Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 81

2007-04-24 23:45 (Kristen) The weather was great outside this morning, so Jamie woke up with me after I'd set my alarm for 7:30 in a vain attempt to get some work done before the boys woke up. Sigh. On the bright side, we were all ready to go to Hakobune on time today, and John ended up taking both boys there and back, letting me have breakfast and a rare opportunity to finish my coffee before it got cold. Luxury! John and Liam came back home, and I kept Liam asleep on my lap for more than an hour for his morning nap. I even managed to move enough to keep the circulation in my legs without waking him up; not an easy feat. Liam sleeps lightly.

Ken walked Liam in the afternoon, and I met up with John and Jamie at the Second Cup before Ken dropped Liam off. Jamie was tired and hadn't eaten much; his nose is starting to run, and I think that he has Liam's cold. He did some of his cutting work, and some letter practice (he's getting much better at writing his own name), before we walked to Treasure Island in search of a new maze book. He played "kin kin" with one of the staff, who later came up to me to tell me what a great boy Jamie was; Jamie had overheard a girl say that it was her birthday, and made a point of coming over to wish her happy birthday and to introduce himself by name. Jamie will often say "hello!" to complete strangers; John and I marvel at his utter self confidence, and admire it too.

We came home, and John and I dropped the boys off at Browning so that we could have a nice dinner by ourselves on the Danforth, thanks to Tom and Michelle. We spent a good deal of time talking about the boys, of course, and John mentioned how impressed he was with Liam's development over the last little while. Jamie always seemed to have a long, slow rise in his abilities, whereas Liam likes to surprise you with his ability to suddently do something he had never done before, like stand or cruise. I think that he practices when we're not looking. The boys are so very different, but equally amazing. We came home and Liam crashed out; Jamie nearly did so in the bathroom on my lap, but finally made it to bed. It was, granted, quite late, and he fell asleep within a minute or two. Liam is still awake, and in need of attention. Must go!

2007-04-25 23:13 (Kristen) This will be brief, as I'm still packing for our departure for Ottawa tomorrow. Liam astounds by sharing his utter joy at being able to stand, and by moving forwards a few feed tonight by using a basic but true crawling technique (like a swim, where you pull yourself forward using your forearm-- his left, in this case). Jamie astounds by growing up; he listens better than he ever has, and is a genuinely funny person. His love of life, and his affectionate nature, are wonderful to see and experience. We are very luck in both our boys. Jamie has a gift of drawing everyone into his orbit, and making them polite and happy in his world. We can only hope that he continues to use his abilities for good and not for evil.

(John) I finished working on our income taxes tonight at around midnight. The boys have been a big help. Jamie helps me sort receipts, but mainly acts in his usual role as Chief Morale Officer and makes me take breaks to watch Anpanman or play video games. Liam also encourages me to take breaks, and helps out by spreading the recyclable papers on the floor and making sure none of them are edible.

2007-04-26 23:30 (Kristen) We got up early, and John drove Jamie to Hakobune. Jamie slept for almost twelve hours last night, and it was defintely a good thing for him. He's still underslept, but we'll try to get him to sleep in tomorrow. We managed, in a great flurry, to get the car packed in time to pick Jamie up and head out on the road to Ottawa, and even to fit in a quick lunch at Browning. John took that time to sleep, and a clever idea it was too.

Jamie watched Anpanman all the way to Kingston, and Liam slept beautifully for three hours. Yay, Liam! I think that the boys are getting used to long car rides, as each has his own way to best deal with how to pass the time. We stopped to play with Ian and Amy, chat, eat the lovely mini pizzas and other snacks that Ally bought for us, see Ted, play with the Wii, and head back on the road. Both boys held it together all the way to Ottawa, with one bathroom break in Barrhaven. Jamie enjoyed the play structure at the convenient McDonalds we found. We finally arrived in Ottawa at 9:00, to find Anna, Owen, and Becky (and Auntie Jen too), and Grammie all waiting for us. Jamie spent a rapturous time playing with his cousins, and Liam was full of smiles and bobs for anyone who would let him walk around. We played "pass the Liam" when we arrived, and it seems that it broke the ice with him. We finally got Jamie into the bath at 10:45, and he was still utterly wired at 11:30. I think he fell asleep around midnight. But he was happy. Liam's cough is bothering him, but I've drugged him up on Dimetapp, and it seems to be helping.

2007-04-27 18:50 (John) I've uploaded addition photos from yesterday, taken by Becky and Anna.

2007-04-27 23:54 (Kristen) John was up earlier than me and the boys; Jamie was up earlier than me and Liam. It was close to ten when we crawled out of bed; unsurprising, given our late night. The kids had already gone, and so Jamie came down to have his morning popsicle before starting his day. It was a slow morning, and I can't much remember what happened before Jennifer came over later on. We had a good time while Jamie roared about, and Liam ate some cereal and Jamie had some breakfast. Then it was lunch later, and we took the boys to the mall to burn off some energy. We bought Jamie a plastic sword, since he lives, eats, and breathes plastic swords, and he had a great time playing with it all day. The funny part was when we were just arriving at the toy store, and Jamie came running to me to say that the woman and baby just about ten feet away spoke Japanese. I thought that he was asking me, and I said that I didn't think so. Jamie sometimes thinks that any Oriental person speaks Japanese, so there is some possible doubt. He said that she did, and ran over to ask her if she spoke Japanese (my fearless boy). She looked surprised, said that she did, and then Jamie chirped "konnichiwa!" And she quickly realized that Jamie really did know how to speak Japanese. It was pretty funny. I got to talk with her, after Jamie dragged her around to play, and her small son, and her husband too. They're new to Ottawa, and we'll likely be in touch with them soon. Just too funny.

When we came back, we had Owen, and Becky had arrived with my mom. Jamie pressganged anyone he could into playing with him as much as possible. Liam practiced crawling and standing, and even "walked" between me and Jennifer a bit. He was very hungry, and did in almost a full jar of baby food (mixed veg). Jen and Jason were there for dinner too, and we all had a good time before it was time for bed. While John had a bath, Becky, Mom, and I danced to the BeeGees with Liam and Jamie. It was fun. Then it was time for bed, and the boys dropped off with varied rates of success. Liam is finally asleep, and Jamie just fell out of bed but fell asleep almost instantly afterwards.

Jamie has been enjoying the wildlife in my mom's backyard. There is a wide variety of birdlife, and we've been pointing out cardinals and finches to him. He's been quite interested, and it gives him a little Grammie and Jamie bonding time. Liam just loved to hold onto the window sill and look outside, because he's just tall enough to look out the window if he holds himself up.

2007-04-28 23:01 (Kristen) It was a slow morning; the sky was grey, it was raining, and it was hard to get up after the late night we all had last night. John had gone off to his Scrabble tournament, and Jamie very quietly and politely asked me to get up and play with him around 9:15. We went downstairs, where it quickly became clear that I was just a tool for getting a breakfast popsicle. That's all right, I guess; it was time to get up, anyway. Liam slept until a little after 10, at which point the rest of us were up and semi-functional. I went upstairs to get some work done after some food made it into us all, and came back down around 1:00, when it was time to get some lunch and head out to visit our friend Badger and his family. Becky made sure that Jamie ate some lunch, and we raced out to catch the bus downtown. Becky came with me, Jamie, and Liam, while the rest came down in Mom's car. Jamie liked the bus, but asked after every stop if it was our stop yet. I tried to tell him that we had ten more stops to go and he had to count the stops, but it didn't work all that well. He's really just concerned that we're going to get split up if he isn't ready, and wants a little warning before we get off the bus.

We made it to Badger's, and settled down to a happy afternoon of visiting and play. Jamie was a little put out that he wasn't allowed to play video games (which he remembered from Christmas) and had a really good pout about it (very good scowl), but I think that the problem was more that he was very tired. Jamie was a little small to really play with the bigger boys, and so watched a little Schoolhouse Rock and did some sticking and pasting. He did get to participate in a round of "kin kin" in Badger's kwoon* (Chinese word for dojo) with mats and such, which he enjoyed Immensely. He was gifted with two little plastic swords upon our departure, which he is looking forward to whacking Owen with tomorrow, when he can go outside to play with them. Liam had fun being passed from person to person, and finally had a nap on the couch when he couldn't keep himself awake anymore, while others chatted and drank tea and coffee around him. We had a great time, and it's great to see our sons playing with each other. We also saw my friend Denise, whom I haven't seen in ages. It was an excellent visit, overall, for everyone.

We walked over to a nearby Japanese restaurant to have dinner with my dad and his girlfriend, Liz, when it was time to depart the Badger household. We had a very nice time, and the boys both enjoyed eating edamame*. Jamie finaly started to melt down around 8:00, in a very quiet, "let me watch Anpanman" kind of way. We raced Grammie home, and managed, finally, to herd the boys both into bed. They were exhausted, and I hope that they'll both stay asleep the night.

2007-04-29 22:15 (Kristen) John went off to Scrabble early again this morning, and we three left behind rested and got up around 8:55. Well, Jamie and I got up then: Liam woke up at 9:45, thought better of it, had a nurse, and went back to sleep until 11:00 or so. He was all bright and cheerful when he woke up, so it was obviously the right thing to do. Jamie, in the meantime, had his morning popsicle, played a little with his cousins, and had some breakfast. Mom left around 11:30 with the cousins, and Jamie missed them the moment that they were gone. I kept him happy by feeding him lunch, and reading him a story (Fantastic Mr. Fox) while he ate, and stuffing Liam full of cereal and pears with blueberries at the same time. He played outside a little in the backyard afterwards, and did some cutting/colouring practice. We're also working on his lowercase letter recognition. He has about 50% of the letters, and half of the ones he missed he would have gotten if he'd bothered to think about it half seriously.

Liam did some crawling practice again today, and clearly is crawling now. He has some traction problems, and still lies on his tummy with his arms and legs in the air, wondering why this crawling thing isn't working this time. but can get himself going wherever he wants to go. John came home, and we went all over to Rod Matheson's for dinner. We had a lovely time, but had to go a little after 7 because Liam was almost hysterical with fatigue. He fell asleep in the car for about 20 minutes when we dropped Anna off at her home, but woke up enough to be taken inside. He's been in a marvellous mood all day, except when he realizes that he's blitheringly tired. His cough wakes him up sometimes, which isn't good, but it's not a severe cough at all: just annoying for Liam. As we were getting ready to leave Jen's, Jamie called out "I love all of you." I was just a puddle; it was so sweet. When we got home, Jamie helped my mom to refill the bird feeders, and is excited about having given the birds breakfast for tomorrow. The rest of the night was filled with swordplay, and amazing feats of crawling. We're heading back to Toronto tomorrow, and we're sad to do so but will be glad to see our friends and our home again.

2007-04-30 20:58 (Kristen) Jamie left me and John with Liam in bed, and got Grammie to give him his morning popsicle. I could get used to that sort of behaviour, but of course it was our day to depart. Liam and Jamie had some last-minute Grammie time, including looking out the window at the birds in the newly filled feeder, and Jamie in particular was a little reluctant to leave. It's a good thing that we're going to be home for a while, to give Jamie some time to get back into his routines for a bit. We had our farewell breakfast, during which Jamie had to get me another ring from the little vending machine there. He got me one last time, and was happy to do it again.

We finally made it onto the road, around 1:00, and the wind was verystrong as we drove on down the highway. The wind made the car ride a little less smooth than usual, and Jamie finally succumbed to carsickness outside of Kingston. He was very brave, and we were organized and fast enough to have a basin ready. Whew. We drove on to Kingston, where Jamie played with Ian, Amy, and the rabbits, before heading out onto the road again. We got home around 7:30, and unpacked the car with Gary's help. Jamie vanished with Gary for a bit, while John watched Liam and I had a shower. The boys are happy to be home but still unsettled. We'll have them in bed soon, and return to our usually scheduled routine tomorrow.

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

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