Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 95

2007-07-31 23:34 (Kristen) Liam slept for about twelve hours last night, which was just great. He and I crawled out of bed around 10:00, and Jamie wasn't up much earlier than that. (John: Jamie was up and playing video games at 9:00, but only needed my help every now and then.) After destroying two waffles (the next favourite breakfast food), Jamie was ready to take on the day. We had lunch at Browning, which was fun, and then Ross and Daniel came with me and Jamie to the Second Cup while Ken took Liam out for a walk. Once I had both boys again, we went to the library, which was air-conditioned, and read books together. Then it was to Treasure Island, where I reminded Jamie that Liam's birthday is coming up soon. I suggested that he could pick out a present from him when the time came, got distracted by something, and lost track of Jamie for a few minutes. When he reappeared, he had a toy in his hands that was perfect for Liam (a Tolo rolling ball shape sorter), and asked if he could get it for Liam for his birthday. Well, *yeah*... I took it to the front counter to purchase it, and told the staff there (who know Jamie quite well) that he'd chosen it for his baby brother. They were pretty blown away, too. The kid had really *thought* about it, and added that he'd chosen it because Liam likes balls (which is very true). I was awfully proud of him. He also insisted that I have the last piece of watermelon tonight, even though he really really likes watermelon. Some days are just very very good.

Liam has continued to be tired and clumsy, but is in a good mood overall. His cough is improving, and while he's not eating a lot yet, he's making up for it with nursing. He hates the antibiotics, of course, which is no fun at all for anyone.

Jamie has picked up on the use of the word "genius" to mean smart. He heard me tell John that he was a few nights ago when I was particularly pleased with something that John had done, and Daniel called Jamie a genius yesterday. A red lightsabre had broken off from the handle, and Daniel assumed that that was that for the lightsabre. Jamie, however, suggested using a cardboard tube (possibly for wrapping paper) as a new handle, which worked wonderfully and Daniel pronounced Jamie a genius. Jamie called me a genius a few times today when he wanted to tell me that he loved me or when I made a suggestion once or twice. It's pretty sweet.

Jamie was delighted when Gary called him tonight from northern Ontario, and they talked a bit about octopus and squid, and going to Japan. It was the longest conversation that Jamie's ever had on the phone with another person. Jamie misses Gary, and asks each day where Gary is (we have an itinerary, so we can be fairly accurate about it), but still is patiently expecting Gary to come home and play when the time comes.

2007-08-01 23:15 (John) Liam is gradually recovering, the antibiotics seem to be working. He has a bit of a croupy cough when he wakes up, and is still a bit klutzy, but he's cheery and eating a bit between heroic bouts of nursing. I took him for a walk down to visit my parents, and all the way there he pointed at things to make me tell him what they were called (car, sky, tree, people, etc., all in Japanese). He's also very much into tools. At lunch at Browning he was trying to figure out how to get the remote to turn the TV on (any day now), but was equally pleased that I understood his intent and did it for him.

Jamie woke up at 8:00 complaining of fever, stomachache and headache, so we kept him home from Hakobune. He went back to sleep for a few hours, ate a reasonable lunch, but then threw it all up as soon as he got back from the Second Cup with Mom and Liam. We gave him Advil for a moderate fever (38-38.5, didn't measure), he watched Backyardigans on DVD and even played a little Gauntlet, making it down to 10th level all by himself (though it would have cost him several dollars in an arcade). His appetite returned as the Advil took effect, but when it wore off around 20:00, he fell asleep. Two hours later he woke up with a temperature of 102.5°F under his arm, threw up his dinner, drank some apple juice and had more Advil before falling right back asleep. I'm off to bed now to keep an eye on him, with fingers crossed for a restful night.

2007-08-02 14:45 (John) Jamie woke up around 8:00 sounding fairly well rested, but feeling warm to the touch. I got him to drink some apple juice and watch videos on my laptop for a couple of hours until Kristen and Liam got up. I have a sinus infection, which is interacting poorly with the medication that I am on. Jamie felt nauseous, but kept his juice down, and Kristen gave him some more Advil. We got in to see Dr. Sarile (a clinic colleague of Dr. Kennedy's) at 11:00, where we learned that a good way to get in to see a doctor quickly is to say that your child has a very high fever and vomiting but no diarrhea. Dr. Sarile pronounced Jamie's ears, throat and neck glands to be suspiciously clear, then went on to examine his optic nerves, check his patellar reflex and neck stiffness before tentatively ruling out meningitis (the possibility of which is what must have gotten us in the office so quickly). He made us take Jamie down to the lab for a blood count though, just to double-check, but wrote down "adverse reaction to immunisation" in Jamie's chart.

The lab tech was amused to finally meet Jamie, who would be the third person named John James Chew from whom she had drawn blood in less than a month. Jamie was not happy about getting his blood drawn, but behaved better than I thought he would. He cried a little, but it wasn't an all-out panic reaction. He sat in Kristen's lap and I held down his arm and put on the Qui-Gon Jinn vs. Darth Maul light sabre battle on the MacBook. Liam sat in his stroller in the waiting room watching us while munching on some cut-up grapes.

Liam fell asleep on the way home; Jamie went back to watching Backyardigan DVDs and ate some grapes, then cucumbers and hummus, asking every fifteen minutes or so when Beck and Grammie would arrive home. Kristen took Liam out shopping to buy some Pedialyte (Liam's diarrhea is continuing) to try to supplement or replace the large quantities of breast milk he's been subsisting on.

A few minutes ago, Liam pointed at my nose and said "Pa!" for the first time. I think he's been saying "Pa" at me for a few weeks now, but I wasn't sure if he was addressing me by name, or just exclaiming his joy, but now it's clear he's naming me. He certainly does have the knack of expressing his mood by intonation though: he can say the same syllables as a question, a statement or an exclamation of joy or anger.

Liam and I were taking turns feeding each other rice cakes with hummus just now. It was Liam's idea to feed me, and I let him do it as long as he takes a turn accepting food. Then Kristen came into the room and Liam offered her a little piece, which she accepted out of politeness despite the fact that it was the onion-garlic hummus that she can't stand. She took a little bite, then offered the rest back to him, and he gave her an evil close-mouthed smile. She blurted out "You suck!", which got Jamie to jump out of his chair and recite to her "Mommy, you shouldn't say 'you suck!' to people, it hurts their feelings." and made her apologize to Liam.

2007-08-03 23:37 (Kristen) Jamie waas delighted when Grammie and Becky arrived yesterday, and gleefully spent time playing with both. His fever finally started to come down without the help of drugs last night, and has (mostly) stayed away. Liam was crusty until we finally got some food into him, and then he was a sweet and delightful baby. Today he continued to be uninterested in food, by and large, despite being tempted by things he normally likes.

Today we all got a lot of sleep, unusually. John left early this morning for Dayton Ohio, where he will be helping to run the Player's Championship Scrabble tournament. He dropped Jamie off in bed with me and Liam, and was very touched that Jamie got up to say goodbye to him when he left the house at 6:00 AM. Both boys slept lightly after that until the phone rang at 7:45, when we were all finally and irrevocably up. Liam really wasn't ready to be, though, and needed to go back to sleep around 9:30. I dropped off with him for an hour, and Liam slept another half hour beyond that. We had lunch together, and then Grammie, Becky, and I took the boys out for a walk. Jamie dropped off quickly, but Liam held on a little longer before dropping off. We met up with Ken, Daniel, and Ross at the Second Cup, and had fun with them before they left. Jamie was taken with Becky and Grammmie on a candy store run, but he decided that he didn't want any candy because it made his tummy hurt. He settled for a rice krispie square instead, but only ate a little. He was in good spirits, and walked part of the way home with Becky and Grammie. I stayed behind to nurse Liam, and to go to the Big Carrot; Jamie kissed me on the shoulder, and said "Goodbye" before blithely going off with his cousin and grandmother; I guess that he's comfortable with them!

Becky is a big help, as is Grammie. Liam is getting along very well with both, despite being a little irritable overall (tooth?). Becky reports that Liam plays a mean game of "monkey see, monkey do" with facial expressions. Liam said "bye bye" last night as he waved, or something very close to it, and continues to use sign very clearly to tell other people, not just me, what he wants. Jamie is very affectionate and snuggly, and is a little off balance by the absence of John, Gary, and Ayami. However, he is utterly delighted with his cousin and grandmother being here, and so he's happy. Dinner was at Browning, and Jamie enjoyed playing Lego Star Wars on the computer with Ross and Daniel. I called time at 9:00, which was just when he and Ross were starting to get on each other's nerves. It was a good time to exit, and so we came home for the bath. Becky and Mom helped me to bathe and shampoo the boys, and then it was time for bed. Jamie had slept for almost two hours, and so he didn't really fall asleep until close to 11:00. Both boys are asleep in bed together, and I'll join them soon.

2007-08-04 23:11 (Kristen) The boys and I slept in this morning until close to 9:30. Liam woke up first, and was roaming over the bed when Grammie woke up and came to see if we were up too. Liam won her heart, again, when he saw her, broke into a grin, and put his arms up for her to pick him up. She came into the room, he crawled right across the bed to meet her, and they were old friends. Grammie is very pleased. Jamie got up soon after, and was in much need of cuddling and kisses, which he received in bucketloads. We went to the market by TTC, and Jamie reports that he really enjoyed eating his samosa at the market. We went around, and got all our groceries, and then ate pizza before meeting up with Ted, Alice, and Amy, who were there to do some shopping themselves. They kindly took our groceries back home for us.

Liam had fallen asleep early in the trip, and woke up around 3:00, when Jamie fell asleep. Jamie woke up on the subway, however, as he had been promised a subway ride and it was important. We walked to John's parents' house and picked up our groceries, and headed home. We spent a quiet afternoon playing and cleaning before John's parents, Ted and his family, and Daniel were to come over for a little birthday party for Amy. We ate dinner, and Jamie ate almost none while Liam had the first really substantial meal he's had in a little while. Jamie has been off his food for the second half of today, after having a big breakfast and eating a piece of pizza for lunch, so we didn't push him. He didn't eat much cake either, which tells you that he's not quite 100% yet. Both boys had a blast at the party, however, and there was much merriment, tomfoolery, and swordplay involved. The kids ran around the house and outside until it was almost full dark, and it was time for all the guests to go home. Jamie was exceptionally tired, and fell asleep quickly, as did Liam.

Jamie can now count up to 29 without help, and if someone tells him what the ten is, he can count the entire range (i.e., if you tell him it's 30, he'll count to 39 on his own). At one point he got a little overstimulated at the party, and I pulled him aside and asked him to count to 20 before he came back into the party. He counted to 29 instead, I suppose because counting is fun! He gave my mom a painting that he'd done a month or two ago, and signed it at the bottom, quite clearly. Mom is thrilled, and Jamie was very pleased that he'd made Grammie happy. Liam had a great time with the big kids tonight, and was taking everything in with big round eyes. He likes to tackle Jamie, who doesn't always want to be tackled by Liam. He's going to be a wrestler, my mom says.

2007-08-05 23:02 (Kristen) Jamie woke me up at 7:40, demanding that I turn the television on for him. It was not a good start to the day. Mom and Becky came to save the day with play and coffee a few hours later, and the day began to regain its lustre. Liam slept for a couple of hours, and then woke up around lunchtime. Jmie was unspeakably tired, and had a profound meltdown around 1:00. I had left my cake (scourtesy of Auntie Millie) and come back to it, and Jamie claimed that it was his cake. As I had just eaten it, he demanded that I remove it from my stomach, and no other piece of the very same cake would do. This was the first time that I've seen Jamie deliberately pick a fight with me: no amount of reason, offers of cake, tickling, or other fun would distract him from needing to fight and ask for things that I either couldn't supply (cake back from my own stomach in edible condition) or couldn't do (put an open juice box into the cupboard). He got over it eventually when lunch was on the table, and he had a few bites of his macaroni and cheese. He then asked for cereal, and had two bites of that before he was taken on a walk by Grammie, Auntie, and Becky. He had a few more bites of samosa before he fell asleep for two hours. He hasn't been felling well today (his voice is a little hoarse, and he has a bit of a cough), which could explain his unusual behaviour. It was hard to get upset myself, as he was so obviously unreasonable. In a long litany of silly fights, it is pretty much the silliest fight we've ever had.

I met up with the family at the Second Cup, and Daniel joined us not long afterwards. We walked home, with a conscious Jamie, who was in a better mood. He wanted to play in the park, and I let him run through it and go down the slide of his choice on the way home. When we reached home, Jamie pounced on Becky and Daniel for an hour before Daniel had to go home for his grandmother's birthdday party. Jamie enjoyed that a good deal. Liam has been in a good mood, by and large, and has been handing out enormous, beatific smiles to everyone. He was good as gold when he went out on the afternoon walk with everyone else, and was sitting on Becky's lap, happy as anything, and eating grapes, when I arrived. Jamie has needed a great deal of my time today, possibly because he's not feeling very well and as much as he enjoys Grammie and Becky, he misses Gary and John a good deal. He asked me at least five times today where Gary was. I set up the webcam on the kids this morning (KidCam!) so that John could see them play in the train room, and the kids liked seeing John there. They were also able to say goodnight to John by video feed, which made everyone feel a little better. We ate dinner, played at the park in the growing dark (Jamie's choice), and got takeout ice cream from Dairy Queen. Jamie fell asleep pretty quickly, but Liam is still up. He had a nap between 6 and 7, and I think that we're paying for it still.

2007-08-06 23:16 (Kristen) Jamie was up at 7:30, I think because he was too hot. He insisted that I come downstairs, and I was a little grouchy but managed to get the coffee made and otherwise get started with my day. Liam was, of course, up at the same time. Becky and Grammie were up around 10:00, and we decided, eventually, that we should go out for brunch. Liam fell asleep on the way, and Jamie was looking pretty sleepy. We made it to the Detroit Eatery, where Liam woke up almost immediately, and Jamie ate french fries with ketchup, a chocolate milkshake, some of my egg and toast, and some sausage and a bite of burger. Liam enjoyed some fries and sausage, and finally figured out how to use a sippy cup. He was so delighted that he drank a third of the water in it. Yay, Liam!

Jamie fell asleep around 1;)0, and stayed asleep for about two hours. He was very clingy for most of the afternoon, and in need of high energy entertainment. There was a power blackout for about three hours, so we played games: Go Fish, Snakes and Ladders, and Blokus. Liam slept for a bit, and I tried to as well but Jamie wasn't into the idea of me sleeping. Dinner was at Browning: we supplied the corn, and Tom made a chicken katsu dinner. Yay, Tom! The kids had a great time roaming and otherwise indulging in bizarre behaviour to much laughter. Then we came home and got the kids into the bath, after shampoos and teeth brushing. They were asleep by 11:00.

Jamie is picking up on the patterns when counting above 20, and can count to 49 now on his own reliably. He thought that "a," when used as a word, is funny. He watched some Pokemon in Japanese, and I think that he'd like more Pokemon episodes in Japanese to watch. He likes Doraemon too, and may have a Doraemon DVD around somewhere, that I should try to locate. The house looks like kids have been rampaging, and I'll be glad to see Trifina tomorrow. But, all kids are happy, even gleeful at times, so we are coping with our missing people's absence. Jamie had one meltdown today, but we treated him gently and cut him much slack, and so he recovered quickly. It was just before dinner, and he ate an enormous dinner, so I suspect he was hungry too. Rambling mother; to bed with me!

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

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