Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 67

2007-01-16 20:00 (John) We got up even earlier than yesterday, at 6:00, so that we could leave the hotel at 7:00 to get back to Dulles Airport on time. I managed to get Jamie to the breakfast room without waking him up, then fed him half of one of the stack of waffles that Kristen had made, along with heaps of strawberries and whipped cream. As we headed out the hotel door in T-shirts and shorts, an alarmed desk clerk warned us that the temperature outside was only 9°C (48°F) and blustery, and forecast to drop precipitously over the course of the day. We assured him that we were Canadians en route to the Yucatan and found his local weather quite pleasant.

It took a full hour to get from the curbside at the airport to the gate, what with check-in, security, and the interterminal shuttle bus rides that Jamie loved almost as much as the massive construction underway to build an aerotrain# system. I was personally pleased that I knew that "aerotrain#" was SOWPODS-only from my study of high-frequency nines.

Jamie watched Doraemon for much of the trip, and we finished the last of our Indian and Chinese leftovers in lieu of United's bizarre USD 5.00 snack menu. Liam slept a good deal, and only really cried once, but Laraine managed to get him calmed down quickly. Both kids were very, very excited, but we proactively kept them entertained and distracted. Jamie finally fell asleep around 12:30 local time (13:30 ET) in the baggage claim area, and stayed asleep through a transfer into his car seat for the shuttle bus ride to Nancy Wenker's house, waking up only upon final arrival.

As soon as he woke up, Jamie insisted almost hysterically that we take his clothes off and put on lots of "sun-scream", as he was afraid he was going to burn, even indoors. When he had the sunscreen on, he wanted to go immediately to the beach, and the only way I persuaded him that we should go to Tai-Tai and Ho-Ho's Pagoda first was by reminding him that that was where the beach toys were.

We all spent the rest of the afternoon under a big beach umbrella, taking turns looking after the kids and enjoying the warm sun and cool ocean breeze. I went for a quick dip to see what the pelicans were eating so many of (mullet), and managed to persuade Jamie to at least wet his toes in the surf, by reminding him of video we shot of him last year pretending he was a sandpiper running back and forth along the foreshore.

My mom made dinner for us around a large order of take out Mayan chicken. Jamie alternately ate, fell off his chair with fatigue and excitement, and watched videos. Jamie, Liam, Mom and Grammie are off at the zocalo now buying ice cream and groceries. The ice cream was Jamie's idea. His memories of when he was last here are jumbled, but as we were walking to the beach he asked me if there was still an ice cream store here, and if my parents' tenants still had cats, which I thought was pretty good memory for a three-year-old boy thinking about when he was 26 months old.

2007-01-17 18:45 (John) After a day or two in Mexico, I have to really think hard what day of the week it is, so I'm glad I have this blog to remind me each day. I woke up at 6:15, checked the eastern horizon, saw that it was overcast and went back to sleep until 7:00 when everyone else got up. We slept somewhat poorly, as we needed to get used to sleeping in a huge bed in a room that starts off uncomfortably warm but is chilly enough to at least call for sheets by the end of what is called the madrugada* in Spanish. And Liam's sinuses seem to go through the same productive cleansing process his dad's do in the tropics, but it causes him more trouble because the congestion interferes with his nursing. And Jamie has a little sunburn on his shoulders and cheekbones, and a little heat rash elsewhere. But we'll do better tonight.

We went to the Wednesday farmer's market in the zocalo to buy our groceries, and stopped at Mama's Bakery (newly relocated onto Rojo Gomez) for breakfast. It was already quite hot by the time we got home at around 9:30, so I went for a quick snorkel, saying hi to all the barracuda and spotting a jewfish bigger than Jamie. At around 11:00, the sun was high enough to make the use of our large beach umbrella practical, so I took Jamie down to the beach for half an hour, after extorting from him his agreement that we would go for a quick dip in the ocean to cool off afterward. It was quick, but not particularly quiet, but that too will be better tomorrow. In the meantime, Liam apparently rolled from his tummy back onto his back for the first time, and also managed to wriggle a few steps on his tummy.

We ate leftovers for lunch, except for Liam, who had his first taste of miso soup. We then headed down to the zocalo at 14:00 in the heat of the midday sun to get Jamie to fall asleep, which didn't take long. I bought some boquinete* (hogfish) from the fishermen's stand in the square, and headed back home to work online while the kids slept.

Jamie, Tai-Tai and I went to the beach for some sandcastle# digging and smashing and running around making train tracks in the sand, and were joined for a little while by Liam and Grammie. Liam finally decided to stop making strange with Tai-Tai, much to everyone's relief.

2007-01-18 20:30 (Kristen) John and I were up around 6:20, so that I could go to yoga for the first time in a long time. Mom came along to look after Liam, who slept through my lifting him up and putting him into the stroller, and Jamie kept on sleeping peacefully. Both John and I were feeling a little punchy after having the first complete REM cycles we've managed in what feels like forever. Yay! I had a wonderful yoga class, ditching a good deal of tension and stiffness in my back and legs, while Mom kept Liam happy. He only needed me to come and see him once, but the adoring "oh, you're *here*!' look that he gave me through his tears will stay with me for the rest of my ilfe. He's such a sweet, loving boy. We visited with Jean and Jack afterwards, and then went back to Casa Azul to find John and Jamie. Jamie had woken up at 8:00, and was watching (you guessed it) Doraemon, and eating mango yoghurt and roast chicken. (John: I was a bit stressed out because Jamie managed to get bitten by a mosquito on his calf last night, and the bite swelled up to the usual 4 cm diameter. I put Lyderm and Fusidin on it and we gave him Benadryl, and it seemed to be doing better later.)

John needed to take his mother into Cancun to do some shopping (and some for us as well), so they left around 11:30. Mom and I took the boys to the beach, where Jamie played happily and Liam lay on the beach towel, also happily. We stayed out until lunchtime, and I dipped Jamie in the ocean to cool off before we headed back in (he didn't like it any more than yesterday, but he didn't at this point in last year's trip either). I made scrambled eggs with onion, garlic, tomato, Oahaxa cheese (it's like mozzarella), and leftover fish. It was excellent with tortillas, and we ate it all. Then we took the boys out for a walk, and made with the boring at the grocery store so that Jamie would fall asleep. He did and so Mom and I sat at Cafe Amancia and talked while enjoying the breeze and keeping Liam amused. We came back home, and Jamie woke around 4:00 when John and his mom came back from a frazzling day in Cancun. They had bought a Megablox dump truck for Jamie, which had to be tried out on the beach, after John and his mom cooled off with a swim in the ocean.

We had a lovely pick-up dinner of crackers, cheese, guacamole, and leftover fish. John also fried up some bananas and refried beans. Liam has been fussy on and off today, with what appears to be gas pains, although I'm not eating anything that should bother him. (John: Jamie enjoyed the food, but seemed to enjoy the local radio station I put on while I was cooking, and couldn't stop dancing with anyone willing to hold onto his hands while he ran circles around them.) Jamie is happy, and did some cutting practice with his new scissors. He's settling in, and Liam is happy too. I have said that babies who can't crawl are luggage, but Liam is now rolling luggage. He can roll onto his back and back onto his front with relative ease, and is now working on crawling. Mom and I watched him get his bum high in the air, and if he had been on a surface with more traction at the time, he would have been crawling. I'd say that if I continue to let him play on a blanket on the floor that he'll be crawling in a few weeks. All he's missing are strong deltoids. and he's working away at those. He can't even sit up on his own. Remarkable.

2007-01-19 19:45 (John) I didn't get much sleep last night, and Jamie was up until midnight and woke up a little after dawn, at 7:00, but he was surprisingly energetic, probably because he was excited about the arrival this morning (Kristen is taking over now) of his godbrother Daniel. John went off to pick up Daniel from his 9:20 flight, while I stayed behind with the children and my mom. Jamie played for a while on the back patio with his Megablox dump truck, played with Mom and then me, and was very good while we waited for John and Daniel. John and Daniel arrived back here safely, and John took Daniel for a swim while Mom and Jamie went to the beach to watch and play in the sand. I stayed behind with Liam, who was having a fussy morning, until it was time to meet everyone at the restaurant at the Ojo de Agua for lunch. (John: Daniel's first experience with tropical snorkelling was relatively brief, and included one barracuda about 80 cm long.) We all ate well, and Jamie was well taken care of by our waitress, Angelica, who has a four-year-old of her own, and who handled Jamie masterfully, smoothly substituting a spaghetti fork for the blocks in his hand. Jamie ate well while Liam had a nap on Grammie's shoulder, and then Jamie and Daniel chased each other around. John took Jamie out for his walk/nap soon afterwards, and apparently took him to the fishing pier near the zocalo. Jamie failed entirely to fall asleep, but Liam did Jamie's sleeping for him: three hours! It's the longest sleep he's had during the day in almost a week, and we think that he really needed it. He's certainly happy and sunny now. Mom, Daniel, Liam, and I spent time at Le Marlin Bleu in the zocalo, drinking coffee and lemonade, and working (well, I did). Daniel was up at 3:30 AM today and was eager for his third coffee of the day, but we made him drink lemonade to keep him hydrated in the heat after a long plane ride instead. Whoever is reading this, please tell Tami that we're taking care of him! John took Daniel and Jamie down to the beach, and Jamie watched from shore while John, Daniel, and Sai took to the waves again. Daniel was not sure about the ocean after his first swim, but has now declared, after seeing triggerfish and angelfish, that he loves the ocean and will be going back in. I went down to watch Jamie while everyone was in the water, and we played in the sand. We came in for dinner, and Jamie did three puzzles with me and played two games of Ladybirds (a counting game) first with me, and then with me and Daniel. He liked both activities. Liam is a happy clam. We had dinner, and the boys are all in front of the television watching Pink Panther cartoons. John has boiled water and put it into a baby bath in order to bathe both Jamie and Liam, and will do that soon. We may not take Jamie to the zocalo for his ice cream tonight: the sooner he's in bed, I think, the better. He almost fell asleep on my lap at dinner.

2007-01-20 18:35 (John) We slept the somewhat disturbed sleep of the overly tired last night. Jamie fell out of bed onto the marble floor but absorbed the impact with his skull and went right back to sleep. When he got up, for a change he asked to watch "Booga Booga" instead of going to the beach. That's the Pink Panther cartoon DVD that Daniel brought down for us, which has been in the player continuously since his arrival.

The water pump broke down again, so I went to call Jose to come back and fix it again. Jamie had cereal for breakfast in the meantime, and when I got back I got Jamie and Daniel to come down to the beach with me (see photos). Liam spent much of the morning on his tummy on the living room rug, soaking his receiving blanket in spit, tasting it, then wriggling or turning to find a dry spot and repeating. When we were all good and hot, we were joined by Kristen, Grammie, Tai-Tai and Liam, and I told Jamie it was time to go for a dip to cool off. He resisted about as much as he did last time, but we weren't in a hurry, so we stayed in five minutes until he calmed down, then Kristen and I swam back to shore each holding one of his hands. Then Daniel, my mom and I went for the usual snorkelling run, but didn't make it out to the "aquario" because an extremely strong current swept us south along the shore so quickly it was time to swim back to shore by the time we got out to the right distance. Good practice snorkelling for Daniel though.

We ate lunch again at the Ojo de Agua, and were served again by Angelica, our waitress from yesterday, who was very helpful again. Jamie had the spaghetti with butter and cheese, to which he liberally added guacamole and my grouper fried in garlic. Daniel had spaghetti bolognese, along again with large quantities of tostadas dipped in habanero sauce.

I walked Jamie to the zocalo, and he fell asleep right away, so I walked him back to Casa Verde and took a nap beside him in a hammock. We both slept a long time, and still woke up groggy. Kristen, Laraine, Liam and Daniel went for coffee at Cafe Amancia, and eventually came back to wake us up. Jamie then took Daniel and me back to the zocalo, with Daniel and I playing Lost Worlds as we walked and Jamie free-associating to what he heard us saying. Kristen has made dinner for us, so I'll pass the keyboard next to her.

(Kristen) Jamie and I had fun "dancing" to the music at the restaurant at lunch today. He calls out the moves like a square-dance caller: "now we spin," "now we fly," "now we shake our bums," "now we shake our legs." He and I had a great time. We even got John to dance for a few moments, and Jamie has been asking me this evening to dance with him. I'll try to do so before we go to bed.

Daniel has been doing a great job at keeping Liam happy this evening. Liam has been spending his time playing on the floor in the middle of the living room, rolling about and practicing his head lifting technique, and working hard on his crawling project. He was absolutely rapt as Daniel went through his rather vast repetoire of unusual sounds. Jamie slept for close to three hours this afternoon but he's still acting tired. We have managed to get him to have a lot more exercise than usual, and I think that the fresh air helps to tire him out too. Bedtime very soon, I think.

2007-01-21 17:00 (John) Jamie let me sleep in until 7:30 this morning, which was a nice change and worth missing the sunrise for. We watched more Pink Panther shorts on DVD while we shared our breakfast until I thought it was late enough to send him to wake up Daniel (who had been up late working on a Sudoku puzzle), then when Kristen and Liam came downstairs I went back up to take a nap. Liam has been having intestinal cramps today, I think because he's got a bit of the bug that Kristen has, and he hasn't been his usual sunny self today. Or rather, he is his usual sunny self for half an hour at a time and then suddenly shrieks in pain and starts bawling his eyes out.

Once everyone was awake, I left Kristen and Laraine tending to Liam and Jamie and Daniel watching more Pink Panther to go to my parents' to book accommodation for a night in Buffalo on our return journey, which is approaching faster than anyone wants to think about it. Then I began the usual routine of herding children to the beach, making sure everyone had gone to the bathroom, put on sunscreen, changed, packed their gear, etc. I suspect it was close to 11:30 by the time Daniel, Jamie and I made it to the beach. Laraine took Liam on a partly successful mission to Mama's Bakery: she got her coffee, but Liam stayed awake. Kristen stayed home and worked.

When my parents came down to the beach to go snorkelling, I sent Daniel with them and stayed back with Jamie, hoping to catch up with the snorkellers if someone came down to relieve me. Instead, I helped Jamie munch on Froot Loops and Apple Jacks (which are impossible to clean once they've landed in our sand, we learned to our dismay), dug big tunnels in the beach and pushed blocks through them.

Daniel came back intact, having snorkelled past all the big coral rocks and seen more fish than he could count or name, and was happy. Kristen came down to the beach, so she and I took Jamie for his post-beach swim. Jamie was not happy about it, but resisted less than he did yesterday, I think because we had been completely inflexible on the issue. He calmed down somewhat while I was holding him in the shallows, enough to discuss all the things that we saw, and when Kristen and I took his hands in ours and made him swim back to shore, he did so without tears and perhaps even with a little enthusiasm, eager to reach dry land again. I think he'll be better again tomorrow.

We dined on leftovers for lunch, then Jamie and I went grocery shopping to the zocalo, watched tourists catching fish with nets off the fishermen's wharf, then ran with the tourists back to the zocalo in a sudden downpour. (That is, the downpour started suddenly; it came as no surprise except perhaps to those obsessed with the fish, because we could see the storm coming for miles.) Jamie fell asleep watching the rain, then I passed him off to Laraine, Kristen and Daniel, who were heading out for more coffee. I tidied up the lunch table, did the dishes and took a brief nap, then came over to my parents to work on this blog. I hear that they're home now, so I'll take wake Jamie up and take him to the beach.

It took too long to decide who was going to the beach and who was not, and make sure that everyone had gone to the bathroom, so we just came back and watched Pink Panther until dinnertime. My mom made dinner (boquinete etc.), and walked with Jamie and me to the zocalo for ice cream. Liam, unusually, has mostly settled down since dinner, so maybe whatever was bothering his tummy has started to calm done.

2007-01-22 21:15 (Kristen) After John left, Jamie and Liam had a good morning but it was clear that Jamie really needed to go to the beach and run off some energy. So, because Liam was asleep, I took Daniel and Jamie down to the beach. We set up at our usual spot and Jamie had fun playing in the sand, but Daniel really wanted to go into the water. I however did not feel comfortable having him snorkel without a partner. Instead, Daniel went to the water's edge and created a sandcastle#, which he defended against encroaching waves. He is very proud of what he did. Eventually, I moved our stuff much closer to the water's edge so we could be near Daniel. I got Jamie interested in going close to the water until he was comfortable having waves going up to his knees, and he could get buckets of water for his dump truck. Then, because Jamie is still quite nervous about the ocean, I took him out to the ocean where his feet and bum got splashed, but I did not put him in the water. He was quite happy with that. Soon, John showed up to go for a swim to wash off his trip to Cancun, after which we all beggared off to the restaurant for lunch. Liam had a good time with Grammie, and was happy and cheerful when he joined us there.

(John) I had gone to Cancun to help my dad with some business this morning, after spending the earliest part of the morning having breakfast with Jamie. I bought Jamie a 30-pack of Kellogg's cereal mini-boxes at Costco the other day, and he is therefore completely obsessed with Froot Loops. He wanted to eat them straight out of the box for breakfast, but I felt guilty about leaving him so wired for the morning, so we cut the 'Loops with Corn Flakes, milk and bananas.

I took Jamie down to the zocalo for the first unsuccessful nap walk in a while, I think because the wind has shifted to the hot making it uncomfortably hot. We stopped on the fishermen's wharf as usual, and Jamie got up and walked around cautiously while watching people catch fish and feed the pelicans.

Laraine looked after both Jamie and Liam for us for an hour (Jamie watched Pink Panther, Liam slept) so that Kristen and I could take Daniel out for a snorkel. Daniel's technique improves markedly with each outing, and he saw quite a lot of fish in the Aquario area today. My own favourites were the two porcupine fish, which I'll never be able to photograph because of their fondness for lurking in shady crevices.

When we got back, we quickly got ready to go out for our annual dinner with my Aunt Jean and Uncle Jack, who run Villas Shanti and are the original reason why we started coming to this beautiful part of the world. My parents, Grammie and Daniel looked after the boys for us, who were well-behaved. They had a very long day though, and not surprisingly, put up little resistance when going to bed.

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

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