Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 59

2006-11-21 19:44 (Kristen) I woke up late with the kids today, after a very restless and strange night. I had a business meeting at our local Second Cup at 10:00, so I dashed ff and went there while a still sick John took care of the kids. They all survived, and I came home in time to take them to Browning for lunch. I had a fever last night (cause of strangeness in part), but it was gone this morning, I still felt a little beaten, and so Ken took Liam for a walk while John took Jamie, and I had a nap on the couch at Browning. Tami had offered to take Jamie, but John said that he was up to it. Yay Ken and Tami!

I picked up Liam at the Second Cup, and got some work done. Then I came home to meet up with John and an un-napped* Jamie. Jamie is not feeling all that well, and has been an utter limpet. We're not feeling well, so we are easy rocks for a limpet to fasten itself to. Liam, despite his version of The Ick, has been great today. He has been having long long periods of quiet alertness, and is having fun grabbing onto things with both hands while pulling his feet into the air. I decided to put him on his tummy, since he was nice and calm, and he not only clears his head off the ground but the upper part of his chest too. Yay, Liam! He also likes the Neglect-o-Matic a lot. It's an early night for all of us tonight.

2006-11-22 24:02 (Kristen) Jamie woke up early-ish today, around 8:00 I think, and we got started. We kept him home from Hakobune because the cold is still there, and it might be a good idea to let him recover before he catches his next virus. It was a quiet enough morning, and that was fine.

In the afternoon, John took Jamie to the Loblaws near the little train yard, and they watched trains shunt cars around (very exciting). Then they went to Home Depot, and from there to the St. Clair subway train yards, for more fun with train watching. John says that Jamie fell asleep in the car around 3:20, and was surprised as he thought that Jamie wasn't going to fall asleep. Unfortunately, he stayed asleep for three hours, waking up when I roused him at 6:20. In the past, a three hour nap has not (perversely) affected his ultimate sleep time, but that's changed. He was still awake at close to midnight, but that was because (in part) Liam was restless and nursing constantly, impeding Jamie's ability to snuggle into me. He also was crying every ten minutes or so by the end, and so I sent Jamie off to his dad in the other room to sleep there. I've heard nothing since, so I think that it was a successful plan. Jamie had told me that he didn't want to, but I think that he finally had enough and was tired eoungh to not care anymore where or with whom he slept. Liam is sitting on my lap, chortling away, and not showing any signs of sleepiness either. He didn't sleep that much today, I didn't think, but I suspect that he really needs to get rid of some gas before he'll be able to sleep tonight. More bouncing of the baby coming up.

I should add that John has pointed out to me repeatedly the magnificence that is Liam's nose: that it lends extreme character to his face unusual in one so young. I point out that he has John's nose, which might explain how John might be partial to it. I have been teaching Jamie basic arithmetic using my fingers, and he's got the basics of addition and subtraction, thanks to figuring out how many bites he needs to take of dinner to get down from the table. He took to it right away, using logic to make inferences, and seems to find it straightforward. Yay, Jamie! He's going through a real intellectual burst lately; his language is improving dramatically, both in how he speaks and what he speaks about. He's a very interesting conversationalist. He's going through a fearful stage too, which often accompanies intellectual/ cognitive bursts, and doesn't like to be left alone. He complains that there are "o-bake" around (ghosts). We're having a number of conversations about ghosts, many of which hinge on the fact that Mummy is tougher than any ghosts. My idea, but he grooves on it. He's surprising me daily with the new things \that he can do. It's very pleasant.

2006-11-23 22:03 (Kristen) Jamie slept with John all last night, and didn't get up until close to 10:00. I didn't wake up with Liam until 9:30; it's hard to know what to do with myself with all this sleep under my belt. I feel weird! We took it easy this morning again, and kept Jamie home from Hakobune. We'll take him in tomorrow, however. He's doing much better, and he's starting to get bored by being home with the rest of us. He's very insistent that we play with him, and he would really benefit from spending time with his usual crowd of friends. We had lunch at Browning, and Ken took Liam for a walk while John took Jamie. This means that I had an hour to myself before I went to pick up Liam! Oh! My! God! I love my boys, I truly do, but I really appreciate any solo time that I get.

I picked up an angelicly sleeping Liam, and settled down to get some work done at the Second Cup. John and a wide awake Jamie showed up soon afterwards, and I worked while pretending to sleep, as Jamie stretched out in the window and insisted that John and I "sleep" as well. On the way home, Jamie noted the lack of pigeons in the Carrot Common. I asked him where they could be. We established that the pigeons were out shopping for blankets, nests, and eggs. So, there you go. John went home while I kept the boys at the playground for a little while. Jamie walked home, with much protest, but successfully, as I pushed Liam in the small stroller. It was a mellow evening, marked by Jamie's comment that Liam was not really Li-yum but Li-yuck (Liam's evil twin, we suppose). He's very funny.

2006-11-24 23:20 (John) Kristen asked Jamie if he wanted to go to Hakobune this morning, and he said "Ooh!" as though he'd been offered a bowl of ice cream, so I drove him there, then spent a few hours working and sipping hot fluids. Jamie has a bit of a cough, little appetite, and is a little crankier than usual, but is almost back to himself. I still can't talk for more than a sentence or two without setting off a coughing fit. Kristen is a little better, and Liam seems to have avoided the worst of it, though he's had bad gas the last two nights.

I was too tuckered out from remaining upright by the time we got home to do anything other than pass out. When I regained consciousness, I took Jamie to Yorkdale (Mall), and he obligingly passed out for a 1:40 nap en route after initiating a nostalgic conversation with me about our last trip to Riverdale Farm (which I mention because he's just developing a sense of nostalgia). When we were finally both awake, I took him for a bubble tea and a walk around the mall with visits to his favourite toy shops. The mall denizens weren't as rude as usual. No one swore at us, which was a rarity. I always feel so much happier when I'm back home in our neighbourhood.

Jamie munched on edamame* on the way home, then dined at Browning. Ken took Liam out for his afternoon walk, Tom looked after Liam for much of the evening. I had my regular guaranteed face time in the bath, where Liam was entranced by a cover photo on the Notices of the Amerrican Mathematical Society showing a symmetric order-11 Venn diagram bearing a suspicious resemblance to a tie-dyed breast. I only read the Notices for the articles, myself.

2006-11-25 23:26 (Kristen) We woke up around 8:30 when the phone rang, but managed to get a little more sleep beyond that before it was time to get up. Jamie was in a high needs mood, but I had lots to do, so he managed to roust Gary out of bed to play with him. Poor Gary! Good Gary! John took Jamie to the market around noon, and I took Liam with me to the Second Cup for a business meeting. I stayed there to work as Liam was being accomodating by sleeping for a while in the stroller until John and Jamie got home from the market. At that time, I went home and played with Jamie a little outside before John woke up from his nap and took Jamie to Loblaws. I worked more with a conscious Liam (a little more fly-by-your-pants approach to working than I like, but you do what you have to do) until John came home and then I worked with Jamie around.

We went to Browning because it was a rare Poslperson Gaming Night, in honour of Bruce Macintosh being in town. Jamie was quite hyperactive, having not napped, but had a good time. Liam was very cute while being introduced to new poslpeople, and let Debbie hold him for a while. I took the boys home after pizza, and put aa very very tired Jamie to bed. Liam is fussing in my lap right now, likely with some gas, and once I finish I will get more work and do it in bed, sandwiched by two (sleeping, I hope!) boys. This will likely be the drill for some time to come, as I have two big copyediting projects and a book to deal with until the end of January. Liam is now three months, and so my slight maternity leave, such as it was, is now at an end and I'm taking on larger jobs again.

2006-11-26 21:10 (Kristen) I was awakened this morning by Jamie leaning over me and poking. He doesn't shake me awake; he just does little things guaranteed to wake me up. I was shocked to see that it was 9:30. Liam had woken me up at 7:30 with his piercing cry, complaining of gas pains, and didn't settle again until close to 8:00. He went back to sleep, mercifully, as he hadn't settled before 1:30 or 2:00 last night with more of the same. I was grateful for the extra sleep. I had a project due today, so I let Jamie watch Thomas on television while Liam slept and I worked. So passed the morning.

I didn't get much done in the afternoon, as I got Jamie to sleep, but Liam chose that time to be awake. Jamie was very tired before he went to sleep, and had a full on three-year-old level temper tantrum over an utterly irrational matter before we left. He was still a little crabby when he woke up, but he had a great time playing with Gary, Maya, Rayna, and Junko when we got home. They had arrived around the same time that we did, which was a happy occasion. I worked from then on until my client came to pick up her materials (around 8:00), and John helped by looking after the boys. I have a big project to start tomorrow, but I'll at least have an evening before it's back to the grindstone. Jamie is still not eating very much, but I can't blame it on teething anymore, so I'm unsure as to why he's not very interested in food right now. He is looking forward to having his friend Kai-kun play here tomorrow, and Liam is playing with his hands as he lies in the bouncy chair. The boys are about to go up for their baths.

2006-11-27 23:46 (Kristen) There is a changing of the guard going on right now. Ken has been taking Liam for walks, while John or I are taking Jamie. Jamie is just too heavy for Ken to push comfortably, but Liam is just right. We haven't managed to talk Jamie out his old stroller yet, but I think that we may be able to soon.

In the morning, Jamie's friend Kai-kun came over with his mom for a little while. It was a great success, and they both enjoyed running to the playground and running around the playground. Jamie found that he couldn't run as fast or as far as Kai, and I'm using this as a way to encourage Jamie to walk more. I've told him that if he walks more, then he'll be able to run as far and fast as Kai. It's helped to get him to walk to Treasure Island from the Second Cup so far. Jamie and Kai talk about each other when they aren't playing together, and Kai (who is very shy) is starting to blossom a bit. He calls out my name too, especially after I went down the slide with him and Jamie at the same time.

Lunch was at Browning, where he ate lightly, and then John took him out while Ken took Liam. I got an hour to work and get stuff done (hooray!) before I met up with Ken. Jamie and John came by not much long afterwards, and Jamie ate a rice krispie square before I talked him into walking to Treasure Island. That was uneventful, except that a two-year-old threw a train at Liam (not deliberately; the throw was deliberate, but not the aim). Liam has a small red mark on his forehead, but the train hit him at the best possible place, if one is going to be hit by a train, that is. His mother felt how I would have felt if our roles were reversed, and Liam was very unhappy for about ten minutes but otherwise all right. We've been playing at the store for just under two years now, and haven't had anything like this happen before. Judging from that mother's reaction, it won't happen again soon either.

Dinner was at Browning again, and Tom spent a good deal of time playing with Liam while Jamie watched television in a bit of a daze. He was asleep in record time tonight, after a late snack of fruit, and is going to Hakobune tomorrow to make up for one of the days he missed last week.

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

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