Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 68

2007-01-23 22:00 (Kristen) I woke up around 6:30 this morning; almost (but not quite) too late to go to yoga. John, Jamie, and Daniel stayed behind while Liam, Mom, and I went off. Mom, once again, watched Liam while I had my class--we're trying to arrange for her to attend the next class. At the end, while we were doing a meditative exercise, I thought that I heard Jamie in the house. When I sat up, Jamie was standing right in front of me, his big brown eyes wide, watching me. John was standing right behind him, smiling. Jamie then stood behind me with John while we finished off the class, and helped me to put away my yoga equipment. He impressed his Aunt Jean (who runs the class) very much, and I told him how pleased I was with him. Liam was also great.

We had breakfast at Mama's, and ran into Jean and Jack Loew again. We had a pleasant time together before they left on errands. John went snorkeling with Daniel soon afterwards, while Mom and I took the boys to the beach. Daniel has turned into quite the fish; or, rather, quite the fish watcher. The weather was threatening today, with a number of little showers until the afternoon, and we fled the beach around lunchtime as another line of rainclouds moved through. After a lunch of leftovers, John took Jamie for a walk and Mom and I took Liam. It was very hot today, despite the rain, with a south wind blowing, and Liam, perhaps, was too hot. Or his teeth might have been bothering him. One way or another, he didn't sleep well today, only catnapping for less than an hour at a time. Jamie, however, slept very well and I had to wake him up after sleeping for almost two and a half hours.

The heat may be affecting everyone. We're all rather tired and either crazy or crabby tonight (except for Mom). Liam has been crying and very fussy, while Jamie is acting like he's seriously sleep deprived. We gave both boys baths to try and get the sand off of them, at least temporarily. However, Jamie did amaze everyone with his amazing maze-solving prowess, asking to do his "work," perhaps in imitation of everyone around him doing Sudokus all the time. Liam is now sucking on a piece of apple in a mesh bag, to prevent choking, and covering my mother "in slobber," she says. Jamie is watching Pink Panther with Liam. We're all very tired, and are looking forward to cooler temperatures over the next few days.

(John) Daniel went snorkelling again in the afternoon, and the prize sighting of that outing was a sea turtle. Jamie, Daniel and I went out to the beach at sunset to build sandcastles#, and perhaps under Daniel's influence, Jamie finally built a sandcastle# all by himself and Did Not Smash It. While building it, he was munching on a mini-box of Raisin Bran, and as he often does offered me a miniscule sample. I asked him for a cereal flake rather than a raisin, and he replied (his emphasis) "I am LOOKING for a RAISIN for you. You LIKE raisins. Here you go. Good Papa!"

I'm glad there are so many of us looking after the kids, because Liam really has been upset today. Each time, one of us comes up with a new trick (feed him an apple, give him a bath, take him outside, take him upstairs/downstairs), and each time, that works for about 15 minutes. Poor boy.

2007-01-24 22:00 (John) I slept in until 08:00, I've no idea how. Kristen woke me up to say she was taking Liam to the farmer's market in the zocalo, so I dragged myself downstairs to watch Thomas The Tank Engine with Jamie, who had already has his breakfast cereal. That didn't stop him from mooching half of my own breakfast (leftover fish from last night), then as I lay down on the rug to try to fall back to sleep, use me as a chaise longue*.

Kristen, Liam and Laraine stopped at Mama's Bakery for coffee, my parents dropped off their groceries for them by car. My mom brought over a fruit plate, and Jamie hoovered all the bits that he liked (mainly the watermelon and mango). Liam came home, and was still fussy. Still not sure why. It could be the heat, or his tummy, or he's just going through a developmental burst that leaves him craving things that he can't articulate.

My parents went shopping in Cancun. The rest of us walked over to the beach, leaving one base camp at the hotel restaurant and another on the beach proper, while Daniel and I went snorkelling as far as the Ojo de Agua. Daniel saw a porcupine fish and some queen angelfish, nothing else unusual.

Kristen and I took Jamie for a little swim in the ocean to cool off. He was better about it again today, but is still not really enjoying it. He's putting up with it almost gracefully, and no longer has panic attacks or meltdowns. Today, we managed to get him to "swim" from one parent to the other, with the first parent holding him in a football grip while he flutter kicks. Unfortunately, the water was a bit rough today, and the swim practice ended when he got half a face full of salt water.

We decamped from the beach and rejoined Laraine and Liam at the restaurant. Angelica took our orders: filete de mero a la diabla (Daniel), coctel de camaron (Jamie), filete de mero a la mantequilla (John) and fajitas de pollo (Kristen and Laraine), along with limonadas all round, and guacamole. Jamie ate a whole bowl of pico de gallo with tostadas all by himself, while Daniel ate enough of the habanero sauce to make me take it away from him. Liam, not to be outdone, had his first taste of liquid from a bottle, in the form of water that we tried giving him to help his hydration. He was delighted with the idea of a nippled object that he could hold and control all by himself. Jamie also rolled his own tortilla wraps, with filete de mero, arroz and pico de gallo, eating two of them with only a little help from me to ensure that he didn't wear his food.

After lunch, I took Jamie to the zocalo, fairly sure that he would fall asleep, as he looked quite tired. He didn't though, perhaps because it was too hot or too late. Daniel, Jamie and I spent the afternoon at the beach digging a deep water-filled trench. For most of the time, I dug and supervised, Daniel filled water buckets and sub-supervised and dug, and Jamie carried water buckets back and forth to where they were needed. By the end of the afternoon, Daniel had managed to get Jamie not to care about the fact that his pants were soaked (which usually sets him screaming), and even managed to get him to overcome his fear of the water enough to fill a bucket in the ocean himself.

When we got back to the house a little before dark, we took turns at the outdoor shower desanding ourselves and our gear, and Jamie actually stood with the shower splashing his feet as he filled buckets with water. Usually, Jamie won't get within metres of a running shower.

My mom wasn't feeling well, but my dad came over for dinner. We had pollo tikinchik (bought down the street), nopalitos (Kristen), frijoles refritos (John) and assorted leftovers. Daniel came down with a caffeine-withdrawal headache, as Kristen and Laraine didn't take him to the cafe this afternoon because they thought it would be too hot for Liam. He felt better after drinking a large amount of water and resting. Liam had his first taste of okayu (rice gruel), and was just as enthusiastic about it as he had been earlier in the day about the water bottle. Jamie was too tired to eat at the table, having missed his nap, but ate well in front of the TV with parental assistance. Each time he got very tired today, he insisted on working on mazes in his Kumon 4-5-6 maze book, and he earned much praise from all the adults around him for his work.

Kristen managed to get both kids to fall asleep by 20:30, an all-time record. She said that earlier in the day, Liam fell asleep on her lap while she sat cross-legged, his little arms and cheeks on her legs as he slept sweetly.

2007-01-25 22:00 (Kristen) It was yoga day (not Yogurt Day, as Jamie has previously hoped with some confusion), and the boys had a good night's sleep so that we managed to have a somewhat reasonable night, disturbed only by an enormous rainstorm that caused us to get up and close the windows and put towels on the floor to sop up the rain that had come in. The rain had stopped and the wind was blowing from the west (off the mangroves), bringing in a host of insect life, by the time Mom, Liam, and I left for yoga. Liam was restless and for the first time didn't let me finish my class, although I got 2/3 of the class finished. Liam apologized to the class, and they forgave him his howling of earlier.

We stopped by the house to pick up Jamie and Daniel on our way to Mama's Bakery (which Jamie calls Mummy'ps Bakery), where we met up with Jean and Jack Loew again. John stayed behind to rest, and Jamie was wired while Liam settled long enough for us to get some food and coffee into us. We headed back, and got ourselves organized to go to the beach. Everyone went but me, and I stayed behind to get some work done. I was radioed with a "red alert" from Mom about half an hour later, and went to get and calm down a screaming Liam. He did, later, finally fall asleep, which may have been part of his problem. He is definitely teething, however, and it is really bothering him today. Mom came back and took care of a sleeping boy while I went back to the beach to help Jamie swim. Today Daniel convinced Jamie to get water out of the ocean himself with a bucket, and Jamie walked into the ocean up to his bum on his own volition. The ice is now broken, and he is no longer terrified of the water. Now we can't get him out. He swam back and forth between me and John, hunted for fish, and "swam" with me on his back. He even insisted on walking on the bottom when he could. We praised him mightily, and he was awfully pleased with himself, with a smile and one of his little "yes"es.

After a late lunch, Jamie fell asleep in the stroller and so did Liam. Liam may have slept as long as he did either because he was finally cool (the breeze was lovely), or because I dosed his crabby-pants self with Tempra. However, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. The boys slept for about two hours a piece, and then we took them for a late afternoon play on the beach. Jamie went swimming again, having a great time, while Mom looked after Liam. We came in for dinner, and things got a little more challenging. Liam is unhappy, trying to nurse but pulling away and yelling, and required an abnormal amount of effort to keep calm and not screaming. Jamie is just tired, and he and Daniel are watching Pink Panther cartoons and running around. Daniel has been trying to get Jamie to play Lost Worlds with him, where Daniel does lots of explanation (you need to be able to read for Lost Worlds), with middling success. Jamie is starting to pick a fight now, however, which means that it is time to stop writing and time to put Jamie to bed. Jamie is treating Daniel like a sibling, which means that he will miss Daniel even more than usual when Daniel goes home tomorrow. Liam is quiet for now, but I'll be dosing him with Tempra again tonight.

(John) Daniel and Laraine went souvenir shopping together for hammocks, and managed to bargain their way down from one for MXN 450 to two for MXN 550. Then Daniel exhibited his growing Spanish fluency by buying a celebratory ice cream (in Spanish).

2007-01-26 21:40 (John) Daniel went back to Toronto today, and we're missing him already. He's been a fantastic help with the kids, and can cheer them up and motivate them to do what they don't want to do, much more effectively than Kristen or I can. Which is a little odd when you think about it, given how much pushing it takes to get Daniel to do anything, like say completely pack his suitcase.

It was a windy, sunny and cool day today, probably in the high 20s Celsius or low 80s Fahrenheit. Very pleasant, and the wind is blowing yesterday's mosquitos back to the mangrove where they belong, but it's also making the waters in the lagoon very rough. Jamie insisted on going swimming in the choppy waves anyway, and gamely "swam" (kicked his way along while supported by his life vest and my hand) for a good fifteen minutes to explore a cement block full of fish that Tai-Tai had found close to shore.

I'm glad Jamie is old enough to understand that Daniel needs to go home to his family. This trip has been so much easier than last year's, because Jamie is old enough to understand all of our explanations, and Liam is young enough not to need any of them.

Liam is feeling somewhat better today. He's still either teething, fighting a stomach bug, hot, gets bored of being at floor or stroller level, or some combination of all the above. He can be left to his own devices for remarkably long periods of time, when he will play with his toys, pull covers over his head, and suck his thumb. Then he wants to be picked up and walked around, to make sure that we aren't doing anything much more fun.

I took Daniel to the airport late in the afternoon; everyone else ate leftover escochin* tikinchik* while we were gone.

Kristen says that Jamie was full of energy and walked all the way to the zocalo and back after dinner, to get ice cream. Kristen carried Liam in the sling, and got a lot of admiring smiles from tourist passersby.

Come to think of it, Jamie was full of energy in an exhausted sort of way all day. He wouldn't sleep, because he knew Daniel was leaving and he didn't want to miss any Daniel time, even if it was just blearily watching Spongebob Squarepants together.

2007-01-27 22:00 (Kristen) Liam woke me up around 7:20 this morning after a fairly restless sleep. He had passed a fair amount of gas in the middle of the night and did so again after he woke up this morning; likely the cause of his wakefulness. We went downstairs and spent time until Grammie came down; then John came down around 9:00. Jamie was still asleep, which was a slight surprise, after his physical exertions of yesterday. John woke him up because it was time for a bathroom run, and Jamie notified him that he didn't need any help. He then ran off and had his first solo pee. Yay Jamie! Liam, Grammie and I were out at Mama's Bakery during this momentous turn of events.

The rest of the morning was spent playing Ladybirds, and trying to get out to the beach. We didn't get out there until noon, and Mom looked after Liam while John and I took Jamie out into the water to look for fish with Tai Tai. Jamie was pleased to see the baby angelfish that Tai Tai had found for him in the shallows, but enjoyed swimming with me and John even more, I think. He didn't want to get out of the water, but eventually we got him out and up to the house for lunch.

(John) The baby angelfish lived in a cinder block close to the shore, where it had set up a dental hygiene service for the local piscine population. My mom took some good photos of needlefish having their teeth cleaned.

(Kristen) When lunch was done, John needed a nap and it was too late to take Jamie for his walk afterwards. We stayed home with Liam too because it was too hot to take him to the zocalo. When John got up, he took Jamie down to the beach again in the cool of the later afternoon, where they had fun running along the edge of the water. Jamie fell once in the surf, but jumped back up cheerfully where even a few days ago he would have burst into tears. He shocked John by going under the outdoor shower, which surprised me too: he has been afraid of showers for almost as long as he's been able to talk. So, it was a day of firsts for Jamie.

We're finishing up dinner now, and both boys are just blitheringly tired. Liam has only catnapped today, and hasn't slept for a number of hours now, despite many efforts. He's savagely attacking his water bottle, and complaining almost non-stop while I type. I'm going to floss and brush Jamie's teeth, if I can, before the final meltdown.

(John) Liam appears to be teething again, or still. Kristen has given him some Tempra, and Grammie is trying to calm him; Jamie went to bed without brushing his teeth in the confusion, and is not quite asleep yet.

2007-01-28 21:30 (Kristen) Liam finally settled down a little before ten last night, after an application of Tempra. Jamie settled down a little before that, also hysterically tired. Both boys slept peacefully, however, which was wonderful. When I woke up this morning a little before 8, John was asleep along the foot of the king-sized bed we're in, while Liam and Jamie were snuggled up close to me, pushing me off the edge of the bed. (John: it doesn't matter how big the bed is, the parents always get pushed off.) I gazed longingly at the vast expanse of empty bed beyond the bodies of my children, and thought that this was proof that any money that we might spend on a bigger bed at home would be spent in vain.

It was raining when we got up, and rained off and on for most of the morning. John got up as Mom and I left to take Jamie and Liam to Mama's Bakery for a snack before heading out to do some last errands before we come back to Canada in a few days. We've been reading the weather reports for Toronto and Ottawa with horror, and are not looking forward to finding the weather we've been fleeing from. Once we finished, Jamie played in the zocalo playground until Liam got tired, and we all headed back home. We found John at his parents' house, and Jamie played there while Liam napped and the adults talked and checked their email. We came back home for lunch, and then John took Jamie out for his walk.

Liam started to fuss, and so I nursed him to sleep and tried to put him into his stroller so that I could work. I failed, and Mom took him out for a walk while I did get some work done. She passed John returned with a sleeping Jamie, who parked him in the living room to nap while he did the same upstairs. Mom came back with a conscious but happy Liam, who played in the living room until around 4:30. He's been such an angelic baby today: sweet, happy, and full of smiles and laughs. Whatever hurt him today has passed for now, and we have our wonderful little baby back.

We went out for dinner tonight at Hola Asia, the local pan-Asian place, with John's parents, Aunt Jean and Uncle Jack, and long-time Puerto Morelos residents the Mattisons. We stayed for a long time, and finally left after 8:00. Jamie asked for, and received, some coconut ice cream for the trip back. It's cold here; temperatures have dipped into the high teens tonight; and we're all complaining bitterly about having to put on our warm pajamas tonight. We've just found a very full mosquito in Liam's stroller, and we're hoping that it gorged itself on someone else, and not on Liam. We'll be watching for welts, and hoping that he's not as allergic as his brother.

(John) The waitress at Hola Asia brought Jamie's food for us first, which kept him busy until I was almost finished my dinner. Then Jamie played with my mom's new camera (an Olympus Stylus 720 SW, with which most of the recent blog photos were taken), and did not test its advertised five-foot shockproof feature. When he was done taking pictures, he asked to play video games on my cellphone, and when those got boring, we started playing MarbleBlast on my laptop, which took us through to the end of the party. I guess we could have brought books or toys along instead, but I like overly technological solutions to simple problems.

Jamie made his own limonada again today, as he has been doing every few days ever since he found the Wenkers' lime juicer. They're quite good. I wish my mom's lime tree was in fruit so that I could have him pick his own limes too.

We're not really looking forward to flying home again on Tuesday, but the cold weather here tonight (it's already dropped to the forecast low of 21°C (70°F)) has us putting on our winter clothes again and thinking it can't be much worse back home. Heh.

2007-01-29 21:30 (Kristen) Liam and I woke up before John and Jamie, and headed downstairs to find that Grammie (the one we tease about being such a late riser) was up and already had gone to the beach. Liam and I followed, and had a nice walk with Grammie and a talk with Tai Tai before a groggy John radioed us to come home. We spent most of the morning getting ready to go to the beach, and Grammie sat on the sand with Liam while John, Tai Tai and I took Jamie into the waves to look for fish. We found fish; or, rather, they found us. Jamie was getting the hang of using the flutterboard, and I had him while John and his mom looked at the angelfish and sergeant majors that live in a cinder block close to shore. I had my mask on, to better see where the block was, and noticed a juvenile triggerfish right in front of me. I instinctively started to move away, since I was a little startled by a fish the size of my hand (with fingers outspread) so close, and with Jamie with me. The next thing I know, I look down again to see the triggerfish dart down and bite my baby toe. No kidding. This, after working so hard to tell Jamie that it was safe where we were in the water, with no sharks or things that will eat you! It was the strangest thing. I yelled in surprise, and we all came in (it was lunchtime, and not just for triggerfish). I have three little puncture wounds on my little toe, and am feeling like the statistical anomaly. My bandage has spongeBob on it, and so I'm feeling tropical.

We had lunch at the Ojo, with our usual waitress, Angelica. She's been very kind to Jamie, and we all expressed the hope that we'd see each other again next year. Then Jamie said that he wanted to go down to the beach rather than have a nap, and John agreed (it being the last beach day before departure). John says that Jamie told him that he wanted to go back to Toronto to see his friends, and that Jamie told him that he was going to write his name. He then proceeded to write many "J"s in the sand. (John: many of them were the right way around, but as he erased them as fast as he drew them, apparently practising his sand-manship, the only one I could photograph was written Da Vinci-style.) Wow! Both boys have been forging forward with as many firsts as they can muster. Liam is significantly stronger and more mobile than when we left, and Jamie is peeing on his own. In fact, I heard that he ran to the hotel bathroom, and accomplished the entire process solo. Hooray! It's going to be hard to get both boys back into clothes in Toronto; the cold may be the only things to accomplish it. They're enjoying the lack of restrictive clothing.

Liam went with me and Mom to the zocalo while John and Jamie were on the beach. I worked at the Blue Marlin while Mom looked after Liam, who was sweet as could be. We all assembled back at Casa Azul (our base camp) around 5:00, when I was used as a lure to get Jamie off the beach. (John: we'd been digging sand for close to three hours but he wasn't eager to leave, though at one point he did say that he would like to go back to Toronto to see his friends. He does also always talk about swimming with Gary at Wasaga Beach everytime we go for a swim.) We are now trying to pack, and get ourselves ready for the long day tomorrow. We're laying out the heavy clothing, and only the novelty factor is keeping us from sobbing into our sarongs and summer clothing.

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

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