Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 72

2007-02-20 20:44 (Kristen) Yesterday, at the toy store, we bought Jamie a copy of Snakes and Ladders, since he was having so much fun playing Ladybirds. He's enjoying it, but is adjusting to the idea that you don't move to the number that you rollon your die, but that many spaces forward. We've managed one real game, and wha I'd describe as a number of "variants."

Jamie woke up around 8:20, and had the rest of us up as well. Liam woke up in the sweetest mood I've seen in weeks, and stayed that way pretty much all day: lots of smiles, laughs, and cuddles when he wasn't playing happily by himself. Jamie wasn't feeling quite so well, but we still went to Browning for lunch and he ate his hot dog in exchange for some tinned lichees. Liam went out with Ken and Jamie went out with me and John. Jamie saw a raincoat in the form of a fireman's coat, with matching boots, umbrella, and hanger (there was a backpack too, but we resisted). Jamie had some Christmas money left over from Nobuko and Tomoko, and has now spent it. He looks great.

We all ended up at the Second Cup, and Jamie had not slept. Liam remained asleep by the time we went home so that John could have a phone conference. Jamie and I stayed outside in the lovely weather, and played with what happens to snow when you drop a snowball into a puddle. This turned into what happens to a snowball when Mummy pitches it down the sidewalk. Our neighbour Ian saw us doing this, "snuck up" on us, and the battle was on. By the end, most of the neighbourhood kids, including Chaerim and Kyup, had participated in turning our front walk into a happy war zone. It was a great amount of fun. It concluded with Chaerim and Kyup helping us to build a snowman, and sledding in the back yard. (John: Kyup had the longest run, from the top of the little hill I made at the north end of the backyard, all the way to the cherry tree.) I made hot chocolate, and that was the end of our snowy adventure. We took Jamie to his appointment with Dr. Kennedy soon afterwards, who confirmed the presence of a (viral) ear infection, and that we're likely to have to wait this one out. (John: I strongly suspected an ear infection, because for the last few days Jamie has refused to sleep on his back, and when he's slept in his stroller he's had to do so slumped forward uncomfortably. I racked my brains trying to remember the last time he exhibited this behaviour and finally remembered it was last winter when he had an ear infection.) Sigh.

A few minutes after we got home, John's aunts Nobuko and Tomoko arrived with dinner. As I had been planning to cook, but was absolutely exhausted (my pitching arm hurts, for some reason...) I was delighted even more than usual at the prospect of being fed some of John's aunts' excellent food. We all had a lovely dinner together, and the boys enjoyed playing with their aunts yet again. I think that we'll be doing this more regularly in the near future. Nobuko and Tomoko have left, and Jamie is watching Pokemon in Japanese while Liam is getting ready to get into the bath with John. Liam ate a lot of squash and pear at dinner, and I'm hoping that he'll have it leave his system before we go to bed tonight, in the hope that it'll help him to fall asleep sooner.

(John) Jamie made a bad pun tonight at the dinner table. Nobuko was concerned that Jamie was having trouble chewing his squid, and asked Tomoko "kame nai no kana?" (Maybe he can't chew it?); Jamie chose to understand the sentence homonymously as "Maybe there's no turtle." and pointed at the origami turtle that I'd just folded for him, saying "Kame aru yo" ("There's a turtle right here!").

2007-02-21 22:23 (Kristen) After the fun of yesterday, and a late time getting to bed, despite his lack of nap, Jamie slept in until 10:00 today, and I think would have slept longer if I hadn't woken him up. He came downstairs groggily, and went into the kitchen, where breakfast was ready and Liam was still in his high chair. I made a last-minute decision for Liam and I to come along with John and Jamie to Hakobune, and so I ran around getting everything together while Jamie and Liam were in the kitchen. I looked in to see how Jamie was coming with his breakfast to see him talking in a low voice to Liam, keeping up a running monologue with Liam responding with little grunts and "aahs." I didn't overhear what they were discussing, but it seemed like important brother stuff. I am not sure that Jamie has had such a sustained conversation with anyone like that before. I told John about it, and we decided that this bonding will hopefully hold them in good stead as a basis when Liam starts seriously grabbing for Jamie's toys in a few months.

Jamie is definitely Liam's favourite person: Liam has a particular whimper when Jamie leaves the room, and will keep his gaze fixed on his brother for long periods of time. Jamie, for his part, enjoys Liam's attention, as his little brother is a great audience for whatever Jamie is trying to do, and he will go out of his way to make Liam laugh. Jamie will give Liam hugs and even a kiss now and then, and wanted to help carry Liam from the bathroom to the bedroom tonight. There is some friction sometimes, as when I have to give Liam some attention when Jamie wants it, but Jamie is very low-key about any disappointment he might have, and directs his displeasure at me, rather than at Liam.

Liam slept in the car while we dropped Jamie off (I stayed with him, of course) and then we went to a coffee shop to work. Liam woke up when we put him into the stroller, but stayed mostly happy the entire time we were in the shop. He even made a few friends as he was in an incredibly happy mood again today. I don't know what's doing it, but I hope to heaven it continues, because he's being a lot of fun. My hair is suffering, because he's grabbing onto it with both hands as he flings his little body back stiffly, chortling with glee and his face utterly transported by a smile a mile wide. He does this a lot. He also jumps up and down, in his own way, in my arms, and in the neglect-o-matic, his face one huge grin. It's great. I took him to pick up Jamie at Hakobune (the reason I headed out the door to drop Jamie off) as John had a dental appointment. We walked to the subway station, and Jamie and I had a great time the whole way, and he proudly announced that he didn't complain once about walking all that way. He was praised fulsomely. We talked about all sorts of interesting things on the way home, where we met up with John, who was just arriving himself.

The next few hours were full of shoveling snow, Pokemon, and John taking the boys to the Big Carrot while I had a bath (a BATH!) with smelly things in it. I made dinner, and Liam hoovered his food while Jamie picked at his. John notes that Liam has a new sound, which is distinct from his others, and means very clearly "Feed Me!" (Seymour; I want MEAT...)(that's LIttle Shop of Horrors, for those of you who didn't see that movie). John went to Scrabble, and we settled into a usual evening at home. Jamie started getting "buggy": he deliberately does things that he knows that I don't like when he's tired. He will also do things to get my "Bad Attention" (which is what we call it) when he wants something, but doesn't know how to ask for it, and/or fears a "no." However, this was tired behaviour, so I ran the bath at 8:00, and we had lights out by 8:45. He didn't fall asleep until 9:40, and Liam is (of course) still wide awake, but Liam is starting to melt down now, and I'm going to try to get him to sleep. I had been keeping him happy by singing Bee Gees, Squeeze, and other songs along to iTunes, but he's so past that now.

2007-02-22 20:10 (Kristen) When we woke up this morning, it was snowing hard, with huge white flakes that looked heavy and wet. As it was my day to take Jamie to Hakobune, I managed to get the boys out the door early because I anticipated slowdowns on public transit. It was heavy snow, and the little wheels on the "bus stroller" for Liam were certainly not up to the challenge, but we got on the bus and off to the subway with less fuss than I had anticipated. In the end, we were only ten minutes slower than usual, which got us to Hakobune on time. Yay, us! Liam and I went to a nearby coffee shop and I worke dfor a bit. I got caught up in conversation with another mom, and Liam woke up in time to charm and amuse, and to be amused by her 18-month-old daughter.

John picked us up, and we got home around 2:00. Liam had fallen asleep again in the car, so I took him out for a walk while John and Jamie stayed behind, playing Snakes and Ladders. They apparently abandoned the conventional board game for some classic arcade-style games on the computer that John had found (John: Jamie would play two of three lives at Lady Bug before asking me to play for a long time with the third, and would insist on shooting (always to the left) at Robotron while I steered), and didn't meet up with me and Liam until 4:00. John worked for a little while I took Liam and Jamie to the cheese shop (today Jamie chose marble cheese) and to buy blueberries. I also showed Jamie a piece of a wasps' nest that I found and we marvelled at the fact that the nest was made of paper, with honeycombs throughout.

John made dinner, and Liam ate a frightening amount of dinner while a napless Jamie ate ten legislated bites. We haven't found the bottom of Liam's stomach yet which scares me. He ate a half jar of squash, and about a quarter of a jar of pears. Eek. Jamie is off downstairs with Gary, avoiding an early bedtime. He is still enjoying making Liam laugh, and is indulging in his inner (outer?) ham for his little brother.

2007-02-23 21:55 (Kristen) We all slept tangled together in a heap last night. Jamie started off on the floor beside the bed, but was up and in with us sometime in the night. I think that he had a nightmare. He ended up between me and John, and at one point had his head over my hip and his feet over John's, his bum in the valley between us. Liam fell asleep across my chest, and so I was pinned. It wasn't particularly restful, especially since Liam was restless, and Jamie too. We woke up when my alarm went off at 7:45, but I wasn't able to reach it, pinned as I was by children. John had to wake up to turn it off, and so our day started. (John: At breakfast, Jamie made the interesting linguistic construction "Your natto* is not very ochazukey*.")

We dropped Jamie off at Hakobune, and took Liam to his Roots of Emp[athy class as Winchester Public School. John came in with us for the first time, which was great: he has a very analytical and clear explanatory style, and he was able to contribute a lot to the discussion. It was also great for the boys (in particular) to see a together, participatory father (and great for Liam to have his papa there, too). After class, we went for noodles and then to pick up Jamie.

We went home, and Ken walked Liam while John stayed home with Jamie. They met up with us around 4:00, and Jamie failed to sleep again today. Dinner was at Browning, and both boys had a great time. I think that Liam is teething again, however, as he has been crying his piercing cry, and is chewing the living daylights out of my hand (which now Officially Hurts) as well as anything else handy. I should also add that he will stop and give me an apologetic little half-smile and almost embarrassed little shrug before returning to the savaging of my fingers. Jamie is exhausted, and Liam is fractious and tired/in pain. Bedtime soon!

2007-02-24 21:48 (Kristen) Jamie woke up first, as usual, and was more patient than usual about waiting for me to get up and follow him downstairs. He has a long list of fears: he has regular nightmares about getting hit by subway trains, and there is frequent mention of monsters and other things around the house. He doesn't like to be alone much, and prefers company in doing whatever it is that he wants to do, unless he is happy and otherwise occupied. I don't know if he really is scared, or lets his imagination get away from him when he's bored, or is concocting reasons for us to keep him company.

We had breakfast, and then got ready to go to the St. Lawrence Market. I reqad Jamie a book or two that we'd picked up from the library; the one he asked to have read twice to him was a short little non-fiction book about the Sun. I am using this as the thin edge of the wedge to teach him all about astronomy. Right now we're talking about how the earth goes around the sun, and how the earth spins, causing day and night. (John: I've been telling him that the sun goes around the earth, because I figure his frame of reference is pretty securely attached to this planet.) Stay tuned. I forgot to bring a sling for Liam, and ended up going around with John and Jamie at the Market, rather than going off to the Second Cup, as usual, to wait. It was nice, and we celebrated with pizza and ice cream at the end. Jamie enjoyed looking at the lobsters with another little boy, and Liam smiled and enjoyed the visual stimulation.

When we got home, John took a nap and then went off with Jamie to the pool for a swim, to make up for last night's aborted attempt due to ill staff and a closed pool. It turns out that the pool's posted hours were incorrect by half an hour, so they only got about five minutes of swim in before they had to go. They met up with me and Liam at the Second Cup, and we all enjoyed a snack before Jamie dragged John off to play at the playground across the street, and I took Liam to Book City to browse. (John: Our usual play structure morphed from an imaginary subway car into an imaginary veterinary hospital, as a toy cat that we found on the ground was seriously injured by a toy train.) Liam had a lovely conversation with two staff members, who appreciated his responsiveness. Both boys wore new coats because Jamie's coat found some fish water at the St. Lawrence Market, and Liam pooed in his. Laundry!

This evening was spent making dinner, reading, and watching television. Liam had carrots for the first time, and they met with great success. He was making his "feed me!" sounds earlier today when I was eating my pizza, but he got no pizza. Carrots seem to have made up for it. Because Jamie didn't nap, we put him to bed early, and he was asleep by 9:40. He's getting used to the earlier bedtime, as he hasn't napped in three days, I think. (John: five days.) It really is six of one, half dozen of another whether or not he'll nap now. Some days we really want him to, and others we wish he wouldn't. Liam fell asleep with Jamie, and I managed to get him to go back to sleep first by sucking on my finger, and then by my cleverly slipping his own thumb into his mouth. It's worked for ten minutes, at least. Wish us luck with the rest.

2007-02-25 20:42 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 8:15 in a relatively good mood. Liam was up soon afterwards, and I managed to convince Jamie to have his regular breakfast, despite his desire to have jelly beans instead. He spent the morning watching television, and I worked, while Liam had a little nap.

After lunch, John took Jamie to go swimming again. He had been told yesterday that the pool would be open, as advertised, so it was closed when he and Jamie got there. We decided to go to Ikea instead, to pick up some organizing units for the kids' toys (much much needed). We spent the rest of the afternoon there while Liam slept in the shopping cart (to much comment about the cute baby) and Jamie slept in the car (the first nap since Monday) until it was time to wake up and come in to buy a train.

We came home in the snow, and John made a lovely dinner. Liam has been insisting on some floor time, and has been flipping back and forth from back to front with the greatest of ease. Jamie has grabbed Gary and Ayami, and hasn't let them go yet. I'll have to go and get him soon; it won't be easy.

(John) Liam's new sound for the day sounds like someone in a movie who is bound and gagged and is trying to tell you that the murderer is standing behind you. I think it means "I want you to pick me up now" or "I'm done doing what I'm doing now, please find me something else to do.". Or maybe it's just "I want your attention."

2007-02-26 24:08 (Kristen) Liam had me up at 4:15 this morning, and had me move into the other room until the pain killer kicked in for him. I have no idea if it was gas or teething. Jamie crawled in with us around 8:00, and got us up not much longer after that. It had snowed last night, and so John was able to convince Jamie to go out and shovel snow instead of watching television. Apparently Luke two doors down was out with his red shovels, and so Jamie and Luke played with their shovels, and John actually got some snow removal accomplished. Then they went to Browning for lunch, and I followed along with Liam. Lunch was marked by LIam's insistence that he be fed what we're having, and his grabbing of John's apple juice. John let him, and even got him to sip from the cup instead of just lapping, in the manner of small nursing babies. Yay, Liam!

Ken walked Liam and John got Jamie to fall asleep, so we had some work time at the Second Cup today. Liam slept an astounding four hours, which in retrospect may not have been great, as he is cooing and giggling beside me. It's after midnight. Aarrghh. John took Jamie home where they shoveled more snow, played in the snow, and otherwise got stuff done. Jamie was helping by using a broom to brush snow off the patio table. He's getting bigger: he makes plans now and is very interested in helping. I like this, even though it often makes things go twice as slowly as they would have otherwise. Then it was off to Browning for Monday night dinner. Liam socked away a jar of baby food, which he can do with no difficulty: our boy is very very much into food. He and Jamie are getting along very well, with hugs and kisses all around. Jamie roared around and Liam experimented with putting things into his mouth with both hands (apparently a developmental stage), and responding to the world in new ways. We're home now, Jamie is in bed, and Liam continues to play beside me on the couch. I'm pretty tired, and counting on Jamie to get up around 8:15 again (he's been reliable that way). Off to bed.

(John) The temperature hovered a little below freezing all day as little fluffy flakes of snow fell and quickly covered the neighbourhood. Jamie and I spent more time out in it than usual, because there was a lot of snow that needed shovelling, and because it was so much nicer than being out there in some of the much colder snowstorms we've had recently. On our morning outing, Luka and his nanny joined us as we shovelled and took turns pulling toboggans and sleds. Shovelling works better when Luka is around, because Jamie will use his own shovel to show Luka what to do, rather than keeping a hand on my shovel to show me how to shovel the snow properly.

We're continuing to build the toboggan hill in the back yard by piling up all the snow that falls in the driveway. The hill is fairly firm, about 150 cm (5 feet) high, with a plateau large enough to fit a small toboggan. The run is at first precipitous, dropping those 5 feet over perhaps 8 horizontal feet, then levels off and follows the more gentle slope of our property down to the forsythia. Jamie went on several runs in the afternoon, and seems generally satisfied with our progress.

Liam had his first sip of apple juice today. I was trying to drink from a glass while holding him in one arm, and his "watch out for the murderer behind you" grunts grew insistent enough that I let him have a sip. It took us several tries before we got the hang of actually drinking it (rather than lapping at the outside of the glass), but he seemed to enjoy it.

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

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