Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 56

2008-09-30 23:47 (Kristen) Today it was pouring down cats and dogs as we got the boys ready to head out the door to their respective destinations. John drove Jamie to school and went back to bed, while I got Liam together and out the door in his duck suit to go to Hakobune. Liam protested very strongly about the duck suit, despite my rather reasonable explanations as to why he was going to wear it (chest cough, the endless cold, pouring rain, a blanket refusal to let me put the plastic rain cover down over him), until I just took him outside, kicking and screaming and put him into the stroller and went out into the rain. He grudgingly accepted the wisdom of the duck suit after a block or so, but was only willing to do so once, even while he quieted and watched the rain pool on his lap. Liam can clearly say "No duck suit!" He has much stronger opinions about what he wants to wear than Jamie does: however, as far as it has a "choo choo" on it, he's generally happy.

It was a bit of a crazy day, because when I signed Jamie up for skating, I forgot that it was on Liam's Hakobune day. D'oh. So, I dropped Liam off at Hakobune, looked for a screw for the hockey mask that Jamie needs for skating but which ended up not fitting and I need to buy a new mask, darn it, came home, made lunch, ran out the door, and picked Jamie up at school. We went to the rink with Jake and his family, and left it to John to find and bring Liam home from Hakobune as I couldn't be in two places at once. John took Liam to Loblaws, which he enjoys, and Liam came home smelling of their Wicked Thai Chicken Soup, which is spicy and delicious. Liam enjoys spicy food where Jamie does not. In the meantime, Jamie was completely apprehensive about going onto the ice, and I eventually had to just pick him up and deposit him onto the ice, as he was paranoid about falling. He cruised along with a glider for a bit, but the instructors convinced him that he could skate without it. Sure enough, I couldn't get the boy off the ice by the end, he was having such a good time. Go figure. We took Jake home for the afternoon, and had a nice time.

I took Liam out for a quicky walk to the Big Carrot and back, and he passed out a little before 3. He woke up around 4:20, and was darned annoyed about it. When he falls asleep, he can't sleep past 4, or he's up late, but if he sleeps for less than two hours, he's just miserable when he gets up. Catch 22. He eventually calmed down and had a huge dinner and five ginger snaps afterwards. Jamie had a standard evening. We've read 10 borrow-a-book books from his classroom now, and his reading is starting to get more confident. He still doesn't like to go it much with any book that isn't his borrow-a-book, for some reason, but we'll work that one out eventually.

2008-10-01 19:54 (Kristen) Liam and I slept in until 9:15, which was not a promising start to a productive day. I got Jamie's lunch ready and lost track of the morning, and then it was time to go to the school to see him off. John took Liam, and I met up with them at the school, but it wasn't enough time to get some decent exercise in. Once John and Jamie had gone to Hakobune, I took Liam with me to Mocha Mocha for lunch, which he enjoyed. I also took him to TYPE, where he lost patience with me for not giving him the right book. Given his mood, I couldn't afford his taste in books (rip!), so we left and went for a walk. I was so sure he'd fall asleep, given that he almost passed out in the bookstore, but no. Eventually I gave up and took him home.

Liam did work with John and Jamie during homework time while I started getting dinner ready. John was off to the Scrabble club tonight, so Jamie ended up spending time with Gary until Gary got too frustrated by Super Mario Galaxy and needed a time out. We started to do more work, but Liam was getting frustrated and I was too, until he had a full meltdown. It became clear that he wanted to go to bed, and was in fact screaming "ne-ne! (sleep!)" and not "No ne-ne!", which is more common. I put him straight to bed at 7:40 and he was asleep a few minutes later. He woke up again for about ten minutes, but he's asleep again. I guess that I'll be getting up early tomorrow. Jamie is downstairs with Gary, and John has just gotten home. A quiet, early night for all.

2008-10-02 23:41 (Kristen) Jamie went to bed late last night, so getting him up and out of the house was no easy task. We all went to school with him, and John and I took Liam out for a little walk afterwards. It was a pleasant morning, without any of the usual rushing around, as Jamie was going to Charlie's for lunch with his posse, and Ken and Tami weren't down for lunch today. We ate, and then I took a tired Liam for a walk around 1:15. He fell asleep a little closer to 2:00, with the rain helping to lull him to sleep. He slept for over 13 hours last night, which shocked me, but it must be all to the good. He took a little longer to fall asleep tonight, but it wasn't a high activity day for him, which surely must have been part of it.

Jamie had a blast playing with his friends, while Liam slept for about an hour and 45 minutes before waking up in the playground. We went home and hid inside from the oncoming rainstorm after playing some more with Jamie's friends, and then ordered takeout as John and I suddenly realized that we had Curriculum Night at Jamie's school and the kids wouldn't be able to come. Gary and Ayami agreed to be pressganged into service (thank you!), and John and I went to listen to Jamie's teacher and to see a little of Jamie's work. His painting of a sun (they all did one) was out in the hall, as it had been a shared effort between him and Sam. It was the only shared effort, which I thought was rather cool. Jamie wrote his name clearly and well, with an arrow pointing to the part that he'd painted. Mrs. Mikoza showed us the painting, as we'd only looked inside the classroom for it, and she pointed out the arrow, commenting in almost a bemused tone, 'He likes arrows." John and I laughed all the way home about that. It was lovely to see Jamie's classroom, and to get a sense of what h'll be doing in school this year so that we can help reinforce what he's learning.

The boys were fine when we got back, and we had the usual sort of evening before heading off to bed. Items of note: Liam insists on having a book in his stroller when setting out for a walk, but protests mightily when I take it away from him because he's peeling the paper off of the face of the boardbook. Which is what I did today. Too bad, I say. He does this when he's tired: I think that my oldest niece did too. He just can't resist a ragged edge. I was able to repair Goodnight Moon fairly easily, but I was not particularly impressed. He doesn't do it often, but even once is more than enough. Hopefully, he'll grow out of it, like she did.

2008-10-03 22:52 (Kristen) John left this morning for New York, and said goodbye to the boys while whey were eating breakfast. They've asked about him a lot today, but seem to accept that he'll be home in a few days. I took Jamie to school, Liam to Hakobune, then came back to our neighbourhood to be closer to the school when it was time to get Jamie. There was a girl who was very upset and talking with the teacher and her father, and I got the impression that the "boys" (?) had been bullying her. Jamie's teacher did well in handling it, but I asked Jamie if he knew the girl (he did, but forgot her name). We talked about how one boy in particular (not one of the Posse) had frightened the girl today, and that Jamie didn't feel good about the incident. I asked him if he knew what to do, and he shook his head. I then explained that if he saw the boy or someone bullying a person, then he should walk up to them and tell them that he (Jamie) didn't like it and that the bully should stop. If the bully didn't stop, or turned on Jamie, then Jamie should go and talk with the teacher. He seemed to be happy to know what to do, and I am, again, proud that my son is an upstanding sort of person.

I dropped Jamie off at Hakobune, picked Liam up an hour later, and then took a tired Liam for a walk. Perversely, he fell asleep with a piece of pizza in his lap in Sonic Boom, a record store on Bloor. He kindly slept until it was time to get Jamie, and we walked to the subway via the bubble tea shop. It has new owners, and Jamie was sad that the old owner, Michelle, is no longer there but told me that he'll see her again someday. We went home and puttered for a bit until it was time to go to Browning for dinner. The boys had a blast, then we came home, got into the bath, and I had two sleeping boys before 9:30. Yay! The only fly in the ointment is that Jamie has a number of red bumps all over the top of his thighs and on his hips. They are like welts, not like pox, and I think that some fleas from a classmate's house are to blame. We'll keep an eye on it.

2008-10-04 22:21 (Kristen) For some time now, I've been playing a game with Liam where I ask him "Where's my baby?" Instead of indicating himself and smiling, he now shakes his head and says "No baby!" I have to say "Where's my Liam?" but he is, he tells me, no baby. I'm both amused and a little wistful about this turn of events.

Jamie slept for about 10 hours last night, and it was all for the good. Liam slept about the same amount. We were up and ready to leave around 8:35, when Junko came by to take Jamie to Nisshu Gakkuin. Unfortunately, as I was about to leave the house for the market soon after with Liam, I realized that I had forgotten to send Jamie's snack and lunch with him in the mad rush out the door. We went up to Nisshu Gakkuin anyway, then, and I dropped off Jamie's lunch. The bright spot was that when I did so, I spotted Jamie's missing raincoat by the door, as he'd forgotten it there a week or two ago and we had only realized is was missing the next rainy day and couldn't remember the last time he'd orn it. Yay! Liam and I headed back downtown, after a pit stop at Starbucks, so that I could get a breakfast sandwich and a coffee, and Liam could have some yoghurt and muesli. We ended up splitting the two between us (I kept the coffee to myself). Liam liked watching the lobsters at the market and running around the fountain, and walked most of the way through the south building.

We went home via the streetcar, where Liam munched on vegetable tempura, and told me that I could keep the spicy tuna rolls for myself ("no rice"). He was looking droopy when we got home, and when I left the house again at 1:50, he fell asleep quickly on the way to the subway. I lost a wheel on the stroller getting onto the subway (quickly kicked back on), as a washer or something that holds it in place has fallen off. I'll be using the other stroller as a backup until I get that fixed. Jamie gave a presentation on Super Mario Galaxy at school, and he was proud to report that he was the only kid who played it out of his class. I am sure that will change soon after his enthusiastic report. When I peeked in on him while I was dropping off his lunch, he was sitting and talking animatedly about his work with his teacher. He would also like Yuutaka to come and play at our house, which I think is a great idea.

We went home, where we three were pretty tired and droopy for the rest of the day. We did a little "work," played and watched videos, and ate dinner. Liam started to act up a little after 8, so it was straight to bed. Jamie was pretty tired and he fell asleep quickly, while Liam, surprisingly, after kicking up such a fuss about going to bed, took until after 9:30 to finally sleep.

2008-10-05 35:08 (Kristen) I got the boys out of the house, with a great deal of difficulty, by 10:15 to meet with Peter, Leslie, and Simon for brunch. I had to have a huge fight with Jamie first, which was very unpleasant for both of us, but we apologized and made up. They had a great time playing with Simon at his house, and Jamie wants to go back next weekend. We'll see what we can do. Jamie particularly loved playing with Simon's playtent and collapsable tunnel in his backyard. Liam didn't sleep, obviously, because we just couldn't get away in time, so I kept him up. We met with my friends Jennie and Craig, and Craig's son Graham for a playdate by the Second Cup, where Craig ran the kids off their pins for an hour.

Finally, we went to Browning for dinner, where it became apparently quickly that I had to get the boys home to bed (after they inhaled large dinners) around 7:45. They weren't acting out, bur rather were falling asleep where they stood. Liam was asleep a little before 9, and Jamie was asleep by 9:30. They were both looking forward to seeing their dad, and Liam gave him sleepy greetings when he got home, late.

2008-10-06 23:20 (Kristen) Jamie's friends (except for Parker) are all enrolled in soccer on Mondays. Jamie's first lesson was today, and he had a blast: it's all he can talk about. "I want to play soccer again!" Michelle and I were discussing Jamie's high level of social awareness at dinner, and I'm coming to the realization that my son is not going to be a geek like his parents. This interest in sports just proves it! We'll see about Liam. Anyway, it was a mad rush to make it to class, which started ten minutes after school got out (in theory: the kids were late). John drove us, after I realized that I hadn't arranged carpooling to the rec centre. We roared in a little late, but Jamie was delighted to be there after I took him to his place in the circle. He asked to play goalie in the scrum at the end (where the kids just flew around the room after the ball; I likened it to a flock of seagulls after a french fry, but didn't mean it in a derogatory way; really, it was like a rather joyful pack of dogs running for the heck of it, and is that a ball?). Jamie stopped the ball when it reached his net, picked it up out of the scrum, and tossed it back in. Yay, Jamie! Natural goalie.

Jamie was invited to his friend Sam's, with the others, after soccer, and so I went home after Charlie's mom dropped us all off. I took Liam's stroller to Browning, where Liam had eaten lunch and was in need of a face cleaning. He was pretty tired (I'd made him walk to Jackman), so he slept for two and a half hours. We did the usual puttering around, John brought Jamie home, and we went out to make dinner at Browning. We had a good time, but brought two tired boys home early for a bath. Jamie still managed to go to sleep at least half an hour too late, but we'll work on it again.

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

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