Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 19

2008-01-15 25:41 (Kristen) Last night, I worked late and had a REM cycle but not much more. I heard from John that Jamie had a very disturbed night, and so he and John both were sleep-deprived, as I was too. Liam was the only one of us perky and cheerful, by and large, all day. I think that the combination of little to no dental pain and being able to better communicate with us through sign and observation (on the part of the parental units) has made him a much happier boy, and we're seeing a return to the sweet personality that he had before his teeth started to cause him agonies. Not that he's any less liable to climb up on furniture and body surf from the blue chair to the couch to the ground, or out-stubborn anyone in the room, but he's happy and easier to reason with. That's only good.

Jamie's classroom got some phonics readers, and they're being sent home with each of the kids. Jamie can read them, but doesn't like the effort. I asked him what would happen if he could read, and John and I managed to engage him with thoughts of being able to read his own video game screens instead of having to wait for us to read them out for him. However, he still finds Japanese easier to read, and can tear through a sentence with surprisingly natural speed.

Liam slept for three hours in the afternoon, and Jamie had fun playing with Jake. There was much laughter and outright giggling as they played in Jake's new tent, coloured with markers (Jamie got some on his sweater, but pronounced it 'beautiful'), and played hide and seek. The evening was quiet, with Jamie doing some Nisshu Gakkuin homework and Liam drawing with his own pencil. Jamie wanted to play Adventure Quest, which requires payment of $20 if you want to avoid the server backup, and wanted to know why we weren't just whipping out our wallets for that one. He was very tired but Liam was not, and so Liam fell asleep finally an hour after his brother. More exercise after the nap, I think, next time.

2008-01-16 32:11 (Kristen) It was the usual sort of morning, and the usual sort of day to start: Jamie got up and went to school, and Liam and I spent the morning together doing this and that. Liam and I had a late breakfast and a small early lunch, and I tried to get him to sleep at home but with no luck. The boy really wanted to go outside. So, we suited up and he slept for a bit over two hours in the stroller. I worked at the Second Cup, and all was well.

The evening was noteworthy for how nice it was. The boys ate good dinners, and we didn't fight. Liam had a tantrum just before bed, but it was a sign of fatigue and we just went off to the bath at that point. Before then, we spent the evening playing quietly in the train room: Liam cycled through toys, Jamie played with his Lego, and I stayed and talked with both boys. It was really nice. We also read from two books that I bought for Jamie today, one on paintings and how they can tell stories (by Quentin Blake) and one on animals. John tells me that Jamie insisted on bringing three Exoforce toys upstairs to watch him play Adventure Quest this morning because they would like it. Jamie, with some encouragement, read his second phonics story from school, which was great. I'm also told that Jamie got John to stop and get him a rice krispie square on the way to Hakobune, which (our favourite barista told me) excited Jamie no end because rice krispie squares were his favourite. It sounds like it was pretty cute.

The boys went to sleep peacefully and without fuss, and for once Liam paid attention to the two stories that I told to Jamie. I'm learning how to include Liam in the tellings, which I am sure helps. Liam had trouble sleeping through the night, waking up screaming multiple times, and I don't really know the reason. Nightmares? Final bits of tooth? Gas? He finally settled down when I came to bed, for the most part, and slept in the crook of my arm and across my chest for most of the night.

2008-01-17 21:05 (John) I think it's been a week or so since I've had a reasonable night's sleep. Everyone else in the family seems tired too, with the who's-tiredest crown passing from one head to another from moment to moment.

Jamie woke up reasonably smoothly in the morning. Since he's become hooked on online single-player role-playing games like AdventureQuest and MechQuest (um, thanks, Auntie Alice), it's been a lot easier to motivate to him to do things. There's not much he won't hop to for a Rice Krispie square and some rounds of Meka combat. I got him out of bed by telling him I'd figured out how to buy new equipment in MechQuest (you can walk to the left from the starting screen, duh), and had equipped our giant robot with a laser and a rocket launcher. It's a wonder he made it down to breakfast.

Liam was up and joined us for breakfast, though he was as usual not hungry first thing in the morning. He had me make him some tamago-no-gohan so that he could pick out and eat just the umeboshi, then some raspberries and yoghurt so that he could experiment with its tactile properties. At one point, Jamie coughed without covering his mouth, and Liam looked at him and demonstrated proper technique into his flexed cubital fossa.

After a bit of clean-up, I took both the boys to school in the wagon. Liam really likes that, it should go without saying. He'll be going to Hakobune come March, and would be happy to be in junior kindergarten himself if he were old enough (and perhaps toilet-trained). I remembered to bring Liam and the wagon home (last week I left the wagon in the schoolyard overnight one groggy morning; Kristen has nightmares about forgetting Liam), and closed my eyes for five minutes until it was time to go back to school.

Today was my first day as a parent volunteer. Mrs. Schofield has the kids baking this week and next, so for an hour I was supervising Jamie, Jake, Sam, Lauren, Neve and Kara making mini apple pies out of frozen dough, apples, margarine and spices. I was pleasantly surprised that it was only about twice as challenging as keeping Jamie focused on a task, and no one was injured in the process. Dylan's dad was the star though, not surprisingly given that he manages a restaurant for a living.

I closed my eyes for five minutes, then took Jamie to Hakobune by car. I had offered to leave early so that we would have time to stop for a Rice Krispie square, but he opted to play with his friends instead, then predictably asked if we could stop anyway. Fortunately, the debate on this issue was calm, and stayed so until we arrived at day care.

Meanwhile, Kristen took Liam to Browning for lunch, and Ken took Liam out for his nap walk while Kristen worked, meeting up with them again at the Second Cup. When I went back to pick up Jamie after my own afternoon errands, Jamie was acting very, very tired. I played with all the kids for a while, everyone making Meka out of various types of blocks, although the girls were then playing dress-up with the robots. Jamie melted down badly when it was time to go, and I thought he was going to fall asleep in the car. We made it home awake though, and I passed out for two hours while Kristen and later Gary kept the kids somewhat amused.

Jamie was too tired to eat much for dinner, but Liam made up for it by eating twice as much. Jamie and I played a little AdventureQuest and then started getting ready for the bath when Liam started to melt down. Both kids were asleep by 21:00, a recent record, and I shudder to think of when Jamie is going to wake up in the morning, so I'm off to bed soon myself. Liam woke up around 21:15, caught me eating a midnight snack and ate what would normally be another meal and a half. Kristen is running him around downstairs right now trying to figure out why he won't sleep.

2008-01-18 24:35 (Kristen) Liam fell asleep around 12:30, after much convincing, and woke up around 9:30 this morning. I can only assume that he was hungry, and that's why he didn't stay asleep, but as he'd eaten a regular meal for dinner I am at a loss to understand why. John had taken Jamie to school, and the morning sounded like it went well but for a forgotten library book, which meant no new library book for Jamie this week. He was somewhat upset by this, and so we must remember in future to make double sure that his library book is in his backpack on Fridays.

I took Liam out for a walk to go to sleep, and went to the Starbucks near Jamie's daycare as I was the one to pick him up today. Liam woke up just as I was sitting down with my coffee and croissant, and that was that. He'd been asleep for just under an hour, and I took him to Knox Church to run around and have a nurse (one of many he had today). We went upstairs to play a bit before leaving (who knew that the daycare was so full of ninja?). Jamie and I made a paper airplane, and had fun with it, and Liam enjoyed playing with the kitchen. There was another boy his age there, and Liam eyed him nervously before they settled down to parallel play. Liam will start going to Hakobune on Fridays at the beginning of March, and I'm very curious to know how he's going to like it without me or Jamie around.

We had a pee break before we went (Jamie decided that he needed to pee only after being fully suited up in his coat and snow pants), then stopped for another one (full suit removal again) before we reached the bubble tea store. We got our tea, chatted with Michelle the owner, and then raced to Browning as it was after 5:00, and where did the time go? Jamie and Liam had fun playing, ate a reasonable dinner, and left with little fuss. Tom, who had been working late, arrived just as we were leaving, and walked Liam home. This was good, as Liam had a look on his face when Tom arrived of "oh, you're here, but we're leaving, isn't that sad?" and eyes full of hope that this might not actually be so.

Bedtime went smoothly, and all is well tonight. Orange was the colour to wear today, as all the cool kids were wearing it. Liam, I am sure, said "achi" for "achi-chi" (hot), but no one else heard it. Jamie continues to grow, and have a wonderful imagination. He told me that he wished his name was Thomas, because it was his favourite word. Certainly his polar bear companion's name is Thomas, as is a particular tank engine. Liam is watching "Kiki's Delivery Service," as well as Pokemon (Pikachu!) and much Backyardigans. I think that two weeks in Mexico will have a good effect on both boys.

2008-01-19 26:35 (Kristen) Jamie spent most of the day playing video games with either Daniel and Ross or Gary. Liam now knows how to launch his own Beyblade for 60 seconds. Yay, Liam! He's been working at it. Liam and I slept in until 10:00, long after Jamie and John raced out the door to Nisshu Gakkuin. The evening was quiet, but Liam had trouble falling asleep. He's having trouble staying asleep, and is sometimes tucked up under my chin for comfort.

(John) Jamie slept in too, and we managed to make it out the door in a miraculous 15 minutes. Of course, then we had to go back in for a visit to the bathroom, but even so, and allowing time for Jamie to finish eating his breakfast in the car, we weren't the last ones to arrive at Japanese school. I went to do the shopping at the farmers' market, while everyone I met commented on how odd it was to see me without small children. I picked up Kristen and Liam on the way home, took them first to Water Sports on Yonge to buy Kristen some new snorkelling gear, then to pick up Jamie. When we got home, Kristen took Liam out for his nap walk, and I took Jamie over to Browning to play another tome worth of Bookworm for the entertainment of Daniel, Ross and Jamie. Kristen made dinner and it looked like everyone was going to fall asleep early, but Jamie stretched it out until his usual 21:45 and Liam was still going strong when I passed out.

2008-01-20 25:38 (Kristen) Someone woke us up at 8:00 by dialing a wrong number, which I didn't appreciate. Liam took it with his usual maniacal good grace, and we were up and running. I got breakfast into him, and Jamie ate too, and then we packed ourselves up to go out. John took Liam to Loblaws around 11:00, and Liam apparently had a good time there. He hoovered four California rolls (six, but the actual contents of four made it in), and promptly fell asleep after squawking. Augh. It was a little before noon, and John came back to get me and Jamie to go and have lunch with Peter, Leslie, and Simon. Both of our boys were happy to see Simon and play with him (and all his new cool toys), and Simon seemed happy to see us too. The boys were raggedy around the edges by the time we left (Jamie, in particular, was having a somewhat challenging day), but we detoured at La Paloma for very yummy gelato before heading home. Both boys fell asleep in the car this time (it was 5:00 in the afternoon! Augh!) but Jamie woke up when brought into the house to pee (he'd warned us just before he'd fallen asleep that this was a dire need), and Liam slept for about 50 minutes.

The evening was calm, and Jamie went to sleep before Liam did, again. Liam was asleep around 10:00 and has only woken up badly twice. Ugh. I wonder if he's having nightmares. I should note that Liam is beginning to understand that kids his size and age can be fun. On Friday he was a little nervous around another Hakobune little sibling, but he was happy when Jade (a little girl around three months younger than him) insisted on holding hands and 'chatting' at the Second Cup yesterday Today at La Paloma, he was enjoying running around with two little kids just a month or two younger than him. He smiles now, and tries to interact. It's a very good thing, and swift. Jamie and Liam are both very television and/or video game obsessed, and I'm looking forward to Mexico in order to break that particular spell.

2008-01-21 23:34 (Kristen) I am reminded that when I don't take Liam out in the morning that he just wants to watch television. I had a deadline, and so I let Liam sit and watch a few episodes of Backyardigans and some Totoro while I worked away on my laptop nearby. In the end, one morning of the television as babysitter isn't going to scar him (I hope), and I'm much better to be around now that I have that particular project off my metaphorical and literal desk. We were all a bit tired today, and John says that he had a hard time getting Jamie out of bed. He took the volunteer shift at the school so that I could work, and I'll go on Friday, presumably to help bake the raisin scones as John has helped make the strawberry muffins and apple pie (the three things they've been baking). John has reported the quirks of each child in the group, and so I hope that I'll be ready. The most important things are make sure that each child helps (lots of spoons to load up the cups) and make sure that no unauthorized ingredients make it in (what was that white stuff that Jake added? likely salt...).

After lunch at Browning, Ken took Liam, and John and I took Jamie home to his playdate with Jake. Jake won't be at school tomorrow, so we had an impromptu playdate today. Jamie and Jake had a hard time agreeing to do things at the same time, but mostly had a good time. I played a bit of Marble Blast with Jake, who had been looking forward to it, as Jamie first put off and then abandoned the game he had promised to play with Jake. Jamie has been pushing some boundaries lately, and experimenting with much four-year-old potty humour and with ignoring the things that he doesn't want to hear with a "so what?" comment (just once, and he was quite caught out on it). Please say that it's just fatigue or a stage... Liam slept for three hours, John says, and was a bundle of happy energy when Jamie and I met up with him and John at Browning around 5:00. Jamie and I had had fun reading books together before we went over, which made up for a lot of less pleasant time together lately.

Michelle and Tom had a house guest from Australia, Terry, who visits once every few years and we were glad to see. Jamie and Liam both had fun playing hide-and-go-seek, and other games with Terry and Michelle, and a good time was had by all. The boys were tired by the end, and I had to cut short my time playing Hearts by one round to attend to a tired and increasingly cranky Liam. By the time we got home (Liam detests leaving Browning) and claimed Jamie back from Gary, it was after 9:00. Both boys were bathed and in bed by 9:45, but Liam had a little trouble falling asleep. He stayed in bed and finally nursed himself under, however, which was a relief. I will now get myself reaady for bed and be asleep earlier than I have in weeks. Yay!

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

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