Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 57

2006-11-07 20:59 (Kristen) Jamie woke me up around 8:30, which wasn't too horrible. Liam had woken me up around 5:30 for a diaper change, which was kind of horrible, but I did manage to get back to sleep at that point. We had a playdate with Jamie's friend Burhan, who was away for the summer and is now back. We'd had some trouble scheduling, because first one then the other boy was sick, but we were all clear so we went over to around 10:30. Jamie and Burhan were delighted to play with each other, and Burhan was very concerned about waking up Liam. Liam was happy to be awake, and watched the boys play while he nursed. Then it was time to go to Browning for lunch, and Jamie was quite reluctant to leave, but then went when he was told that Gary would be at Browning, and that we'd see Burhan again next week.

He was very tired by the time lunch was over, and fell asleep by

(John) While we wait for Kristen to finish that thought, I thought I'd mention that I have finished a first go at cataloguing Jamie’ (and eventually Liam’s) Train Collection. In response to a query from a regular reader, no, we're not asking for more of them, but I made up the list for one friend who said that she wanted to buy him a TTTE train that he didn't already have.

(Kristen) Ha ha. This service announcement brought to you by John. Anyway...Jamie was asleep by 2-ish, and slept for about two hours. John brought him home, and he rambled through the rest of his day, grabbing the nearest adult (me, John, or Gary) with an imperious "I want to play with you!" and bending them to his will. Jamie seems to be feeling the division of my time and energies more than usual lately, and has been quite demanding of both me and John. He's also tired, and possibly fighting something. so that would compound the problem somewhat. He's fixated on my "nurse nurse," and wanting to not actually nurse, but clutch onto me in a way as though he was going to, which is somewhat uncomfortable for me. I'm trying to be reassuring in other ways, but it's not the easiest thing to do with Liam demanding my attention as well. My multi-tasking is improving, however.

There was something quite fun about Liam that I was going to blog, but I ahve utterly forgotten. I'll try again tomorrow.

2006-11-08 21:03 (Kristen) Liam laughs in his sleep. I have him in the front harness, so we are belly to belly, as it were, and I can feel him laugh, as well as hear him. It;s quite the experience.

Jamie was awake a little before eight this morning, and we all got up together. Jame's job is to wake up John, but we didn't do that until a littleafter nine, so they were a little late to Hakobune this morning. Liam and I ran errands on the Danforth in conjunction with Jamie's upcoming birthday party (sixteen kids; have I love my everloving mind? Not yet...talk to me Saturday night). We have priced out cakes, and have loot bags under way at Treasure Island (who will put them together for you with neat stuff: yay, Treasure Island!). Liam and I came home to get Jamie, and we all went for a walk. Jmie fell asleep for an hour, and then we came home for an hour of AnPanMan before heading out to John's parents' place for dinner. Jamie caused amusement when he asked John's dad where his food was. Jack said that John's mom was "fixing it" (meaning, putting a plate together). Jamie asked him then if his food was broken; a reasonable, if quite funny remark. Liam sat in a chair and watched Jack play the piano with rapt attention, and was quite captivated by the sound of the piano. John had gone to Scrabble, and we three headed home around 8:20. Jamie watched a little more AnPanMan with Gary, and then got into the bath with me (with more than a little complaining, but then he was great). He took a little bit of time to fall asleep; he's been feeling a lack of attention lately, and is still a little demanding of attention, but he accepted falling asleep with Liam in the bed with a grudging grace. He's asleep now, and Liam wants to be, but he's insisting on being awake instead. Complaining baby; must go.

2006-11-09 20:45 (John) It was Thursday morning, so Kristen and Liam took Jamie to Hakobune. I'll leave it to her to write about that, though I know that she chatted with Kai-kun's mom and have arranged a Monday playdate. I took Jamie to Jackman school for an hour from about 14:15, as the weather was warm enough (15°C/59°F) for him to play barefoot in the sandbox, where he likes to bury his feet. We then set out for the drugstore but didn't make it halfway there before he fell asleep, and stayed asleep for more than two hours at the Second Cup.

He was a little tired/cranky when he woke up, I suspect he's fighting the mild sinus infection that Liam and Kristen have. He vegged out with Gary, watching him play San Francisco Rush 2049 and backseat driving. I took Liam to Toys R Us to buy a present for Jamie from my mom, and Liam was well-behaved there and back, though he expressed a vocal preference for open windows rather than closed, and classical music over talk radio.

Jamie is watching a "new" episode of Anpanman which he agrees is not as scary as some of the feature films and shorts, but just as entertaining. This one is called "Melonpanna and Aqua-chan", and has only one relatively brief combat scene with the evil Baikinman.

(Kristen) Not much to add. Jamie enjoyed taking public transportation to Hakobune, and we were five minutes early. I think that Sensei was surprised. I baked cupcakes for Jamie's birthday celebration tomorrow, and put three smarties on the top of each ('cause he'll be three, of course). Liam was fussy, so I spent the morning chopping for presents for Jamie's birthday. Mom, Jen, and Owen arrive tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Dad!

2006-11-10 22:28 (Kristen) Jamie woke me up at 8:20 this morning, which was good; I didn't turn on the alarm last night, or maybe I did and don't remember turning it off. We all piled into the car to go to Hakobune, and dropped Jamie off with his cupcakes. Apparently they were served at snack time, and the day care people had a happy birthday banner, a birthday boy hat and a birthday "necklace" of Winnie the Pooh with a photo of Jamie in his fireman costume inside. It's realy nice. The cupcakes were well received, I hear.

John, Liam, and I went to do some grocery shopping and then went to a coffee shop to work and sleep (respectively). Liam had a tree and a half hour nap, and John joked (?) that looking after Liam was obviously the easier assignment...but he was driving, so I let him live. We picked Jamie up, and went home. John took Jamie for a walk, since Jamie didn't nap, and Liam had fun using both hands to grab onto various toys and things. He's enjoying using both hands at the same time! He's got a much better success rate with grabbing, which is pleasing him.

My mother, my sister Jennifer, and my nephew Owen arrived today from Ottawa for Jamie's party tomorrow. Owen and Jamie have been having fun together, and we all had a great time at Tom and Michelle's tonight, eating Ken's chili and the boys all playing together. We came home early because both Jamie and Owen were very tired, and they were asleep by ten or so. Liam is still awake, as usual, and I'll be taking him to bed in a few minutes, after I finish this blog.

2006-11-11 24:10 (John) Jamie turned three today. Apparently, everyone was up earlier than me today, and when I woke up, Grammie, Auntie Jennifer, Owen, Mom, Jamie and Liam had all headed off to the Danforth. They returned in time for me to take Jamie, Jennifer and Owen to the St. Lawrence Market for a few hours. Jamie was excited, and his usual vendor fans were too: Wei even gave him a little birthday present. He didn't eat as much as he usually did, and I wasn't surprised when he didn't fall asleep before our return.

I took Jamie out for a walk to the toy store to pick up loot bags and a present from Grandpa (Rod), which momentarily led to some confusion, as we had referred to the toy store by its full name (Treasure Island Toys), and Jamie had thought I was taking him to the amusement park on the Toronto Islands. The toy store staff wished Jamie a happy birthday, and thanks to drizzly weather and heavy snacking in the stroller, Jamie fell asleep at 16:10, just twenty minutes before his birthday party was scheduled to begin.

We had intended to have a simple but enjoyable party for him, gathering together all of his usual neighbourhood friends to play outside for a little, then come in for pizza and ice cream cake. There were a few snags, but I think we managed. First of all, it was drizzling and not especially warm, so it wasn't ideal for outdoor play, but we managed to get a game of soccer to take place, with five men on each side. Jamie woke up in time to watch it, alternately on my shoulders or Tom's.

Then there was the fact that when you add in friends who have moved away but are still frequent visitors, cousins visiting from out of town, and so on, there were 16 children ranging in age from not quite one to 13, so the house got to be quite raucous when everyone came inside. But we managed to hold things together for two hours, which seemed the right length of time.

The 16 were: Jamie, Daniel, Ross, Alexandria, Iain, Clare, Chaerim, Kyop, Owen, Ben, Sam, Luke, Maya, Rayna, Ian and Amy. Liam would be a 17th, but we didn't count him because he doesn't eat pizza or ice cream, at least not directly.

Jamie's guests were very generous with their presents, and I will list them later as I work through the thank-yous. We made the mistake of letting him open our presents first, but it was worth it for the glee with which he shouted "My TRAINS! Look, my TRAINS!" when he opened the Brio Shinkansen and ICE trains that we'd ordered for him months ago (thanks, Sherrie, for forwarding them on to us).

After Jamie's party, we went to the Silk Road Cafe for a large family gathering to celebrate my mom's birthday and to introduce Liam to more cousins and aunts and uncles. Jamie was tired, but ate well, and spent most of the time playing with His Trains.

2006-11-12 23:08 (Kristen) Jamie went to sleep close to midnight last night, so I was not entirely happy to have him wake me up a little before eight. He did need to pee, so perhaps I was happy to have him wake me up. Anyway. Owen was up, and Jamie and Owen spent some good time playing in the train room this morning while the rest of us got our acts together. We went out for breakfast; a little late, truth be told, given the behaviour of our young by the time we got food into them, but we all had a good time. John didn't come, as he had some things to do, but he met us coming back with the big stroller, and took Jamie on his afternoon walk. Liam came home with me and Owen.

Liam had a three hour nap, and John tells me that Jamie slept not at all. Jamie has come down with a cold, complete with runny nose, and that may have impeded his ability to sleep. They ended up at Yorkdale, where they played at the train table at Indigo and had a bubble tea before returning. Owen and Jamie's cousin Ian had a good time playing together for most of hte afternoon, and Ian and Ted (his dad) ended up staying until dinner time before heading back to John's parents' place for their own dinner. My aunt Millie came over, and we had pizza and a little cake with her too. Jamie was quite exhausted and wound up, but made it through all right.

We were going to put Jamie to bed early, but he fell asleep at the television but woke up again. Then he insisted on taking his bath after all, and we missed the window of opportunity to get him asleep before he turned into Overly Tired Boy. He finally fell asleep around 10:00, and then we got to try to put Liam, who is Overly Gassy Boy, to sleep as well. Not much luck with Liam yet. However, earlier today we found that he can be put to sleep by rocking and a lullabye. Cool!

2006-11-13 23:30 (John) Grammie, Jennifer, Owen, Kristen, Liam and Jamie went down to the Danforth for a farewell breakfast. I stayed home and got the house ready for a first playdate with Kai, one of Jamie's Hakobune classmates. (I also wasn't really in shape to go out, as on top of the rest of my medical problems right now, I've caught a bug that Jamie brought home from day care, and spent the day shivering and aching.) Kai arrived with his mom, and we all spent a pleasant 90 minutes or so playing trains, and arranged to repeat the visit next week.

Jamie, Liam and Kristen went to Browning for lunch, I stayed home under three layers of bedding. I took Jamie out for an hour or so, stopping to vote in the municipal election, then got Jamie into the stroller with the windshield down by explaining to him that his nose was running not only because he was sick but because he was cold. Jamie hates any sort of liquid on his face, so he was happy not to take any chances, and was asleep in short order. I caught up with Kristen and the sleeping Liam at the Second Cup, and spent 80 minutes trying to warm my hands on a cup of tea. Jamie woke up, we all came home, I went back to bed, then it was time to go to Browning for Monday night dinner.

Peter, Leslie and Simon were special guests, but Tom was absent, having forgotten when we'd arranged the soiree that he would be working doing election graphics for CTV, as he does with every election. It was nice to see Liam, Simon and Jamie together, as Simon is just about a year old and reminds us of how Jamie used to be and how Liam soon will be. After dinner, Jamie came and sat in my lap in an armchair and we watched Thomas the Tank Engine videos together, and thanks to his hot-water bottle-like physiology, I felt warm for the first time today and managed to fall asleep for a much needed nap.

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 56, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 58.