Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 97

2007-08-14 23:56 (Kristen) John was up at 6:30 this morning for an early morning dentist's appointment, and Liam thought that it would be just grand to be up too. I think that he was hot, and I'd forgotten to close the blinds last night, which meant that I was up much, much earlier than I'd wanted to be. Ugh. I puttered around with Liam for a bit, until Jamie woke up and needed a hug and cuddle before being able to get on with his day. I usually need coffee to do that, but I think that Jamie has a better idea. It was a quiet morning, with Becky doing her usual bit to help keep the household running (note to Jennifer: she may not be going home. Oops, we lost her ticket. Etc.).

We had rice balls for lunch, and Jamie ate two. Liam was his usual "what is this food you have put in front of me, woman?" self. He likes rice with a salty fish substance for breakfast, if he can: very Japanese of him. John took Jamie with him to drop Becky off at her class (which she's doing really well at, FYI Ottawa Crew), and to do some grocery shopping. I played with Liam for a bit, then went out to the Big Carrot for a few things before coming back home. Liam had a great time getting out of the house: he does get bored in here, and wants to be outside and exploring as much as he can. Jamie was very happy to see me when he came home, and spent most of the rest of the day pouncing on me and putting his head on my "nurse nurse." He seems to be having some difficulty with Liam nursing and him not at the moment, and I am unsure why. We talked about it in bed tonight--the big question was why other people couldn't nurse Liam to sleep--and I told him that Liam would be stopping his nursing when he is two, just like Jamie did, so that it was fair. He seemed to accept that, but he obviously needs a little more time with me than I've been able to give, lately.

Jamie ate a good dinner, and Liam hoovered down some leftover polenta with tomato sauce. Becky took Liam outside at one point because he was fussing, and Jamie and I joined them for spinnies and other fun. Unfortunately, Jamie fell and that ended the games. I think that he'll have a very large bruise on his knee, but he's otherwise all right. Both children had extreme difficulty falling sleep; Jamie didn't sleep until 11:00, and Liam didn't fall asleep until 11:45. I have no idea why: they both got lots of exercise. Children. A Mystery.

2007-08-15 24:11 (Kristen) We all went with Jamie to Hakobune this morning, as John was up to driving and I had some errands to run downtown. John dropped Liam, Becky, and me off downtown at my old office before heading to his parents' house; I went upstairs with kids to drop off a package and spent a fun half hour chatting with old friends. Liam was a very happy boy while he was there, chortling and chattering away with happy vocal punctuation as he walked up and down the halls on his own. Becky looked after him while I got a chance to chat; very nice!

We left, and bought some new sandals for Jamie (note: size 9 too big still. Need 8s), as his old pair fell apart after a punishing summer on Jamie feet, and scouted out possible birthday presents for Liam. Liam fell asleep in The Bay, surprisingly, with no fuss or carrying on. Perfect! Becky and I headed to Indigo, and remained there until we met up with John at separate times, later in the afternoon. Jamie and I played for a bit at home while Liam puttered, and then Jamie went with John to pick up Becky. Jamie was asleep in the car when they came back: woe! He slept for an hour and a half, until I woke him up by telling him that Gary was waiting for him downstairs. Then I didn't see a bit of Jamie until dinner time.

In the evening, Jamie went back downstairs, and Becky volunteered to take a delighted Liam out for a walk for an hour while I got some work done. They tripped the light fantastic on the Danforth, and I got work done. Yay! We're never sending Becky home! Jamie was acting tired around 9:00, and Liam seemed tired as well, but Liam required a lot of convincing to go to sleep, and Jamie just didn't fall asleep at all until 11:45. His turn, I guess.

2007-08-16 23:16 (Kristen) We were all up around 8:00 this morning, and John took Jamie to Hakobune, along with Becky. I took Liam for a walk, talked to Jamie's principal about switching him from afternoon to mornings for junior kindergarten (no luck yet; but we'll be persistent), and worked at the Second Cup for an hour and a bit until Liam woke up. We all met up at home around 1:30, and Jamie made a beeline for Gary. Liam and I hung out for a bit, which was fun, and we got Jamie back around the time that Becky was due home from her art class. She took Jamie to the park, and Liam and I played with Sam, Ben, and Luke. Jamie and Becky got home, we played some more, and then everyone went inside for dinner. Jamie got a bit of dinner into him before he fell asleep at the table, at a little after 7 PM. We carried him upstairs, bathed him, and put him to bed, without him really waking up at all. I put Liam to bed an hour later, and no one really knows what to do with themselves. I've worked for two hours already, and it's not even midnight, let alone my usual 2:00 AM. Mind you, we'll pay for it tomorrow when they're up at 7:00. But wow...quite a switch from yesterday.

2007-08-17 24:04 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 6 AM, which wasn't surprising, given what time he went to sleep last night. John reports that Jamie had an apple and two boxes of juice in bed, and that he only woke John up every half hour until 8:00 for tech help and other, similar things. Liam had woken up around 2:00 last night, and had a great deal of difficulty falling asleep again, so I missed all of that, but did tell John that he was lucky that Jamie's becoming more considerate. He would never let me sleep for half hour stretches like that!

Jamie went to Hakobune with his light sabre in hand. He was forbidden to extend said sabre in the car, but apparently "cut" his father's hair on the return ride. He is utterly obsessed with all things sword and light sabre and Sar Wars-ish. Becky has been draping towels and sweatshirts on him to make capes so that he can be Darth Sideous and Darth Vader. So very funny. I heard him tell Becky that she had to come over to the Dark Side at one point today. My little Star Wars geek. I'm so proud.

Liam didn't fall asleep until 1:00, so I didn't get that much work done in the morning. He has a tooth cutting through right now, and it does plague him on occasion, but he is otherwise very very happy to be in the world. He loves the outdoors, walking, and putting objects into other objects. I have been finding dominoes from our domino set in all sorts of interesting and unauthorized spots (one is still missing, darn it). He is very clear in his wants: if he is finished with a food, he clearly refuses it but will point to what he does want. He has a fine pincer grip, and can push buttons and twist things. He clearly enunciates "mah-mah" (food) in context, and wants to know the names of everything. He loves his big brother: they are starting to play together more and more, and Jamie is starting to ask to play with Liam. A day or two ago, I turned around to see Jamie gently going "kin-kin" with his sword against one that Liam was holding, both of them utterly delighted. Becky took both boys to the park, and they enjoy riding in the green wagon together. It's nice to see them learn to play together, and enjoy each other's company. Both boys are much fun to be with.

We went to Browning for dinner, and had many fine romps. Liam indicated that he wans what we're eating, so we have to eat non-Liam-safe food out of his sight. Bed was very late, but both boys were angels, despite their great fatigue. Now it's time for parents to sleep too.

2007-08-18 34:22 (Kristen) Liam is on a development rocket: he's growing up in scary leaps and counds. We got him to pee into a cup for the first time on Thursday, and now I have to check when he's running for the stairs that he's not actually telling me that he needs a diaper change (diaper changing station is upstairs). Today, he really got the hang of "more." John tells me that Becky was feeding Liam some of her California roll, because Liam likes California rolls a lot and he was also ferociously hungry at the Market, and started spontaneously signing "more." He signed "more" for a lot: rolls, pakoras, and samosas. At dinner, I finally clued in that he wanted apple juice (a first), and he kept tapping his hand against the glass to signal that he wanted more, and that I should keep the glass up against his lips. He drank a good deal until he was finished. Holy Leaping Intellects, Batman!

He's much more comfortable walking, and is starting to experiment with running. The jerkiness in his gait only comes back when he's starting to get tired. He's also utterly delighted with the world, and generally in a great mood. Liam and I slept in until 10:30 this morning, which amazed me as I can't tell you the last time I slept in that late. Jamie and John had been up for a copule of hours already, and over the course of the day, Jamie managed to drag Becky, Ross, and John into multiple marathon sessions of Marble Blast. John says that it was nice to see Ross and Jamie playing together for so long, and sharing a common interest. I think that if we hadn't gone to the Market, it would have been the only thing that he did all day. He did, however, go to the park with Becky for a while, which both of them seem to be enjoying. We had a fun evening at Browning, after I finished a major piece of a project I'm working on, and both kids were pretty tired when we got home. Bedtime went without incident, and we all slept pretty well until the next morning.

2007-08-19 21:56 (Kristen) We slept in again today; I'm getting pleasantly used to it, after weeks of early mornings. Not for long will we be able to do so, however: as it looks likely that Jamie will be going to school in the afternoons, we'll be hiking to Hakobune early on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I'm both excited and apprehensive about Jamie's new fall schedule; it'll be hard to make sure that he had enough free play time, and that he isn't overwhelmed by all the new things he'll be doing. He keeps telling me that he'll do X when he's four (doing up his own buttons, and so on), so I hope that he isn't putting too much pressure on himself.

(John) Kristen has unwisely left the keyboard to put Jamie to sleep, permitting me to interject that Jamie and I were up at least an hour bbefore her and Liam, and that by the time those slugabeds opened their eyes, we had already had breakfast and played a lot of MarbleBlast.

I took Jamie, Becky, Daniel and Ross to go see The Simpsons Movie while Kristen alternately worked and shopped in the Indigo bookstore downstairs from the theatre. It had been a little while since Jamie had been to the movies, so he was full of questions from start to finish. Why is the screen so big? How long is this movie going to be? Why is everyone angry at Homer? Why are the dogs pulling the sled? Etc. He had a good time though, and told me so.

Tai-Tai came over to help me with my evening fruitarian diet, and Liam dove into the fruit bowl with gusto, reluctantly giving up only after the third time he realised that he had completely filled his cheeks with food and was about to choke if he had anymore food in his mouth. When he does that, he makes little gagging noises and then surprises you with all the food he was storing, which is certainly better than some of the alternatives. Liam also appears to be more like I was as a child: he eschews tomatoes and watermelons (which Jamie loves), likes cucumbers with miso dip (which Jamie won't eat), and finds common ground with his brother only on the wonderfulness of blueberries and peaches in season.

Jamie and I have been entertaining ourselves in the bath lately by setting up obstacle courses for the bath fish using the foam letters. The letters make phonetically appropriate noises which suggest the nature of the hazard they pose. For example, the S hisses like the snake that it is, and the Z makes alarming electrical noises before zapping you. Yesterday, the J was a machine gun going juh-juh-juh; today it was a Spanish J going hot-hot-hot and scorching the fish as a blowtorch. Needless to say, the imaginative parts of the exercise are Jamie's, and I have only been providing linguistic assistance.

After the bath, Jamie was going to play still more MarbleBlast, but when I had to write some e-mail, he asked if he could type a little too, and very much enjoyed typing into the speech synthesizer to see what goofy things he could make it say.

2007-08-20 23:58 (Kristen) I was up until 2:30 working last night, and Liam was fussy and unhappy until close to then (gas, I'm suspecting). I had a hard deadline today, and so was working fast and furious from the time I got up this morning. Becky looked after both boys for a bit, and then after Jamie while I finished off my work, and got it out the door. Liam had a nice long nap in the middle, and Jamie kept Becky drawing endless scenes from Star Wars that never existed in the actual movies. In one picture, Threepio and R2-D2 are being attacked by Yoda, Darth Vader, a Droid Dekka, and a host of others, while Obi Wan, Chewbacca, and Jabba the Hutt defend them. Jamie saw the drawing as an evolving story, and would get annoyed when the figures were in the wrong places, doing things that were so five minutes ago. He is very lucky that he has such an indulgent cousin.

We went to Toys R Us to look for a lightsabre for Jamie. He really wanted a double lightsabre, like Darth Maul's, but they were discontinued for burning the fingers of some children, and were not available. Jamie was very put out and wanted to leave the store when he found that he wasn't going to get one (He really had his heart set on one), but was happy in the end with a blue lightsabre that he could fight Daniel with, while holding a shield at the same time. We had dinner at Browning, and the kids all had a great time running around with swords and participating in general mayhem. Liam loves Tom, who is very good with children, but he was not happy to see Tom tonight, as Tom had gotten a haircut and Looked Different. It took Liam a little while to decide the Tom was OK again, but they were best friends by the end of the ight. He hoovered back an impressive amount of food, as did Jamie, and both boys seem to have had a great time. Jamie went home with Gary, and played Lego Star Wars for a while before coming up to the bath. Liam played with everyone, happy as a little clam.

One of the presents that we picked up for Liam was a knight and horse for the Fisher Price castle that Jamie has. Now Liam and Jamie can play with the castle together, each with his own horse, dragon, and knight. They have been enjoying each other's company a lot lately, and Jamie is starting to ask if Liam can play with him. I turned around last week to see Liam holding one of Jamie's plastic swords, and Jamie gently crossing blades with his little brother. It was very cute, and it's good to see the two of them playing together more and more, and even seeking the other out for play. Jamie has been full of compliments lately: he has told me that I am cute, and spontaneously told me that he likes my hair and my shirt. I have no idea where he learned this, but it's quite delightful. John said, mournfully, that neither of our children are turning out to be geeks. Becky helpfully pointed out that Jamie is a Star Wars fanatic, and John brightened up, admitting that that helped.

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

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