Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 11

2007-11-20 23:22 (Kristn) Jamie asked for honey toast this morning, but failed again to eat much of it when it was on his plate. He did, however, cheerfully eat the pesto toast that John gave to him, so we think that he's asking for the honey toast out of habit, and not because he wants it. He's kinda bored. So, tomorrow will be some new foodstuff. Liam went shopping with his dad so that I could do some gardening and put the roses to sleep. It was a beautiful day, and the roses were still green, but there's a big frost coming, and so I piled up the dirt and leaves. Liam was in a good mood when he came home, and went out again with his dad to get Jamie. They played for a bit before coming home for lunch, as Ross is sick and we wanted to keep away from any extra germs before the boys had their shots later in the day. Liam was very tired, and was in bed, sleeping, by 1:00. Jake came by soon afterwards, and Liam managed to stay asleep until almost 3:00, despite the happy yelling in the house.

Jamie and Jake had a great time, as usual, and both boys were already negotiating the next visit as goodbyes were being said. Tuesdays are Jake days right now, and I hope that lasts a while, as the boys seem to genuinely like one another. The rest of the afternoon was quiet, as Jamie and I read his borrow-a-book for school and completed the question sheet, and Liam roared around in his Liam way. Both boys needed their immunization shots, so we took them to see Dr. Kennedy. Jamie knew what was coming, and was very brave. (John: it helped greatly that I brought along his Japanese homework to do, as nothing calms Jamie more than working with pencil and paper; we got through seven pages dealing with needles stress.) Liam and I were playing nearby, and he was watching. Ten minutes later it was his turn, and he anticipated the needle by crying and flinching away before she gave him the shot. Dr. Kennedy said "He's not supposed to do that before 18 months!" I repled that he had just seen his brother get one. She repeated, "He's not supposed to do that before 18 months!" So, we have a live one. She was also impressed with the force and high pitch of Liam's cry. Jamie and Liam were both pleased, however, when they received lollypops after their needles. It was Liam's first, and he was a happy, sticky, orange mess. Jamie was much neater.

It was a quiet night, and both boys were in bed and asleep around 9:00.

2007-11-21 09:35 (John) It's pouring rain and 5°C today, which together with yesterday's immunisation led Jamie to sleep in by half an hour until I eventually woke him up. By that time I had made him three different breakfasts, figuring that any leftovers wouldn't go to waste with Kristen and Liam still unfed. He ate half a bowl of tamago-no-gohan, one slice of honey toast, six raspberries, a sip of orange juice and several bites out of an apple. He rejected the pesto toast (more for me, hurray).

It's not 10:00 and Liam has two new tricks. He has figured out how to lock and unlock the bathroom door, which means it's time to disable the lock until he's old enough not to lock himself in; and he signed (by patting his bum) that he needed a diaper change.

2007-11-21 22:57 (Kristen) I took the boys on the subway to Hakobune after Jackman, and Jamie told me that they had bounced balls in gym class, and ruefully laughed, later in the day, that he wasn't very good at it. I explained that he could practice at home with us, and he was surprised that he could do that. I sometimes forget that he is as young as he is; he's such a smart, together kid, and so reasonable. Liam was quiet for most of the trip, and enjoyed eating some lunch and running about the church after we dropped Jamie off. He fell asleep almost instantly when we left, and slept for a little over two hours. He woke up when I went back to meet John and pick up Jamie, and had fun playing at Hakobune before we had to leave. The weather is turning ugly, and Jamie's red MEC hat went missing inexplicably at school, so we went to buy a new one. Jamie picked out a blue one with a crown and earflaps, and I got Liam a red one with a tassel on top with earflaps as the ear protection seemed just a good idea. I had to go back in to MEC again, and the second time brought Liam, who was utterly outraged with his father that I was allowed to leave the car without Liam.

We had o-chazuke* for dinner, and both boys hoovered it back (Liam had almost two bowlfuls). Jamie played with Gary for the rest of the evening, and I followed Liam around, alternately watching him play by himself, and preventing him from killing himself, between the occasional demand for me to participate in whatever activity he had going. Jamie went to sleep quickly, but Liam didn't break stride until I went downstairs with him and gave him a little painkiller. Twenty minutes later, he was asleep too.

2007-11-22 10:30 (John) We have about 2 cm of ice pellets on the ground now, with another 3-8 in the forecast for today. Jamie was excited to see the yard turned white from the upstairs windows, ran down to stick his head out the front door and then yelped "It's cold!" We were a few minutes late leaving the house because of time spent donning snow pants, but I made that up by running to school pulling Jamie on the toboggan. Jamie giggled all the way, except whenever he drew a breath to yell "Hayaku (faster)!" My mom asked which was easier to pull, the toboggan or the wagon: the wagon definitely has less friction, at least compared to the toboggan on today's road surface.

2007-11-22 21:45 (John) I took the toboggan with me when I went to pick up Jamie at Hakobune, and got Kristen to call Jake's mom to ask if Jake could go tobogganing with us at Withrow Park. Jake and Jamie were noisier together than one Liam on the way to the park, which is to say hovering around the threshold of pain. We parked on Carlaw near the foot of Withrow Park and I pulled the kids over to the top of the hill. Jake said "I'm going down now" and before I could stop him went slowly spinning (but not tumbling) down the hill on his toboggan. Jamie and I went whizzing down after him on Jamie's, and Jake was fine but said that he didn't like spinning, and decided for the next five runs that he was going to send the toboggan down by itself and run after it. I finally coaxed him into sledding with me from halfway down the hill, and when that worked okay (no spinning), we then did another ten runs or so with all three of us on Jamie's toboggan. Jake said he wanted to try going down the hill just with Jamie toward the end, so I sent them down, thinking that if they managed to control the toboggan it would be a minor miracle, and that time they wiped out spectacularly but were both full of giggles by the time I caught up with them. We made one last run down together, then I pulled the kids back to the car as they did stunts jumping from one moving toboggan to the other. They both want to go again tomorrow.

(Kristen) Liam woke up early and was in a very happy but screechy mood. He was chewing on everything that he could, and I can clearly see the eye teeth just below the surface of his gums. I let him chew, since it would only make him feel better. He was absolutely manic, pulling this apart, getting into that, dumping yet another thing out onto the floor. It was exhausting. John took him to pick up Jamie at lunch, and Liam succumbed to the warmth of the car, even though he wasn't due to nap for another hour. He woke up after twenty minutes of fitful sleep, and didn't go down for another nap until 3:50. He slept an hour, and was up to full speed pretty quickly. More "No, Liam!" from just about everyone (Jamie, because Liam kept turning off the television, and me and John for turning off the television and a host of other minor sins). I took Liam for a short walk to the pharmacy to get more Advil for him, and the walk was fine, but he was still pretty wild. He ended the day by sitting on John's lap while John typed.

2007-11-23 20:10 (John) I'll keep this brief as my arms are tired from more tobogganing. Jake couldn't make it back to the slopes today. I asked Jamie when I picked him up at lunch if there was anyone he wanted to invite instead. He thought for a moment and said "Parker!", surprising me and disappointing Dylan, who was standing practically nose to nose with Jamie. I pointed out that Parker had already left for lunch, and asked if he could think of anyone else, and with a little prompting from Dylan he got the answer right. Sledding conditions were ideal at Withrow Park, and on at least three of our ten runs we almost made it to Logan Avenue, a horizontal run about four times the length of the initial slope.

I'll let Kristen write about this morning, my ears are still ringing.

(Kristen) Liam woke up a little early, and has been chewing on things all day in unmistakably what is teething behaviour. He seemed fine, but when I left the house around 10:20 for coffee with friends, he started to keen and protest as I went out the door. I heard him as I went down the street, and I thought to myself that he'd stop soon enough and have fun with his dad while I was gone. When I met up with John at the Jackman playground an hour and a half later, John said that Liam did not stop crying while I was gone. Laughing, I said "No, he didn't," thinking that John was teasing me. "No," John said, "he didn't stop crying." Oops. Apparently he only stopped crying to draw breath for the first half hour, and then was five minutes on and five minutes off for the next while as his throat was probably starting to hurt and he needed a rest. He also would not let John near him for the first half hour, and would push himself away (he was lying on his back, and used his legs) from John if he tried to touch him. He would then, of course, hit his head on the wall and scream all the more loudly. Gary and Ayami came upstairs to see why John was using an axe on Liam, and were amazed. I am amazed. Jamie never did this, I am sure. "He screamed the whole time you were gone" is a joke phrase, meaning that the child was fine and didn't miss me at all. We may have to revise this.

In case it is not clear, my son is a man of strong convictions. We have agreed that I should perhaps go out more often, to get him used to the idea of me not being around all the time. Or he'll stop doing this on his own if the departure ritual is established. Who knows. After his nap, I took him out for a walk and he was an angel. He ran around and was the Master of Destruction in the evening, while his brother lay on the couch, prone, watching television and complaining every time Liam turned the television off on hiim. My evening consisted of "Liam! Don't do that! Get down! Off of that! Put that away first if you want to get another toy!" Ad nauseam, with the occasional "Good boy!" when he actually listened to what I said and did what I asked. Both boys were in bed and asleep by 9:20, and we get to sleep in tomorrow, as Nisshu Gakkuin is cancelled tomorrow. The school it meets in has had a Norwalk-like virus run through this week, felling 1/3 of the students, and no one wants to be exposed. I'm with them on this one.

2007-11-24 23:18 (Kristen) Jamie was up at 7:45, like it was a school day. I was warned that this sort of thing would happen when we got him onto a school schedule, and John was the main beneficiary of the lack of sleep. Jamie woke up hungry, and so he and John were already eating breakfast when I came downstairs with Liam a little over an hour later. Jamie had come in for a cuddle and to share his cold feet, but apparently Papa was easier to get up than I was.

Jamie spent the morning watching television, and wasn't too happy to be thrust out into the cold morning air to go to the St. Lawrence Market. He hasn't been there in a while, since he's usually at Japanese school, and his usual people were very happy to see him. A lollipop, samosa, and a piece of pizza eventually mollified him. Liam was happy to run around at the Early Years Centre and to have his own lollipop. We headed home, and drove past the toboggan hill at Withrow Park to make sure that there was enough snow to allow one more day of tobogganing before the next thaw (expected over the next few days). On the way home, Jamie brightly asked if I would be coming tobogganing too, and John answered for me that I would. Cold. Snow. Too much outerwear. Oh no. I hoped that Liam would have his afternoon nap and save me from this outing, but Liam failed to nap until he was in the car, on the way to the toboggan hill, at 4:50. It was a looong afternoon.

When we finally made it to the hill, John and Jamie went down three times, and I went down with Jamie twice. John transferred Liam to the little baby toboggan when we arrived at the park, and Liam stayed asleep for maybe 20 minutes before something or another woke him up. At that point, John decided that Liam should go down the hill too (it's a smallish hill, but I was still unsure about the idea). They went down on the little slide, with John doing much braking to make sure that they didn't go too fast. I watched them go down, and commented to the father beside me that as I didn't hear anything, he either enjoyed it or was mute with terror. Other than to arch his back near the end, John thinks that Liam thought the experience interesting, but was not in need of a repeat. John kept telling Liam that it was just a big "whee," and Liam was remarkably untraumatized. He's awfully inscrutable in his red MEC hat, though, and it's hard to tell what he's thinking.

Dinner was with Ted, Alice, Ian, and Amy, and John's parents, at the Taste of the Silk Road Cafe. It was a belated birthday party for the November celebrants, and Jamie ate almost an entire plate of crispy beef with lichee and pineapple by himself (except for what he shared with me and Liam, and we almost didn't get a lichee). Ted, Alice, Amy, and Ian gave Jamie a copy of Mercury Meltdown Revolution for the Wii (which Jamie and I played almost immediately when we got home, as we had to take our outerwear off and open the package first). Liam got a lovely set of fleecy overalls for winter wear, which he will look very cute in. Liam's fortune was "You are very attached to your family." I am not kidding. Jamie had no fortune, because he was too full to have a cookie.

Liam was more destructive than usual while Jamie and I were playing with the Wii, and a dirty diaper was eventually diagnosed as the cause. He was also wildly exhausted, and I gave him a dose of medicine before putting him to bed. He's been up twice since, crying and kicking, and I think that his teeth are hurting him again. Jamie and John read a Japanese book together before bed. When it's Jamie's turn, he reads out the characters one by one, and John pronounces the clause or sentence afterward in a fluid, more natural way. Jamie, near the end, was starting to get some speed up and a few words were sounding quite fluent. He was working hard, and very proud of himself (as well he should be). He fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, if not sooner. His arms were around Thomas, his polar bear. Jamie named him Thomas, and has become more and more attached to him recently. It's nice to see him add another stuffed animal to the very short list of favoured stuffed creatures.

2007-11-25 24:05 (Kristen) The boys were up a little later this morning, thank goodness, but both John and Liam had bad nights. The morning went well enough, with John taking the boys to Loblaws while I went with Alice to T&T (the new Chinese grocery store nearby). They had a good time, and enjoyed seeing my friends Heather and David when they dropped by in the early afternoon. After they left, I took Liam to the Eaton Centre for some shopping, while Jamie stayed home and made everyone play Mercury Meltdown Revolution until they dropped.

Liam was a perfect sweetheart at the mall, sleeping for an hour and a bit before waking up in the elevator on the way to the Apple store. We went to John's parents' house for dinner, and something changed. He was hungry, but wouldn't eat anything. He got very screechy, and eventually we just took him home. He didn't fall asleep until close to 11:00, after trying (and failing) to nurse without pain. I took him downstairs (I had given him some painkiller earlier in the evening) and fed him a freezie, which he enjoyed, but he didn't eat much else. I finally got him down to sleep, and he's calling out in pain once or twice. Poor poor muffin. One eyetooth is through, and the other is just about to. I think that he's also working on the other bit of the molar, or he's starting in on the bottom molars and eyeteeth. Poor poor muffin. I hope that he sleeps better tonight.

2007-11-26 24:09 (Kristen) Jamie came in and gave me my hug this morning, which was lovely, and Liam slept until a little after nine, which was also lovely. It was the usual morning, full of "Liam! Stop that! Don't do that! That's dangerous! Get off of there!" ad nauseum. He liked the tamago no gohan, but we had a fight about whether or not he could feed himself. I don't like it when he dumps the egg rice out onto the tray of his high chair. He feels that any spoon that I offer him is, by the very fact of my offering it, is contaminated. Also, anything that he was using but which I have touched to offer guidance or to prevent the loss of food to the floor or elsewhere is also contaminated. He then points and yells for another. He also doesn't like any container that I offer juice to him in. It is also, by virtue of the fact that he didn't pick it, contaminated. It makes for long (or short, depending upon your point of view) mealtimes.

John took Liam with him to the schoolyard to pick up Jamie. Liam wore his new fleecy coveralls from Ted, Alice, Amy, and Ian, and got mud on them. John explained to the mothers of the other kids that I pick the clothes, and that he washes them (true). We all had lunch at Browning, and Ken took Liam for a walk. John went to the Second Cup to work and wait for Liam while I took Jamie home for some mom/son time. I have been feeling that I haven't spent much quality time with Jamie; I'm always working, cleaning, or looking after Liam, and so I worry that he's getting shortchanged in the mom department. I decided that we'd have some fun--play some games, read some books, and make bubble tea with the ingredients that I bought at T&T on Sunday. We got home, and Jamie made a beeline for the basement door. "Is Gary home?" he asked. I told him that we were going to be doing things together. "I just want to play with Gary," he said. I told him that I had been looking forward to being with him and that I had things for us to do together. No: he wanted to play with Gary. I made a sad face (and, do not mistake that I was actually very disappointed) and said that I was sad. Jamie then looked at me with a face full of love but also clearly leaving me behind, and said "Please take good care of yourself, Mummy," before going to Gary's door and calling downstairs. I'm not really sure what the term is, if any, for the emotions that I felt then: pride at the deep empathy and care my son was giving me as he gently blew me off... Do I look like that? Do that? Why did he put it that way? Anyway, in the end, Gary was asleep and Jamie was content to come back and spend the next hour or two playing with me. We had a great time playing MMR, reading a book, and making bubble tea together. I think that I need to spend more time with my son, who is really quite a fabulous human being.

The rest of the afternoon went well enough. Liam had woken up the moment he entered the Second Cup (unsurprising) and John stayed out with him for a little before coming home. Liam was cheerful, and spent short periods of time playing by himself, and tried to help as I organized some DVDs, but started to get a little wild again by the time we went to Browning for dinner. There, he scared Daniel by standing on a plastic playtable, and created his special brand of havoc there. He did finally eat some food, when I fed him an assortment of soft foods with my fingers. I was very happy that he finally ate well. He won't let me look in his mouth, however, to see what is going on. Jamie played with Gary, Daniel, and Ross. Daniel found a ninja costume from some Hallowe'en past, and Jamie had a great time being Jamie Ninja for the rest of the evening. He liked being sneaky and saying "boo!". Bedtime was met with much protest on Jamie's part, but Liam was more than ready for sleep. Liam has woken up three times now, and I'm not entirely sure why. I'll be in bed too very soon.

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

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