Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 93

2007-07-17 20:52 (Kristen) The kids were in bed late again last night, but slept in again this morning so it wasn't too painful (for me). The morning was quiet but uneventful, and we went for lunch at Browning. There Liam spoke his first deliberate word: "umamma." He uses it consistently and appropriately, and once he realized that we understood him and gave him food when he used it, he used it a great deal. He also cycled through the hand signs he knows to show off how clever he is. And he is very clever. At dinner tonight he used "umamma" again properly, said "den" for light, and used the sign for "food" and "more" for the first time. By George, I think he's got it!

In the afternoon, I got Jamie to walk to the Second Cup to pick up Liam from Ken, and then we three walked down to visit our friends Peter and Laura, their son Jon, and their dog Photon. It was a long walk but Jamie kept himself entertained with endless rounds of the chorus to "The Cat Came Back" by Fred Penner (with help from me), discussions of flora and insect life (butterflies and bumblebees are good), and whatever else crossed our minds. Jamie regaled me with more iterations of his Jamie language (which is very silly), but did me the favour of translating. When we reached Peter and Laura's, we came in and played with Photon for about an hour in the back yard. Jamie and Photon are just the right size for each other, and much hilarity ensued with tag, tug-of-war, and a less-than-successful game of hide and seek. We ate cookies that Laura baked, and Liam endured many full face lickings from a happy Photon with grace and aplomb. We walked back to John's parents' house, which Peter guessed was a distance (in total) of almost four kilometres. I'll have to see if I can measure it out more accurately, as it may have only been three and a half, but I'm very impressed with Jamie's ability to walk so far cheerfully. (Added later: MapMyRun.com says it was 4.11 km. Woot!) It helped that we stopped often, with drinks and snacks, and didn't try to set any speed records. Still: I was pleased with our outing.

Dinner was at Pearls with Daniel and Ian there too, and we came home around 8:00. Jamie is downstairs playing Lego Star Wars with Gary (of course) and Liam is a happy clam walking around and using me to pull himself up. Tomorrow is a Hakobune day, so we should be in bed and asleep earlier than we have lately tonight (or have I just jinxed us again?).

2007-07-18 23:53 (Kristen) Jamie woke up around 8:45, and Liam was up earlier than that by a small margin. We headed out to Hakobune a little late, but arrived with another mother and child so we weren't alone, at least. Liam fell asleep at 11:45, giving me a little time to get lunch and work before we picked up Jamie. Jamie agreed to get some local bubble tea instead of going to Yorkdale to get some, and rode the subway to the end of the line and back before going home. Gary wasn't all that well, but played with Jamie anyway. John is feeling better so he spent some time with us too. Our friend Kate Doe came by with her 21-month-old son Alex, and we all went to the Silk Road for dinner with friends. John took the kids to the local playground, and much fun was had. Alex couldn't say "Jamie," and kept calling Jamie "Amy," but that was all right because Jamie kept calling Alex "Alice." Liam ate as much food as I've ever seen him eat, and was pleased with huimself about it. He also took eleven steps while he thought we weren't looking and definitely has the hang of this walking thing now. He doesn't do it much, because he isn't that good yet, but it's definitely days, not weeks, before he's toddling all over the place. He loves the stairs, and crawls over to them at high speed if he wants my attention.

The kids were asleep around 11:00 and 11:30, respectively, and I'm thinking of trading them in for kids who sleep. Well, only a little.

2007-07-19 24:30 (John) The boys have been very happy, nay, gleeful, lately. In Liam's case, the joy is twofold. He is proudly mobile now, walking carefully when not distracted, falling down and crawling like a gecko when he needs to, and scampering up the stairs if we turn our back on him for a moment. And after almost a year of hard effort, he has finally succeeded in establishing communication with us. If he asks for food (umamma*), we give it to him. If he points at the light and says "light", we all chime in in English and Japanese. He is delighted with our progress, and looks forward to sharing all of his wisdom with us.

Jamie notices more about the world every day. Today he pointed out that house numbers alternate on streets, and that Playter Crescent is missing both a #10 and a #13. A few nights ago, while reading a Japanese fairy tale, he made the Holmesian deduction that the innocent-seeming little old lady that the boy met in the forest was actually an evil bakemono* (spirit), because it is a universal rule in Japanese children's literature that old ladies live with their husbands. Last night, he made me count stacking bath cups in as many languages as I could (English, Japanese, Cantonese, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, German and Greek), repeated them back and pointed out similarities. So he's filled with the thrill of discovery.

Kristen bathed the boys tonight so they'd get their weekly shampoo and ear scrubbing. Liam got into a little positive feedback loop as we said "basha-basha" (splash) every time he splashed, and ended up accidentally slapping Jamie across the face. Jamie yelped in pain at the same time that Kristen shouted "No!" and I said "Dame!". Liam looked mortified for the first time in his life, his eyes welled up with tears, but everyone calmed down quickly as Kristen gave Liam a hug and I checked to make sure Jamie was okay. I'm glad to see my younger son has a well-developed conscience too; no psychopaths in our house.

As for our day's chronology, Kristen took the boys to Hakobune, then to lunch near Gary's store. I picked them up as they were taking shelter from an impending downpour at a bubble tea shop, and drove them home via the Second Cup. I hadn't driven for a few weeks because of my medication, and wanted the practice for the weekend. Jamie fell asleep for almost two hours in the car, and I kept him company working on my MacBook. I then took a brief nap with Liam, who slept for a few hours indoors, then took Jamie to Pearls for dinner with Ian, then remet up with Kristen and Liam at Browning where we played our third session of Daniel's Dungeons and Dragons campaign. We came home fairly early, and got the kids asleep by about 22:30. Kristen passed out with Jamie, and appears to be down for the count.

2007-07-20 23:54 (Kristen) I have been sleeping with Liam and Jamie's been sleeping with John lately because the bed isn't big enough for all four of us anymore. With John having trouble sleeping because Liam keeps waking up with piercing cries in the middle of the night or early morning, or because John's been crowded to the end of the bed and someone is kicking him *again*, it's our compromise position until we can figure out something else. Jamie has been pretty good with it, but I do know that John carried him into bed with me last night and that he was curled up against my back this morning when it was time to wake up. Liam fusses sometime around sunrise every morning, and only settles down when he manages to find a comfortable position in my armpit or on my stomach. Nursing, interestingly enough, doesn't settle him down. I have no idea what's going on there.

Both boys are on a growth spurt. At least I think that Liam is on a growth spurt: he's eating more than I thought one small(ish) boy could put away into one body. He's storing it in his toes, as far as I can tell. He's very polite about telling me what he doesn't want to eat, and has definite moods and cravings. Cherries will *always* do. Bananas were good one day this week but have been rejected since. Plums are excellent; cereal is so last week. He won't eat what he has no interest in, even if he is hungry, but will wolf whatever is interesting to him at the time. His desires are broad, but capricious. Jamie is visibly growing. He is getting long and thin, almost spindly, and the Thoms the Tank Engine growth chart (which was installed more approximately than scientifically) says he's 3'4". John says that he has to be careful when he gives Jamie a helicopter ride to not bonk his head where a little while ago he didn't have to worry. Jamie's star pajamas are too short now, and I think that they fit a month ago.

It was a day of note because John drove us to Hakobune this morning. He hasn't done so in almost two months, and everyone at the daycare was glad to see him. We did some grocery shopping with Liam, who delighted in riding in the shopping car, before John dropped me off at Bathurst and Bloor so that Liam could fall asleep in his stroller, and I could do my morning walk to find a friendly coffee shop to work in. Liam woke up just before it was time to get Jamie, and we headed first to the library and then to home. Jamie stopped to talk with this person and that, and I think sometimes gets a little put out when everyone talks with Liam first when he's trying to talk to them. He misses being the person everyone talked about, I think, so I'm trying to be inclusive when people stop to talk about how cute Liam is (which, of course, he is, and I'm delighted by the attention he receives). Jamie monopolized Gary's time for most of the rest of the day. He'll really miss Gary and Ayami when they go off on their vacation this summer. Liam practiced walking, and is getting better at an almost frighteningly speedy rate. Liam stuffed himself at Tai-Tai's, where he went with John, and Jamie watched some of the original Star Wars movie at Browning while the rest of us played D&D. It's fun to see him enjoy something that I enjoyed so much when I was a kid. Oh: and there were more renditions of "The Cat Came Back." Lots of them, with the Ray Charles variation in the middle.

2007-07-21 23:56 (Kristen) We slept in this morning, which was fine by me. It was Market Day, so we all four went to the St. Lawrence Market for yummy things. Peach season is just starting, and fresh berries are everywhere. Both boys are delighted with this, and are eating fruit at a tremendous rate. We made it through the market quickly, as we still had to pack our bags for an overnight trip to London and St. Thomas, Ontario, to see Big Thomas and the Day Out With Thomas extravaganza. Gary played with Jamie for the last bit as we packed, and we were on the road around 6:00 PM.

Liam fell asleep in the car quickly, as expected, but Jamie did too and slept for two hours between 6:30 and 8:20, close to when we arrived at our hotel in London. Erm. Liam woke up when I laughed a little too loudly near the 401 and 427 junction, and had to be pacified with bits of fruit, passed backwards, the rest of the way. We arrived at the hotel, checked into our very nice room, and took the boys to the pool. Both of them had a great time, splashing and even getting brave, each in his own way. Jamie swam about in his PFD by himself, dogpaddling between parents, and Liam allowed me and John to hold him out away from our bodies as he kicked and splashed. We came back to the room, snacked on leftover yakitori and edamame, and got ready for bed. Liam fell asleep around 10:30, but Jamie is still awake (unsurprisingly), flipping, flopping, and making huge gasping and other noises, as he does when he's tied but too keyed up to sleep. We were intending to go early tomorrow to see Thomas (about 8:00), but may have to revise this somewhat, as I can't see him awake at 7:00 tomorrow morning. Or me and John, for that matter. John is with him, and he can sometimes get him to sleep when I can't. I hope that his special Dad powers are at full charge.

2007-07-22 23:26 (Kristen) I know that I'm going to have forgotten far more than I write down tonight, which is a shame. Jamie didn't fall asleep until 12:30 last night, and only managed to do so after John threatened that if he didn't fall asleep NOW, he'd sleep through Big Thomas. He squeezed his eyes shut, and fell asleep soon afterwards, but you could tell it was hard work. John said that while he was trying to fall asleep, he kept making light sabre motions with his hands... far too much Star Wars. (John: he also kept asking every five minutes if it was morning yet, I've neve seen him so keyed up. Mind you, I couldn't fall asleep until 3:00 myself, and I had to be up at 7:30.)

The kids were up around 8:30, after John came back from exchanging our 4:00 tickets for 12:00 ones so that we could pick up Anna. We ate breakfast in a restaurant full of overly excited little boys and their somewhat wound-up parents who were trying to get those boys to eat something, ANYTHING, before they went to the site. The restaurant staff were mostly older German women who loved children, so someone doing the scheduling was thinking when they did that. One looked after Liam for a minute and a half so that I could go to the buffet before Jamie and John returned; I think that she was disappointed that they came back so fast! Soon Jamie was finished eating, and it was time to see Big Thomas.

The event was at an arena this year, and the place was, once again, packed full of our demographic. Jamie was pretty tired after his late night the night before, but still was fascinated by the Lionel electric trains, and played with most of the Thomas trains available. We got into line for a ride on Thomas, but due to smaller coaches and increased demand, didn't actually get on until 12:30. That meant that we had to rush, when we got off, to make it to dim sum in Kitchener/Waterloo with our friends Adam and Pat. Jamie knew that we were stopping, and kept asking us to make sure. Liam was beyond tired, but wasn't able to fall asleep; he cried (well, more like keened) for 20 minutes until we were on the highway, and fell asleep for twenty minutes until something woke him up, and then he keened for another twenty minutes until we got the restaurant, feeling rather strung out.

We had a lovely dim sum with Pat and Adam, and Pat even brought Jamie sheets of mazes that she'd drawn for him in anticipation of his asking her to draw them for him. He was very happy. Liam liked the food, and when we were done, Jamie, Liam, Pat, Adam, and I went to play on a school lawn across from the restaurant while John took a nap. Adam was a fire-breathing bear or Princess Leia (who uses a blaster and not a light sabre, of course); Pat was a dragon, or Darth Maul with Jamie; Jamie was various Star Wars characters; I think that I was a Star Wars character too; and Liam, of course, was Yoda. We ran about having fun, until it was time to go and pick up Anna at the airport. My niece is staying with us for the week, and was coming to us from Orlando, where she'd been for the week with her singing group.

The trip to the airport was pretty much like our trip to Kitchener-Waterloo, except that Liam keened for over half an hour before we figured out that he wanted the windows open. That put him out, along with Jamie, until we got to the airport, I'd gotten out to find out where to get Anna, and some officious twit made John move the car. I came back to get a keening Liam, while Jamie stayed with John in the car to play Dungeons & Dragons (Jamie insisted on being the DM) and Twenty Questions. John says that Jamie stumped him, after he told Jamie that they could guess things other than animals, with "The good feeling that you get when you ride on trains." Jamie also guessed "elephant" in three. I, in the meantime, was inside a very crowded airport waiting for Anna and her delayed flight, and then an hour for Anna to clear customs. I got her sister, Becky, turned around and on her connecting flight to Ottawa, and then we all headed home. Liam was set to keen, but was distracted by Anna, Jamie, and then a water bottle that I had. Next time: water bottle. We got in, unloaded the car, Jamie went to play with Gary for half an hour after we had a quick dinner that John's mom had sent over, and we got the kids ready for bed. Liam was out pretty quickly, but Jamie had a great deal of difficulty calming down enough to go to sleep. It wasn't one of our better bedtimes, but he finally fell asleep at 11:00 or a bit after. I'm sure glad that I started the bedtime ritual at 8:30 an not 10:00! I hope, for everyone's sake, that he sleeps in tomorrow.

2007-07-23 07:13 (John) Jamie's cute back-formation of the day: "Dad! Roly Poly Olie is hiccing up!" Sounds much more plausible than hiccoughing to me!

2007-07-23 24:31 (Kristen) Jamie was up at 6:50 this morning; it was a good thing for me (although not so good for him) that John was awake already. They let Liam and me sleep in until 8:10, which was very nice of them, and Anna slept in until 10:00 or so. Jamie was just a little tired today, and was prone to fastening onto one idea or person and draining everything he could out of it. He wanted to play with Gary; he wanted to play with Anna; he wanted to play with anyone that wasn't Mummy. He was bored; he was hard to amuse; he was hysterically manic as he raced from activity to activity. He didn't want to watch television, which was unusual; he may have gotten that out of his system before I woke up. We went for a walk with Anna and Liam to the Big Carrot, and that helped to burn off some energy and give us an outlet for sillies and have some positive fun. He went with John to drop Anna off at the first day of her fashion design course (the reason she's visiting right now), and made John take him to Yorkdale for bubble tea. John says that he slept for fifteen minutes only (the hope and reason for John agreeing to go to Yorkdale was that Jamie might fall asleep in the car on the way there) and woke up for no good reason.

Liam on the other hand slept (with some help) for about two hours while John and Jamie were out. He'd been acting tired and I was hoping that he'd fall asleep early by the time we made it to the bedtime hour. We'd eaten at Browning and made it home so that Jamie could play for half an hour with Gary before bedtime. The kids had a bath and Liam fell asleep; Jamie, on the other hand, kept insisting on this or that thing that would delay bedtime that much longer (a snack; a drink; but it must be this drink, etc.), but I finally got him in bed with the lights out. This is when Liam woke up. John had gone to the emergency dentist a little earlier after yet another molar mishap (poor John), so he was gone as I tried to get Liam to sleep again while coaxing Jamie to sleep as well. Liam kept waking up with piercing yelps, which kept Jamie from falling asleep. I was very relieved to see John, who got Jamie asleep in five minutes or less. Liam is still awake, as John takes Liam out for his second walk of the night (I took him on his first spin). Every time he tries to fall asleep, he wakes on the edge of sleep keening or crying in pain. He's also been nipping my shouilder and trying to chew on my leather belt, so it's got to be teeth. I can give him a different painkiller soon, and will do that. I'm getting a little tired, and Liam is blithering. I am soooo looking forward to when both of my boys sleep the night...

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

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