Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 54

2008-09-16 23:37 (Kristen) John drove Liam to Hakobune today, and he reports to me that Liam clearly understands that red means 'stop' and green means 'go.' In case John was unclear on it, Liam would say "Red pop! Red pop! Redpopredpopredpop!' from the back, until shifting (at an appropriate time) to "Green! Go!" Jamie, later in the day and in the car with the rest of us, asked John once more when Liam was going to talk. As Liam happily chattered away with his driving instructions, John exclaimed that he can talk right now, and that Jamie should teach Liam new words to cover the topics he wants covered. Please, some new words now, please... John also notes that Liam insisted on carrying his own bags into the daycare ("Me! Me!") and I definitely noticed that he wanted to carry them out.

I picked up Liam from Hakobune and brought him home; it was the first time that Liam was not visibly happy to see me. In fact, he got a little frown and waved 'bye bye' to me. I did get him out of there, however, and we went home to get the stroller I'd forgotten in my mad rush out of the house. He was actually very tired, and slept from two until almost four. When he woke up, John had gone to get Jamie, who was having a fantabulous playdate over at Sam's house with Parker and Jake. Liam cried and howled until John and Jamie got home, and then it took putting him into the driver's seat of the car with his own bag of sembei* before he'd let me put him down and before he'd finally calm down (books, television, and even a very rare afternoon nurse didn't do the trick permanently).

We went to the Tuesday market, had some fish sandwich and bought some fresh fish, and ate ice cream before we went to Yung Sing Pastry Shop for more food, and I dropped off a job that I'd been working on. Oh yes: and Liam needed a pee break, so we stopped off in Yorkville at Nobuko's attelier, and the boys were happily fed by John's aunts before getting back into the car. We came home, did homework (Jamie) and hung out (Liam), and went to bed around 9:30. Both boys are enjoying reading a book with me before lights out, which I'm very happy with, and they both enjoy Charlie and Lola. Jamie fell asleep relatively easily, but Liam once again took a very long time to fall asleep. I'm not sure what the problem is there, but 11:00 or so is a little late to be sleeping, in my opinion. Cold or no, there may be some late evening walks in store for him.

2008-09-17 23:50 (Kristen) Liam, for reasons unknown, has been waking up screaming at short intervals tonight. He complains that his tummy hurts, and there does seem to be some gas, but not so much as might explain the crying. I have dosed him up with pain killer, and hope that it will help (gas was the most painful part of abdominal surgery for me), and that if it's teeth, then it will help him that way. Ah: I now see that John has succeeded in getting him back to sleep where I have failed, which is a rare event and worth celebrating.

Liam and I spent the morning getting ready to go out, and were finally ready when John was ready to pick Jamie up and take him to Hakobune. We went on ahead so that Liam could have a little runaround in the playground, which he happily did by playing with dogs and with Jamie's friend Sabine. Jamie was happy to see Sabine too, as they were in the same class last year, and I think that he misses her. We took Jamie to Hakobune, then John dropped Liam and I off at Yonge and Bloor for a little shopping. I bought various family sundries, and Liam fell asleep at 2 in the stroller as I went out of the mall and into the fresh air. He was pretty tired. He woke up an hour later, not happy but not screaming (which was nice), just in time for John to swing by and pick us up on the way to get Jamie.

John had a bag of fresh peas in the car, and the boys hoovered them on the way back home. This reminds me that I asked Liam yesterday or today if he was made of apples (as Jamie was at that age), and he cheerfully cried out "Peas!" He is, indeed, at least 50% green pea at this point of the summer. I made yakisoba for dinner, which the boys inhaled to go with the peas, and we settled into an evening without John as he was off at the Scrabble club tonight. We read many books, and Jamie read his borrow-a-book to me. He's proud of the fact that he reads some words without thinking, and I am too. His fluency is getting much better, as is his ability to sound out words (and, I think, his willingness to). John says that his Japanese reading ability is improving as well. At one point, Jamie was playing video games, so I asked Liam if he wanted to do some "Liam work." I remember with Jamie that I would ask him if he wanted to do work like me and John, and he would cheerfully sit down and do workbooks. Liam envies Jamie his homework (hah! to you Liam, reading this, many years later! You *liked* it!) so he was thrilled to have some workbooks of his own. He particularly liked that you get a sticker for each page done well. He is still learning to hold a pencil, and the idea of "staying inside the track" with the pencil line (in the Kumon workbook) is pretty much foreign ("What do you mean I was outside the line? Why do you oppress me with the tyranny of *your* concept of *lines*?"), but he's slowly beginning to see what's going on (and likes it). Jamie, on the other hand, seeing that Liam and I were doing work, ran over and promptly did a maze and a phonics page from one of *his* workbooks. This is enough to make the heart of any overly zealous, academically focused slavedriving mother glow, which mine did. We spent the rest of the evening reading "Go, Dog, Go" (with its graphic descriptions of traffic lights and proper behaviour at intersections) and playing more Super Mario Galaxy with Gary and Ayami. Yay!

The boys had a good bath, and were in bed at a time not horribly late. Jamie fell today on his bike and gave himself a bit of a bruise around his left eye, but it's not the black eye we were afraid of. Liam has been sleeping for the last half hour, peacefully, which is good. Tomorrow, I plan to take Liam around with me on a number of different errands in an attempt to make him tired in time for his afternoon nap. Jamie will have his friend Dylan over in the later afternoon, which will ensure that he sleeps tomorrow night.

2008-09-18 24:00 (Kristen) I had all sorts of great plans today, but I slept in an hour later than planned and they evaporated quickly. In the end, Liam went to Loblaws with John, and returned with a tray of California rolls with the crab meat missing. Even when he's not particularly hungry, John points out, Liam is always willing to eat the crab meat centres.

We headed to Browning for lunch, where Jamie played a bit with Gary and Ken took a very sleepy Liam for a walk. I took Jamie with me (him riding his bike; his gym teacher from last year saw him, called to him by name, and they had a nice chat when we were going to Browning), and we arrived just as Ken and Liam did too. We ate cookies and I drank my coffee, and Ayami stopped by to see us which was lovely. We went into the bookstore on the way back so that Jamie could pick out a new book to read for reading practice. We got four for him: two that he could read, and two that I could read to him. That worked well, except when he was pleading for a fifth (the answer was 'no'). We went to the playground, where Jamie rode his bike around some more, and we hoped to see Dylan and Hannah. Dylan was sick, however, so we just went home and cleaned/played while John and Chelsea had their Japanese lesson.

John spent the evening preparing for his Scrabble tournament weekend, and Liam was an enormous help in assisting John to pack boxes (really!). Jamie spaced out and played video games for most of the evening, but did read three pages of Space Cat for me. He wants to know what happens next, which is the best part, and we'll read more tomorrow. Liam fell asleep around 10:00, and woke up twice, screaming and crying, before I gave him the dreaded, hated medicine. He hates it so much that he'll cling to John and won't have me in the room after I give it to him. This means that John puts him back to sleep, although ultimately he fell asleep facing John while I stroked his hair. Sigh.

2008-09-19 24:34 (Kristen) Michelle had the best diagnosis of what is bothering Liam, and that is an ear infection. She reminds me that it is possible to have one without a fever and that Liam's nose has been running. Liam has been sleeping better so far tonight, but if he wakes up screaming again, I'll take him in to the walk-in clinic tomorrow, first thing.

I got everyone's stuff together first thing, and got Jamie to school on time with three minutes to spare. John had left for his Scrabble tournament already, but kindly left Jamie's cereal all ready to go (without milk, of course). Then it was a leisurely walk to the subway, and Liam and I arrived at Hakobune exacty at 9:55 (early, for once! Yay!). I went off to meet a client, then was back at Jackman for 11:35 to pick up Jamie. We read Jamie's borrow-a-book on the subway to Hakobune, and I dropped him off. A friend of his got pizza today because his mom forgot his lunch at home: she later told me that she'd thought of the pizza place as a backup because Jamie shows up with pizza sometimes! I am reminded that Jamie would like pizza some time. I picked up Liam at 1:00, and was later told that he had been excellent ("such a good boy") on a walk they'd all taken in the morning. I realized that the walk was why Liam had fallen asleep after Hakobune: a rare occurance!

Liam woke up at 3:30, when I was picking up Jamie (I was slightly late after meeting with a client again), and the boys ran around Goforth Hall happily for over half an hour. Jamie likes my new fountain pen, and I'm thinking of getting one for him (they're very small, lovely, and inexpensive), as they make you think about your penmanship while looking nice. He drew some Jamieland planets for me with it. We went home to drop off stuff, and played with Sam, Ben, and Luke before going to Browning. Liam was acting tired when we arrived, but may just have been hungry. Both boys ate huge meals, which was rare and exciting (spaghetti with meat sauce and lots of cheese). John arrived from the tournament, and we came back home around 9:30. The boys went to bed relatively soon afterwards (Jamie started to melt down, which made it harder but necessary), and have been sleeping for a little while now.

2008-09-20 23:43 (Kristen) I got Jamie out the door to go to Nisshu Gakkuin with Junko this morning, and set off with Liam for the St Lawrence Market. I think that we set a new record this morning in getting the marketing done by 10:30. Liam liked the streetcar ride there and back. We dropped off the perishables, then went for a walk in the neighbourhood. He enjoyed the trip to the library and to the toystore ("choo choo! choo choo!"), where he happily played with their train tracks and trains. He was happy in his stroller as long as he had three books about trains with him at any given time... We bolted to Nisshu Gakkuin to pick up Jamie for 2:30, but were 8 minutes late. Fortunately, Yutaka and his mom were there, and waited with Jamie until Liam and I arrived. I am, for the record, in pretty crummy shape for running with a laden stroller and a boy. I let Jamie play for a little bit, then we went to Starbucks for a pee break before heading home. Liam had some yoghurt and Jamie had the fruit for a snack; I was delighted with their choices.

We were all a little shredded when we got home. Jamie had been tired before school, and had been a little wibbly* about going, but calmed down enough to have a good time with Yutaka. Liam didn't nap, so he was utterly shredded as well, but in an acting-out kind of way. I took the boys for a short trip to a local pharmacy before going to Browning, to run off a little energy, and Liam managed to fall twice and scrape the bases of his thumbs. We found this out when I washed his hands at Browning: screams. Poor guy. Both boys had a great time playing with each other on the way, running and chasing and tackling and flying like bees. Tom had invited us over for dinner when he heard that we were on our own for the evening, and I greatly appreciated the chance to relax while the boys all played together, and with Tom. I took Jamie home when Gary called for a playdate, and I let them play while I put a very tired Liam to bed. Jamie fell asleep after a story in the blue room, with reassurances that he can come into our bed if he wakes up in the middle of the night. We had been talking about people who sleep in their own beds, and I told him that lots of his friends did (the subject came up when Jamie wanted Ross to come over for a sleepover. Ross was dubious that much sleep would occur). He's sort of trying it out, I think, so that he can have a friend over for a sleepover. He's got a pretty big safety net, however, as he is unconvinced that he's big enough to sleep on his own, and that's fine. Liam is still waking up unhappy, but I'm able to put him back to sleep.He'd slept well last night, but I'm thinking that his ears may be hurting him again. I'll reassess in the morning.

2008-09-21 37:47 (Kristen) We slept in a little this morning, which was lovely, but the big news was that Jamie slept in his own bed all night. He was very proud of himself, and is now asking about who he can have over for a sleepover. Fine by me! We got ready to go out to the Scrabble tournament to visit John for lunch, but got distracted by a garage sale near the subway station. Jamie insisted on buying a shirt that I didn't like (perhaps part of its appeal), and I told him that he could have it only if he used his own money. It was $1, and that was cheap enough for Jamie, as he bought it. He is now nagging me incessantly about washing it so that he can wear it. It's red, with a Dr. Doom ripoff character on it. Whatever. We arrived at the tournament about 40 minutes later than planned, but still managed to have a little time with John. Jamie acted as a runner, helping out his dad, while I got Liam to have a nap. Jamie went home with John, and I took Liam home on the bus, as I'd forgotten to get Jamie's carseat back from Junko yesterday. Sigh.

In the evening, we went over to Browning briefly for a very belated birthday cake for Gary. John had already gone to bed when we got back, and the boys were very good about going to bed. We were all asleep by 10:00, I think.

2008-09-22 22:52 (Kristen) I passed out in my clothes last night with the boys, and John slept for 14 hours himself, so it was a good thing that I had set my alarm to take Jamie to school in the morning. Liam did wake up at 4:40 to pee, and then he needed Blue Pony ("Neigh! Neigh!"), without whom he would not go back to sleep. I don't know how long it took to get back to sleep, but it must have been after 5:00. Jamie was good about going to school, riding his bike the whole way, despite being in a hurry, which he hates. Liam and I continued on to the Big Carrot and to do other grocery shopping in the area, and stopped off at Treasure Island for some train time. We had stopped at TYPE to get a book for me (as I had, unusually, left the house without reading material), and Liam was very loud and insistent that we find him a train book ("CHOO CHOO!"), and to keep them coming when he was bored with the one that I gave him. Mind you, he got a lot out of it, looking at the pictures and making up a story around it that involved a lot of "Yes. NO! Yes. Yes. NO!" Afterwards, we headed back to the school to get Jamie, and off to Browning for lunch.

Liam slept for the exact length of his walk and no longer, so I didn't get muc work done at the Second Cup. I'd left Jamie at home with John and with Gary, who was working hard at Super Mario Galaxy for Jamie. He was still working at it when I got back with Liam, which was funny. We read some books and did a little of this and a little of that until it was time to go to Browning for dinner. I lost track of the boys for a while while all four of them played in the basement, and both boys hoovered their dinners: unusual and welcome. We went home to a bath and to bed, with Jamie falling asleep in his blue room and Liam asleep in the big bed. Jamie didn't sleep in his blue room last night only because I was too asleep to take him there after he fell asleep with me and Liam. I did try to take him there around 5 am, but he protested that he wasn't asleep and walked back into our room again. He had no memory of this when I told him about it in the morning.

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

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