Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 28

2008-03-18 11:00 (John) Liam used to like watching the Fisher-Price ABC song (with me loudly correcting the pronunciation of the letter zed), but lately he's been wanting to type the way he sees Mom and Dad. I set him up in TextEdit, with the caps lock button on and in a relatively large font size, and he enjoys seeing the correspondence between the letters he types and what appears on the screen, and even knows how to use the delete button and cursor arrows. I was surprised today though when I asked him to type his favourite letters (O and W) and he was able to do so without hesitation.

2008-03-18 24:25 (John) Haruka came by to play with Liam for the morning. He was okay for up to an hour or so at a time, then would come looking for us to play with one of us for five or ten minutes, just to make sure he could. Jamie had a good morning at school, and asked again if more friends could come over and play today, not just Jake. Apparently, a lot of his classmates have been talking about getting together for larger playdates, as soon as one of their parents loses their mind.

We had lunch at Browning. Gary was there and feeling better. It turns out that he didn't have pneumonia after all, just a really bad case of Coxsackie virus that Liam had two weeks ago, complete with rash and acute neuralgia. Liam didn't eat too much for lunch, and bawled his eyes out again at the thought of going out for a walk with Ken, but fell asleep within the first two blocks as usual.

Jake, Charlie and Michelle came over for their playdate. I went to meet Liam and Ken at the Second Cup. Liam woke up as soon as he heard my voice; he sleeps so lightly now. Daniel came to meet us and Liam ate half of his carrot cake, having remembered what he'd done with his appetite. I took Liam home and subwayed to Caja to get my hair cut. Kristen followed with the boys an hour later to get hers done. They arrived at 17:00 and the boys were hungry, so at Jamie's somewhat expensive suggestion we went to Yamato for teppanyaki with my aunts. The boys ate their money's worth though, finishing between them a complete order of vegetable soba, most of a California roll, an order of edamame, a scoop of ice cream, as well as a good deal of teppanyaki vegetables. They ran back and forth in the hall until they were exhausted, and I was surprised they managed to stay awake on the ride home.

Jamie played with Gary for half an hour before bed, delighted that Gary had ordered him a new Exoforce. Liam still screamed his refusal to bathe, but I think tonight it was mainly because he was so tired he just wanted to go straight to bed. Both boys fell asleep quite quickly.

2008-03-19 23:35 (Kristen) I am unsure as to why last night felt disturbed; Liam slept well after a certain point, although he spent a good part of the early morning clamped to me, as usual. We groggily flumped out of bed, and somehow got breakfast and everything else accomplished in time to get Jamie out the door. Liam insisted on going too, despite the fact that Haruka was due to arrive at 9:00, so we called her and asked her to meet John and Liam at the school yard. John called not long afterwards to say that Liam and Haruka were on the way home, and that Liam was Put Out. Not only did he not get a chance to swim...I mean play... in the sodden schoolground (it was very wet out), but John went a Different Way than him and Haruka when it was time to go home. John had to run an errand, and this was not acceptable to the smaller of our two sons. Haruka says that she stopped Liam by another child who was having a crying jag. Liam stopped crying himself to watch the other child, and was perfectly fine by the time they reached home.

They had fun playing with trains and changing the DVDs and video tapes in the living room, and Liam only needed to see me once or twice. He was not pleased to see Haruka leave, but we hope that she can come on Friday for a playdate. We packed ourselves up to go and get Jamie, and headed off to Hakobune. Jamie was in a fine mood after a good day at Jackman, and Liam was Displeased, to say the least, that his brother got to go to Hakobune and he didn't. We managed to mollify him, and set off do run errands for an hour or so and to feed him pasta salad with broccoli and red peppers and olives. He didn't fall asleep at the Manulife, and John ended up driving around downtown longer than he intended in order to get Liam to fall asleep by 2:30. He ran into the Eaton Centre, Liam and I napped in the car, and we zipped off to get Jamie. Home again home again, and both kids were somewhat wild by the time dinner was ready at 6:00. We ate dinner with John, and then Jamie ran off to watch a little Japanese Pokemon before playing with Gary for the rest of the evening. I put Liam to bed a little early, as he was definitely exhausted and exhibiting Tired Behaviours, and went down to get Jamie afterwards. Jamie really appreciates it when I get to put him to bed without Liam around (or conscious, more properly). I remember when he would fall asleep every night tucked up into me, and fall asleep instantly. I think that he misses that intimacy betwen the two of us, and it's good to be able to let him feel that specialness when we can.

2008-03-20 23:37 (Kristen) Liam woke me up before 7:30, happy and chirpy like the birds outside, and made me get out of bed sometime around 7:45. John and Jamie soon followed, and we all got ready to go to our respective destinations: Jamie to Jackman, Liam and me to Hakobune, and John on his local errands. Liam and I walked with Jamie and then on with John, before arriving at Hakobune. Liam didn't even look at me as he ran off to play, and I left quietly as Mrs. Sasaki sat down beside him and talked with him. Apparently he got up a few times to run to the door and try to find us or go home, but was brought back easily and distracted. When I arrived at lunchtime, he looked up, saw me, and ran to me. I picked him up, and he buried his little face in my shoulder, but there were no tears. Apparently the second time is the hardest, but I'd say our little guy passed with flying colours.

He was happy as a lark soon afterwards, and was happy to see John and Jamie when they arrived, and ticked that he wasn't going back inside to play. He was mollified with pizza, and fell asleep soon afterwards. He slept for two hours, and woke up as we arrived back at the church to pick up Jamie. John was there too, and Liam was delighted to have a little more playtime before it was time to go. Jamie gave Yu-sensei a hug goodbye, as she is leaving to get married and move to Korea. I think that he'll miss her, as he talks about her frequently. They, apparently, had walked to the library and back, and the fresh air and exercise made Jamie sleepy. He slept from approximately 5 to 6 in the car with John while Liam and I went to Browning.

Jamie and Gary went home early to play video games (Gary is better), but Liam roamed around playing with Tom and Daniel as long as he could. Once home, Liam fell asleep almost right away but Jamie (surprise!) had a lot of trouble falling asleep and was awake until (I think) 11:00 or so.

2008-03-21 24:41 (Kristen) I found my brain behind a pile of clothes last night, and used it to close the blinds in the bedroom. Unsurprisingly, everyone slept in this morning in our nice, darkened room. This was a Good Thing, as John in particular fell asleep quite late last night. I was up around 8:15, and called Haruka to say that she shuld come at 9:30, not 9:00, because the kids weren't up. Jamie was up around 9:00, and I woke Liam up at 9:25. We fed them breakfast, and they quickly got into the groove of playing with Haruka, who arrived at 9:30. I got some work done, and John slept, and that was all well and good. Around 11:00, Haruka's friend Yumi arrived to meet the kids; she might be interested in doing some weekend babysitting if we need it, too. The noise started to grow downstairs soon after. And grow. And then it was the sound of thundering hooves across the plains, and shrieks of laughter, and I thought that gary and Ayami might not...ring ring ring. Sure enough, it was the basement tenant, wondering what in the hell was going on. Rather than be put out, however, he came up to play too, and they had fun teaching Jamie how to run without trying to drive his heels through the floor.

Because everyone was having fun, Haruka and Yumi ended up staying much longer than planned. I made lunch for everyone at 1:00, and the party broke up at 2:00 when I took Liam for his afternoon walk. Liam slept for two hours, and when he woke up we went to the bookstore. Jamie, on the other hand, was supposed to do some Nisshu Gakkuin work with John. Instead, he vanished with Gary, and didn't make it to the Second Cup until after 4:30. Liam and I went back to meet them, and we stayed there for a bit while John and Jamie did some work before playing at the playground across the street. Home for dinner, then to our friends Geoff and Derick's for Scrabble. Jamie and Liam had a good time, but we stayed a little longer than we should have; the boys were having a good time, but Jamie melted down when we were headed home, desiring everything that he couldn't have. We put the boys straight to bed, with some help from Gary, and while Jamie fell asleep right away, it was Liam who wouldn't settle. Liam had been in a beatific mood, rather than a melty one, so I'm not sure what the problem was. They are asleep now, and we'll be off to the Market early tomorrow, as it will be a madhouse and we need to buy eggs before everyone else does.

2008-03-22 24:23 (Kristen) Liam has, for the last week or so, been screaming bloody blue murder every time we try to put him into the bathtub. At first, we thought that he might have been upset that the water was too hot, and didn't want to repeat the sensation; then we thought that his diaper rash was bothering him, and so we waiting until that healed up. Last night, he screamed and screamed, and we were at a loss to explain why he didn't want to be in the bath: he had shown all the signs of wanting a bath, and we were perplexed. Tonight, we needed to wash the boys' hair, and so John got out, and let Jamie lie back in the bathtup so that I could wash Jamie's hair without getting in myself. Liam, who had been pulled in, quickly rinsed, and then deposited out, crying, perked up, and demanded to be put back into the tub. He and Jamie then played, happily, for about five or ten minutes until the water had drained out of the tub and Liam could be dragged from the empty bath. As Liam played in the water, John whispered to me, "It's me. I'm a bad dad." Jamie rushed to reassure him that he was a good dad, but it was clear that Liam has been kicking up a titanic fuss because he wants to be in the bath without parents. He is a fink.

The rest of the day was fine. Shopping was done; playing was accomplished. We ate dinner at Browning and had a 'pre-birthday' party for me, for which cake aws served and John made a cheese souffle. It was a good day, and the boys aren't too wound up about Easter because they don't really realize what is going to happen tomorrow, quite yet.

2008-03-23 32:16 (Kristen) Jamie woke up this morning, and after getting out of bed, looked at me sleepily and said "Is today Easter?" I said "yes." He then looked at me again, and said "Is today your birthday?" Again, I said "yes." He then said "Happy birthday, Mummy," and gave me a hug. This is why I have kids.

We got into the egg hunting around 9:30, despite the -3°C temperatures and all the knee-deep snow. Fortunately, the snow had a thick icy crust, and so the kids could run along the top of it to get to more eggs. There were nine kids all together: Jamie, Liam, Ross, Daniel, Sam, Ben, Luke, Molly, and Thomas. Alexandria came out late, but was sociable with us anyway. It took about twenty minutes for all the eggs to be found, and then John called me to say that there were more Easter presents in the back yard. He had hung up my birthday presents in gift bags on the branches of the trees in our back yard, and I was delighted. The boys came to watch, along with Daniel and Ross and Tom, and they all ended up playing in the snow in the back yard for another hour and a half (or so).

The boys all came in for lunch, and we ate a bit before getting ready to take Liam out for his afternoon nap. John and Jamie were sidetracked at the Jackman playground, and I later found out that they found Alison, with her daughters Genya and Toni, there too. They played hard while Liam slept and I drank coffee at the Second Cup (which is closing for renovations today, and will be shut until April 18th: what will we do?!). The store had a festive atmosphere, and Antonio, the owner, gave the kids cookies when they arrived. We left around 3:45 to go home, as John's aunts were coming over to make a birthday dinner for me, and we needed to get home. We got sidetracked at the playground again after finding Toni's mitten, and I took a slowly awakening Liam home first. John and Jamie arrived soon afterwards.

John's aunts arrived around 5:00, and brought much very yummy food with them. Both Jamie and Liam ate huge amounts of barbequed eel and rice, noodles, and broccoli. Jamie, however, couldn't hold out and fell asleep on my knee at the table at 6:30 (he would sleep through the night until 8:00 the next morning: hooray exercise!). Liam, however, made up for it by staying awake until close to 10:00. We spent the rest of the evening being pleasantly social with John's aunts, and then with Gary and Ayami after John's aunts went home. Liam forced Gary, Ayami, and me to play 'telephone' with rectangular blocks with semicircles taken out of them, which he thought looked like phones, for quite some time as he thought it was hilarious. He was really rather adorable.

2008-03-24 23:16 (Kristen) After sleeping for close to 13 1/2 hours last night, Jamie woke up complaining of nightmares that involved teeth. He's been having lots of nightmares, and I assume that some of them are attributable to his age (I remember being plagued by them at that age). Liam was the proverbial happy and burbling clam. The morning passed well enough, as Jamie roped John into building a surprisinglycomplicated Megablox set that Gary had found for Jamie that had a dragon and a rather Mordor-ish looking prison wagon with it as part of Megablox's "Dragons" series. Why is it that every toy for boys has to be at war with the other toys? *restrains self from launching into rant*

After lunch, it was clear that a trip out of the house was necessary. John and jamie stayed at the playground while I took a sleeping Liam for his afternoon walk. I ended up at the local Starbuck's, and wondered why I hadn't seen John after a while. It turns out that Daniel and Ross were coming home from lunch on the Danforth and got caught up in an enormous game of tag that lasted for about two hours with Jamie. Yay, exercise! I took Liam, who was still asleep around 4:00 (but had gone to sleep at 2:00) back towards home, and he woke up not long afterwards. He was very quiet until we got to Browning, and then he perked up.

It was a nice evening, including my birthday cake and a singing candle holder that the boys thought was weird but fun. I should point out that Jamie helped John to make the cake by mixing it, and Liam helped to decorate it. Yay, boys! Jamie took off with Gary to play video games, and Liam monopolized Tom. When we got home, and ready for the bath, Liam once again kicked up a fuss about getting into the bath with John and Jamie. John got out of the bath, just to make sure, and yep, Liam climbed in and happily played until all the water was out of the bath. "I suck as a dad!" John exclaimed, and claims to be crushed and despondent. We will experiment tomorrow to see if John is allowed back into the tub, or if he is in permanent exile. He has no idea what he's done; I think that it is just Liam asserting independence.

As an aside, it seems that Liam is starting to get his two-year molars now. He woke up crying tonight, and nursing didn't work in putting him back down. However, gum massage did. I hate teething, but much less than Liam does, I should think.

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

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