Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 34

2008-04-29 20:33 (Kristen) Jamie, Liam, and I woke up around 8:10 today after a good night's sleep. That was nice in and of itself. Jamie got off to school a little late, and was actually late for what might have been the first time. John came back with Liam, who got into various types of trouble all morning (spilling the watermelon juice left over in the container, that sort of thing), but managed to stay cute enough that I didn't give in to my baser impulses. Grrr. I sent him out with John to the schoolyard, and followed soon afterwards with Jamie's skating gear.

I was dreading skating class, as Jamie has started to take a serious dislike to it. I was thinking very hard about how to get him motivated again, and realized that he's been spending most of his time alone on the ice. He and Jake haven't been connecting, because they're going at different speeds, and he didn't really know anyone else. Just before class, as he was telling me he really didn't want to go, I reminded him that skating, like anything, is 2% hard (as in you fall, get hurt, etc.) and 98% fun, and that when he falls, he should remember that. Also, that he was spending his time alone on the ice, and that he should make friends with kids nearby, or stay close to Jake. He thought, and went out onto the ice. I removed myself from the arena, and went to watch him from outside the arena, through the glass, after warning him that I might not be in the arena if he was looking for me (my official excuse was that my coat wasn't warm enough, which was true). I was worried that it was too easy for him to come off the ice if he saw me nearby. Whether it was the pep talk or my being out of the arena, Jamie had an absolutely fabulous class. He kept close to Jake and made friends with Hunter, Alexander, and Graham; he skated to the end of the ice for the first time with the group; he stood up after a fall all by himself for the first time; he playe d hockey; he stayed on the ice for the whole lesson, having fun. I was so excited as I watched him, and was so very happy, that I practically leapt onto him as he exited the ice, lifting him out and gaving him a huge hug as I did. He was very proud of himself, and declared that he'd had 1000% fun. It was a very good moment for both of us.

Afterwards, we went with Jake and Graham (who is also in JK at Jackman, and lives across the street from Jake) to the park nearby and the boys played for a bit. The boys all went back to Jake's house afterwards, and a fun time was had by all. Liam was dropped off around 3:00 and he woke up not long afterwards. John says that he was so tired at lunch that he asked to be put into his stroller a little before 1:00, and instead of crying and fighting, just turned his face to the side and fell asleep. !!! He was in a good mood when he woke up, and Jamie was in such a good mood that he didn't complain at all about not wanting to walk home, and did so in good humour.

In the evening, I made dinner and the kids were good, keeping themselves amused and playing with John (who was taking a break from taxes). Jamie and I played a spelling game that he brought home from school (a new innovation), and he did very well at it too, as well as reading his phonics book ("All About 'P'"). Liam didn't cause any major disasters involving food, although he was interested in eating the green bean/potato/pasta dish out of the serving bowl with his fingers. He was very tired again once bathtime came around, and his nose is running almost constantly. He has woken up coughing once already, and I'm not sure how well he'll sleep tonight. Jamie can sleep through almost anything, thank goodness.

2008-04-30 23:17 (Kristen) Jamie is missing Gary, but not talking about him much other than to tell people where he is ("Gary is in Japan"). I asked him today if he missed Gary, and he just said "Yes," quietly. He also told me, yesterday, that he really missed Grammie. He likes his people to be around, and all those who are away from him are remembered. Just in case you wonder, those of you who worry (no names mentioned).

John let Liam and me sleep in today, and so we didn't get up until after 9:00 (how very unusual!). When we got up, I took Liam downstairs and we puttered until it was time for John to take Liam with him to pick up the car and Jamie at Jackman. Then it was shoes on and "bye, Mum!" as he happily (nay, ecstatically) left with his dad. He loves to go outside, and time with Papa makes it so much better. I met up with them at the school, and we all went to Hakobune together. I took Liam with me on a short shopping spree in Kensington Market, but he didn't fall asleep until 1:45, likely because he'd slept in. He isn't eating much, but I'm blaming that on the cold. He fell asleep just as I left Kensington, so I sat in a mediocre Second Cup nearby (instead of the indie coffee shops I'd been eyeing, because I was just too tired to walk back) until it was time to get Jamie. When I did, Jamie left without too much fuss, and was very affectionate with a newly wakened Liam. I should mention that Jamie, with no prompting, shared his rice krispie square with Liam in the car on the way to Hakobune, and then with me and John. What a guy!

The funny thing was that Liam, seeing Sasaki-sensei, burst into tears. I think that he associates her with being parted from me, and it took a minute for him to realize that he was picking up his brother, not being dropped off. Then the sun came out through the clouds, and he even managed a smile and a wave for Sasaki-sensei before we left. I think that, if I pick up Jamie tomorrow, that we'll go in for a few minutes to play, Liam and I, before we leave to wire a few associations for Liam. I asked Jamie, as we left, where we should pick up a few groceries, and he chose the Big Carrot over Dominion or Sobey's because the Big Carrot has candy in their bulk section (dried fruit and organic malt balls, natch). We went to Chester, did our shopping (Jamie insisted that there were secrets all over, don't look) and then came back home.

I had to spend a good deal of the rest of the day cleaning and cooking, but I did get some time with the boys near the end of the day. I made an asparagus avgolemono soup and an orzo-based warm salad with baby spinach, goat cheese, sunflower seeds and dried cherries, and Liam adored the dried cherries, but neither boy ate a lot. They didn't eat much of the other things that I offered them either (tofu, e.g.), so I think that Liam wasn't hungry again. Jamie only wanted freezies, and kept changing his mind every few minutes about what he wanted to eat. We ate by 6, so it might have just been fatigue. The boys weren't all that happy with my doing housework instead of playing with them, but I made it up to them by reading Jamie the rest of the Velveteen Rabbit (He liked it when the rabbit became real, that the book was long, and the fairy), played a phonics game with him, and had him read See Otto to me. He did very well with all three. Liam put up with us doing other stuff, but was getting tired (or so I thought). They had fun in the bath, and I had them in bed, with a story read, by 9:10. Neither boy fell asleep easily, however, and LIam was completely unwilling to be asleep and stay there until 9:40. I felt his gums earlier in the evening, and there are big bumps under the gum. I reiterate my desire to have a big, fat party when those two-year molars are through. Big. Fat. Party.

2008-05-01 23:47 (Kristen) Around 3 am, Liam woke up with a strong fever and stayed up for about an hour. During that time, he managed to get himself into quite a state until we got the fever down with some Advil. The fever had broken by 3:45, so it didn't take long, but John and I were a little wrecked.

Liam and I slept in until 9:20, which we both needed. We then did some laundry and hung out some clothes, cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes (Liam will sometimes insist on "doing dishes" too), and straightened up a bit. He was in a fine mood, and showed no signs of illness other than that cold he's had for a while now. We puttered around while John went to take Jamie to Hakobune and his mom shopping, and I tried to feed Liam some lunch. He really isn't eating much, however, except for a couple of cookies that I gave to him tonight. Maybe that's a sign that his appetite is coming back, or it's just because he rarely has cookies. I took him for a walk around 1:45, and he fell asleep from 2 to 3:45 or so.

We got home around 4:00, and companionably did more housework. I made dinner, and when John and Jamie got home at 6:00, it was almost ready. However, Jamie had been eating steadily over at Tai Tai's place, so he wasn't all that hungry. Liam picked at his food too, but John and I ate what I made so it wasn't a waste. We played Wii, did homework both English and Japanese with Jamie and some puzzles with Liam, and got the boys into the bath around 8:30. They both fell asleep without huge amounts of trouble, but Liam is doing a lot of coughing tonight. He's not waking up fully, except for once, and we're trying to keep him off his back.

2008-05-02 22:15 (Kristen) I slept in with Liam a bit this morning, so our morning was a little rushed as we struggled to get everything ready and everyone fed before departing for Jackman and Hakobune, respectively. I ended up feeding Liam his breakfast on the train, which worked out well because he ate more than usual for him lately as he happily gazed about from his own seat. When we got to Hakobune, he cried but stopped enough to put his own sticker into his book, and (I stayed to listen) only cried for a few minutes after I fled the daycare like a guilty criminal. When I came back to get him, the staff told me that he didn't cry every time the door opened, for the first time. I quietly came in and sat down beside him as he played industriously, and he didn't cry then either: just threw himself into my lap and held on tightly to my neck for a minute or two. Apparently he did crafts again. He hates having his hands be sticky, so he had Minako-sensei put the glue on his paper, but insisted (strongly!) that he be the one to put the paper where he wanted it. Very Liam. He ate snack, but didn't sit down during sing along or for story time: apparently, Jamie was the same. They say that Liam is a lot like his brother.

John and Jamie arrived soon after, and Jamie went happily into Hakobune. Apparently there was some sort of jump rope demonstration at Jackman today, and Jamie is all excited about it. I have been told that I have to teach Jamie how to jump rope, as John claims that he doesn't know how. John and I took Liam to Loblaws, which he enjoyed, and where he ate the centres out of a lot of sushi again. He didn't fall asleep in the car, however, and insisted on taking his socks and boots off and then putting them on again. We went back to Hakobune for the stroller, and I walked him up to Starbucks (Aroma was full). He fell asleep after two minutes, tops, but with only one boot on as the other offended him for no discernable reason. He woke up on the subway, as I took Liam home that way to meet John and Jamie, who came back from Hakobune by car.

We puttered and did some homework, and played a little "warwarwar" before I took LIam to Browning for dinner. John and Jamie finished Jamie's Nisshu Gakkuin homework and then followed. Jamie played a lot of Smash Bros. with Daniel and Ross, and Liam played with Daniel and roamed (Tom was working late). Daniel helped to bring two very tired boys home around 8:00, and they were in bed and asleep by 9:15 or so. Liam's cough still bothers him, and he's woken himself up with one fit so far already.

2008-05-03 22:08 (Kristen) John took Jamie to Nisshu Gakkuin, and I took Liam with me to do some shopping at the Eaton Centre. I am now richer by a pair of sky-blue rubber boots and a lot of Crabtree products (thanks, Auntie!). I brought Liam home about 1:00, after a subway ride with a bag of dill pickle chips (which Liam kindly deigned to share with me after snatching the whole bag out of my hands). We speed cleaned, and then Jamie arrived home with his friend Hari and his parents. We had arranged a swimming playdate for them a few weeks ago, and we left home (after much light sabre battling) to go swimming at the Frankland pool. Hari's mom (who is expecting in September) and John sat out (John walked a very tired Liam to the pool), while Hari's dad and I got in with the boys. After many rounds of Mummy Shark and "toss me!" and other fun games, we finally got out of the pool to go our separate ways.

I walked Liam home while Jamie and John got a ride back home themselves. On the way, John called me to say that Jamie had requested Greek food for dinner (souvlaki, in particular, as chicken on a stick sounded fun), and so I stayed down a bit longer to get takeout from Astoria. Jamie was very hungry and very happy that I had found what he wanted, but somewhat disappointed that Astoria doesn't send its takeout chicken home on a stick. Next time. The boys ate very early, and were very tired, but not as tired as John. I'm not sure exactly what time he passed out, but it was early (like 7:00 or earlier). He's fighting off a cold, so it's probably the best thing for him to do. In the meantime, the boys watched a lot of Treehouse, and Jamie read a phonics book for me. They were a little too tired at 8:30 when I took them upstairs to the bath, and we read a story in the other bedroom because we didn't want to disturb John. Jamie declared that he wanted to sleep in the green room with me and Liam, and so the boys are asleep there now (after much much flailing). I think that Jamie wanted to do that because he didn't want to wake John up. He's a very thoughtful boy.

2008-05-04 22:47 (Kristen) Liam was up around 4:30 for some unspecified amount of time, but it wasn't very restful for the rest of the night. I didn't get a REM cycle, so I was more than a little groggy today, and maybe a little cross at times. Maybe.

Both boys slept with me for the whole night, and were up between 7:30 and 8:00. Jamie has been wanting to play "cat" with me for a few days now, so we did (this involves him meowing, and me 'patting' the cat for a bit) before making it downstairs for breakfast. We did some housework, and ate lunch. Afterwards, we went to Home Depot to look for curtain rods (full of fail) and a few other things. Jamie ate french fries at the food court, and was overwhelmed by the choice of toys at Zellers. In particular, he wanted the $30 Transformer figure (John and Liam wanted the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 'soft' whip with a button that played the Indie theme when you press it. Words fail me, but 'abomination' comes pretty close. Liam, of course, couldn't be parted from it without tears.) We didn't buy anything, but started to introdue the idea of an allowance to Jamie. He's very interested in the idea of having money for himself. I'm very interested in having him clean up after himself in return for an allowance. We're working out the details.

Jamie got a popsicle at the local ice cream truck on the way home, and Liam (who continued to be in a foul mood himself) wasn't satisfied with the freezie he got when we arrived home. A large popsicle in the back seat just wasn't going to happen: I am reminded of a scene I saw a week or two ago, where a woman gave a child not much older than Liam a large chocolate-dip cone from Dairy Queen in the back of her car. About two minutes later, a squished-looking cone came out of the car and went into the garbage. So. Judge as you will. Liam continued to be in a foul mood, despite a nurse, and was not interested in sharing with anyone or having anyone not really be with his program for long periods. Liam ate a good dinner, while Jamie was too distracted to eat much himself, and the boys were put to bed early. Liam didn't fall asleep until 9:04, when the sun was just far enough below the horizon to make it dark enough in the room for Liam to sleep. Jamie was full of beans and had a lot of trouble falling asleep. He's got an exciting day tomorrow, with a playdate at Charlie's (including lunch) and a trip to the airport in the evening to pick up Gary. He's really missed him, and is very much looking forward to seeing him again.

2008-05-05 23:32 (Kristen) Jamie had a fantabulous* Monday. He came and pounced on me early this morning (well, it was 7:55--it just felt too early) and played 'cat' with me and played random kid games with a delighted Liam. Then it was off to school. Afterwards, he went to his friend Charlie's for lunch (Charlie has three other siblings and a fourth on the way), which sounds like it was a blast. I met up with him at the schoolground around 4:00, and let Liam roam while Jamie continued to play hard with Charlie and the rest. Then we went to Browning for Michelle's birthday dinner, and cake was eaten. Finally, Jamie went to the airport with John to pick up Gary, who was as happy to see Jamie as Jamie was to see him. Jamie got carsick on the way home, however, likely as a result of too much excitement, not enough food, and a touch of genuine carsickness. Poor guy went straight to bed after apologizing to Gary that he wouldn't be able to play with him any more that evening. Gary read him a bedtime story, and they have a playdate for tomorrow. Life is good for Jamie.

Liam had a good day too. We played some MMR in the morning, puttered around the house, and then walked to Browning for lunch. We took quite some time to just get around the block, but it meant that Liam had a great appetite for lunch. He asked to get his shoes and went into his stroller with nary a wimper for his walk. He's getting much better at being reasonable about things: he understands being tired now, and that he can do things about it (like get into his stroller). Which is, you know, kinda cool. He slept for an hour and a half, and woke up more or less the instant Ken entered the Second Cup with him. In the vain hope that he'd go back to sleep, we went to the library, and then walked back towards the schoolyard, where we met up with Jamie and Charlie. Liam was very happy to play with the other boys, and roamed the schoolyard for a while, climbing this and doing that, and giving me heart attacks but managing to stay alive. Curiously, the only time he got really hurt was when he was sitting on a little metal bar, and was so excited that he slipped backwards and hit his head. Poor guy. He did it twice, to make it worse. He was pretty tired by then, I think.

Liam got to play with Tom for the first time in a week and a half, which suited him very well. We came home around 8:00, not long after John and Jamie went to get Gary, and he was asleep by 9:10. He's woken up a few times tonight, and I'm a little worried about this cold that just won't go away. We'll try to get him to see Dr Kennedy tomorrow.

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

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