Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 38

2008-05-27 23:36 (Kristen) The morning was pretty normal, with nothing exciting to report other than Liam is now putting together eight-piece puzzles with some skill and frequency. He is really growing up; he's much easier to deal with, and he's getting *reasonable* at times. Don't get me wrong: he's still capable of furious protest when it isn't *his* choice of book at bedtime, or when people are not playing the Wii game he wants to play, but it's getting easier and I'd forgotten that it would. He has actually slept through the night the last five our of seven, and one of those two times he was woken up when Jamie rolled over onto him. That was a surprise as well.

I made Jamie his pizza sandwich for lunch (Fred's Bread, pizza sauce, mozzerella, black forest ham), and he managed to eat half of it and have a particularly juicy cherry explode all over his face before we left the playground for skating. Skating went much better today, as his socks weren't bothering him and he wasn't overly exhausted. His friends Jake and Graham made up for it by spending a good part of the lesson flaked out on the ice, pretending to sleep. Jake's mom and I spent a good amount of time with our faces in our hands, shaking our heads. However, the boys were cheerful and happy when they came off the ice, and we took them to Jake's place for a playdate afterwards. Liam had gone out with Ken for his walk, and woke up at 2:30, just as Ken dropped him off with John. They came to Jake's house to meet up with us, and then we walked home. The boys went home with me while John went to an appointment, and we put out the garbage together before going inside. Jamie did his homework, Liam played, and I made muffins. The boys really liked the muffins, which were pear, ginger, and banana (Nigella Lawson's recipe), and inhaled a few before bedtime. Liam, officially, has become aware of what it means to be first into the bath, and Jamie is now going to have to alternate being first into the bath. This will be interesting.

2008-05-28 23:52 (Kristen) Liam and I slept in this morning, only really rousing when we heard Jamie nad John leaving the house for school. John says that they were there about ten minutes early, which gave the kids in the playground 10 more minutes of the "Papa Monster" game. He isn't sure during which of the 20 or so spinnies he gave out his back cramped, but it's made life more tricky for him today. Apparently kids from three kindergarten classes are getting into the "Papa Monster" craze now ...

Liam and I had a relatively quiet morning until 10:45, when I bundled us both up to go for coffee on the Danforth with our friend Peter. John walked us as far as Browning, but we had to stop when Liam, who was gleefully "tripping" and jerking my arm out of its socket doing so, finally slipped out of my hand and fell, scraping his little nose and (possibly) bruising his cheekbone. He cried hard when he fell, and even harder in total fury as I fled to get the first aid kit. He was *ticked* with me. John got him calmed down until I cleaned his nose with the alcohol wipe, and then it started all over again. Blue Elephan came to the rescue (the sign for "elephant" is a nose point). Liam and I had a cookie and a good time at the Second Cup with Peter, who cheerfully drew pictures of animals for an appreciative and insatiable Liam. Liam and I hung out for two hours with Peter, with a flash visit by Jamie, and Liam was an utter angel the entire time, well behaved and self entertaining (by and large). He almost fell asleep on my shoulder at 1:00, but I ended up taking him out and around the block in the stroller to put him fully to sleep.

Liam slept for three hours, with one close call at the one hour mark. We got home a little before Jamie and John, and spent the next hour or two outside in the beautiful weather playing with Sam, Ben, and Luke. Jamie got out his run bike, and I reinflated the tires, found Jamie's helmet, and raised the seat. Jamie was having a great time, but I think that (given the look of total envy on Liam's face) we'll be getting him a bigger bike very soon and letting Liam ride the run bike. Liam scammed Luke's trike and helmet, and enjoyed trying to ride that as much as he could. I felt badly about dragging Liam in while I made dinner, as he really wanted to stay outside. Jamie came in just as dinner was ready, and both boys ate very well. Jamie spent the evening with Gary, and I took Liam and his new little cat board book into the back yard for some evening gardening. Liam was very helpful, bringing me my garden caddy and trying to dig in the dirt and plant plants, but by the end of the evening, it was time to come in before plants started getting hurt. It was 9:00 when we came inside, and I put the boys straight to bed. They took a little time to fall asleep, but finally did around 9:50.

2008-05-29 21:50 (John) Jamie: "What kind of pizza is made with dog poo?" "Poopooroni!" [cue wild applause and laughter].

(Kristen) My life in a nutshell. *facepalm*

Liam slept badly last night, waking up around 2:00 with a poo (which he hasn't done since he was less than a year old...aarrgh!) and having trouble settling back down again. It took me longer than it should have to figure out the problem, only because the smell should have tipped me off, but I was sleepy. He was up again before 7:30 (by how much I wasn't willing to look and find out), and as John was feeling unwell when he woke up, we all went to school together. Jamie was Mrs. Schofield's helper today, and came out of school this morning with a sticker between his eyes that said "Yes!"--apparently the sign that he was helper. He took Gigen, a Gamera villain, for show and tell. I got Liam's stroller on the way home and we went shopping on the Danforth for caster (superfine) sugar. We didn't succeed in finding any, but had fun feeding the pigeons with bits of our croissants. Liam was fascinated with how they would even walk underneath our bench to get the croissant bits. We played at Treasure Island for a short time and I bought Liam a bike helmet, which is a Very Important Thing for ensuring family happiness this summer.

There was great disappointment in the playground when they heard that the Papa Monster was out of commission, but the kids somehow found things to do. Jamie went off to Hakboune and had a good day--yesterday he knocked heads with another kid after a frenetic round of ring-around-the-rosie, and has a lump on his cheekbone. Liam went for a walk with Ken, cuddling his book and Blue Elephant, and I picked him up at the Second Cup. However, I soon realized that Liam was without his Eric Carle Where Is My Cat? book, and (even more importantly for the purposes of replacement) without Blue Elephant. Liam loves his stuffed animals, and will refer to Blue Elephant by name (a nose point). So, I headed out for a very brisk 35-minute walk down the north side of the Danforth to Monarch Park and back on the south side to finally find Blue Elephant a hundred metres from the Second Cup, thoughtfully placed in a planter for easier discovery. I was utterly delighted, but feeling the effort of pushing a stroller so far, so quickly, in the sun. We never did find Where Is My Cat?, but I can find another copy easily (not so Blue Elephant), and hope that it has found a good home.

We got home at the same time as Jamie and John. John was feeling very poorly by this point, and went up to rest. Jamie, Liam, and I zoned out in the living room watching a little television, but Jamie was soon bored and acting out somewhat. He wanted to play with Gary, but I told him that he wasn't to play with Gary until after dinner (otherwise he pounces on Gary the moment Jamie gets in the door, and we don't see Jamie until the evening and Gary gets no work done). After being told somewhat sharply to entertain himself, he did manage without incident. Liam was pretty tired from the heat and the long walk too, and was also acting out with incident. It was a good night for them to go to bed early, and they did.

(John) Liam invented a new sign today, for "Wii Bowling": he mimes the arm action of bowling a ball.

2008-05-30 24:03 (Kristen) Jamie and his class went to the zoo for the whole day today, and Jamie came back bubbling over with the things they did and saw. He is still most fond of the elephants, and complained that a yard we passed smelled like the rhinoceri, and told me about the Kid Zoo, where they got to go down slides. The weather was much colder than we expected, and it rained once or twice, but it didn't ruin Jamie's day. Which was good, because I was worried. He came back with an enormous lollipop shaped like a strawberry, which Zachary's mom bought for him at the zoo store. He still hasn't finished, despite a heroic effort.

Liam had an excellent day at Hakobune, and didn't cry at all when I left. In fact, he was already distracted by his friends, one of whom came up and called him by name when we arrived. When I picked him up, he was wearing his coat, and gave me an enormous and happy hug. I took him to the Second Cup for lunch, where they were having a grand re-opening party. Liam liked the free rice krispie squares, but loved the lion dance troupe that Antonio (the owner) had brought in for the event. There were two lions, and Liam was enrapturd the entire time they were dancing (about ten minutes). When they were done, he frantically signed "more! more!" and then was actually excited enough and wanted them to perform more enough, that he said "Lion! Lion!" Well, not exactly enunciated, but clearly that was what he was saying. We left soon after, as it was late, and he fell asleep for around an hour and a half.

We picked up Jamie at Jackman, and came home. Home was uneventful, and we went to Browning around 6:00, after a brief visit from Tai Tai. The boys had their usual good time, but they were blitheringly tired by the time we got home. It was late, and they weren't asleep until after 10:00. Later, Liam woke himself up by bumping his nse after rolling completely over Jamie. John says that he's going to hear the word "bachi" (Japanese for "you did that to yourself, didn'tcha?" or ""serves you right!") a lot in his life.

2008-05-31 23:22 (Kristen) It was a bit of a crazy day today. Jamie's Japanese school had its annual bazaar today, which was much like the Jackman school fair but much smaller. He drove Jamie to school, did the market shopping, and then came to get me and Liam. We loaded up the car with our donations to the fair (Japanese books we had doubles of, plants), and drove up to arrive just in the nick of time. As an added bonus, I finally found Jamie's missing jean jacket in his home room. Yay! Not that he needed it: i had to bring a change of clothing for him to the school, as the cold and grey had vanished and the jeans and long shirt that he was wearing was no longer appropriate. John looked after Liam while I got Jamie and had him get changed, and then I took both boys around for lots of yummy Japanese snacks. We ate inari* sushi, okonomiyaki (well, I did...the boys were less happy with it than I was), croquettes, and curry rice, Japanese-style. Juice and cupcakes were necessary afterwards. I bought some Japanese magazines for the boys (Japanese magazines are unbelievable: you have to see them) for a dollar, and John bought some more Shimajiro videos for Liam, which made Liam happy. Both boys spent a good deal of time in a bouncy "moon walk"-style house, and LIam in particular was utterly reluctant to leave it. The boys were beyond exhausted when we left the school at 2:45, and Liam only slept for an hour at most (maybe half an hour?) in the car. We also stopped off at Brwoning to borrow some of their Magic Schoolbus videos, as Jamie has suddently decided to adore them.

I am not sure exactly what happened with the rest of the day, as I was so tired that I can't remember a couple of hours. I know that I made dinner, and that we ate it. Dishes were done, and John took the boys out for a short trip to the playground to burn off their last millijoules of energy. To say that they were tired was an understatement, and things get...*silly*...around here when they are tired. Sigh. Oh: I talked with my mother and Becky via Skype today, and Liam was very excited to see them. He watched them like a hawk, and kept signing "more", frantically, when it was clear they were hanging up.

2008-06-01 23:00 (John) We all slept in this morning, thanks to the new and partially installed drapes in the bedroom, and yesterday's utter exhaustion. We puttered about gradually waking up, me catching up on my e-mail, Jamie playing a MAME game, Liam playing MarbleBlast. After breakfast, Jamie watched one of his new Anpanman DVDs from yesterday, Kristen took Liam out in a fruitless search for caster sugar in the neighbourhood, and I finally got one of the rows of my vegetable garden in order, planting cucumbers and lettuce and somewhat optimistically scattering some old seeds (carrots, mustard greens and radishes). Most of the work in preparing the row was in ripping out what is locally known as Accursed Bellflower, some of which I found sending taproots laterally 15 centimetres into the mortar of our garage wall. But I digress.

A little after 13:00, I took Liam out in his stroller to see if he would fall asleep before Jamie's first playdate with Kakeru from Hakobune, but no luck. I played with Kakeru, his mother Kiyomi and his brother Akira (five days older than Liam), and of course Jamie, while Kristen tried her luck with Liam in the stroller. After the boys finished demolishing what they could of our interior furnishings, I sent them outside to wreak havoc on the neighbourhood with Kristen and Liam, while I stayed back to Freecycle some fuki plants. By about 15:00, all the boys were exhausted from running around the kindergarten playground, but still in fine spirits. I got Liam to fall asleep, finally, and Jamie and Kakeru played quietly until it was time for Kakeru and his family to go home, and for us to walk down to Pearls to pick up the car.

We drove the rest of the way to the Danforth, ate at Mocha Mocha (over Jamie's protests that Wimpy's serves better milkshakes), then Kristen took the boys to Withrow Park for still more exercise while I went on a fruitless search for a functioning BMO ABM. When we got home, Ayami gave us omiyage* from her trip to Japan (hurray); I am so tired I only remember an Anpanman toy and a T-shirt, but perhaps Kristen can extend the list later. Then the boys had a little more quiet play time, got cookies from Gary (Liam signed thank you for the first time, then came and signed to me that the cookie was yummy), took a frenetic bath and collapsed into bed.

2008-06-02 23:21 (Kristen) The boys slept well last night, but Liam was up early, at 6:30, after we were woken up by the phone (junk fax, joy). The boys were in a good mood, and Jamie wished his father a happy birthday. We took the boys to the school, dropped off Jamie, and then I took Liam on to the Big Carrot and the Carrot Common for a few errands. Once home, we played a bit, and John took Liam with him to the school to pick up Jamie, and his friends Parker, Charlie, and Dylan. Parker and Charlie have new brothers, six and seven days old, respectively! As I said to their parents later, I was surprised at the total lack of mayhem and mass panic. The boys played very well together, either with Lego or at video games, and in general (with Jake and Sam) make up a remarkably good group of boys. I credit the good parenting of all concerned.

Ken took Liam for a walk in the middle of it, so that Liam would get some sleep, and met up with us at the schoolyard. Liam didn't sleep for very long afterward, and was in the thick of it with his brother soon after. He is very fond of the big slides, and doesn't need much help getting up to them. Jamie was having trouble climbing up there until he was older than this, I am quite positive. The boys were hot and tired by the time we left for home, all boys deposited back with their parents, and Jamie went to Browning with John after doing a good deal of Japanese homework. I took Liam with me on some last minute shopping, and picked up a replacement copy of Where Is My Cat?. At Browning, we found a missing Blue Pony, and celebrated John's birthday. Liam was fascinated with the candles, and put out that we wouldn't light the candles again. Someone suggested that we show Liam how to light them, and I nixed that idea very quickly. This child is one that would put that knowledge to practical use all too speedily. We ate a lovely dinner, and came home around the usual time. Jamie had a tiny bit of heat stroke, I think, and wasn't all that interested in food, but I got him to drink a bit and a good night's sleep will do him good.

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

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