Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 98

2007-08-21 22:00 I've added some photos that Becky took of the boys on 2007-08-14. Enjoy.

2007-08-21 24:12 (Kristen) It was hard to wake up this morning, as it was grey and cold (well, relatively cold). Liam slept in, and Jamie didn't wake up until we started to put his clothes on. He consented to eat blueberry waffles with fruit and whipped cream before heading off to Hakobune. Unfortunately, his lunch was forgotten in the mass crush of getting out of the house, and John had to come back to pik it up. I was ready with Liam by that point, and so we hopped in to get a lift downtown. We traded places with Becky, who was at Nicholas Hoare Books, and Liam was excellent as we looked at books for a bit, until it was time to nap. Then it was time to go, and he fell asleep just outside the Bay at the Eaton Centre. This let me go and buy some fundamentals for Jamie, but Liam woke up after only 40 minutes. We met up with the rest of the family, and headed home.

We bummed around at home for a bit, before Becky and I decided to go to the library. We took Liam, and John took Jamie to his mother's house. I took the opportunity to finish buying Liam's birthday presents at Treasure Island, and found that we have enough Pirate Dollars to finance Christmas. Yay, us! Then it was back home to make dinner. Neither boy was interested much in dinner, but in Jamie's case it was because dinner was late, and he was tired. He ate as little as he could get away with, went to the nice, dark living room to watch television, and was asleep on the couch by 7:30. He'll be up at 6:00 AM tomorrow...ugh. Liam, on the other hand, was a bundle of hilarity. In a mood so bright it could blind, Liam wasn't sleepy. Not at all. He'd fallen asleep for half an hour after his bath, and was Bright Eyed and Busy Tailed when he woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep. I took him downstairs to see if he needed to eat, and he ate a bowl and a half of oatmeal and rice cereal. Then Gary and Ayami came up, and he ate some of their dinner too. First, however, Gary came upstairs on his own. Liam crawled to the top of the basement stairs, sat, and called down. Ayami answered, and Liam responded by calling until Ayami came upstairs: a dead-on imitation of his brother. We spent a very happy, funny hour and a bit watching Liam do the baby dance to his Fisher Price toy that lights up and plays music, and generally be very very cute. He also did a Bill the Cat face quite slowly and deliberately. It was hilarious. It took a lot of work to get him to sleep around 11:45.

Jamie continues to try to lure people to the Dark Side. When not doing so, he runs the Evil Kitchen, which had repair problems recently when it kept getting blown up. All the customers got raw food that night. Bleah had his (her?) usual table. Both boys are really enjoying Becky's company, and I think will miss her terribly when she is gone. Who else will teach them how to do high-fives, blow raspberries, and draw long and convoluted stories that keep changing as they are dictated by three-year-olds? One in a million, is our Becky.

2007-08-22 32:22 (Kristen) Very quick, as it is very late/early: the boys had a good day. Jamie went to Hakobune with me, Liam, and Becky, and made paper airplanes. Liam slept for over three hours in his stroller while we were out. Bubble tea was drunk. I did much work, and Becky played with Liam while Jamie played with Gary for hours and hours. John did much work, shared fruit with the boys (who ate much of it), and we both enjoyed the idea and reality of having two beautiful boys. The boys went to bed both before ten, although Liam woke up again between 2:30 and 3:00 and had trouble going to sleep when he saw that I was up. We all went to bed way too late. The end.

2007-08-23 26:07 (Kristen) I'm up waaaayyyy too late again tonight, getting ready to go to the campground tomorrow, so I'll have to be brief, yet again.

Jamie was a little off today, possibly in anticipation of the trip, and possibly because he was having nightmares last night about many many traps. I blame the latter on too many Star Wars video games with Gary. Jamie loves to count, and counts almost everything. We've been talking about the different ways numbers add up to the same amount: i.e., 5+5=10, 6+4=10. 7+3=1-, etc. He's finding it fun to see what the numbers will do. He is also expressing interest in reading. He wants to know what is in our books, so we did a little practice at the breakfast table before it got too much for him. He can read cat, mat, and fat, and thinks the fact that "a" is a letter and a word is hilarious. Ditto "I." "In" is funny too. "IN? What is IN?" "In the yard, IN the house, etc." Big grin on Jamie. "Oh."

A typical day, more or less. Lots of games with Gary for Jamie; Becky and Liam continue to be very close. Becky saved me by playing with Liam all morning while I finished a project and sent it out. The boys are going to miss her dreadfully when she goes home next week. We made cupcakes for Liam's birthday tomorrow (Betty Crocker, you lifesaver): carrot cake, with creamy cheesy icing. And rainbow sprinkles, natch. We played some D&D at Browning, and the boys had a good time. We all are in bed too too late tonight.

(John) Tom reports that Liam is really enjoying Keywhack, the toddler video game where you whack the keyboard anywhere you like and it makes a funny noise and puts shows a sunny picture. What's not to like?

2007-08-24 11:25 (John) As usual, after a late night for the parents, the boys were up early. Jamie was hungry at 7:30, so I washed him some peaches. Then he wanted to find his blue light sabre, so we had to go to Browning to recover it. While we were there, we had to play some Dungeons and Dragons, Jamie and me. We rolled for initiative on d6s, and Jamie quickly figured out that if he rolled more dice than I did, he always got to go first. Jamie played the part of an increasingly large horde of dragons with surprisingly good offence but terrible defence: some were armed with ray guns, but could be killed by a single magic arrow. I played the part of Jamie, his extended family, and Hakobune buddies. Jamie's dragons were represented in miniature by d8s, my humans by d6s. Then Ross woke up and took over the d6s, until the last round when I joined in as a third party of d4s. The boys were very surprised when I revealed them to be heavily armed and shielded Star Wars battle droids, but not as surprised as I was to learn that Jamie's dragons could override my control of the droids and annihilate the humans in one fell swoop.

We came home to find Liam and Kristen up, sang Happy Birthday to Liam, and are getting ready to go away for the weekend on a camping trip with Hakobune, leaving Gary and Ayami to look after a quiet house for us. We will save up blog entry entries and upload them when we return Sunday night.

2007-08-24 23:30 (John) We eventually made it on the road at 14:15, when cottage-bound traffic leaving Toronto was according to the usual radio euphemism "building normally", adding almost an hour onto what would have been a two-hour drive under ideal circumstances. The trip went smoothly after departure though, with Liam falling asleep in about 15 minutes (after playing with his LeapFrog Alphabet Pal caterpillar, a birthday present from us, which wouldn't fit in the trunk, which turned out to be a good thing) and staying asleep almost all the way, and Jamie taking a long nap and waking up in a good mood, if disoriented and babbling something about piglike aliens dancing across Gary's TV playing Star Wars.

By the time we had settled into our cabin, which we are sharing with the Kawakamis including their boys Keigo (4) and Tsubasa (1), we had just enough time to go for a quick dip in the lake. I say "we", but the water was cold enough that I was the only one that got fully immersed, the others standing around gawking or finding creative parts of their anatomy to coat in sand.

The three-minute walk back to our cabin took six minutes though, because Jamie didn't want to walk (his new sandals are chafing), and we had to leave Kristen in the cabin digging through hastily unloaded baggage to find both boys' shoes while the rest of us ran to the dining hall. There of course, in stiflingly muggy humidity, were almost all of the rest of the stereotypically punctual Japansese families, with their small children sitting silently, waiting for the last few stragglers to arrive. If we had been the very last to arrive, I would have had to disembowel myself with my spoon, but I was relieved that there was one family even later than us. Phew.

Before we could begin dinner though, the Sasakis had to announce Liam's birthday. They brought over the carrot cupcakes Kristen and Becky had stayed up late last night baking, with candles blazing, so that everyone could sing Happy Birthday (surprisingly enthusiastically, if in all possible keys) and watch Jamie and me help Liam blow out his candles. I wonder what he wished for. Probably food.

Kristen arrived while Liam was being fitted with his birthday hat, for additional photos - Mrs. Sasaki remembered she'd brought it for him just after the cake, and she also brought party noisemakers as favours for all the kids, which went over quite well. Liam, unlike Jamie at his age, did not object to the hat, and kept it on throughout the dinner. We have two very different boys.

Dinner was macaroni and cheese and ground beef, which Liam hoovered enthusiastically, given that it was his first substantial taste of any of the ingredients. He tried going at it with a spoon, but eventually decided that it was finger food.

After dinner, Jamie and I played Ping-Pong with a bunch of kids. Mr. Kawakami managed to teach Keigo how to serve and return; the trickiest things seemed to be the pen grip and avoiding the dramatic drop to the ground when he managed to make contact with the ball. Jamie decided eventually that it was a little too much work, and was possibly overheated, and asked Becky to show him how to play a board game. Sensible kid.

The group then met briefly for a round of introductions, followed by everyone disbanding to find coolth wherever they could. Those who stayed near the dining hall, including the rest of my family, were lucky enough to see a beaver swim by. I then took Jamie back to the lake for a second swim. He wanted to go in too, but my entry into the lake was delayed repeatedly by Jamie's needing to pee (which he did into the lake), our discovery of a huge spider on the dock ladder, my cowardly attitude toward cold water, rain, and eventually Jamie's needing to poo, so I told Jamie I would swim with him as many times as he liked tomorrow instead.

With optimism born of exhaustion, we tried to put the boys to bed at 21:30, but the only ones who passed out were me (briefly) and Becky (for an hour). The boys had napped, and were not tired at all, and there was also a downpour that was quite loud on the uninsulated cabin roof. We gave up on sleep, brought the kids out to run around in the living area, eat snacks, open birthday presents (the Fisher-Price castle gear from us, and the sorting ball from Jamie), wear themselves out, and were joined by Tsubasa and his mom. We sent the boys back to bed at 23:00, and had relatively little trouble getting them to sleep.

Thank you to our neighbours Rob and Janet, who hand-delivered a birthday card, which Liam enjoyed on the spot; to our friend Craig Rowland, who sent his usual Finnish birthday card; and to Grampa, whose card was also appreciated.

2007-08-25 21:00 (John) Jamie woke up a few times in the middle of the night, partly because of the torrential rains that continued through until morning, and also due to nightmares, which he has had with increasing frequency. He tells me that he has a recurring nightmare about being chased by "pants with hands but no feet", and I have told him that next time he should call all of his friends to help him defeat the dreaded pants, and he said he would try.

I woke up around 7:30, somewhat underslept myself due to the rain. I woke everyone else up at 8:00, and we all made it to breakfast at 8:30 on time. After breakfast, Jamie and I went out for a pedal-boat ride with me pedalling and Jamie steering. It took us about 15 minutes to pedal from the dock to the dining hall, where Jamie announced that he was tired of his arduous job, necessitating a somewhat slippery climb up lichen- and moss-covered rocks.

Kristen brought out Jamie's red and blue light sabers, which were a great hit with Keigo, who sparred with Jamie until lunchtime. Everyone ate well at lunchtime. Jamie ate almost as quickly as he does at home when Gary is waiting to play with him, as he has learned that the board games go to whoever eats fastest. His current favourite is bingo, and he and a friend methodically drew all the numbers out of the ball one at a time so that Jamie could count them. I supervised the Ping-Pong table while Becky watched Liam and took some lovely pictures.

Mr. Sasaki announced that the drizzle was not going to cancel the planned suika-wari (watermelon pinata), and although the rain turned heavy at times, all the kids seemed to have a good time, and we will definitely have one for Liam's next birthday, and Becky is asking for one for her birthday too. The younger kids had a go with a Nerf sword, with much directional guidance. The middle ones got to use a bamboo pole with just as much guidance. The older ones used the bamboo pole after being spun around a few times, and had to put up with their peers calling out contradictory advice. Jamie watched but refused to participate, partly because he was fixated on going for a swim (which we still haven't managed, because it keeps pouring rain), and partly I think because he found the real-life violence disturbing, even when directed at a much-deserving watermelon. Liam had no qualms and had a good go.

Kristen, Liam and Becky made a run for home in the downpour. Liam laughed his head off because he loves the wind and the rain, which longtime readers of the blog may recall as being just about the only things in the world that Jamie could not stand as a baby. Jamie and I tried to go for a swim in the downpour, but Jamie just couldn't bear the rain on the way to the pier, so we regained our shelter in the boathouse, I stayed in my swimsuit, wrapped up the cameras and dressed Jamie in my windbreaker. He delightedly observed his new resemblance to Darth Vader, and it was with some difficulty that I kept him from pulling the hood down completely over his face to improve the look.

When we returned to our cabin, Liam was asleep with Kristen. Becky kindly looked after Jamie while I tried to nap, but their long and fantastic conversation was a little too interesting to sleep solidly through. Much of it had to do with light sabres, but at one point when Jamie was running out of characters with which to populate his imaginary running battle, he pointed at a painting of the Last Supper and said that "That Guy in the middle is outside the door, and He's coming inside and tickling me with His Toes. When He gets to level two, His Friends in the picture get to join in too." We are glad to see that Jamie is having his own kind of religious experience here at what is nominally a United Church camp.

We went back down to the dock again to see what the weather would permit when the downpour let up. We saw a two-seater kayak but no canoes (they were on the other side of the boathouse), so Kristen, Becky and Liam went out for a half-hour jaunt. Jamie and I dithered about swimming, or playing ball, or watching an R/C airplane, and eventually started walking home about when Kristen returned to the dock. Liam loved the boat ride, and was entranced by Becky's fingers trailing in the water. I'm guessing he loved the wind on his face and the dangerous proximity to water.

We made it to dinner punctually by suggesting to Jamie and Keigo that they could have light saber battles on the deck outside the dining hall until mealtime. Jamie ate well, and had just finished his dessert when his head hit the table, sound asleep at 18:45. Liam took little notice, as he was fully occupied hoovering peas, much to Kristen's disgust. Liam ate not only the three peas that I put on Kristen's plate, but a bunch of cold cuts, scalloped potatoes (especially if I added peas), more peas, corn, more peas, ham, and anything he could get a spoon into. I carried Jamie back home to his Thomas the Tank Engine inflatable bed. When Kristen, Becky and Liam came home, I took Liam back to the dining hall for singalong (Scrabble players, not the anagram) time, which Liam found very entertaining. He was tired when the singing stopped though, and asked to come home, and as soon as he had finished having two huge poos in succession, he was ready for bed, and asleep by 21:45. We should go to bed early tonight to be rested by whatever ungodly hour our boys wake us up in the morning.

2007-08-26 21:00 (John) Jamie surprised me by waiting until 7:45 to gently wake me up with a "Papa, it's morning!" We had breakfast in the dining hall, then excused ourselves from morning services to pack up our things back into the car and head out for a canoe ride. Liam got another scrape on his nose when he accidentally swatted himself with a light sabre. I suppose in the context of possible light sabre injuries, that's a pretty minor one, so we should be thankful. He was a little cranky for the rest of the day though, especially because his nose itched, and every time he tried to scratch it, it hurt. Ouch.

The canoe ride was a fun family outing, but Liam enjoyed only the first half. We canoed down to the little rapids by the fishing area at the end of the river, and took turns getting out to say hi to the campers fishing there. Jamie's classmates were proud of how big the bait worms were, but being girls, wouldn't touch them. Liam was thirsty and cried all the way back, except when I was able to distract him with songs from last night's singalong.

I thought I could get Jamie into the lake afterward, as it was a beautiful sunny day and the water was the warmest it had been, but Jamie preferred to blow soap bubbles with his friends, which was fine with me. Kristen went for a quick dip too before lunch.

After an early lunch, some crokinole (with Jamie and Becky), and watching Mr. Sasaki beat the best teenaged Ping Pong player 11-6, we said our thankyous# and goodbyes and got into the car at the miraculously early hour of 13:15. Miracles continued as Liam fell asleep on the camp access road and stayed asleep almost all the way, until we got home at 15:30. Jamie was at first hyper, then gradually calmed down, and fell asleep for an hour and a half, joined by Becky, so it ended up being the quietest car trip we've had in recent memory.

When we got home, Kristen and Becky unloaded the car into the vestibule while I took Jamie over to play with Thomas, who (together with his sister Molly) has moved into Iain and Clare's old house across the street. Then Ben, Sam and Luke got home from a trip to Centre Island, so the usual soccer match broke out, and I sent everyone out to participate or supervise while I finished the job of unpacking.

My mom sent over dinner (yay), Kristen went out to find some visiting long-lost friends from Ottawa while I bathed Liam, Jamie spent much of the evening playing with Ayami and Gary. Liam is asleep now, though in bad enough dental pain that I've already taken him out for one ear-splitting walk and I don't expect him to stay asleep too long. Kristen bathed Jamie, and we are apparently taking turns putting him to sleep. I have a lot of photos to edit and post from the last few days, but should go to bed as soon as I can too.

(Kristen) We came home to find a present on our front door for Liam: a little red t-shirt with a bear and two bees on it from Auntie Millie. Yay! Thank you!

2007-08-27 25:41 (Kristen) Becky and I were up late tonight talking about the boys, and how different and still similar they both are. Jamie has always had a sense of humour; he loves to make people laugh. Liam loves to laugh, and is willing to see the joyful funny in almost anything.

Jamie was awake at 7:30, which was way too early for a boy who fell asleep around midnight. He was utterly out of control for most of the day, full of crazy laughter, pounces, easy tantrums, and manic behaviour. When he fell asleep in the car around 4:00, it was a relief! Liam woke up with me around 8:30 (I think), and wasn't happy about it but dug down deep to get with the day. He wasn't that hungry in the morning, largely because he was tired, but was happy to inhale some Chinese food at our favourite noodle shop. We had decided that we would take Becky to Chinatown before she leaves tomorrow, and to Aboveground Art Supplies, to make sure that she was prepped for her return. We brought Gary along, and had lunch and bubble tea, as well as a good wander around the area. Jamie did a good deal of walking, which helped, I think.

We ended up at Browning, where we played D&D, and Jamie played with Gary after dinner. Liam has discovered his lungs; he screeched at a deafening volume if he wanted something; John and I have decided that Son #2 must be trained out of this, and will be taught many more signs tout-de-suite. Otherwise, we'll need them for ourselves, because we'll be deaf! He was fussy and I think it was because his tooth is bothering him, as well as his being somewhat hungry at last. His nose continues to heal, but it still hurts him whenever he rubs it, which is regrettably often. He cries out in pain and with a sense of surprise and betrayal (my nose!) each time.

Becky and I also talked about how Jamie fed Liam some of his breakfast this morning, as I did, and how Liam was holding a sword tonight and Jamie held his own very still so that Liam could gently whack upon it. Budding friends. There were many more things, but I'm tired now, and should be in bed. Goodnight!

(John) Liam has named Kristen "Baa", and has been using it with some delight to call her when he needs her. (The vowel is much closer to the A in "fat" than the vowel in "father".) Now he just needs to learn the rest of his nouns so he can stop screeching!

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

Back to Vol. 1 No. 97, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 1 No. 99.