in the blog, so you can compare Liam on any given day with Jamie at the same age.

Mrs. Sasaki says that Jamie is really getting into songs with gestural components, which we could tell already at home. If he's tired, the best way to keep him amused is to sing one of his favourite songs, like Donguri or Olmec Donald. He didn't eat so much at lunch, because he has a sore throat, and he made me stop on the way home to get some apple juice and then got entranced by a car wash; but he slept his usual two hours and ate well at dinnertime. At Browning before dinner he made me play KidPix with him on Daniel's old Mac, and we made a little animated short of Mom waving her hands up and down and then sticking her tongue out, which we both thought was quite funny.

(Kristen) And yet they did not share this deeply amusing bit of animation with Jamie's mom. Hmmm. Liam slept for most of today, and is sawing tiny twigs beside me now. The best way to get him to fall asleep is to put him on your chest, although he will still fall asleep on his own if you put him down. If you put him down in a place with interesting shadows, or polka dots, then he's content to stay there for long periods of time. Jamie is playing on his own for longer periods of time. He chatters away, and I embarrassed myself a few times before realizing that he's not talking to me, but rather is narrating some story or another in his mind. He has a vivid internal life, I think. He was very tired today, and I think that his cold is taking it out of him a bit. Liam's cold is still mild, although his nose is rumbly and he hates it when I pull goop out of it (and who can blame him?). I'm still all right, and I hope that I remain so. I slept for two hours this afternoon by accident (meant to sleep for fifteen minutes or something), so that might help stave it off. I hope so, at least.

2006-09-23 24:57 (Kristen) At this time, I am the only person of the four of us who does not have a cold. Jamie's cold was bothering him today, and John spent a good part of the day in bed. We didn't go to the market today because of it, and thank John's parents for picking up the necessaries for us. Jamie was awake around eight, and Liam woke up around the same time. His nose was rumbly, and he was having trouble breathing, so I used the nasal aspirator again. He yelled at first, but he seemed to realize that I was helping him, and he stopped despite repeated applications. Smart boy.

Jamie did some work on his workbooks with me in the morning, before watching some Ice Age (he's in a Scrat phase right now). His pencil skills aren't good enough to do the physical work of circling items, but we talk our way through the questions, and he's pretty good at answering them. He's good at opposites, and this goes with that, and which one isn't like the others. We also read a story with pictures where words should be, and he enjoyed naming the pictures while I dealt with the text. I'm hoping that he'll want to take this to the next level; reading text on his own.

John took Jamie out for an hour for his nap, and then we took turns watching him in the driveway while he slept. Liam was pretty sleepy today too, probably fighting off rhinoviruses. John took Jamie out to play for an hour while I did more housework (it was a big housework day) before dinner. Dinner was pretty relaxed, and the evening was too. Jamie was awfully wired by bedtime, and it took until 11:30 for him to fall asleep. I don't think that we'll be having many repeats of that. Off to bed now, as he'll likely be up around eight again, and I need to sleep if I'm going to avoid this virus.

2006-09-24 19:50 (John) Jamie, Liam and I are feeling a little better now, though we're still sleeping more than usual. Kristen took Jamie for a walk to go grocery shopping in the morning; I took him out for his afternoon nap walk, and was able to remain conscious at the Second Cup throughout the nap; Kristen took him out for a constitutional in the rain after dinner.

Liam is one month old today, and my mom came by with a baby toy as a birthday present, and a little fire engine for Jamie. She asked Jamie what it was, and was for some reason delighted and surprised when he replied in Japanese. I worry sometimes that people will underestimate his Japanese fluency because of his gaijin looks. :)

2006-09-25 23:05 (John) Kristen meant to write more yesterday, but fell asleep with the kids and didn't get up again as she usually does to get some work done. I am under strict orders tonight to wake her up this time.

Kristen took Jamie outside to play for a good part of the morning, while I looked after a quiet and happy Liam while I worked quietly at home. We're all still tired, but our colds are gradually on the mend, and we're coping, more or less. For the first hour or so I had Liam in a basket on top of some clean laundry, while noting that I won't be able to do that much longer - he only fits now if I put him in diagonally, so he must have grown a few inches this month. He's still happy to spend all his waking hours smiling at whatever he sees in the world, crying only if it takes too long to change his diaper. He's got some sort of diurnal cycle going now, but it's not quite the right one. He at least seems to have eased off on pooing at night, which is quite helpful.

Ken took Jamie out for his walk, but he only slept for an hour, so I didn't get any work done in the afternoon, and also had to come up with ways to keep him amused for an extra hour or two. We went to the toy store, where we read a Ruth Ohi board book and played with a gigantic dump truck, but oddly not with any trains. They got rid of their old train table a few months ago, and I think Jamie still misses the Cranky the Crane that came with the old one. I'm thinking of taking him over to George's Trains sometime soon to see if they still have the old one.

We stopped at my mom's for miso soup, and I almost passed out in an armchair while my mom and Jamie played, but was startled awake when Jamie shrieked in pain after falling while free-climbing furniture and hit his head above his right eye on a wooden couch arm. No serious injuries, apparently, but I couldn't rest after that. We made dinner at Browning, came home, and got the kids to bed a little later than usual.

(Kristen) Last night, I took Jamie puddle jumping until he got some water in his boots. What's the good of having rubber boots and a splash suit if you don't get to splash sometimes? Today we drew trains with chalk outside, rode Jamie's bike (well, he did), blew bubbles, and puttered. Jamie played with rocks while I did some gardening before it was time to go to Browning for lunch. Liam definitely is staying awake for longer periods of time, having at least two periods of "quiet wakefulness" for stretches of no less than an hour and a half at a time. For a basically sleepy guy, this is a big change.

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

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