Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 84

2007-05-15 23:53 (Kristen) Jamie woke me up around 8:30, which wasn't all that bad. We had breakfast and got into our "good morning" clothes quickly, because I had to drop a parcel off at UTP. We headed out without too much fuss, and Jamie enjoyed the subway ride. At UTP we had fun saying hi to my old workmates, although Jamie got a little overly excited by the end of it. My former boss, Bill, taught Jamie to "gimme five, on the side, way down low, you're too slow!" at which point you withdraw your hand from the "five," as it were. Jamie made sure that Bill was too slow the second time around. He had a good time, but wasn't willing to be parted from me for any length of time. He also knew that any delay at UTP would mean a delay in getting the bubble tea he was rpoomised. Liam was happy and social, mostly, and enjoyed playing with Avril's stuffed squirrel. Once we left, I got Jamie the promised bubble tea, but we discovered, much to our horror, that the only bubble tea shop in the area was Out Of Bubbles. No tapioca! We (meaning Jamie) agreed to try the lichee jelly instead, which was an acceptable substitute, but not one that will be our first choice, I don't think, in future. We did a little shopping, then went to Browning for lunch.

Jamie ate all his lunch without a fuss today, and I think it was because of all the walking we did before we went over. Liam went for a walk with Ken, and Jamie went out with John. I met up with Ken and Liam at the Second Cup, and I think that Liam was asleep, in the end, for over three hours. This, dear readers, is An Event. An unusually long nap for our Liam is two hours. I will not get my hopes up for repeats. He woke up well, and played with me, John, and Jamie a little (they showed up a little before Liam), after I did some "work" with a tired, somewhat contrary Jamie. John took Jamie to get some groceries, and I took Liam home via the cheese store, Book City, and the Big Carrot. We did some housework, and then ate dinner with John's mom, as Jamie had "bought" (well, made John buy) her some watermelon. They've been sharing a lot of it lately, and she came over to get her watermelon. There were some severe thunderstorms in the area, so she stayed for dinner and played a little with the boys. Afterwards, Jamie watched "Shrek" with Gary, as Jamie had not seen it before but was interested because The Source always has it on their display televisions. He was utterly spun by the time bedtime came around, and took a looong time to fall asleep. Liam fell asleep relatively easily, and has only woken up once, because his eyes are uncomfortable. The eye infection continues unabated, and I sure hope that there is something that we can do about it soon, other than warm cloths (which he hates).

2007-05-16 23:35 (Kristen) John called me this morning after taking both boys for the morning. "Do you want to hear a new war story?" he asked, and I said that I did. It turns out that Liam needed a diaper change at the corner of Spadina and College, and John, in desperation, changed him and his utterly loaded diaper in the trunk of the car. Apparently a ten-wipe change, I think that he's glad that the diaper managed to hold it (barely) and he didn't have to change clothes too. Chalk up another strange place we've changed a diaper. We parents certainly have to be fast on our feet.

Jamie was definitely sleep deprived today, and we have to do something to get him to bed earlier at night, as a rule. He went to Hakobune, endured our errands on the way home, and had a quiet afternoon playing trains (trains are making a comeback over television) and watching a little television if no one was around to play with. Liam was happy. I should note that our doctor phoned to say that he has a bacterial eye infection, and that we have to give him eye drops. This means that I have to "bunny" him (wrap him up so that his arms are pinned), put him down so that I can immobilize his head, and then pry his little eyes open and drop liquid into them as he yells. I warn Jamie, as he hates hearing Liam scream, and everyone else before I do it. Oh? It's 4 (four) times a DAY that I get to do this. For a week. Are we having fun yet? No? OK.

Dinner was at John's parents' house, and Jamie and Liam had fun playing over there. Jamie ate all his dinner, which was amazing in and of itself. We came home, ran the bath, played a new version of Cup Fish and the Evil Fish Robot, and went to bed by 9:00. Two books, and both boys were asleep by 9:30. Liam has woken up twice, but I gave him some painkiller and he's all right now. That top tooth is very close to cutting gum; we'll be glad to see it.

2007-05-17 11:00 (John) Kristen called to say that Liam has taught himself how to play peekaboo, and was repeatedly hiding under a blanket and them peeking back out at her.

2007-05-17 19:30 (John) Kristen took the kids to day care, walked Liam around in the jogging stroller and shopped and worked until it was time to pick up Jamie again. Jamie was tired, but not as much as he was yesterday after day care, so I'm hoping that if he gets to bed early again tonight he'll be back on track. The antibiotic eyedrops have cleared up Liam's eyes completely, though of course we have to keep using them for the rest of the week to prevent a relapse. At Jamie's request, they took the subway out to Kennedy station to inspect the buffer there, then came home to do some gardening. Jamie was delighted to find the first issue of his subscription to Thomas The Tank Engine magazine nestled beside Mom's New Yorker in the mailbox. I heard him shout "It's beautiful!", though I don't know if this was in reference to the magazine, or perhaps some flowers they were planting. My mom came over with some snacks. Jamie made me pick up his entire track layout so that he could design a new one (the first time he's asked me to do that on a day when Trifina wasn't coming by to clean the house), and the new one is interesting. Half of the run is elevated on Megablox, and it's mostly two parallel tracks allowing trains to either race each other or tell each other to get out of the way. Kristen made jambalaya for dinner, which Jamie hoovered, after proclaiming loudly every few minutes while it was cooking that something smelled very good. I was going to look after a napping Liam this evening while Kristen took Jamie out to the park, but Liam woke up when I tried to take him from Kristen, here I blog while Kristen has both the kids. Off to go look for them now.

(Kristen) Jamie, Liam, and I had a good time at the playground. Jamie was his usual aggressively friendly self, and we had a good time playing with kids and their parents there. One girl patted Jamie's bum (in a friendly way) as they climbed up a structure, and Jamie called back, "Don't press my bum!" This led, naturally, into a conversation that I'd wanted to have with Jamie for a while about "good touch" and "bad touch." I told Jamie that if anyone touched his bum, or anywhere else that he was uncomfortable, what was he to say? And he correctly said, "Stop, don't touch me." I said, "if the person doesn't stop, then what do you do?" He said "run away." Excellent! Better and better. Then I asked who he was to tell, and he said "Mummy," and then, after a little prompt, "Papa." Brilliant! I told him that if the person (an adult) didn't stop, that he was allowed to kick. Then my peaceful, beautiful son said "You kick them in the balls." My jaw just about hit the floor. Where did he hear this? Questioning and a strategically placed phone call have not yet revealed the source of this good but startlingly worded advice (John later told him that it was better to punch than kick at his height). When we got home, John and I asked him again who told him this bit of advice, and he told us it was a cabbage. I don't think that we're getting to the bottom of this one, as it were, for a little while yet.

2007-05-18 23:03 (Kristen) Jamie woke up a little before 8, acting like he had to throw up. There was much rapid breathing and misery, but he kept saying that he wanted a drink. He ended up passing out on the bathroom floor, the top of the stairs, and at the kitchen table. My sore throat of last night blossomed as well, and I finally put two and two together to make "very sore throat." Jamie stayed home from Hakobune, and I slept for two hours in the morning with Liam.

John is so far untouched by the bug, but Ayami, Tom, Ross and Daniel were all affected by the same virus. Ugh. After a quiet morning, we went for lunch at Browning, as Jamie was feeling better. Afterwards, we four went to Humber Nurseries, and the boys fell asleep in the car on the way there. I bought a goodly number of plants in record time, and was almost finished when the boys woke up and John brought them in. We had to hurry back because John's mom needed the car, and got home without incident.

The evening was Ross's 9th birthday party, which went well. Both boys were fine, but Jamie was pretty tired by the time we got home around 9:00. He wasn't able to fall asleep for a while, however, but finally did. Liam fell asleep right away. I will be asleep soon, too.

2007-05-19 23:00 (Kristen) Liam woke me up a bit before seven, and I finally got up with him when his bright, happy chatter threatened to keep the rest of his bedmates awake too. We hung out, I called my mother (who is jetlagged after her return from Greece), and we chatted until Liam decided it was time for a nap, now, please. He was entertained briefly by my mom talking to him on the phone (big smile, staring at the earpiece), but soon enough it was back up to bed. I didn't mind really, and we both were asleep until 11:30 or so. It had been a rough night. Jamie got up at some point and played with John, who had also gotten up at some unspecified time. John took Jamie to the market soon after Liam and woke up, leaving us at home to deal with our grogginess, and our colds.

John says: I took my mom and Jamie to the market. Jamie was very tired, too tired to walk but happy to sit in the stroller or get up and run around frenetically. He ate more than usual because of the amount of time he was spending in the stroller but I realized how poorly he was feeling when he didn't ask to play with the fire engines at Steve's newspaper vendor's stall. I think that his favourite part of the outing was that they had turned the water fountain on and he lay beside it for a long time, mesmerized by the water splashing in the sunlight.

(Kristen resumes) Liam was fussy after waking up, and I eventually just took him out in the stroller, as he would not sit down and let me get the things I needed to do done. It's clear that his teeth are hurting him, and I think that he's got the virus that Jamie and I have now: he sounds hoarse when he talks, and like there is a lot of phlegm in his throat. Bah. We walked around a good bit, getting errands done, and sat for a bit in the Carrot Common, where he watched birds avidly and was complimented on his dark hair and beautiful eyes. Many people comment on his eyelashes too, which are long and full. He gets lots of comments, just as Jamie did and still does. We got a coffee for me and went home in time to meet John, Jamie, and John's mom on the road coming back from the market. We beat John and Jamie home, and Liam fell asleep. Jamie played a bit with trains and then came out and played a little with me, and then back in. I came in with Liam at one point, and played with Jamie until Liam woke up. I recall that we all ended up outside to do some gardening for a bit, and do some more running about.

I had asked John to drive me to the library to return two large bags of books (most of which were for Jamie), and we stopped off at Treasure Island on the way back. This was notable for Jamie in that he finally got the robot arm that he's been desiring for weeks now, and for Liam in that he got to stand and play at the train table for the first time. He's playing with the big boys now! Then we went home, had dinner, and cleaned for the arrival of Sachiko, a friend of the Sasaskis, who will be staying with us for two weeks while she finds a place to stay in Toronto. Jamie managed to pick up a sliver in the palm of his hand over the course of the day, and had refused to let me or John to take it out. Finally, he let Gary take it out, and he was a real trouper about it. The boys went to bed around 9:30, and Jamie fell asleep less than two minutes after he told me that he wasn't sleepy (a possible reference to Olivia the pig)

2007-05-20 21:49 (Kristen) We had a better night last night, and I woke up feeling better with two cheerful boys around 9:15. We hung out playing in bed for about half an hour before we went downstairs. The boys met Sachiko when she got up around 10:00, and she thoughtfully brought Jamie a new hiragana workbook and a companion volume to his favourite# Japanese songbook. She brought Liam a squeaky toy of Anpanman riding his little Anpancar, which was a great hit with both boys. She hung out with Jamie as he watched Doraemon for a while, and then we all went our separate ways: her to visit the Sasakis, and us to John's parents' house, where we were to meet up with Alice and the kids to go for a subway ride.

John had some errands to run, so we went over first. I ended up going back home to get something when Liam melted down, getting him to fall asleep on the way in the stroller. Jamie stayed behind and played happily with his cousins like I'd never left. We came back and got everyone, and went to the subway to go and take the subway and Scarborough Light Rapid Transit (SLT or LRT, depending upon who you talk to) to Scarborough Town Centre. The ride went well, and Jamie enjoyed riding the LRT for the first time. We got bubble tea, and wandered around a bit. Jamie was disappointed that there were no train tables at the toy store, and there was no Indigo with one either, so we got ready to get back on the subway and find one. We were delayed for a bit when Liam tossed Anpanman and I only found out forty minutes later; after much swearing and searching, Anpanman was found back at the bubble tea place, and I owe many apologies in my mind to the shoppers at Scarborough Town for thinking that some miserable child had stolen my son's tossed Anpanman squeaky toy.

We went to Indigo, played in the kid section for a bit, and then headed to the Silk Road for dinner. Liam melted down but was not appeased by being walked, and so I ended up nursing him to sleep in my lap in the restaurant. (John: nursing, I should point out, after Dad had calmed him down by pointing out the interesting motor vehicles driving past the restaurant.) Over the course of dinner my voice dwindled and went away. I can speak in a very light whisper, but don't like raising my voice much above that. Bah. Liam hasn't noticed but Jamie is somewhat disturbed by my inability to speak. He's sort of enjoying the charades and sign language, however. We got the boys in bed by 9:15, and Jamie is asleep, despite declaring that he wasn't sleepy.

2007-05-21 23:13 (Kristen) My voice didn't come back after a relatively restless night, and I spent my entire day acting out pantomimes. Sometimes I was understood; sometimes not. Jamie found my inability to speak somewhat disturbing, and told me when he woke up this morning that he'd had a nightmare that our house was full of bees, and that I'd gotten stung on the hand. The night before, he'd had a nightmare about me turning into a tarantula. I leave it to the armchair Freudians to work those out. One of the few upsides to our still sleeping all in the same bed together, like a family of puppies, is that when the boys have nightmares, they barely even squeak. They wake up, see us there, and fall right back asleep. That's nice for everyone.

Liam was in an utterly sunny mood, and Jamie was good when we went downstairs around 8:00. Jamie watched Doraemon and some Wallace and Gromit before we decided to go outside and do some gardening. The boys had a good time, and Alice, Amy, and Ian came over around 1:00 for much romping and play. Alice went home to pack, as they were to get on the road mid-afternoon, and so we all went to the park to roam. I was starting to feel a little flat, so when it was time to take them back to their parents, I took Liam to the Second Cup. Liam woke up soon after I got there, but was quiet enough that I was able to enjoy my time there well enough. We went back to John's parents' house, said goodbye to Ian and Amy, and then went to Browning to make dinner. I didn't seem much of either boy after that, as they each grabbed a person of choice and made off with them.

It was Victoria Day today, which is a traditional excuse up here in the Great White North to set off a whole lot of fireworks. We went to Jackman School, where someone had spent a lot of money on some very nice fireworks, and the neighbourhood had a great time. Jamie, however, was very tired (it was past 9:00) and was afraid of the bangs the fireworks were making. Gary took him back home, and I followed soon after with Liam. The boys were in bed around 10:30, and fell asleep in record time.

Liam's getting better and better at standing and cruising. (John: he pushed himself back up into a sitting position from all fours for the first time today, then tried to stand up by walking his hands up the wall, but I stopped him because he doesn't have the balance to stay up yet.) He really doesn't much like sitting at all, which makes it difficult at times to put him down to do things like, oh, pour the hot water for the tea. Jamie is sweet and affectionate, and Liam is bright-eyed and interested in everything. They're good boys.(John: Also, Liam cut his first upper tooth today, his left lateral (!) incisor.)

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

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