Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 13

2007-12-04 23:30 (Kristen) Liam was up early this morning as Jamie can't be cured of yelling up and down stairs when he wants something from a parent on another floor. Jamie was pretty tired anyway, as he didn't sleep as long as he should have last night. He and John were almost late for school, but made it before the teacher closed the door. Whew. I tried to clean, while Liam objected to me putting his toys away, and we compromised by reading a board book seventeen times. He really really likes books, and will actively seek to be read to over television. He's not that into TV yet, which is fine, although I'm beginning to realize how much time Jamie gave me by sitting in front of the television! I took Liam for a walk to the library, and he rewarded me by falling asleep at 11:15, and waking up half an hour later. Wretch! He didn't sleep again until bedtime, when he was utterly blithering.

The afternoon consisted of Jamie doing some tobogganing with Jake and Parker, and Liam going for an abbreviated walk with Ken. Liam needed to be picked up early as he started to melt down for Ken, but calmed down and gave no sign of why he was so upset once I arrived, out of breath, at the Second Cup. Mystery. We all ended up at Jake's house, where Parker, Jake, and Jamie hung out happily. Well, more or less...Jake was tired, and not in a very good mood, so he and Parker (who is a very mild boy) had a number of disagreements. Jamie, who hates fighting, acted as a peacemaker/mediator, calling in parental reinforcements when Parker and Jake couldn't agree. I was quite proud of him. John came to meet us, and we all went home. It's been a quiet evening: Jamie ate two samosas, Liam sponged up as much soup and bread as he could, and both boys were very tired. In the end, it was a good day.

2007-12-05 23:38 (Kristen) Jamie slept until 8:10 and the bags under his eyes weren't as pronounced as usual, indicating that he is starting to get enough sleep. We've been concerned that he doesn't get enough sleep, and are trying to make sure that he gets some more. He and John were gone and John back home before Liam and I got up. Liam kept waking up in pain, and I don't know if it was the cheese he'd had (he ate a lot of cheese yesterday) or a new tooth. I do know that he was shrieking much more loudly than usual (!!). It was a calm morning, which fell apart somewhat around lunch as I was trying to get out of the house to meet John and Jamie at the school. Liam and I were late, but we still got to Hakobune, and dropped Jamie off, before going to do some shopping up at the Tilley store (I bought a hat, and Liam charmed the store staff).

We made it back to Hakobune to pick up Jamie, who was in a good mood, and to get some bubble tea at our local bubble tea store. We got home, and the boys were good. Jamie did some homework, read a book, and watched some television. Liam played and didn't try to kill himself too much. After dinner, John went to the Scrabble club, and Jamie played with Gary. Liam was in a wonderful and cuddly mood, and we played and giggled and cuddled in a way we almost never do. It was lovely. Bedtime was the usual affair, and both boys fell asleep at the same time again, just when I thought that it was going to be a long haul.

2007-12-06 26:00 (Kristen) Jamie woke the house up this morning; he really doesn't understand that his little voice is a lot louder than he thinks. We all got up and managed. Liam was in a good mood, and played by himself except when I did dishes or had to make lunch. Then he gets between me and the kitchen counter, and pushes me away from whatever has my hands occupied. We went to get Jamie together, and managed to get him to Hakobune on time. I joked with Jamie once that some chocolate Pocky was really soap, and now we call Pocky soap. Today he got some of my green tea mousse Pocky because he can't eat the chocolate stuff without breaking out. I love my son, because not just anyone gets my green tea mousse Pocky. Sigh.

Liam fell asleep quickly as I walked up to Bloor, and John drove home to give his dad the car. I worked for two hours, and Liam woke up only at the end. We went to get Jamie, and had a good time hanging around the church, chatting with other moms and babies. Jamie was very tired, and objected streuously to walking to Spadina, but ended up having a good enough time. When we got home, it was a quiet evening except when Liam melted down while I was making dinner. John and Jamie spent most of the evening playing MMR after Jamie did some ages of homework. Jamie was asking to go to bed as early as 7:15 (!!) and we had him and Liam in the bath early. Jamie and I read a dinosaur book, and Liam was short tempered from fatigue as we did. Liam fell asleep easily, as did Jamie, and I hope that they both get enough sleep. Tomorrow is the Hakobune Christmas pageant, and I can't wait. It's going to be very cute.

2007-12-07 21:45 (John) I'll ask Kristen to write about today's Christmas Pageant at Hakobune, but before I forget, I wanted to mention an interesting insight into Jamie's bilingual mind. After we got home he was trying to remember the words to a Japanese Christmas song that I didn't know, and said it was something about "shiori hige no Santa Kurousu [white-bearded Santa Claus] and lots of presents - Dad, how do you say 'lots of presents in Japanese'?" I offered "purezento takusan" and he shook his head "That's not it". He tried singing it again and then remembered "omiyage ippai". So he remembered what the song meant, but not (at first) the actual words.

(Kristen) We made it to Hakobune this morning just in time. Jamie was dressed in his white dress shirt and dark pants, and we had put duct tape over the flashing lights on his shoes so that they wouldn't light up during the pageant. Jamie looked great. Because he's one of the bigger kids, he got to be part of the candlelight procession at the beginning. Jamie was very cautious, and careful. He was the tallest shepherd in the Nativity play, and had a good deal of fun singing the 'Kinoko Song,' with all the moves. Liam enjoyed parts of the concert, such as when the Japanese couple (parents of a Hakobune student) who play the sitar and the digeridoo played "Silent Night" (a German song) with bits of "War is Over (If You Want It)" by John Lennon. He was rapt, and it was one of the few times he was still. I chased him with food, and with other things, but he was largely given to roaming. After the concert, Liam and Jamie ran about with the other kids (and Kai-kun, the Sasakis' grandson, in particular), and were spun, thrown, tossed, and otherwise played with.

Liam fell asleep only for an hour, and woke up as we reached the house. In the meantime, we'd gotten bubble tea for Jamie, and rode the subway home. Both kids were very high needs for the rest of the afternoon, as they were both utterly exhausted. John and I had made arrangements to go out for dinner tonight, and were pleased to see that both kids barely noticed that we were gone. We made it home, and into bed very late. I think that Jamie might be a little tired tomorrow...

2007-12-08 23:37 (Kristen) I do hate being right about some things. Jamie was, indeed, very tired today. Liam was cheerful enough when he woke up, after John and Jamie had left for Nisshu Gakkuin, and stayed so through a trip on the subway for a shopping expedition. He was utterly gleeful when I let him out of the stroller to walk a bit down a city street, but utterly horrible in a bookstore right afterwards. He screeched whenever I took him away from what it was he was about to destroy, and I think that, since it was coming up on noon, that he was just hungry. I cut my bookstore visit short, and headed up to Treasure Island to get some other shopping done. I bought Liam a spinach-cheese croissant, which he demolished, and he complained at the library. He also was very screechy at the toystore, so I cut that short too and went home with John and Jamie, who were driving by.

Once home, Liam slept for an hour and a half, and Jamie should have. Instead, he watched Backyardigans a lot, and played a lot of MMR. Dinner was difficult, and bathtime horrendous, as both boys were very very tired, and not afraid to share. I was tired of it, and shared too. John negotiated with Jamie, who had a total meltdown in the bathroom, and we finally got the boys to bed. Jamie may be fighting the cold that Liam just manifested today, and Liam has two (yes, two) eye teeth coming through (I can see the lesions in the gums where they are getting ready to poke through). The boy has the worst time with his teeth. I'm trying to think of a positive note to end on, beyond we're all still alive, but given the state of the world, that may be something that I take too much for granted. So, we're alive, and more or less healthy, and we;re going to do better tomorrow.

2007-12-09 22:40 (John) Liam's still got a cold, and the postnasal drip cough is interfering with his sleep. He's got a new tooth though (Kristen will say which one, I hope)(It's the lower right eye tooth, with the other lower eye tooth not far behind --K), and he's not all things considered in a terrible mood as long as he is kept constantly fed and entertained (or fed entertaining food). Jamie and I slept in by an hour, played video games for a bit and then joined Mom and Liam downstairs. After breakfast we put up the Christmas tree, with Jamie helping quite a lot in hanging ornaments. Needless to say all the fragile ones are higher up, we hope out of Liam's reach. Liam loves the tree, the lights, the fragile ornaments, etc.

After lunch we took the subway to Bloor-Yonge to do some Christmas shopping. Bearing in mind everyone's fragile mood we paced ourselves but still managed to get a fair amount done, mostly books at Indigo. Jamie has been asking more difficult questions about Christmas today. "Hello, Dad, I need to tell you something. How do reindeer fly?" "Magic, Jamie." "What do you mean, magic?" "I mean that magic is what we call things that happen in stories that we can't explain." [long pause] "But Dad, Santa Claus can do magic in real life, right?" "Um, let me think about that a little and get back to you."

I made rotini with freshly-made pesto and leftover grilled salmon for dinner, which everyone usually likes. Liam ate a little of it, and would have had more if I hadn't had to feed him anything at hand for half an hour while dinner while cooking to make him stop screaming. Jamie at first said that pasta was fine for obento but not for dinner, but relented and bolted his meal quickly when we raised one of our strongest arguments: "The faster you finish your meal the faster you can get back downstairs to keep playing with Gary."

The kids were in the bath getting ready for bed not too late after 20:00, quite early by recent standards, but we really wanted to avoid a repeat of last night's meltdowns. Jamie spent about half an hour playing on his own in the bath, mainly reenacting scenes from Desktop Tower Defense using stacking cups full of water. He got to bed a little after 21:00 and was sleep by 21:20, hooray.

(Kristen) I don't have much to add, beyond Liam waking up quite early and needing to be up around 8:00 (groan). I'm fighting his cold. Liam was very chatty today, and is much calmer when we have a clear "conversation" where he points, vocalizes, and grunts, and I understand him (more or less). A very large part of his screechiness is frustration with the fact that he really can't get out a fraction of what he wants or needs to talk about. That is why whenever he gets a new sign, or makes up one that we all understand, his little face shines like the sun.

2007-12-10 22:04 (Kristen) Jamie and Liam were up early this morning, which wasn't a bad thing since it was a school morning. Jamie went off to school, picking up Parker along the way who was too tired to walk quickly, but not too tired to ride on the toboggan behind Jamie. John has a reputation now for pulling any child who asks for a ride on the toboggan. Liam and I went out to do some errands, and he fell asleep for a few minutes in the schoolyard on the way back. Note to self: do not have Liam in the stroller for too long in the morning, or ill-timed naps occur. I picked Liam up to wake him, and he woke with a little difficulty but not too much complaint as there were children around to distract him.

We had lunch at Browning, and Ken took Liam for a walk. He dropped Liam off at 2:30 to John at the Second Cup, complaining that Liam hadn't slept the whole time. John said, "What, like now?" and Ken turned around to see a peacefully sleeping Liam, who had just closed his eyes for his afternoon nap. "!!" said Ken. Heh. John ended up staying at the Second Cup for another hour or two, while I stayed at home, having a pleasant afternoon with Jamie. We read books, had a snack, played light sabre battles, and Jamie criticized my ability to play MMR ("Mummy, no! Don't fall off the edge *again*!). John and Liam came home, Jamie went to find Gary, and it was a pleasant afternoon.

We went to Browning for the evening and our usual Monday Night Fish Fry. The boys had their usual good time, and Liam gave Tom the most overjoyed rush and tackle that I have never received myself. John commented that he only got one of those when he went to India for 10 days. Our friends Andy and Christine, and their daughter Elspeth, came over, and Jamie was happy to play with Elspeth, who returned the favour. It was early home, and we got the boys into bed around 9:30. Jamie was asleep by 10:00, and Liam is having some troubles staying asleep.

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

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