Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 35

2008-05-06 20:02 (Kristen) We were all exhausted today. Jamie's headache was gone when he woke up, but he was draggy and slow all morning. Liam was fine and happy, and went for a walk with me that made him a pleased clam, especially when he got a breakfast cookie at the Second Cup. He went with John to the school yard to meet Jamie, and was having a grand time when I arrived to take Jamie off to skating with Jake, Charlie, and Michelle. They went off to lunch at Browning, and Liam slept for about two hours in the afternoon.

Jamie did well at his skating class: he really likes one of the instructors, Lucas, who is very good to him. He was completely exhausted, however, and was the first one off the ice. I was pleased that he was out there participating at all, given his exhaustion levels, and told him so. We went off to Jake's for the rest of the afternoon, where the boys played shareware games at the Treehouse site together, peacefully. Liam and John arrived a little after three, and we took the boys home at 3:45. Liam insisted on walking, and was in a combustible mood if he was thwarted in any way. That, actually, describes Liam for the rest of the day. We played with Sam, Ben, and Luke (and neighbour Thomas) for a bit before dinner. Ben was very good at letting Jamie try to score goals in their soccer game, and Jamie was getting right into being an Italian soccer player as the boys showed him how to run about with his shirt pulled over his face, a la the Italians, when you score. Skinny little white boy chests everywhere. Very funny. It was Jamie's first time trying to play soccer, and he had fun. It was clear that he's on a growth spurt, as he's visibly taller against some of the other boys, as compared to a month or two ago. Liam wandered through the game, irrepressible and impossible to redirect, and enjoyed kicking balls onto the street until we stopped that.

John made dinner, and Jamie did a rhyming game sent home from school with the help of Legion, his new Gamera action figure from Japan, courtesy of Gary. I had to praise Legion when he put a pair of rhyming words onto the board, just as I did with Jamie. As Legion is a Japanese monster, this was an action worthy of praise. Liam loves the Godzilla figure that we have as well, and makes roaring sounds for it. He also adores a dinosaur book that I got for him from the library, and made me read it to him three times before bed last night. Tonight, however, while Jamie fell asleep in ten minutes, Liam took an hour and a half to settle down. In the end, he was saying "ow ow ow" and sticking his finger in his mouth, but not screaming or crying, and I thought he was talking about cats or food at first. I gave him some Advil, and he was asleep fifteen minutes later. Teething it is. This behaviour has been geting progressively worse over the last week or so, and I really hope that damn tooth comes through soon.

2008-05-07 21:58 (Kristen) Liam slept well last night after I drugged him, and we managed to stay in bed until after 9:00. Jamie got up to pee twice, I think, and got up with a sore throat this morning and a bit of a cough to go with it. Liam was in an average mood by the time the morning was over, and was definitely in the mood to play in the school yard when it was time to get Jamie. We stopped at the Second Cup to get Jamie a car treat, and saw Christian, Antonio's son. Jamie and Christian played while I did the purchasing, and preliminary negotiations were made for a playdate (with Jordan) on Sunday. I was going to make it Saturday, but then grabbed my scheduling brain and gave it a shake as that is the day of the Jackman Spring Fair. We dropped Jamie off, took Liam to Loblaws, and took a side trip to Canadian Tire. Liam didn't fall asleep in the car, so I walked him a few blocks in the stroller (I really only needed ten feet to have him asleep). He woke up in Aroma, too hot, and that after only an hour.

The rest of the day was not as much fun, as Liam was tired, crabby, and in what can only be charitably described as a destructive mood. Jamie, once we got him, flew downstairs to play with Gary, and this ticked Liam off terribly, as he couldn't go down too (too many breakable things, etc.). He made up for it by howling whenever thwarted in anything (including acts of certain death) and refusing to be mollified. He spilled the lemon juice for dinner (important main course ingredient), shoved a speaker off the tv stand and put a small divot into the floor, and insisted on going down the stairs and doing exactly what I'd just told him not to do. It was a looooong evening. I got the boys bathed by 8:45, and the lights were out by 9:00. Liam had his painkiller before story time, and this helped to avoid the 1 1/2 hour fiasco of last night. Jamie is a little warm as he sleeps, and I hope that he's going to be all right. John leaves for Providence tomorrow, and a sick child at home would make for a very long weekend.

2008-05-08 25:51 (Kristen) Very fast, because Liam keeps waking up coughing, and it's almost 2 am: Jamie was home sick today with some sort of sore throat, and Liam has a bit of an eye infection. John left for Providence this afternoon, and will be back on Sunday. Both boys are coping. So am I. More detail tomorrow, if I can find the time.

2008-05-09 22:58 (Kristen) Jamie slept in a little this morning, but was feeling much better than yesterday. Liam was feeling all right too, and slept in until 8:30. Gary came upstairs to help walk Jamie to school, which he appreciated a good deal. I took Liam off to Hakobune, where he howled when I left, but was soon occupied in something fun and interesting. Gary brought Jamie to Hakobune by TTC, and I saw them on the streetcar as I was going into Cora's Pizza to pick up lunches. Jamie was in a state of high excitement, and was delighted to arrive early at Hakobune and play a little before lunch. Liam burst into tears as usual when he saw me, but stopped dead when he saw Gary. He was delighted to see him, and to eat lunch with him before setting out on his walk.

For some reason, he took a long time to fall asleep, and only stayed that way for about 45 minutes. He had insisted on taking off his socks and shoes and blanket for the walk. He agreed to put them on again only to play with his brother, and he first went to get Jamie's shoes so that they would be ready for his brother to don so that they could play together. Jamie was very tired when we left, so after much convincing (he wanted to stay and play more) we went home. We had an early bath so that we could stay a little longer at Browning tonight, which was a good idea. The boys were clean and happy, and Jamie helped Liam to put on his shoes on our way to Browning. I was very very surprised and happy with that, and praised him mightily as being an excellent Big Brother. He was pretty pleased with the praise. The boys, I should mention, had spent about half an hour playing together in the living room with Godzilla, Legion, a battle cart, and an enormous Piglet pillow (Piglet was squishing Legion but Jamie swore that Piglet hadn't won). It was lovely and wonderful to see.

It was the usual fun romp at Browning. Liam got a lot of Tom time, as he hasn't seen much of Tom for the last week and a half or so, and was delighted. Jamie played with Daniel, Ross, and Gary, and did very well too, given how tired he was. We trooped home, and the boys were in bed not long afterwards.

2008-05-10 23:39 (Kristen) The boys were not awake when the alarm went off this morning, and I wished that I wasn't. The alarm went off again, and Jamie wanted to play 'cat' while Liam wanted to keep sleeping and nursing. No one really much got what they wanted, but I got Jamie downstairs and dressed, and out the door and into Junko's car (a Nisshu Gakkuin day) with not too mch drama. Liam continued to be Child From Hell, however, until we went back upstairs to have a nurse and to start the day all over again. It worked; an odd sort of reset, but I'm not arguing.

I had a deadline loom unexpectedly, so I worked as much as I could in the morning while Liam alternately played beside me and mugged me to read books to him. He was heavily into making lots and lots of noise, and I was very glad that Gary was at work today, and not working at sleeping off his jet lag. We walked to the library, dropped off some books, and Liam took his shoes and socks off again. I don't know why he feels this is fun or necessary, but it's a Liam thing. We made it to Nisshu Gakkuin just in time, and brought Rayna and Maya back down with us while their mom, Junko, kept teaching. The girls really wanted to go to the Jackman Spring Fair (as did we), and we had fun playing word games on the subway there. We dropped the girls off with their dad, and got some food. Daniel and Ross came along, and took Jamie for a little bit to go on the rides; then Daniel came back and took Liam for a while. I later learned that they were going on the bouncy rides, and Liam was having a great time because no one would rush him along because he was so cute. I should also mention that many many people mistake Liam for a young Jamie, and exclaim that they look so much alike. Is this true? By the time I saw Liam again it was very close to three o'clock, and I realized that if he slept, he wouldn't be asleep again until quite late, and I have a killer deadline (did I mention that? I'm sure that I did). So, I made the bold decision to keep him up and let him play. By and large he was delightful, so it worked out. He had a good time in the bouncy ride with the balls, and kept passing the balls out to me, even though he wasn't supposed to. Jamie was very hot and very tired, and kept asking for water and other potables (which I supplied). We went home, very slowly, around 4:00, and very tired. I picked up a little puzzle and a toolbox for Liam (the little handsaw will be much fought over by both boys), and some books for Jamie at the rummage table.

The boys played together a lot today, and Jamie was very good about making sure that a very tired Liam didn't kill himself. John's parents came over for dinner (John's mom made dinner and brought it, more accurately: thanks!) and we al ate al fresco in the back yard. The boys ate well, and then ran around playing in the pleasant evening. Liam eventually went from bubbly and cheery (he can say "cheese" and mug for the camera now...well, maybe say "eeees!") to very clumsy and judgement impaired, so we went inside and said goodbye and thank you to John's parents. I put the kids into the bath, even though it was barely 7:30, and they were in bed and asleep by 8:30. It's a record, I tell you! I've tried to block the light coming in from the windows so that they'll sleep in a little tomorrow but I'm not counting on it. Liam and Jamie are now both coughing that nasty cough, and Liam has woken up twice with it, but I hope that they'll sleep well anyway.

2008-05-11 21:00 (John) Briefly, because Kristen is busy working on a deadline and is likely to do so all night, I came home from Providence and the NSSC at around 14:00 to find Jamie downstairs playing with Gary and Kristen at the Second Cup with Liam. I took a nap until 16:00, woke up and played with the boys for a bit, then we went down to the Silk Road Cafe for Mother's Day dinner. The boys had very good appetites considering how poorly they seemed to feel. After dinner, we brought them home and went straight to bed, at least the boys and me. Kristen is on her own again tomorrow, as my dad is having a cataract removed. Wish her luck.

2008-05-12 24:01 (Kristen) Before I get to today, I should mention a few things about Mother's Day. First, the boys gave me a huge present by letting me sleep in until 9:00 (well, we all did). Thoughtful boys! And both of them made me a flower with a ladybug on it at Hakobune, and Jamie also made a tissue paper flower fridge magnet at kindergarten. I was a very happy mom. Jamie, seeing that I liked the presents, said that I could look at the flower when I was crabby so that I could feel happy again. I said that I would. About five minutes later, as I asked him to sit properly on his chair while eating (again!) he looked at me with a little smile and said "Look at the flower, Mummy!" Funny kid. And I am a lucky mom. Both boys showered me with hugs and kisses, and Liam can now sign "more kisses." How cute is that? How can one resist when one's preverbal toddler asks you to kiss his tummy some more? You just don't.

We had dinner at the Silk Road, and the boys were delighted to have John back home. I did stay up way too late working, and had the chance to observe that Liam is sleeping in four hour chunks, but only one: the early hours of his sleep have him waking up once every two hours or so, and he wakes up after about three or hour hours after the four-hour chunk. I'm not sure how to get him to sleep a full night yet; I remember that Jamie slept better, perversely, when he stopped nursing. It may be the same for Liam, but he's going to resist being weaned ferociously, I think.

Jamie had a slight fever again last night, and so he stayed home from Jackman today. He seemed fine during the day, watching a lot of television in the morning and going for a walk around Riverdale Farm with John and Liam in the early afternoon while I dropped off a manuscript with an author. Liam apparently liked the horses and cows. John said that a lot of the animals weren't out. The baby animals should be showing up soon, however, and I think that we'll be going back soon for another look. The interesting part was that Liam liked looking at the horses and cows so much that he didn't sleep this afternoon by the time it was 3:00. As I was feeling very tired, we decided to forego the nap so that he'd fall asleep early tonight. It was a bit of a struggle for the rest of the day, as he becomes even more strong willed when he's tired, but we managed. The boys ate a huge dinner (they both love Japanese barbequed eel), and I read lots of books to them. Jamie was not feeling himself by the time the bath rolled around, and had a full meltdown, sobbing his heart out that he wasn't first into the bath after he'd failed to notify us that this was his wish and Liam was already in. We'd been getting him ready for bed early, and this was to the good. I'm a little concerned about this, but will keep an eye on him for further developments.

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

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