Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 60

2008-10-28 23:44 (Kristen) I've been getting a fair amount of housework done, which is nice. I think that I've washed and folded 3/4 of the boys' clothes in the last two days, and taught Jamie to fold up and put away his own pajamas after wearing. Yay us! Liam was up at 7:50 to pee, and Jamie was up at 9:30 or so. Jamie complained of being tired for a lot of today, but that might also be the result of a few days of inactivity. Both boys are spotty, and they had a twenty-minute spree this morning where they lost their minds at the same time. Unsure what caused that. Liam napped for only 40 minutes or so today, as I ran down to the Big Carrot for bread, with Liam encased in plastic to keep the germs inside and the very blustery weather outside. When I brought him home into our front hall, however, he didn't sleep for much longer. He was half asleep for a while, then perked up enough to roam about causing trouble for the rest of the day. Sigh. He was clumsy and a real danger to himself and others by the time we got him into bed tonight.

Jamie was too tired to do any real reading today. He just wasn't in the mood. He did like the little Lego 3-in-1 toy that I bought him, and Liam and Jamie liked the reusable firehall stickers that I bought for them (they're thin vinyl-like stickers, which I remember using when I was a kid) too. It was a day of quiet and extreme goofiness as we all dealt with varying forms of cabin fever. John and Jamie are now two stars away from unlocking Luigi in Super Mario Galaxy (that's 118 stars, for those who are paying attention), and they're pretty focused on that. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

2008-10-29 12:16 (Kristen) I went to check the mail a few minutes ago, and found a card made of orange construction paper with four colourful feathers on it and addressed to Jamie. On the inside, Jamie's posse had all signed their names, and a parent (I assume) had written: Dear Jamie, We hope you get better soon. You are so funny. Love Parker, Sam, Charlie, and Jake. Jamie was quite moved by the card in his small boy way, and we're all so touched by their thoughfulness. I told Jamie that he has a great group of friends, and that he must be a great friend to have such great friends. He nodded, and moved on to his next activity, like all small boys his age. In other developments, I'm teaching him to tie a bow using the "bunny ear" method. We can move on to other, more complicated, ways later in our program.

2008-10-30 23:51 (Kristen) It is nice and quiet now. It was not nice and quiet earlier. Both boys are hitting the "we're bored and want to go outside and play and be with our friends, and ..." Jamie in particular didn't pause much for breath today as he asked me question after question after question, and often not pausing to listen to the answer before being distracted by something else, which resulted in a lot of "What did you say?" and my repeating myself on average 2-3 times a question. Usually, the questions were "what does [idea, colloquial phrase, word] mean?" or questions about character motivation and plot advancement while watching The Last Unicorn. The questions usually were answered in the dialog of the movie, but Jamie was too impatient to wait. While I welcome, on one level, this opening of the intellectual floodgates, I was exhausted by noon. Liam contributed to the mayhem by wanting to do his "work" all day. We're finished the second cut and paste book in a week, and Liam melted down when I told him that we had no more to do. He was mollified by some folding work and some cutting, but he's a hazard with scissors. He just wants to cut up the expensive little pages in the workbooks himself, turning them into fringes. I gave him some white paper to do that with, but he still wants the pretty pieces. When I take them away, BOOM! Again, I was exhausted today by noon. Both boys were doing bright, intelligent, useful things, which was great, but...but...but...

John was out for what felt like much of the day, doing university stuff (he has an external advisor! Yay!) and taking his mom to T&T. When he was home, he was pounced upon too. I should have taken the photo of John stretched out on the living room floor, asleep, because Liam insisted on company while he watched "Backyardigans." I took Liam out for a walk around 3:30, as I figured he wasn't going to sleep as he'd woken up close to 10 this morning (as did I, after passing out with him last night), but of course he fell asleep at 3:45. I woke him up after an hour or so, which was loud but not too painful. When I arrived home with a sleeping Liam, John was outside with Jamie as Jamie rode his bike up and down the sidewalk. They'd already played soccer and possibly a game of chase; I don't quite remember. Jamie rode his bike some more, hiding near houses when people came by so that he wouldn't give them his chickenpox. Sweet boy. Both boys had a great deal of difficulty falling asleep tonight, and I don't think that Jamie was actually asleep before 10:45. They're on the cusp of being better, but not quite yet, so the quiet, indoor days are making them a little crazy, I think. Tomorrow is Hallowe'en, and we'll take the boys out for a little trick or treating in costume, as they aren't very communicable any more, especially if we stay outside.

2008-10-31 24:14 (Kristen) We all slept in again today, which leads me to thinking about what was good and what was not so good about this last week. Good: sleeping in, and not having to make so many lunches. Bad: having the chicken pox. Good: Jamie and Liam spent a lot of time together, and are enjoying each other's company. Bad: They wind each other up, and run screaming through the house like wild elephants. Good: they're done lots of homework, crafts, and arty things. Bad: they've also watched more television than they have in their entire lives. So, all in all, it'll be good to get back to our old routine on Monday, when we're going to send Jamie back to school. Liam's going to miss him, and miss telling me the instant Jamie does something to hurt Liam even slightly. "Mi! Mi!" (pats head to indicate pain), he says, and I know exactly what happened...Jamie also polices Liam like a hawk, so they're more or less even.

It being Hallowe'en, Jamie was very excited. He helped to draw the face on his pumpkin, which turned out very nicely. John made an Anpanman pumpkin, which drew out exclamations of "Anman! Anman!" from Liam when he saw it. The Sasakis, who run the boys' daycare, dropped off their Hallowe'en candy from the Hakobune party, in the pumpkin bags that the boys had decorated themselves. Liam was very proud of his. The Sasakis liked the Anpanman pumpkin, and liked Jamie's costume, as it was after 5 and Jamie was Ready to Go. Liam was not in his knight outfit, as he'd pitched a fit (no nap this afternoon, despite our trying) when I put it on him. Mrs. Sasaki noted wryly that it is impossible to get Liam to do something that he really doesn't want to do. We concur. We did, however, manage to convince Liam to wear his costume when it was time to set out trick or treating. John took the boys out, and they ran into a number of Jamie's classmates. Liam and Jamie were more interested in playing than in trick or treating; John said that they wouldn't go to houses that were too scary, or had dry ice, or for other reasons. Jake, on the other hand, easily went to 10 houses for every 1 that Jamie and Liam went to. He's a candy acquiring machine. Somewhere along the way, Liam shed his costume and shirt, and was complimented on his Bruce Lee outfit (?!?!). Later in the evening, at home, he got rid of the rest of his clothes, much to the amusement of Daniel and Ross, as Liam ran out of the house, stark naked, to see them when they dropped by for the last candy of the night.

Jamie did well with his candy, getting lots of chips and other non-chocolatey snacks by telling people that he was allergic to chocolate (which he is). Liam, on the other hand, is all about the chocolate. Smarties, in particular, but chips will certainly do too. They were pretty hopped up on candy when bedtime rolled around, but Liam fell asleep easily because he'd not napped. Jamie, on the other hand, was awake until 11, just unable to wind down from the excitement of the night.

2008-11-01 46:43 (Kristen) I fell asleep putting Liam to bed, as it was after 11:00, and I was tired. This is what I can remember of the day.

We all got up somewhat late again, but in reasonable moods. We headed out en famille to the market, after convincing Jamie that he had to go too. The boys had a good time, and enjoyed getting tempura and sushi to go on the way home. Jamie, however, ended up not eating much, and was reminding us for the rest of the day, once he'd realized the situation, that he'd not eaten lunch. Liam napped from 2:30 until 5, which was not a Good Ting in the end, because he didn't go to sleep until afte 11. Jamie and John got another star in Super Mario Galaxy, and phoned me about it while I was out with Liam. That is pretty much all I can remember.

2008-11-02 22:12 (Kristen) We'd have been up at 9 this morning if we hadn't switched to standard time during the night. As it was, the new time had us up at 7:50, which wasn't really all that bad. We had breakfast, or at least Jamie and I did. Liam only nibbled, and really wasn't much in the mood for food unless it was candy or popcorn. The funny thing, though, is that he really doesn't like chocolate, or he sure didn't today. He'd take a bite of a Smartie and spit it out, and did the same with an Aero bar. What he likes to do, however, is feed me Smarties, one by one. Yummy, but we're restricting the number of candies he can feed me a day. I feel like a Luma (Super Mario Galaxy joke).

Jamie and John got their 120th star, and finished the latest stage of Super Mario Galaxy. They've been working on this for a while, and there was much celebrating. Now they get to do it all over again with Luigi, who I am told has better jumping skills and is faster but harder to control. Liam and I went out for a walk, and Liam slept until a little after 4, waking up by himself when I brought the stroller in to the house. That was good, as I was about to wake him up and it was better that he wake up on his own. He's been nursing rather constantly at night, and a rummage about in his mouth has revealed the other side of the molar he was working on. So, only two to go. John and Jamie rode their bikes around tonight to deliver birthday invitations to the posse. Everyone was happy to see Jamie, and to know that he was feeling better. Oh, and the party was a good thing too.

It was a quiet evening, with puzzles, games, and the usual. We put the boys to bed early, but Liam still took until 10 to fall asleep. As it really is 11, it's like he fell asleep at the same time as last night, but I get to be awake afterwards. John took a lively and jolly Liam downstairs while I got Jamie to fall asleep, as both boys have been insisting on having me put them down for the last little while. I have no idea why, but it means that I'm spending lots of time in dark rooms...

2008-11-03 16:40 (John) No complaints from Jamie about going back to school today, and he was full of energy at soccer class. Sam and Charlie invited themselves over after, so while Kristen was out with Liam, I made the boys lunch, adjudicated concerning which Wii game would be played for how long (Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, Lego Indiana Jones), and ran them back to the schoolyard with a soccer ball at dismissal time to rejoin their families.

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

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