Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 94

2007-07-24 24:27 (Kristen) Jamie, Liam, and I finally had a good night's sleep last night. Jamie slept for almost eleven hours, and was mostly back to his old self. Liam and I slept in until 10:00, and I can't tell you the last time we did that. I was a little disoriented (but happy), and enjoyed a morning with Anna, Jamie, John, and Liam. I took the kids over to Browning for lunch, and then John took Anna and Jamie, while Ken took Liam for an hour. I had a whole hour to myself to get work done! I never thought I'd be bouncing for joy over a chance to work. Funny how things change. John kept Jamie for the afternoon while he did some errands before going back to pick up Anna, and when Ken gave Liam back to me, I took him around the Danforth on some of mine. We all met up at Browning for dinner again, and had a good time playing. Well, mostly: Liam had only slept for 45 minutes for Ken, and was having the same difficulties falling asleep again as he did last night. Finally, when he was just about beside himself (despite my best efforts earlier to get him to sleep), I took him home and put him straight to bed with some pain killer. He slept lightly for the first while, and woke up when John started the shower. He was in one of his awful fugue states, and keened until I managed to snap him out of it by taking him out onto the porch. He was awake then, and I thought that I was doomed, but I took him back to bed anyway. He fell asleep on my chest, no nursing, and with me stroking his hair. I was shocked and delighted that he as able to do that. Hooray! Jamie was in bed late, but managed to fall asleep relatively quickly after a long conversation about whether or not I loved him when I was mad, sad, silly, or in other states (answer: yes). Then he asked if I loved him if Jamie did bad things, or was a stormtrooper, or a house, or Darth Maul, or other things (answer: I'd be sad, disappointed, etc., but I would still love him). This was sparked by a book we'd read as a bedtime story, but a good conversation to have from time to time. I forgot to mention yesterday that I'd called out at one point for Jamie to give Anna a break (he's been on her like white on rice to play with him), because he was driving her nuts. Jamie called out, gaily, that he wasn't driving her nuts: he was driving her *pinecone.* And what, really, can you say to that?

2007-07-25 23:07 (Kristen) Jamie was up early this morning (7:30, maybe?) and dragged John with him to play video games until I got up around 8:00. Then John went back to bed, we had oatmeal (Jamie's request), and got out of the house on time. We made it to Hakobune on time too, and I left Jamie there to chatter away about his day with Thomas, his Thomas souvenier t-shirt, and his new Thomas rolling backpack. Liam and I headed out to buy some new painkiller for him, and Liam fell asleep on his own by 11:00, just outside the Future Bakery. Cool! So I worked for almost wo hours, and Liam got a much needed sleep.

I picked up a tired Jamie, and we went to get some bubble tea before heading over to the train table at Indigo. Unusually, Jamie was easily bored with the table, and we left around 3:00 to go and meet John at our hairdresser's. There, Liam noshed on this and that while Jamie had a quick ten minute nap on the bench next to where John was having his hair cut. John took the kids to pick up Anna while i had my haircut, and we all headed home.

Liam spent the evening noshing after a short nap in the car, where he had been lulled to sleep by all of us singing to him and then John doing so on his own. It was a nice, quiet evening home, other than Liam climbing to the landing on his own. That was exciting (to a value of exciting we can live without). Liam, to be fair, is much better at climbing stairs than Jamie was at the same age, due to his being a much more efficient crawler. He still sucks at going *down* stairs, however, and I don't expect that to change for a while. More grey hairs just showed up for me...

2007-07-26 26:04 (Kristen) Jamie was up early this morning (7:30, maybe?), likely awakened by the early morning sun. It wasn't a great thing, since he'd gone to sleep late last night, but he seemed to be in a good enough mood. Anna came with me and the boys to Hakobune, and we walked with Liam around Bloor Street, looking at very expensive apparel in windows. Liam fell asleep around 11:00, and we headed to Indigo to work, read, shop, and drink coffee (or frappuchinos, in Anna's case). Liam slept for a bit over an hour, and then it was time to pick up Jamie. John drove me there as he was picking up Anna to take her to her fashion design camp, and Jamie was happy enough to see us.

He really wanted to togo to Treasure Island with his Hakobune playmate Sora-kun, so that's what we did. He was looking pretty raggedy when John picked us up around 3:45, and fell asleep almost instantly in the car. Liam fell asleep soon after to rounds of "Row Row Row Your Boat," and he stayed asleep for about forty minutes at most. Jamie, however, stayed asleep for two hours and was almost impossible to rouse. At one point, I took him out of the car and laid him down on the frong lawn and he *still* slept on. He was very groggy when he woke up, but dealt with that by grabbing Gary almost instantly. He ate a good dinner, and then waited patiently for Gary and Anna to come back from the library to play some more. Liam practiced his walking (he reliably walks between the two couches in our living room), and his stair climbing. He's excellent at going up the stairs because he still crawls, but he insists on walking down the stairs. We're all going to have to go down on our bums for the next while to convince him that it's an acceptable way to descend. Both kids had a difficult time falling asleep, but they're finally there.

2007-07-27 23:10 (Kristen) Now that he's figured out how to communicate with us through sign, Liam is a happy camper. And mischievous: yesterday, I gestured to him to come away from the stairs and to me, and he gestured "come here" right back as he dove for the stairs with a wicked grin. He is remarkably clear about what he wants and when. He jargons and chatters like mad, imitating us as much as he can, and I think that he'll be another Chew who loves languages and ways to communicate.

Anna went with us to Hakobune again this morning, which started off a little late as we all slept in after another late night. We were quite late after some bad transit experiences (delays and one broken-down train), but Jamie was happy to be at Hakobune. Liam woke up late, and didn't fall asleep until 1:00. He only slept for 45 minutes, and so he and I played in the living room while Jamie hunted down Gary when we got home. He's going to miss his daily video game fix when Gary is gone. It was a quiet day overall, with dinner and some D&D at Browning. Liam is getting to be quite confident as a walker, and can make it halfway across a room before he falls on his bum. He can carefully lower himself from a standing to a sitting position, and his pleasure at being able to do all of these things is off the charts.

2007-07-28 24:51 (Kristen) Jamie was up, wanting breakfast, around 8:20. I think that I'll be teaching him how to get an apple out of the fridge by himself soon... Liam slept in until 10:00 or so, and I'm not sure what time Anna got up. John was up around the same time as Liam, but had gotten up with Jamie and gone back to bed when I was roused. We went to the St. Lawrence Market to do our usual shopping, and stoppped off to visit John's aunt Nobuko at her atelier before heading back home. Liam and Jamie and I went home on the subway, hoping that Liam would fall asleep, but no dice. I nursed Liam down for a nap (something that I couldn't do with Jamie at the same age), and fell asleep myself for an hour or so. I claim that I sacrificed myself so that Liam would be nice and warm while he slept. That's my story, anyway. Liam was quite warm today, and coughing a little, but he seems to be past the warm stage and the cough hasn't gotten any worse. Jamie is doing well, but a little manic. Gary and Ayami leave on their trip tomorrow, and I'nm not looking forward to how much he's going to miss them. I'll be very busy keeping him busy and not thinking about it, especially when John is away at the end of the week too. Grammie and Becky will be coming, and that will (I hope) help to keep his mind off things. Jamie and Anna played with Gary and Ayami and then went to bed; Jamie fell asleep pretty quickly. Liam, on the other hand, slept for about ten minutes and then was wide awake until 12:15 or 12:30. He needed some more dinner and a poo before he was able to think about calling it a night: busy boy.

2007-07-29 22:14 (Kristen) I spoke a little too soon about Liam's cough; it kept him up last night, and it definitely has a hoarse, almost barking quality to it that shouldn't be there in a cough that just arrived. We'll be knocking on Dr. Kennedy's door tomorrow, I should expect. Gary and Ayami left on their trip, and Jamie was pretty good about the whole thing. Afterwards, we headed out en masse, with Daniel in tow, to Treasure Island Toys to do some shopping. We had fun there for about an hour, bought some samosas and pakoras to keep us fed, and headed back home with a detour at the Big Carrot. Liam fell asleep for part of the walk home, but not for long. Jamie, Anna, and John went to Browning to look for Jamie's lost lightsabre, and Liam and I went home to put away the groceries and to clean up the house for dinner, when John's aunts and parents would be arriving.

Liam ended up falling asleep in my lap for a while, which was good, and was in a good mood when he woke up. John came home, and said that Jamie and Anna were going swimming with Tom, Daniel, and Ross. They had a good time but their pool time was cut short when an injury (not one of ours, thank goodness) closed the pool. Everyone came over for dinner, and Jamie ate some and Liam ate some, which was good; Liam, in particular, has had no real appetite today. He's also been extremely clumsy and easily overset; a simple thump down on his bottom was enough to set him off into a crying jag by the time the evening was over. He had a short nap, and then rejoined the rest of us. John took him for a short walk to look at the buses, which he always enjoys.

We started to get ready for the bath around nine, while Jamie and Anna seemed to be having a great time playing Donkey Kong; there was much giggling and laughing going on. Liam's cough is bothering him a lot; he's slept very lightly for the first hour, but seems to be slipping into a deeper sleep (finally...) unless I've just jinxed that too. Poor baby.

(John) Liam definitely knows the word "home". I went over with Liam to pick up Jamie and Anna from Tom, and while Liam was happy to play with Tom for a few minutes, when I called out to Jamie to tell him it was time to go home, Liam walked over to me with a gleam in his eye and grabbed the sling I carry him in, much like a dog grabbing the walkies leash.

2007-07-30 13:21 (Kristen) Things I never thought I'd be saying to my son, or hear being said to him: "No using the dark side of the Force in the store!" (John, to Jamie and Daniel, at Treasure Island yesterday). I always thought I'd be raising a Jedi, but no: I'm raising a Sith Lord.

Liam slept terribly last night, between a high fever and a cough. He slept in until 11:00, and needed to nap again by 1:00. Doctor's appointment at 4:00 today.

2007-07-30 23:20 (John) Dr. Kennedy says that Liam's cough is croupy rather than whooping, and throaty rather than chesty, all good news. He's on amoxicillin and fever meds for the next little while. Kristen managed to get a little food into him at dinner (salmon and corn, I think), and there were periods of up to half an hour or so when he seemed to be his regular self, but then he would get tired and whack his head on something and need to nurse and nap.

Jamie was well enough for an immunisation shot today, which is good, because he's a little bit behind and needs two more before he starts school in September. It somehow seems unfair that the more behind he gets with his shots, the more he needs to have, because they keep adding to the list of required shots, but I suppose it's better than the alternative.

Jamie and I saw Anna off to the bus depot today. Jamie ran around the waiting area with another boy his age while we were buying Anna's ticket, instantly forming a frenetic friendship and starting a game of tag, and then just as instantly letting it drop when it was time to go. Three is a wonderfully socially uncomplicated age.

Jamie says that he likes Anna a lot, and misses her, but understands that Anna missed her Mom too and wanted to go home. He is very much looking forward to Becky and Grammie arriving on Thursday, and says that Becky is his "best cousin" (by analogy with the concept of "best friend"). Other cousins should probably not take offence, and just interpret this as a measure of Jamie looking forward to the arrival of his next cousinly visit.

Jamie has asked a few times where Gary is today, at times when Gary would normally interact with him, such as when we play AD&D with Daniel, or when going upstairs for his bath. He has been satisfied with our updates on Gary's location and estimated time of return, but asks I think because he understands that sometimes plans change without his being informed.

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 93, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 95.