Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 17

2008-01-01 24:48 (Kristen) Jamie came in a little after 9:30 or so, needing company in the bathroom. It was an overcast day, with a good deal of snow coming down, and he decided that it was too dark without the light. I had to disturb Liam to get up, and that was that: two boys awake, one less than pleased mom. We stayed upstairs for a bit, doing laundry and watching Anpanman videos on John's computer, then went downstairs for breakfast. Liam decided that he really wanted to eat on my lap, and to not sit in the highchair, despite my firm assurances that boys who don't sit in their highchairs don't get to eat breakfast. Finally, he went off rather than eat. Stubborn cuss. Jamie ate breakfast, and we got our day underway.

John had called Daniel and Ross to ask them to help build a snow fort, but it was decided that a snowman was a better idea. Jamie went outside and Liam stayed inside with me. Becky had really wanted to play in the snow with Jamie, and even shovelled the driveway, sidewalk, and the neighbour's side too. She also did the dishes, which makes me wonder if she's trying to convince us to not send her home at all. Much fun was had by all, which included the de rigeur snowball fight. Jamie came in all covered with snow, and the merriment that followed (as Daniel, Ross, and Becky came in too) eventually woke up a napping Liam. In the meantime, hot chocolate was drunk, and pastries sent over from the wedding of our neighbour's son, Paul, were eaten with gusto.

Jamie saw Gary for a bit, and Liam saw Ayami, but the boys spent the balance of the rest of the day after 4:00 with me, John, and Becky. Liam was not in a great mood, but did finally consent to sit in his highchair and eat in the afternoon. Jamie wanted someone, anyone, to play with him and his Lego toys, but I instead spent a good deal of time searching for a missing piece to his new Naboo fighter. Sigh. We had frozen pizza for dinner, and Jamie nearly fell asleep during dessert. We took this as a sign to get the boys to bed, but Jamie still didn't fall asleep until 10:00. Liam was up and down, but is mostly down. I would like to be down too.

2008-01-02 24:50 (Kristen) Once again, we are delighted that Becky is here because (other than the obvious that she is our niece and we like her) she is rilly* rilly* (like, Oh My Gawd) helpful with the boys (who, of course, adore her). This evening, Liam decided that he didn't need to sleep until midnight. Becky watched him at one or two critical intervals, allowing me to do small things that made my life much easier. Brilliant! She's not going home, oh so sorry, not.

Today, we ate osechi*, which is special Japanese New Year's food. We normally eat it on New Year's Day, but one of John's aunts was ill, and it worked out better today. John took Becky and the boys to pick up the food (and to drop off some what we made) from his aunts and his parents, and then we ate together with Gary and Ayami. I had been thinking hard about taking the boys to the ROM with our friend Leslie and her son Simon, but that fell by the wayside after John reported that the ROM had a long outside lineup to get in, and it was -10 C outside. Brrr. Next week. Liam was tired, and slept for over three hours in the afternoon. I woke him up around 5:30, which may explain why he wasn't asleep before midnight. Grrr. Tomorrow, he naps earlier, or gets woken up earlier. Grrr.

Liam is now, officially, our early warning system. Twice today, he notified us of a problem so that we could fix it. It's good to know that he understands that if his fireman's hat is full of water that dripped down from the plants above when they were overwatered earlier this week, he'll bring us the hat so that we can figure out that we're supposed to clean it up. There's a lot going on behind those big brown eyes. It balances off his desire to destroy everything he touches. Right now, he's pulling all the DVDs off the shelf again, but does so with *purpose*, as he wants to watch them and point out what he sees on the case. He ate lots of osechi (Jamie wasn't so fond of it this year; unsure why), and read lots of books. Jamie played Wing Island, played with Gary and Ayami, and played with Becky (who is Jamie's personal slave, if he gets asked about it). Jamie's missing school, I think, and is having boredom issues. I need to get a playdate set up, pronto.

2008-01-03 24:22 (Kristen) Liam was up before 8:00 this morning (by a few minutes), which was a rude surprise for me. I was sure that he'd sleep in after going to bed so late last night, but no dice. I brewed extra coffee and managed. Liam was fine. He went to get Jamie, who was just waking up too, and we were off and running. Housework was done, kids were fed, and Jamie enjoyed waking Becky up around 10:30. I got Jamie to help me make the rice--I usually get one child or the other to help me, now--and explained the importance of the job. He seemed pleased to be able to help. Jamie and I built the Lego emergency fire vehicle and cart that he received for Christmas, which he enjoyed immensely (and I did too). Liam ordered Becky about. We had lunch, and then Becky, Jamie, John, and Liam headed out to the Second Cup while I stayed home to clean with Trifina, and to get some paying work done.

They came back around 4:30, and John reported that Liam slept for a long time. He also says that Jamie is finished his Japanese school homework, and is ready for school on Saturday (that will be a hard awakening, as we're used to crawling out of bed quite late during these holidays). I asked Jamie if he'd read a book with me, and he nearly broke my heart when he told me that reading was boring. I realized that it meant that he didn't want to have to read anything himself, and told him that he could tell me if it was boring only at the end. He ended up enjoying himself (as I thought), and I am more resolved than ever to make sure that we have more reading time together. The boys romped and snacked, and watched A Bug's Life before we went to Browning for dinner.

We were going, ostensibly, to game. Jamie and Liam played with Ross, Kelly, and Gary, although Liam did demand and receive a reasonable amount of Tom time. The boys ate pizza, and neither boy was particularly interested in going home. Liam was getting too tired by this point, and I just put him to bed. Jamie had his bath, another bedtime book (his choice), and then fell asleep wrapped in his new Backyardigans blanket from Auntie Jennie and Uncle Dooit.

Liam continues to be dead stubborn, but is starting to learn that we do try to give him information that explains our otherwise arbitrary actions. In fact, I am trying to explain more and more to Liam, and he's picking it up by and large, in his usual intelligent manner. If he doesn't agree, or he's tired, however, all bets are off and he's going to argue with me, head on. That's my boy. He also continues to learn by imitation: he had the Wii controller carefully held tonight, with the wrist strap on as he waved it in front of the television, happy as anything as others played. Jamie has been very sweet today, and a pleasure (as always) to be around, although both boys have had their moments of utter insanity. Papa, however, is not allowed to be crazy, he says. There are always different rules for your parents than for other people.

2008-01-04 25:17 (Kristen) Liam was up around 8:00, and woke up Jamie about twenty minutes after that. The boys and I roamed downstairs until it was time to get Becky up at 10:15, when they both pounced upon her with great delight. The morning passed with two crazy tired boys, and the decision was made that we had to get out of the house before Liam tried to open another present that wasn't his, and Jamie tried to spend the day opening leftover presents that were his. Both boys melted down at least once (and I was feeling a little runny about the edges myself), and I managed to get lunch into them before we headed out the door. John was to get the car from his parents' house so that we could drive to the Indigo at Bay and Bloor, but was delayed by many people on the way. Liam finally fell asleep on my shoulder at 1:45 (note to Grammie that this is still possible, after all). We managed to successfully get him into the car about 2:20, and Jamie fell asleep too on the way to the store. John stayed in the car in the parking garage, as he took advantage of the quiet kid time to work, and Becky and I wandered the Manulife Centre, buying books and taking Second Cup orders.

We got back to the car a little time after the boys woke up (and they were asleep, in total, for about two hours). We did some grocery shopping, which went well, and then over to Browning for Friday night dinner and gaming. The boys were doing well, but it was clear at 9:00 that it was definitely Time To Go. We got the kids home, and I bathed them and put them to bed so that John could meet a deadline (although John did some and talk to us while we were in the bath). Liam was asleep in the middle of the bedtime story, but Jamie was awake for longer than I expected, but not too much longer, given his long nap. The boys are still asleep together in bed, and I'm putting off moving Liam as long as I can.

2008-01-05 25:35 (Kristen) We all got up early this morning; me to take Becky and Liam to the bus depot, and John and Jamie to go to Nisshu Gakkuin. Liam, miracle of miracles, slept for five and then six hour stretches, which means that he slept the best night he's slept in ages. Hooray! Too bad I had insomnia (sigh). We put him tobed with Jamie again tonight to see if that's the magic bullet, and it does seem to be helping.

After we dropped Becky off at the bus station and saw her on the bus (with much regret), John, Liam, and I went to the market. I did a little work at the Second Cup, and then Liam came and played with me while John closed his eyes for a few minutes (John: my recollection differs in that I remember falling asleep waiting for Liam to get ready to go back outside, but to an external observer that amounts to the same thing, I suppose). Liam was in an exceptionally good mood all day (must have been the good night's sleep...), and he was exploring, listening to me when I told him not to touch or go certain places, and laughing with pure glee the whole way. We went home and Liam went to sleep around 12:30, while John was out picking up Jamie. Liam slept for about two hours, while Jamie and I had a lovely afternoon. I think that Becky is going to miss having Jamie come upstairs and say "It's time to play with me now!" Jamie and I read a book, soaked rice together, and played with his new marble run game. He really likes the Lego that he got for Christmas, too, and has been cycling through the gifts he received, like the dinosaur stamp set that Badger and Jeanette gave to him.

We got the boys out again late in the afternoon to go on an errand to Home Hardware for a new burner for our stove (it's been broken for a while, but John had a great idea that worked to fix it. Yay, John!). We stopped off for pizza (Jamie's new favourite food) on the way home, and then John and Jamie played some Desktop Tower Defence while Liam and I watched Backyardigans and did this and that. The boys went to bed well, and have stayed asleep. Liam hasn't even woken up for his usual "it's been ten minutes to an hour, time to nurse back to sleep" nurse. Wow.

(John) Jamie, who is either hypersensitive to discomfort or (more likely) quick to complain of it, yelled "Ow!" in the bath as the washcloth brushed his ear. I told him that "Ow!" means that something hurts, and that that didn't hurt. He said "Well, it made it itchy!" I told him we had no word for that concept in English, and asked "Is there a word for it in Blah Language [his ongoing outrageous idiolect project]?" Without missing a beat he yelled "Ow!" and then we both dissolved into laughter.

2008-01-06 17:30 (John) I have retroactively added two photos of Jamie, taken by Debbie Ohi at Reid and Luisa's New Year's Eve party. Thanks, Debbie!

2008-01-06 23:21 (Kristen) I'm not sure what time both boys were up, but as Jamie came in to be with us (I'd moved me and Liam from the white to the green room around 2:00 AM), both boys were up and moving before nine. I was feeling raggedy, and John was too, so the morning was spent with more television than, perhaps, was good for us all. I made lunch a little early, but Liam was already exhausted and wanting to nap, so between him melting down while we tried to get food into him, and Jamie melting down for his own reasons, I was feeling less than maternal by the time it was all over. Liam also managed to bash John in the face, taking his father out for ten minutes while John made sure his orbital ridge was still intact. Chew head versus Chew face: ouch. John, to ensure that our children were not sold on eBay or left on the front verge to be picked up with the recycling, took the boys out for an hour to the Second Cup. Surprisingly, given the yelling and signs of fatigue he had showered us with, Liam did not sleep. He and Jamie alternated riding in the stroller on the way down, and this made for a much longer walk, John reports. If Jamie was walking along an icy snowbank, his brother (apparently) has to do it too.

When they came home, around 2:30, I took Liam upstairs and nursed him to sleep. Jamie went to play with Gary and Ayami, and it was a quiet two hours. I woke Liam up at 5:10 because I wanted him to sleep tonight, and it was a good move on my part. He didn't eat much dinner (Jamie liked the stirfried greens with shiitake mushrooms, surprise! Joy!), although he had done some earlier grazing, and ended up eating a lot of tofu, salmon, spinach, and rice at 9:30. I finally got him to sleep a little after 10:00. I handed him to Gary and Ayami for a short time while I got his food together, because sometimes life is just better for everyone if I get a moment to get it together. Tomorrow, Jamie starts school again, and i think that he has really missed it, and his friends. I'll be happy to start being on a regular schedule again.

2008-01-07 22:56 (Kristen) Jamie slept very badly last night, which is unusual. He kept waking up and asking John to turn over so that he could see John's face, and complaining of nightmares. We think that he was just keyed up about getting back to school. He was fine this morning, and went to school without too much difficulty. He reported having a great day, and that he really likes his teacher. I think that he really missed his friends over the two weeks he was off school. Liam and I went and did some shopping, and came back to Browning in time to meet everyone else for lunch.

Jamie had fun playing Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii with Ross, and kept playing after Ross left for school. Eventually, Ken took Liam and John took Jamie home while i went to the Second Cup to wait for Liam and Ken. Liam slept for two and a half hours, which was great. Jamie and John seem to have had a good time together, and we all trouped off to Browning again for dinner. The boys played well, but were very wound up, Jamie in particular. Tempers were starting to fray when we left at 8:30, but we got the kids into the bath with nothing beyond the ordinary fussing, and both fell asleep by a little after 9:00. Liam is, once again, in bed with Jamie and sleeping well for it so far.

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

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