Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 18

2008-01-08 33:05 (Kristen) Jamie came in and wished me a good morning, shutting the door gently behind him so that I wouldn't get disturbed by the morning rush. What a sweetie. Liam was up not too long after, I think, and we had a quiet morning before John took Liam with him to pick up Jamie at school. Today's discovery is that you can bake chocolate chip cookies with a Liam around if you do it in very small steps, and don't mind it taking a long time. Cookie dough is very forgiving.

We had lunch at Browning, and Liam was very tired by the time we were done. I need to give him more warning when it's time to leave now, and I definitely need to get him ready before he's too tired to listen. He has not enjoyed the stroller very much lately, and it's never certain if he'll happily sit or start to yell and fuss to be let out. Then it was back home to host a playdate with Jake. I am told that each boy wanted to host: possibly to show off new toys, and possibly because they wanted home turf. The afternoon went well enough, and John went to get Liam without incident, although Liam woke up when he got into the Second Cup for the first time in a while. John kept him entertained for a bit before bringing him home.

We ended up eating dinner at the Silk Road, because we had to go pout to the bank around 6:00, and it was too close to meltdown time if no food was forthcoming. The boys behaved well, and it was interesting for me to be alone with the two in a restaurant, if only for twenty minutes, while John went to the bank. I had enough toys and instruments of amusement, so we were fine. Both boys went to bed soon after we got home, and fell asleep without incident. However, Liam kept waking up in discomfort for a good part of the night, which is likely due to the last molar that's poking up through his gum, although John thought that his tummy might hurt.

2008-01-09 23:35 (John writes:) Last night when the evil spirits possessed Liam [Kristen translates: Liam is athletic for a restless sleeper], he levitated up in the air into a pike position, flipped over into a bridge position, and did all sorts of things I never could get the hang of in gymnastics class. But he settled back down when I patted his back, albeit with his face smushed into the mattress in a partly collapsed downward dog.

(Kristen) My day started off by having Jamie come into the room and whisper to me that he was up and loved me with all his heart, then leave and quietly close the door after him so that Liam and I wouldn't be disturbed. What a sweet boy! Liam was up soon after, and full of beans. Jamie had been dragging his feet, and was in dire danger of being late (he was very upset to realize that was the result of dawdling), but John reports that they managed to just make it on time. Liam and I had breakfast and then headed out with John and Jamie as they went to the dentist. We had suspected that Jamie had a cavity, but it turns out to be some sealant from when he had oral surgery two years ago. Whew! Liam and I played with our friends at University of Toronto Press for an hour, and had a lovely time. Liam was remarkably social and well behaved, and likes Avril and her squirrel puppet Very Much now.

After we left, Liam slept for a restless hour spent coughing intermittently. He woke up in Indigo, and we beat a hasty retreat to the food court to share some California roll and edamame. He'd fallen asleep before lunch, so I wasn't all that surprised (if somewhat disappointed) that he hadn't slept for longer. He was calm and happy, eating seated on my lap, and content to go shopping for a duvet cover with me (an activity I can make into an Event of Earthshattering Importance, complete with item exchanges, angst, and self-recrimination). John and Jamie swung by to pick us up, and we made it home in time for me to meet with a client. John looked after the kids, and then it was my turn. They enjoyed the new Backyardigans DVD (we have them all now!) that Liam chose with his Christmas money from Auntie Millie. Liam is very very much into the Backyardigans, in case we haven't made that explicit. He points them out all the time, and grabs DVD cases to discuss the fact that they are on the case and on the television at the same time. He does a remarkable job of making himself understood, for a boy whose vocabulary consists of "Bu!" and "Mmmh!" and pointing.

Gary played with Jamie for a bit, and Liam got progressively more tired. The boys were up and into the bath around 8:30, and Jamie fell asleep more or less instantly at 9:10, when the lights went out. Liam is coughing again and having a tough time, and I hope that whatever is causing the cough gives it up and goes home.

2008-01-10 32:12 (Kristen) Liam woke up an hour earlier than I expected, around 8:00, which wasn't all that pleasant as I'd been working late. However, he was in that cheery, lovely, "you can't sell me because I'm so cute and happy" state, which was better than his "let's cry and have trouble sleeping" state, which he'd done around 1:30. Jamie had a doctor's appointment at 9:30, so he and John went off to that. Liam and I stayed home, ate breakfast, and did some chores before we went off to the library.

John is going to Kingston this weekend for a Scrabble tournament, and so I took Jamie and Liam to Hakobune to give him some time to rest and work on it. Jamie and his friends were playing "Wii Boxing" in the schoolyard, which involved much frantic flailing of arms and pushing of friends back and forth in a scrum. They were more gentle about it than they could have been, I suppose, but there was much parental supervision and head shaking, and a bit of laughing when they realized what the game was called. I suspect that Jamie was behind the naming of it in some way. We went to Hakobune, and I fed Liam two mini empanadas from the Big Carrot for his lunch. He was suspiciously chipper, and took a relatively long time to fall asleep. He slept for only an hour and a bit, and then was back up, raring to go. We walked back to Hakobune, and I let him walk a bit of the way until we were in danger of being late, and then we had the stroller fight for a minute before he gave in and let me push him there.

We played with Jamie at Hakobune, came home without incident, and spent a quiet rest of the day. Gary was not feeling well, and so we had both kids for the night. We played Jamie's new Kids of Catan game (Jamie won), and the boys fell asleep very quickly in the same bed. A little later, we heard a noise from Jamie. He had woken up and was trying to call us as softly as he could for help going to the bathroom, frantic to pee, but not wanting to wake his brother up as he called for help. What a sweet boy.

2008-01-11 24:48 (Kristen) It was a normal day: Jamie got up and went to school, and Liam and I stayed home for the morning. My friend Jennie dropped by around 11:30 for coffee, and read Liam some books, which he enjoyed. He would have liked the coffee too, but we drew the line at that. Around 1:00, after a bite of lunch, Liam signed to me that he wanted to go out. He makes a motion on his chest, like a zipper going up and down, to indicate his coat, and wanting to go outside. This is his own sign, and it's a good and effective one. He also grabs his boots, and tries to put him on in case it's not clear what he wants.

He fell asleep soon after we left the house, and stayed asleep for about two and a half hours. I brought him home after he woke up, and he went upstairs to look for John and Jamie, and was quite disappointed when they weren't there. He was happy to see them come home soon afterwards, and the boys played and did homework (well, Jamie did) before we went to Browning for dinner. The boys played, and ate dinner, and Tom tells me that after about five weeks of trying, Liam can now operate a Beyblade on his own. This is a heavy top operated by a plastic ripcord that you have to thread through a release box just so. Liam is very stubborn and persistent, which makes me relieved in some ways when my day is spent entertaining a toddler whose attention span is all of five seconds in length on any particular activity or toy. Jamie and I had a lovely talk at dinner, and Jamie can now read a little reader in English entitled "Fox Hops." Yay, Jamie!

2008-01-12 23:31 (Kristen) There is nothing like your partner taking off for other parts to make you appreciate them. Not that I don't appreciate John, of course, and the boys have been good, but there is a comfort in knowing that you have backup if you need it.

John left for Kingston this morning, as he's participating in and co-running the annual Montreal vs Toronto Scrabble match there this weekend. He dropped Jamie off at Japanese school, and headed on. I woke up around 9:00, with Liam, and got us dressed and out the door to pick up some groceries from the St. Lawrence Market. We had a lovely chat with Nupur, picked up the rest of the food, and got a quick browse in at Nicholas Hoare Books before going up by subway to get Jamie. Liam and I established that the Ranleigh St. exit is not suitable for people with strollers, but we managed with some help from Mariko's (one of Jamie's classmates) mom, who arrived at the same time. Jamie was bright eyed and shining as he ran out of class to meet us, and we had a lovely trip back home to drop off the groceries.

Once we got home, however, Jamie started to droop. Liam, after inhaling three pakoras, was tired, and so I put him to bed for a nap while Jamie and I vegged downstairs. We had planned to go to the ROM today, but it soon became clear that today was not the day to do it. When Liam woke up (badly) around 4:10, I suited up both boys and took them down to the Danforth for a rice krispie square (the carrot) and ingredients for dinner (the stick, as Jamie vigorously averred that he does not like grocery shopping). We had a good time at the Second Cup, and the boys were good but starting to lose it at Alex Farms on the way home. The walk home was long, as Jamie was tired and complained the entire way. I managed to keep him perked up most of the time, however. When we got home, he was upset that Gary wasn't around, but Liam and he (who were getting along well earlier) played a little and got on each other's nerves a little.

After dinner, we played for a little before it was time for bed. Jamie was very close to blithering (John reported that Jamie was up early this morning, around 7:45, which is a little early for him), and Liam was doing his best to annoy his big brother by using Jamie's head as a drum, etc. The acme of this behaviour was when we were in the bath and Liam poured a small cupful of water onto his brother's face when Jamie was having his hair washed. Not so very good. Liam has responded to all admonitions with maniacal laughter, so that wasn't so good either. Jamie fell asleep two seconds after his head hit the pillow. I was trying to read my favourite book of Greek myths from my childhood to Jamie as a bedtime story, but cut it short when the number of questions from Jamie passed 20 (who is that? the earth isn't a woman! it's a ball of rock! etc.) and I realized that I didn't want to explain Chronus eating his children just before lights out. Liam didn't fall asleep, but took a long time and some pain killer (that last molar [for now] is just breaking through) before he'd finally succumb to sleep. I'm soon for it, myself.

2008-01-13 23:18 (Kristen) The boys slept well last night, and we got up around 9:00. Liam was up and his usual relentlessly cheery self. I told him not to pounce on Jamie, who was just starting to stir, and Jamie sleepily said that it was all right for Liam to pounce. Liam joyfully did, and Jamie laughed, but then Liam was cut off and it was only one pounce per brother per morning. We went downstairs, and got started with the day. I had a lot of house cleaning to do, as John's parents were coming over for dinner, and the house really needed it. The boys were understandably off-kilter, as their dad was away overnight, and Jamie in particular was unable to do anything by himself. Every time I left the room for any reason, it was "Mom! Mom! Where are you?" Every few seconds, it was Mom! this and Mom! that...I seem to recall reading about this stage at some time or another...

I decided that I wasn't up to a long wait to get into the ROM, and anything else was pretty much beyond me. We stayed home and played, watched television, and managed somewhat well to get along without too much yelling. Liam was impervious to reason or reprimand, which made his long nap a good thing. Gary came up to play at one point, as did Ayami, and Gary provided us with our bilingual pun of the day (asked to identify the Japanese character 'no,' Gary guessed a number of other character names, to which Ayami and I were able to gleefully answer, truthfully, 'no!' Jamie thought it was very funny). Jamie is very sad that superheroes don't exist for real: he would really like to have his own shrink ray, I think, or know who to control the weather. His favourite Backyardigans episode is "Tower of Power," with superheroes in it. We were supervillains or superheroes today, depending upon Jamie's whim.

Liam is getting very explicit with his sign language, and has no qualms about making up signs as he needs them. Both boys were delighted to see their dad come home, and were stuck to him like glue. Liam explicitly signed to be picked up by John and held on his lap during dinner, which John dutifully did. Liam is also funny because he sat down tonight in the bathroom, after John cut a little of his hair, put out his hands and then his feet for a manicure and a pedicure. This boy hates having his teeth brushed, but adores having them flossed. He's getting quite fastidious. I have to hand him a wipe when I'm changing his diaper, because he's trying to clean himself while I do and it avoids messes getting onto his hands.

When John got home, Jamie (who doesn't get to play online games on my computer) said "I missed you, Papa, and your computer!" (he gets to play online games on John's computer). John's parents came over for their traditional "Hola, Mexico!" departure dinner, and everyone had a good time. The boys went to bed well, and fell asleep without too much incident. Tomorrow is back to school, and the start to another busy week.

(John) Kristen reminds me that Jamie was very tired in the bath and started crying at one point (because Liam got into the tub first). To cheer him up, we all started crying with him, including Liam (!), which led to Jamie laughing and crying simultaneously for a few minuts.

2008-01-14 32:38 (Kristen) I was up late, working, and so John took an exceptionally gleeful Liam with him and Jamie to school this morning. John then took Liam to the Second Cup, which made Liam very happy, before bringing him back home to me, around 9:30. I was woken up by a happy boy with very cold hands, as Liam had refusedto put his mittens on.

Jamie reports learning a vowel at school (short 'e', long 'e'), and John says that the game of "Wii Boxing" continues in the schoolyard. I am bemusedto report that if Jamie didn't make that game up, he certainly christened it. Lunch was at Browning, and Jamie revealed his new video game obsession, Adventure Quest (referred to as 'Ian's game', because he first saw Ian play it in Kingston, I think). He's starting to get good at it, because he's been forced to play a lot of it by himself as people were getting dinner ready tonight, darn it, instead of helping him play his game.

Jamie and I spent a good part of the afternoon goofing around together, as he still really doesn't like to do anything by himself, or be alone for any length of time. John came home with Liam, who slept as long as Ken had him for his walk, but woke up the moment John arrived at the Second Cup, after him and Ken. It must be John's voice that cues him to wake up: Dad's here, time for fun! Or something like that. We played until it was time to go to Browning to make dinner, where the usual good time was had. Jamie and Liam had a great time playing, and both boys ate good-sized meals. We all went to bed a little late, and Jamie had trouble sleeping and Liam had some difficulty staying asleep.

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

Back to Vol. 2 No. 17, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 2 No. 19.