Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 15

2007-12-18 23:23 (Kristen) We let Jamie sleep in this morning by half an hour or so because he'd gone to bed so late last night. John took him in, and I kept an increasingly fractious Liam occupied until I was ready to go out for some baking supplies. Liam and I walked to the Danforth, where he fell asleep at 11:15. Augh! Philosophical, I did the rest of my shopping (forgetting the molasses) so that I could get started on my Christmas baking. I got home around 12:40, to find Jamie and John "clearing snow" in the backyard (building toboggan hills, more like it). Jamie was pretty hungry, and Liam woke up as we arrived, so we all went in for curries and samosas. Jamie, after consulation, was too tired for the museum, so we decided to spend the afternoon baking cookies (and Jamie agreed to that easily).

We managed to put together two batches of chocolate chip cookies for our family doctor (three types of chocolate chip!) without, as John mused, there being an explosion of cookie dough and a police presence. Jamie was deathly impatient, as I put out the ingredients and got everything organized to go. Liam squirmed into any available space to see what was going on. He has been very openly affectionate with Jamie lately, with big hugs around the waist and much initiation of games. Jamie gets a little punky, however, and sometimes will play and sometimes will not. We've had to make him stop turning when Liam grabs him from behind, however, as he keeps hip-throwing his brother by accident.

It was a quiet rest of the day. John took Liam to Loblaws, while Jamie and I stayed home to work on stuff. Liam fell asleep on the way home for fifteen minutes, and stayed up until 10:15 as a result...Dinner was eaten, games were played, and both boys (but especially Liam) loved playing in a large cardboard box we have. Liam had fun playing with Gary and Ayami late in the evening, and was very accomplished at putting his dinosaur puzzle pieces into their places. I was very surprised, and Liam was delighted with himself.

2007-12-19 22:32 (Kristen) John says that, on the ride home from Hakobune, he and Jamie were talking about the game of Go. John was trying to explain how the simpler game of Go-moku-narabe ('five in a row') works by comparing it to tic-tac-toe. They started to play a game of tic-tac-toe in the car, pasing a sheet of paper back and forth, and Jamie said "I remember this game. I played it with Sherrie in New York City." He has a great long-term memory. Mind you, his short term memory could use some work, because a few minutes later, he'd forgotten what 'tic-tac-toe was called, and it was a frustrating minute or two before John understsood what he meant by 'that foot game.'

The other thing about Jamie that John reports is that when John is leaving for the Scrabble club on Wednesday nights, he often tells Jamie that he is the man, or 'papa' of the house." Tonight, he thought to ask Jamie exactly what he thought this entailed. Jamie rolled his eyes like a teenager, and groaned, "It means being good."

Jamie was very tired when he woke up this morning, and John reports that he needed to dress a half-conscious Jamie for school. Jamie didn't eat much of his breakfast, but seemed fine when they reached the school. Liam had a slightly manic but otherwise happy morning, and ate a good breakfast. Lunch was less successful, and so I thought to put him down for a nap, but he was a little bouncy for that. I eventually took him out for a walk, and he fell asleep after a minute and a half of being in the stroller. He stayed asleep for close to three hours, giving his mummy a much-needed break. It turns out that Jamie needed to nap too, as he fell asleep in the car on the way back from Hakobune, and stayed asleep for 45 minutes as John found things to do around the yard as Jamie continued to sleep in the car. Jamie was very groggy when we brought him in, and I was metaphorically pounding my head against a desk at the thought that he wouldn't go to bed before 10:30 tonight. I shouldn't have worried, however. He was obviously still tired, and fell asleep without too much trouble around 9:30. Liam crashed out too, and while Jamie is coughing in his sleep, Liam's only trouble has occurred when Jamie threw a leg over him, and that only occasioned a wriggle and a sleepy squawk. They sleep in the same bed on Wednesday nights, and I think that keeping them together will make the transition into a room of their own, apart from me and John, easier. Whenever that is.

2007-12-20 24:12 (Kristen) Despite having slept for 11 hours, Jamie was almost impossible to wake up this morning for school. He groaned, cried, complained, and otherwise needed staff to get himself started. He's still fighting something, without a doubt. He made it to Hakobune easily enough, and was happy when we met him at the school, but was a bundle of negativity when we got him into the car to go home. He didn't want the food we'd brought: he explicitly wanted "something we don't have. You pick." Uh-huh. The funny part was when he demanded a samosa "right now!" and when he was told we didn't have one in the car but he could have one at home, said that John was to get out of the car, walk home, and come back with a samosa. He was asleep two minutes later, and John and I were shocked that it took that long. We just looked at each other and said "we are soooo blogging this."

He woke up almost an hour later, demanding a samosa. He didn't want to be spoken to (John says that Jamie said the same thing this morning when John was chivvying him along to the bathroom, and actually calmed down when John didn't speak to him for ten minutes) and sat, watching a DK Eyewitness DVD about dinosaurs and eating a samosa, until he was ready to be social. Liam was more than ready to be social. He has been his usual madman self all day, roaring about the house, Hakobune, Staples, and other places. He charmed the lady at Yung Sing, and got a shortbread cookie (which he loved), and walked with me to the library and around Sun Valley. He is remarkably like I was at a similar age, and my mother can stop cackling now. Seriously, Mom. I can hear you.

Otherwise, the day was uneventful. We gave Christmas gifts to Jamie's teacher, and the staff at Hakobune and Knox Church. We did some Christmas shopping. Baking failed to occur, but I'll try again tomorrow. The boys are playing together more and more, and Liam sees Jamie as his first and best playmate. Jamie usually doesn't want to roughhouse with Liam (which is how Liam signals his desire to play with Jamie), but when they do, the house is full of laughter, giggles, thumps, and crashes. They were playing with the big box together tonight, with increasing levels of hysteria. It's new to the house, but very welcome.

2007-12-21 23:26 (Kristen) It's the shortest day of the year today, and yet it felt like a very long day, indeed. Jamie woke up by himself for the first time in ages in time for school, but still insisted that he was too tired to walk to the bathroom by himself. Liam let me sleep in a little bit, and we got up only after John returned from dropping Jamie off at school. He left soon after for a meeting, and Liam and I got up out of our slug-a-bed to deal with the pile of things that needed to be done. I finally got the gingerbread dough mixed, but cut it so close to our time of departure that I had to leave it, covered in plastic wrap, in the bowl on the counter. We made it in time to pick Jamie up (John was still at the university), and Jamie was full of good cheer when he burst out of class. He played with his friends for a bit, and really didn't want to leave. It was a little rough getting to the subway, but he cheered up again once we were on the train and on the way to Hakobune.

As I had spent my time doing other things than make a lunch, and because he'd been asking for some, I bought Jamie pizza for lunch. He enjoyed it, and I heard at least one other kids say "Jamie no pizza! (Jamie's pizza!)" from inside the classroom as Liam and I left. We met up with John on campus, and Liam enjoyed a yoghurt and granola fruit cup from Starbuck's before settling down in the stroller for a nap. John and I did some shopping, and then I went back to get Jamie (no car today). John met up with us at Hakobune with the car, and we played a bit with the kids before heading home. Jamie fell asleep in the car again, and slept for close to an hour. Sigh. Liam is happy in the car when his boots and socks are off; and, I now remember, he lost a sock tonight at Browning because I forgot to remove them myself first. Argh!!

It was dinner at Browning, and the kids were happy. We stayed a little too late, but the kids were up to see their Auntie Millie as she dropped off and received some presents from us on her way home. We aren't getting together for Christmas Eve for the first time in years and years, as the kids need to be in bed early on Christmas Eve, and we'll miss her warm fire, lovely snacks, and (of course) the cosy company of family. Her beautiful house, however, has dodged a visit from Hurricane Liam, however, who would have made short work of my aunt's many lovely things. He gave John today's heart attack by standing on top of the big box in the toy room, teetering on the edge, and grinning as he wondered what might happen next... Both boys are in good moods, and looking forward to the big day coming soon.

2007-12-22 23:26 (Kristen) Tonight, we were at a party hosted by the mom of Jake, one of Jamie's classmates. At one point, a number of moms and dads were sitting around and we all realized that our sons had been utterly crazed for the last few days. They've been difficulty, overwound, and have almost been sold on eBay any number of times, as parental fingers have pulled back from the "send" key by mere millimetres. It's Christmas: that's all it is. Thursday was acknowledged as the worse day so far, but I felt bound by blood ties to the mom who said that she felt like she'd spent the whole day yelling at her kids "Don't do that!" and other maternal phrases. There is such comfort in shared experience.

The day started off well enough. Jamie came in to get me to accompany him to the bathroom, and, unusually, I was able to leave Liam asleep in bed as I did. Jamie went off to watch an Anpanman video, and I managed to get laundry folded and a load in before Liam woke up. Inspired by this bit of early morning achievement, I spent the day baking cookies (with some help from Jamie), cleaning, organizing presents, and otherwise being productive. Liam slept for an hour and a half, and John took Jamie to the market, which gave me some room to accomplish tasks. Having gone through all the presents, and knowing now what we have for whom, I can say that I really should stop putting any limits on what we buy. I said that we'd only get one book, one game, one toy, and one outfit per boy, and that was that. Ladies and gentlemen, we have outdone ourselves this year with stuff for the boys. I think that we may just leave some of it aside, and keep it for trip presents and the like over the next while. They will never miss it. Holy smoke.

The boys were rather wound up this afternoon, and Jamie made it clearer than clear that he really doesn't like omelettes at dinnertime. He made up for it by snacking at the party, and had a great time running around with his friends (Parker, Jake, Dylan, and Charlie were there; only Sam was missing). Liam had fun parallel playing with Nate, Parker's younger brother, and John got Hero points from the other parents for spending his time watching the kids upstairs. In the conversations I was in, much talk was of the mysteries of second children and their methods of communication.

Speaking of second children, Liam has discovered the television, and will now bring me a DVD that he wants to watch (usually Backyardigans). I am torn about this. Liam spends more time alone than Jamie did, in part because we are more comfortable with our kids and don't need to monitor as closely as we did when Jamie was the same age, and partly because he is more independent than Jamie was at this age. I am glad that he can do this, but always I worry a little that he feels neglected. Then I remind myself that Liam is more than capable of making his needs met (THWACK! Read me a book! SHRIEK!) and I worry less, but don't stop entirely.

2007-12-23 22:45 (Kristen) We're getting closer and closer to being ready for Christmas. The baking is mostly done (just the gingerbread men to decorate, and the last batch of cookies to bake), and the presents are mostly bought and wrapped. Clothes are being assembled, and I've come to the happy realization that there really isn't much to pack as there will be toys and entertainment where we are going. We're discussing what to do about sleeping arrangements in Ottawa, as we four are too big for the one bed, but we're hoping that Jamie will be convinced to sleep with his cousins or his Grammie. We'll cross that raging river when we arrive at it.

It was pouring rain, and the heavy cloud cover is (possibly) part of the reason that we all slept in this morning. We all, variously, crawled out of bed between 9 and 10, and had a slow morning. Liam didn't nap until 3:30, and Jamie was pinging about a good deal as well. Our friend Craig came over for a pre-Christmas visit and Jamie was happy to see "Scrabble Craig." He made Craig play some Marble Blast, and was sad when Craig had left to go home and proper goodbyes had been missed in the hubbub of leaving. We'll have to have Craig visit again. Craig came with us to Browning for the last salmon dinner of the year, and Jamie (as is his latest pattern) declared that he didn't want any of the food but ate a good sized dinner anyway. We played hearts, and both boys wandered in and out of the game. Liam's teeth have been bothering him lately, but he was in a great mood. Both boys were in bed around 10:00, and I hope that we'll have them in bed much earlier than that tomorrow night. John and I bought way too many presents for them, and are now discussing what gets saved for some other occasion...

2007-12-24 25:38 (Kristen) We woke up late again today, which was a blessing as we needed all the sleep we could get. I spent the day mailing parcels, wrapping presents, and finishing off the baking. Jamie was a big help with the tape, and in helping me to cut out and decorate the cookies. It was nice to see him so happy to be involved. Liam had an absurdly long nap, and I had to wake him after 3 1/2 hours because I was frightened that he wouldn't sleep tonight. He was very cross and easily upset this evening, a combination of that new molar and an irregular meal schedule. So far he's sleeping well, but let's keep our fingers crossed.

Jamie had been beyond wound up today, spinning and twirling, and not speaking below a shout unless reminded. There have been accidents and moments of bad judgement aplenty, but he's overall in a very very positive mood. John and I were somewhat apprehensive about how well he'd go to bed tonight, but we explained that Santa Claus doesn't show up when little boys are awake. He seemed to get this. He did, however, ask me who gave presents to Santa, and what kind of present would Santa like? I asked what he thought, and after a moment, he replied, in a serious, thoughtful tone, "Socks." Then, after a pause, "Maybe boots." I was very proud of him for thinking of this.

John's parents and aunts came over around the dinner hour to exchange gifts and to share in holiday cheer. They enjoyed watching the video of Jamie's Christmas concert, and all liked their gifts. Jamie and Liam received a wooden sandwich kit (Liam) and a marble race game (Jamie) from Tai-Tai and Ho-Ho and are very pleased with them. Jamie loves anything to do with marble racing or marble tracks, and Liam likes playing with the toy kitchen, so the gifts worked well for each. There was food, and more cookie decorating, and a good time was had by all.

We have all the presents under the tree; the Santa presents are laid out, and the stockings are stuffed. We wish you all a very happy holiday, and send you our warmest regards and best wishes for the day, whether you are Christmas celebrants or casual observers, and hope that you are as happy with your lives and loves as we are with ours.

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

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