Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 74

2007-03-06 23:44 (Kristen) Because we are going to Ottawa on Thursday afternoon, we moved Jamie's Hakobune day from Friday to Tuesday this week. He wasn't all that thrilled to be awake this morning, and was looking for any reason to stay where he was, but we finally managed to get him out of the house and off to daycare. He, of course, had a great time. He managed to charm some cookies from some people at a funeral at the church, but I think that making a person at a funeral smile is worth a cookie.

Liam and I hung out at home to relatively productive ends, and he was happy and cheerful by and large. Actually, he's been laughing and happy, and giggling spontaneously to things like his brother and feet. He's got an odd sense of funny, which means that he fits right in around here. We took the boys to see Dr. Kennedy about a few things that seemed urgent yesterday, but cleared up or improved by the time we got to see her. Better than antibiotics, really: make an appointment to see your incredibly overworked doctor. Your kids will get better as though it were magic, and make you feel utterly embarrassed to be wasting your doctor's time. Works more often than I care to say. I took Liam to the Second Cup for a long nap and some work for me, and John and Jamie came to join us quite late in the afternoon. Jamie was wide awake and wanted to come back home, so we did. He fell asleep about 20 metres from the house, around 5:30 (augh!) so we let him sleep for an hour, because we were damned if we did and damned if we didn't at that point. I made two dinners; one which worked and one which didn't work after it was clear that it wouldn't be ready on time; and the one that worked seemed to have gone down well. My friend Jennie came to visit and brought cookies, which Jamie appreciated, and the boys played alternately with John and on the floor in the kitchen. Liam in particular enjoyed the floor time.

It is late, and I don't know if Jamie is still awake, but John was asleep a while ago. Liam is starting to get tired, and I've given him some painkiller as his chin is slick with drool. Dr. Kennedy did give us some advice on how to deal with Liam's teething, and I'm hoping that the Motrin that she gave us will work better than the Tempra has.

2007-03-07 23:03 (Kristen) Liam was restless last night, which meant some broken sleep for him and me. Jamie was in a reasonable mood when he went off with John and Ted to Hakobune. John says that Jamie, when he saw Catherine at the church, said "Hi, Catherine! Happy Birthday!" Catherine then confirmed that it was her birthday when she said "You remembered!" We knew nothing of it. Good memory on our son.

Liam and I stayed home and worked on getting ready to go to Ottawa tomorrow. He was in a reasnable mood but hasn't slept much. When John and Jamie came home, Jamie played for a bit with me before grabbing Gary for the rest of the day. He didn't nap, so he fell asleep relatively easily around 9:45. Liam has been fussy since dinnertime, and is still awake. Soon, I hope to be finished packing, and to have Liam in bed and asleep. (John: I came home from Scrabble to find Jamie already asleep, took Liam up to the bathroom to bathe, but accidentally sang him to sleep in his bouncy chair while I was taking a shower.)

2007-03-08 23:33 (Kristen) We have arrived safely and soundly in Ottawa, after a fun train ride. Jamie went to Hakobune this morning with me and Liam, as John had left for Dallas and the Dallas Open Scrabble tournament earlier in the morning. Jamie was much put out, and I asked him why. He said that he was mad because we hadn't packed track, but really it was because he wanted to get on the train Right Now, and didn't want to go to Hakobune because it wasn't The Train. I explained to him that we had tickets for the 3:30 train. Why? He said (He's been full of "why") and only took my explanation for why we couldn't take an earlier train somewhat grouchily.

I had the brilliant idea of taking Liam to Hakobune in the backpack, and it was a very smooth trip. I will be taking Liam in the backpack more often. We did errands, then came back home to eat, finish cleaning the kitchen, and pack the car. Gary drove us to pick up Jamie, and then to the train station. He kept Jamie happy while I did this and that, and Liam slept. Liam slept a lot today, and I'm a little worried about tonight, but it's letting me work so I'm not complaining. We boarded and got good seats (with an outlet!) and settled in with our mighty mountain of stuff. Jamie was tired, but stayed awake until 5:00 before the train rocked him to sleep. Liam slept for a short time, but stayed mainly awake and charming all passers by. We had a lovely time chatting with our fellow passengers (including a girl returning from boarding school and a MA student in criminology), and arrived in Ottawa on time.

We were met by Grammie, who was happily met with by Jamie and Liam. We packed up the car, and headed to my sister Jennifer's house. When Jamie saw his cousins through their window, he called out excitedly and raced for the door. He played with them happily for an hour and a half before we called time on hiim and took him home. Liam was delighted to be there as well, and basked in the attention. We took the boys home, and Jamie settled in well after eating his promised popsicle from Grammie's freezer. Jamie is now asleep, and Liam is almost there. I should be soon. The kids are coming over tomorrow (after being told that they couldn't skip school, it being report card day), and I'm anticipating lots of fun for all.

2007-03-09 19:50 (Kristen) We've spent today adjusting to being in Ottawa, and to new routines and situations. Jamie was up at 8:20, looking for a popsicle. He had a few, along with a more balanced meal. Liam was up at 10:00, and had pears and rice cereal. We headed over to Jennifer's, because Jamie was getting bored with just me and Mom, and to (of course) enjoy her company.

We rampaged for a while, and then took Jamie to pick up Anna and Becky at school (Owen was home with a cough). He fell asleep and stayed asleep for about two hours. Liam, on the other hand, has been making strange and not sleeping at all. It's rather unusual, but I think that it's just the difference of the situation and he'll be better tomorrow.

I have to go now; I'll try to write more later. Be it said, however, that we are all having a very good time.

2007-03-09 24:03 (Kristen) We came home and I got some more food into the boys before bathing them (with much help from Anna, Becky, and Owen) and putting them to bed. Liam wouldn't let me get up, but is sleeping across my lap now. Go figure. Liam calmed right down after half a jar of squash, so it may be that he was just hungry earlier. My dad had come over to see us at Jennifer's, and it was nice to see him. We're all getting together tomorrow to go downtown to see an exhibit of my older niece's artwork at the Ottawa School of Art, where she's been taking classes. She got in to the school for the arts here in Ottawa, so we're awfully proud of her. I brought the webcam to my sister's, because she has high-speed internet (my mother will next week, but what good does that do me now?!). I had the webcam trained on the kids while they had dinner, so that John could be part of the proceedings a little, and Jamie liked seeing his dad. So did Liam, I think, but he wasn't as vocal about it. At one point, Jamie looked up and said "Hi, Camera Papa!" John liked that very much.

The iSight (webcam) has been a great thing today, making us feel much closer together even though we are separated by thousands of miles. It has been very enjoyable, and something that I wish had been available when my father was far away when I was a kid.

2007-03-10 23:18 (Kristen) It is lovely to be here for so many reasons, not least of which is the presence of Jamie's cousins. Jamie was up around 8:20, and started to get me up, when Becky intervened and took him downstairs to play. This let me stay in bed for another half hour, and get Liam settled before I went downstairs myself. Verrrry nice. When I went down, everyone else was up and eating popsicles in the kitchen. We had plans to go out and have brunch with my dad and then to go to the Byward Market to see some of Becky's art at her art school (end of class exhibition). Jamie finally melted down when it was time to go; a combination of too little food and too much excitement, I think. We made it howling to the restaurant, but he calmed down quickly once he had some toast with jam and peanut butter and a drink of apple juice. Liam was fine, visiting with people and having a good time.

Jamie was blitheringly tired, but refused to sleep. Liam fell asleep in his backpack as we walked to the mall to catch a bus, en masse, downtown rather than drive. I convinced him, once the bus got full, to sit in his stroller to make room for people who needed seats, and he fell asleep by the time we reached downtown. I was a little headachy, and so were the others, so we sat and had something to drink before heading to Becky's exhibition. Liam woke up and had a nurse, and was happy as a clam to be in the backpack. Mom says that he grins wildly and waves his arm about; I know that he likes to grab my hair in both hands and shove my hair into his mouth. Liam has discovered his tongue lately, and likes to stick it out as far as it can go. I think that he must be quite the sight because I always get lots of fingers pointed at us, and smiles, when I take him in the backpack.

Jamie woke up after an hour and fifteen minutes or so, groggy and grouchy, but happily shared a frozen juice with Becky while we looked at her art. We headed back home soon after, and he enjoyed riding on the bus (he had missed a good part of the first ride). Once home, he spent the rest of the day running around playing with Anna and Becky (Owen went home feeling not very well with Jason). Liam started to make strange and be very clingy by 7:30; he didn't want to be out of eyeshot of me, and by the end of the evening, had to be held by me too. I gave him some Motrin, and he's sleeping better tonight than he has in a few nights (at least so far). It does seem to be teeth again. Anna and Becky gave Jamie his bath, and he was both excited and

2007-03-11 23:40 (Kristen) The jump to daylight savings time threw us off a bit this morning. Instead of waking up close to 10, we were up close to 11, which was way too late. Jamie had actually been up a little earlier, and played with Becky and Anna. In fact, they played all morning, each running the others off their feet. Liam was happy and social, and had much to eat (peaches were the new flavour, and were met with approval). After the fun and chaos, lunch was finished by 2:00, when it was decided that we should head to Jennifer's place. We had decided earlier on that it would be a slow day, so that I could gather myself together for the long trip home tomorrow, so the speed at which things happned was not an issue. Because it takes Mom two trips in the car to get everyone anywhere, and because Jamie needed a walk, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take the stroller to Jen's. Liam was in the backpack, and trhilled to be there. It's a twenty minute walk; Jamie fell asleep outside the school at the fifteen minute point, but Liam was still craning about, looking at the world, and delighted beyond belief. He was actually jumping up and down in the backpack, and I was very glad that he had restraints on or he'd have jumped right out of it. At one point he looked sleepy, but was distracted with open-mouthed awe at a big black crow flying by.

I met up with Mom at the grocery store, and we took the boys with us grocery shopping at a nearby strip mall. Liam fell asleep, but Jamie woke up at the hour mark. The kids were already inside from snowman making, but Jamie wasn't in the mood to stay outside anyway, so disaster was averted. Liam kept sleeping for an hour or so, while Jamie roared about. Dinner was a lovely beef stew, which Jamie ate some of, with pie for dessert (which Jamie ate some of). Liam started to get cranky again around 7:30 but wasn't interested in food. He was tired, but wouldn't sleep. He finally slept a tiny bit, then ate a lot of carrots. We came home, had baths, and put the boys to bed. Jamie is asleep, and Liam isn't. The usual.

I explained to Jamie that we were going home tomorrow, and I asked him if he was looking forward to seeing Papa. "Yes," he said. I asked if he missed Papa, and he said yes. I asked him if he'd enjoyed seeing Papa on the videocam yesterday, and he said "It was a little bit scary." I asked him why, and then revied his statement to say "A little bit happy and a little bit sad." He loves his dad, and we're all looking forward to seeing himself tomorrow.

2007-03-12 24:50 (John) Our journeys home were a little complicated. Air Canada had cancelled my original flight, so I had to leave much earlier in the day, discover that my new flight was not leaving from the terminal Air Canada had told me it would be leaving from, and that my meal order had been lost. Kristen and the boys had it worse; a train derailment in Kingston shutdown corridor rail service, so they spent the evening on a bus. The boys seemed okay when I met them at Union Station; Kristen seemed a bit tired. We just managed to get the boys to bed. The funniest part was when we came home, Jamie pounded so hard on Gary's door that Liam burst into hysterical laughter. I guess you had to there. It's good to be home.

(Kristen) A bit tired; that's a way of putting it. Jamie got me up arund 8:20 this morning, which is his usual time, and we spent the morning doing our usual routine of "Mummy, may I have a popsicle?" "Yes, you can when you finish your breakfast." "I'm not hungry"/"I don't need a popsicle." He did eat part of a banana and something else besides a popsicle, but I wasn't too worried because we were going for brunch. We made it to brunch around noon, or a little after, and Jamie's blood sugar took a plunge towards the floor. Meltdown. It took about half an hour to get him back to normal, including Anna's Shirley Temple and a big lunch sitting mainly on my lap, but it happened. He did enjoy his obstacle course home with Owen in the lead; they surmounted hills of snow, and Owen introduced Jamie to the fine Canadian tradition of snowbank running. This is where you run along the tops of the snowbanks,and try not to fall off of or into the snowbank. Liam was mellow, by and large.

We hung out at Jennifer's place until it was time to leave, which e did so reluctantly. My dad met my mom and the three of us at the train station, and was very handy in helping us onto the buses that Via Rail had running between Ottawa and Toronto. Jamie had another meltdown in the train station after he woke up from his nap (both boys had fallen asleep in the car, and Jamie had even stayed asleep being translated from car to stroller), but had it together by the time we got onto the bus. It was not the best of trips, as we left Ottawa around 6:15 PM, not 4:50. The boys were fine until Kingston, when Jamie needed to be set up with his DVD player to keep him happy, but the real fireworks came outside Belleville (or was it Port Hope?) when Liam, jostled by the jerking of the bus as it ran along the slippery, rainy highway, awoke in a fugue state and started screaming. Not his special scream, thank god, but drill-like just the same. He screamed, more or less, all the way to Oshawa. It was a good half hour at least, where nothing I did could shake him out of it, including Motrin for any teething pain, and I didn't have the room to walk him out of it (did I mention the bad roads?). When we arrived in Oshawa, the driver stopped to let some passengers out and turned on the lights. It snapped Liam out of it, finally, to everyone's relief. When the bus left, he let out a few cries, and someone called out "Turn the light on again!" Yeah.

I managed to keep him happy until we got to the train station in Toronto. Jamie was a star, keeping it together and being a big help in getting us safely home.

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

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