Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 37

2008-05-20 22:15 (John) Not sure what Jamie learned in school today, but at home he asked me what the @-sign was in my e-mail address and spent a happy several minutes with Keyboard Viewer learning about what the shift and option keys do. Then he asked if he could do some colouring, but on the computer and not on paper (he still doesn't like crayons much), so he got to learn about the paint brush and bucket tools in PhotoShop (see photo). I should probably get him a USB tablet as a compromise.

Liam for his part maintained his usual gung-ho headfirst headstrong attitude toward the universe. He tried mustard on his hot dog, and has decided that he can start carrying his dinner plate to the kitchen too, just like Jamie but with a little more spillage. He also walked to and from school in the morning to see Jamie off; the walk back took a little longer as he had time to help several neighbours with their dandelion weeding.

Everyone is still fighting some sort of virus, possibly a new one. Liam slept for three hours in the afternoon, and I could easily have joined him. Kristen got the boys to bed early and apparently without difficulty, while I was out at a school meeting.

(Kristen) Last night, as I was trying to get Liam out the door to go to the fireworks, he saw a DVD on the floor (or it was beside another one on a shelf and fell off; I'm unsure of exactly how it happened) and got very excited when he saw a picture of a penguin on it. It was Pingu, about whom I'd forgotten. Jamie had watched Pingu frequently when he was younger. Liam insisted on watching an episode before we went, and Michelle commented on how popular Pingui is, assuming that Liam had seen it before. I said no, that it was the first time he'd seen the video: he just likes penguins. It's true: he sees them on his Shimajiro tapes, and we had read a book the night before that had a penguin in it (the lovely Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers). Today we watched a bit more Pingu, and he was happy with that.

Jamie asked his friend Graham to come over with Jake after skating today, and I didn't have iti n me to say no. THe three boys got along well enough, I didn't have to get cross more than once or twice (unnecessary horsing around with juice on the back patio), but it was a success. Jamie was so tired today that he spent most of his skating class standing in the middle of the ice, occasionally making desultory attempts to skate. He complained that his feet hurt, and it is possible that his socks (which fold over) were putting too much pressure on his ankles.

2008-05-21 23:06 (Kristen) John and Jamie went to school together this morning as it was Scientist Day, and John had volunteered to help out in Jamie's class. It sounds like it was fun, and Jamie told me that he loves Scientist Day before he went to bed tonight. Jamie has a particular goofy voice that he's been trying out on us lately (which we love as much as you might imagine) and John reports that ALL the kids in his class do it. So, it's a kindergarten version of a meme. Joy.

(John) The kids also work together to try to drive visiting scientist teachers nuts. I was particularly impressed when in the final review session, Dylan got all his packmates to answer "Paper" in the aforementioned goofy voice, whenever the scientist asked a question.

Working with all the kids was a treat for me though. We all finally know each other by name, although of course to many of them my name is "Jamie's Dad!". I worked the "Gears" lab station, and explained to each group how big gears and little gears can work to change the speed and direction of motion. It was fun, because the scientist brought along the same set of toy gears that Jamie used to play with at Treasure Island Toys, with a few extra large gear pieces that we hadn't seen before.

(Kristen) I took Liam out the library and let him run about. We ran into a little boy and his dad there, and ended up talking and interacting for our time there. The boy (who is 23 months) is Olie, and I regret that I don't accurately remember his dad's name, but his older daughter goes to Jackman. We had a great time, and I foresee much interaction in the future. It was worth it to get out of the house to meet with them. Liam was pretty tired, and had almost fallen asleep on the way to the library, and he insisted on stopping to play at Treasure Island, even though it was lunchtime, afte we left the library. Afte I got him to leave to get lunch, he fell asleep around 12:30 when I stopped at a new bookstore on the Danforth (TYPE). I raced to the Second Cup, had lunch, and got about an hour's worth of work done before he woke up, hungry. We picked up some groceries, and headed home to do housework and rearrange furniture.

Liam snacked frequently for the rest of the day, but was still crabby and very volatile. Jamie was mellower, and did his Japanese homework and some reading practice with me. He was supposed to do a counting game for "homework" for Jackman, but it was only putting numbers into order, and so we had fun doing other things with numbers before he went to play with Gary. I tried to keep Liam amused, then tried (without success) to put him to bed early, and gave up. I then called up Jamie, who went to bed, and Liam fell asleep with him.

2008-05-22 24:15 (Kristen) After he came back from the schoolground with his dad, Liam and I spent the morning playing together at puzzles or watching a little television while I worked. John took the boys for the afternoon, letting me rearrange some furniture upstairs, do some gardening, and have a productive afternoon. When the boys came back, they wanted to play outside, and it was easy to let them. They played a little with Sam, Ben, and Luke, and ate a couple of their freezies. After trying to ride tricycles and otherwise getting into mischief, we went in. Jamie did some homework, and Liam did more puzzles. Dinner was consumed and Jamie played with Gary for half an hour while I took Liam for a walk to burn off some energy (he'd only fallen asleep at 2:00 and then slept until 3:45). Michelle came over to help me with more moving of furniture, and then we bathed the boys and put them to bed. They were very wound up, and it took until around 10:00 until Liam finally gave up the fight and fell asleep.

2008-05-23 22:51 (Kristen) Jamie was up two or three times last night, so he wasn't all that well rested when he woke up this morning. He had the Jumprope for Heart today, however, which sounds like fun. It's a fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and he enjoyed doing different types of jump. He tried out using a skipping rope, and is slowly getting the hang of it. We'll try to build on the skills he learned today. Liam went to Hakobune and was very very good. He broke my heart, though, before we left. Liam has to get eye drops for the next few days in order to get rid of a bacterial infection in his eye. He hates them, as you might well imagine. I explain to him each time that it is to make his eye better, and that I was sorry he found them so uncomfortable. He started calming down with each application, and this morning actually *reminded* me (by pointing at an eye) that he needed his drops. He then patiently sat still and let me put them in, even though it was clear that he was controlling his urge to cry and run away. What a great little guy. I told Gary that I have been expecting, in some part of me, to always have to go head to head with Liam on things. To have him be not only reasonable but understanding and downright *brave and stoic* in the face of disliked events has been eye-opening and unexpected. It is always humbling when one's children surprise you by exceeding your expectations with such good grace.

Hakobune went well with the help of Coat and Blue Pony. I had a nasty cough after moving furniture yesterday (and with a bit of a virus), so I went to see our family doctor about it. I finished early, and was able to drive back to Hakobune with John and Jamie in time to get Liam. Jamie and I went to get pizza, and John got a very happy and huggy Liam. We left Jamie, went to get pizza of our own, and then I walked Liam. He fell asleep for close to two hours, and woke up in timee to play at Hakboune with his brother until John arrived back and it was time to go home (after a good round of Papa Kaiju* outside the church with a pack of Jamie's friends). John and I had a date to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull together, and so we left the boys with Tom, Michelle, Gary, and Ayami while we did. When we got back, the boys were tired but not quite ready to go. We did make it home, and I put the boys straight to bed. They were very tired, and went to sleep without a fuss.

2008-05-24 23:53 (John) I took Jamie to Nisshu Gakuin and Liam to the St. Lawrence Market, leaving Kristen at home to continue the great reorganisation of our workspace. Liam was in a sunny mood, charmed all our friends at the market and had them asking when he would have a baby sister (opinions differ). Jamie's usual playmate Harry wasn't at school today, so he asked Kai Hashimoto to come to the playground with him, and he and a few other boys from his class ran around together for a little while, but the others had to go off for one reason or another. Both of my boys are improving their climbing skills by leaps and bounds (not literally), with Jamie rappelling up a wall for the first time (see photo) and Liam fearlessly sliding down the Big Green Slide entirely unassisted.

Liam fell asleep on the way home for lunch, but transferred to the stroller without waking up. I napped in the car to keep him company while Jamie ate lunch, then Kristen took sleeping Liam to buy him a replacement copy of his current favourite book (a Baby Einstein board book about dogs), which has joined his raincoat and blue pony on his list of must-have objects. For a boy who can't say many words yet, he made it very clear all morning that he wanted his dog (open mouth and pant) book (point at other book, make book opening gesture, or eventually just say "bucch!"). I took Jamie to meet Alison, Genya and Toni for an outdoor playdate, and Kristen and Liam caught up with us at the Frankland School playground. We went from there to Withrow Park and Tim Horton's, saying goodbye after about three hours of outdoor fun, all close to exhaustion.

We had almost made it home when we ran to our old neighbours Chaerim and Kyup, who were visiting their uncle across the street. Jamie, Liam, Chaerim and Kyup played Frisbee, soccer, basketball, tag, hide-and-seek and YouTube MarbleBlast video games on my iPod until Kristen had dinner ready, then managed to get back to our usual evening schedule and bed.

2008-05-25 24:27 (Kristen) I am not really sure what time the kids woke up today, but it was around 8:20 or so when I got out of bed. Jamie and Liam ate breakfast and Jamie amazed me by putting on his day clothes with no more prompting than my putting them down beside him. We went outside to clean the backyard and to run out the sillies late in the morning, and got the patio table ready for brunch. John's parents came over with a chicken for lunch, and we ate al fresco. The boys enjoyed having their grandparents over. Jamie kept looking for local kids to play with, and played with Sam and Ben for a little before it was time for them to go in for lunch and for Liam to get packed up for his walk.

Michelle came over in the afternoon to help me finish putting the office back together, and John took Liam out for his walk. Jamie was bored, but Daniel came over for a bit and played with him, which helped. John finally came home to let Jamie out to play with the neighbourhood pack while I finished up inside, and Liam woke up. I am given to understand that a water fight broke out, and it seems like a lot of fun was had by all. Both boys needed a change of clothes at dinner (which was at Browning, where they fed us chicken katsu after a long day of moving stuff around). Jamie played Smash Brothers Brawl with Ross for most of the evening, and Liam played with Tom. I should note that Jamie ate two whole platefuls of dinner, which indicates exactly how much energy he burned off at play today. They went to bed a little late, but Liam was reluctant to fall asleep quickly. They were asleep by 10:00 or so.

2008-05-26 24:18 (Kristen) We all grogged out of bed, groaning and complaining except for Liam, who is unnaturally perky in the morning. We got dressed, fed, and out the door for school, and I took Liam on further to the Big Carrot for supplies of juice, milk (woah! holy price increases, Batman!) and other important items. I got back, and John took him soon after to Loblaws for the rest of the necessary items needed for this week. He had a good morning. At lunchtime, Jamie had invited three of his classmates over for a playdate--Ola, Sabine, and Sam--and we went to get the kids. Liam dawdled and got left behind at one corner, reminding us to keep counting heads frequently. The kids got home and ate pizza sandwiches for lunch, and then headed outside to play. They ran around for a bit, but soon got hot as, even though it was cloudy, the humidity was very high and it was 27 degrees C. We ate watermelon and pineapple, went to the corner store for freezies, and in general played until 3:00, when moms came to get their charges. It was a surprisingly pleasant afternoon, as I was quite unsure of how the two girl two boy dynamic was going to play out. The kids were all good eggs, as they say, and so everything worked out well. Sabine has an enormous crush on Jamie, and it's hilarious to watch. She announced to me that she had made apricot cookies for snack today at school, and that Jamie had liked them very much. Going up the slide later, she (as far as we can tell) slipped enough that Jamie offered to help her get the rest of the way up the slide. I know that Jamie likes Sabine too, but he's such a boy: you have to point out to him when she's saying goodbye, and suchlike. Very cute.

Dinner was at Browning tonight, and we had a good time. Peter, Leslie, and Simon came by, and much fun was had by all. The boys were in bed at 10:00, and asleep two minutes or so after that.

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

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