Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 40

2008-06-10 23:50 (John) I got up this morning and took Jamie to school. Jamie has apparently been interested in bikes lately, and was happy to eschew his usual wagon for a ride on his run-bike (pedal-less training bike) to school for the first time. He can coast a little on it, and he certainly rides it faster than I can comfortably walk. We went to Browning for lunch, played a little DDR and Bookworm, then took the TTC to the dentist. Kristen, Jamie and Liam had checkups and cleanings, and everyone behaved themselves extremely well. Miraculously well, even. Jamie had his first dental cleaning, and was amused when hygienist Annie counted his lower teeth in English and (at my suggestion) his upper teeth in Finnish. When we got home, I Skyped with Agnes for a little while, and everyone took turns dropping in on the connection. Kristen made dinner, then took the boys to DQ while I napped. I met them with the run-bike on the way home, and we crashed an after-party for the Jackman School Green Roof DVD launch at Karen and Alexandria's. We got the boys to bed a little on the late side, and are all going to pass out relatively early.

2008-06-11 23:37 (Kristen) I crashed out early with the boys, and would have slept all night if it were not for Liam waking up, screaming, at 10 something. I had to walk him out to Broadview to watch the buses before he'd finally quit shrieking, but then he just clung to me and nursed back to sleep when we got into bed again. I don't know what the problem was, but he did it again tonight: screaming, no nursing. In the end, I managed to calm him down much earlier than last night, but because I can calm him down, I don't think that it is teeth. Who knows--he is old enough, now, to have nightmares.

The morning went well; John took Liam and his mother to the St. Lawrence Market to buy scallops for the teacher lunch at Jamie's school, and Liam ate and ate there (as usual). I took the California roll and dumplings left over and gave them to Jamie for lunch, so he got to enjoy them too. Because John was tied up with the teacher lunch, I got Jamie and took him to Hakobune. That was fun, as we haven't ridden the subway together in a while. Liam was put out that he wasn't able to go into Hakobune too, but was mollified when I said that we could when we picked his brother up. I fed him some more California roll, and then he fell asleep for two hours or so. I woke him up when we arrived at Hakobune so that he could play with his brother for a bit, and was very pleased to see his polite behaviour while there: he bows when he enters, he pushes his chair in when he gets up--he even picks up items on the floor quietly and promptly. Wow! Angel Liam! Mrs. Sasaki was very happy to report to me that Liam is very happy there now and even gives her hugs (which I witnessed). It was a hard adjustment, to be sure.

We got home as fast as we could, as Jamie had some Nisshu Gakkuin work to do with John before he left for the Scrabble club tonight. He had to make a bug for class, and so I bought some soft Crayola modeling clay, some black pipe cleaners, and some paints so that Jamie could make a ladybug. John reports that he made the body and Jamie made the head, and that Jamie also did some of the colouring. Then he got distracted by what you can do with modeling clay and pipecleaners, and got very excited about that. John thinks that he wanted to make a Jamieland bug. Either way, the ladybug is finished, in part thanks to our having a library book called "Are You A Ladybug?" with many illustrations, and it is a kickass ladybug (photos to follow), with pipecleaner legs and antennae. I think that his sensei will be pleased.

We spent the bulk of the rest of the afternoon and early evening playing with Sam, Ben, and Luke. Balls were thrown, chalk was used to draw on the sidewalk, and a sprinkler was hauled out for jumping through. Jamie was very uncertain about the sprinkler, and required a lot of convincing as he rode his run-bike instead, but finally put on his swim trunks and dived in. I heard that he had when he ran into the backyard, where I was setting the patio table for dinner with John's parents, and cried out "It's fun, Mummy! I like it!" And that's what they did for the next half hour. Eventually the festivities wound down and they came back for dinner. Liam, in particular, hoovered his entire dinner in almost one bite. We played around outside until 7:00, and John's parents helped to clean up and left at 7:30. We went in to watch an episode of Magic Schoolbus and do some Jackman homework. Gary came home at 7:45, and played with Jamie until 8:20. Then it was bathtime, and bedtime.

2008-06-12 23:17 (Kristen) I didn't sleep that well last night: the kids were restless, and I didn't go to bed until waaayyy too late last night myself staying on the phone to talk with Air Canada about our tickets to Orlando. When I woke up this morning, it was at the same time as Jamie, and I was quite disoriented. John got Jamie off to school, and Liam and I were a little behind. I got Liam all bundled up, into the stroller, and off to the bus stop with breakfast in hand. We made it to Hakobune ON TIME, and cheerfully, Blue Pony in tow, announced ourselves with a big "Ohayo gozaimasu!" Mrs Sasaki looked at me quizzically, and said that they weren't expecting us today; had there been a change in day? The penny dropping but not actually hitting ground, I said "Isn't today Friday?" "No, she replied. "It's Thursday." Boom! Penny splashes down from orbit, and I'm rather embarrassed. We laughed, and they let Liam play for about ten minutes before I was able to convince him to come with me back home. It was nice, however, to see Liam take off and play with the toys that he likes, and do his little ciruit of things that he likes to do before we left. He really has started to settle in there.

I got home with Liam around 11:00, after picking up some groceries at the Big Carrot, and made Jamie's lunch. Liam went with John to pick up Jamie, and I picked up Liam at the playground from them. Jamie went off in search of his cookie/treat before Hakobune, and I took Liam for lunch. He ate quite well, and was very tired by the time Ken took him for his walk. I went out to get Jamie, as John was going to a volunteer function at the school and would be picking up Liam instead. It was fun to get Jamie, and we enjoyed our trip home on the subway together. We found John and Liam at the school, played, and came home to finish making Jamie's ladybug and do puzzles with Liam. I made orzo soup with tomatoes and spinach, and quesadillas. Liam hoovered the soup. Jamie said "I don't like this!" I reminded him that he doesn't like avgolemono, a lemony Greek soup with orzo, and after grudgingly having a taste, he exclaimed "I like it!" Hah. I am reminded that my oldest niece, who will be visiting next month, is vegetarian. I will have to find more recipes like the soup.

After dinner, it was the usual chorus of "Where's Gary?" "Why isn't he home?" and other variations on "I'm bored." I took the boys outside to ride their bike/scooter, and also visited our neighbour Alexandria's class party briefly. The rest of the time, Jamie ran up and down the sidewalk on his run bike, amazing me with his exponential improvement. He can now coast for at least fifteen to twenty feet, tucking his feet up behind him as he does, and can stop, avoid brothers and mothers, and keep his balance the whole time. He is very proud, and so am I. Liam, surprisingly as well, can push himself along on a scooter with one foot at a reasonable speed. He hangs backward off the handles, however, which is a little hard on the poor scooter. My sons are showing interest in physical activities, and being good at them! I'm so thrilled. I dragged them in, protesting vociferously, at 8:20, and started putting them to bed. They went, eventually, and Jamie in particular was full of questions and Jamieland events. Liam fell asleep quickly, but it was hard for Jamie. Liam has woken up once, and we seem to be back to his pattern of waking up within an hour of initially falling asleep. Pooh.

2008-06-13 23:11 (Kristen) We did a 'do over' from yesterday, and got to Hakobune this morning on time and with the right child. Whew. Liam was up at 6:50 this morning, and chirpy and bright as all get out. When I picked him up from Hakobune, he cried when hie brother went in without him, but was mollified by pizza. Unsurprisingly, he was asleep in less than five minutes in the stroller, and stayed asleep deeply enough to not wake up on the subway (which he normally does) as I went off to have coffee with a colleague. He woke up after two hours, had a little nurse and a cuddle while I wound up my coffee, and went back with me to pick up his brother. Kakeru-kun was there, and they both remembered that I would play "kusuguru kaiju" (tickle monster) with them today. So we did that, in the heat, for about five minutes before the "kaiju" ran out of steam. I convinced them to leave to get some bubble tea, and they did. Outside, we played a very silly game of my denying being the monster, and looking around for monsters in a very exaggerated fashion. Then it was "tickle tree!" "tickle streetcar!" and other silly items taking the place of the tickle monster, which was met with gales of laughter. It was fun. John picked us up at the bubble tea store, and Jamie refused to share any drink that Liam had touched as "stinky" and not worthy of sharing (he was hoping for a green tea frappuccino of his own). We went over to Browning soon after we got home, played for the evening, and came home a little early for bed. Jamie has been overly tired at Nisshu Gakkuin lately, and as a result has been having trouble concentrating on his work in class. We want him to have a better chance tomorrow.

2008-06-14 24:49 (Kristen) I didn't hear John and Jamie leave the house this morning, and Liam and I kept sleeping until close to 10:00. I bolted out of bed, disoriented, and didn't really get my equilibrium back for a good part of the day. John came home soon after to get me and Liam for a market run, and then raced up to Nisshu Gakkuin to get Jamie. John had sat in on the first half hour or so of class to see what Jamie was like, and the trouble seems to be that he has transition issues: he doesn't want to get his stuff out of his backpack, he doesn't want to get started on his work, and so on. We'll work on this for next year, as next week is the last day of school. Already!!

After a lunch of pizza, we headed down towards home. Because he had slept in so late, Liam didn't have a nap this afternoon (but I took him for a long walk to Treasure Island, just to make sure). We got a present for Jamie's classmate Ola, whose party he was due at around 3:00. John drove by to pick up the present, and drove Jamie there, while Liam and I walked (hoping, in vain, that he'd sleep even a little). The party was fun, with bubbles, cupcake decorating, and more pizza.

2008-06-15 24:30 (John) Liam was up first, then Kristen, then me, then a little while later, Jamie. The boys each made me portraits at Hakobune, and Jamie sacrificed the cleanliness of his fingers to make a beautifully framed piece of finger paint art at Jackman; I was touched. Kristen got me King's Gambit by Paul Hoffman, which I look forward to reading, as well as a long-awaited copy of Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii. We played with that in the morning before taking the subway to Yorkdale to see Kung Fu Panda (an excellent Father's Day pick, it held Jamie's attention almost all the way, and Liam was happy to nurse himself to sleep in the dark), then picked up a second Wii nunchuck and headed back home to spend a few quiet hours at home trying to calm down those of us who had had too much popcorn before meeting my parents and aunts at Il Fornello for dinner. It was somewhat difficult to keep the boys focussed on dinner, especially as it was somewhat after their usual dinnertime. Liam noticed that we were across the street from Treasure Island Toys, but refused to understand that they were closed for the evening; fortunately, Turkey won a soccer match and rendered the street mostly impassible driving up and down the Danforth waving taunting flags at the Greeks. I was able to keep him busy for a long time watching the pizzas going in and out of the wood oven. We got the boys to bed not too much after their usual bedtime; I hope they're calmer tomorrow.

2008-06-16 23:38 (Kristen) Jamie and John were up way before me and Liam, as we slept in until 9:00. Jamie didn't have a hat in his backpack again, and I have to wonder if he's leaving them everywhere because I'm not finding them around the house (but will look harder). I took Liam outside for a bit, as he was more than a little active and willful, but he came back in after riding his scooter around for a short time. We left soon after to pick up Jamie and Tai Tai so that we'd join John's dad and John's sister Pauline for lunch at Babur on Queen Street West. The boys were hungry, and Liam was a little too wild to stay in the restaurant for long periods of time, but we otherwise had a good time. John took Jamie home at 1:45, and I walked Liam along Queen Street to Bakka, about a fifteen-minute walk. Liam was still awake when I arrived, but crashed out almost immediately in their air conditioning. Yay, Liam! He stayed asleep for two and a half hours, through the streetcar and the subway. Jamie, in the meantime, had gone to find Gary and spent a good part of the afternoon with him. I pulled him upstairs to go with me, John, and Liam to the house of our friends Peter and Laura, who (with their son Jon) are the owners of a lovely miniature Australian sheepdog named Photon. Peter fell off a ladder late last week, and so we came over to walk their dog to help out (Peter is doing better but is still concussed). We had a great time with Photon, who is an exceptionally well trained and well behaved dog, at the dog park at Withrow Park. Jamie complained that his feet hurt on the way back to Peter and Laura's house, however, but they did not hurt so much that he couldn't race Photon, block by block, back to the house. Liam too complained that his feet hurt, and after stepping in a puddle, refused to walk on his own (squish squish).

Dinner was at Browning, but I got to leave at 7:20 to go and play pub trivia (we won, w00t!). John reports that Tom played with Liam, and that Jamie, John, Daniel, and Ross (and sometimes Gary in John's stead) played Super Mario Smash Bros. They came home late, and the boys were very good about brushing and flossing, and baout bathing too. Liam, for some reason, refused to put on anything other than a diaper (no pjs), however, but other than that, all was well. I texted John to say that I was coming home around 10:00, which was when they were getting into bed, and I got two phone calls, from boys asking me to say "good night" to them, on the way home. The room was dark but the boys were all looking at John's iPod when I came in, and they were very happy to see me. Liam and Jamie fell asleep soon afterwards, but Liam (in particular) needs to learn how to fall asleep when I'm not home. We'll work on this again, but preferably on a weekend.

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

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