Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 68

2008-12-23 24:18 (Kristen) Today was rather chaotic as we tried to get as much done as possible before Christmas Eve. The house needed to be cleaned, beds changed and sheets washed, kitchens tidied, cookies baked, and children entertained. Jamie is asking us every day how many days are left before Christmas, and both boys are eyeing the tree and the presents underneath. Liam, this year, has not started opening any on his own initiative, which is good.

Liam and I were up around 7:40, while John and Jamie slept until close to 10. John went out and did a bunch of last minute shopping, and picked Jason and Owen up at the train station. Ken walked Liam, and Jamie stayed and played with Ross and Daniel for much of the afternoon. I cleaned and mixed cookie batter. Liam woke up at 3, when Ken dropped him off, and Jamie came home around 4:15, when I knew that my mom, Jen, Becky, and Anna were about to arrive. It was a house full of happy chaos when they did, and we soon went to Browning for a large round of happy chaos. We ate pizza, thanks to Tom and Michelle, and cinnamon buns, and chased Gary and played Mario Kart and had, in general, a good time decompressing after the stresses of the day. We came home around 9:30, and the boys were asleep around 10:30. Tomorrow is a big day, and the kids will likely spend a good deal of it at Browning while the adults get the last of the food together. It should be a lot of fun.

2008-12-24 38:03 (John) I went out first thing in the morning to pick up the turkey, and then I came home to play with Owen and Jamie while everyone else went for a walk to shop for everything else we needed for dinner tonight and tomorrow. Daniel and Ross came over, and we started working on a large snow sculpture. When we had the basic structure in place, Becky took stock of it and turned it into the snow monster seen in the photos.

Millie and her sons came over for dinner, and we tried to put the boys to bed early. Jamie protested loudly all the way to bed and then passed out right away; Liam went along relatively quietly to bed but was still wide awake and chattering an hour later when we gave up and decided he could watch his DVDs while some present opening took place. Liam came over every now and then to make sure that all the presents were handed out correctly, and eventually got to bed fairly late.

2008-12-25 14:11 (John) The boys let us sleep in until 8:45, then hustled us downstairs for stocking presents. Jamie got a box of his favourite fruit creme cookies, a Bakugon, gloves, a jigsaw puzzle, Kung Fu Panda on DVD, a Wall-E cutlery set, a SIGG bottle, and a little 1-15 sliding block puzzle that I liked as a child. Liam got a box of the same cookies, construction cutlery, a SIGG bottle, mittens, a jigsaw puzzle, and a DVD that I can't remember. Then the four of us went to Browning to open presents. Jamie received two big Exoforces (from Gary and Ayami), a Christmas ornament (Ken and Tami), a large Optimus Prime (Tom and Michelle), a "there's a little hero in everybody" T-shirt, climbotron, green robot, maze book, sketchbook, brainquest book and "Great Paper Caper" from his doting parents. Liam received a BeyBlade from Tom, and "Big Bird in Japan" on DVD from Gary and Ayami, Julie Black Belt (the book), dinosaur wooden puzzles, a wooden food set, wooden pots and pans, a food basket, and a sticker book from Kristen and me. Jamie declared that Christmas was his "best [favourite] day". My in-laws then came over to join us for brunch, and as I write this everyone has gone back home to make dinner, except for Jamie, who has stayed here at Browning to play with Daniel and Ross' new Guitar Hero Wii set, and Liam, who has gone for his afternoon walk with Laraine.

2008-12-26 23:07 (Kristen) I should say that Liam, last night, was absolutely hilarious as he refused to fall asleep and stayed up until midnight. Really. I heard laughing downstairs in Gary's apartment around 10:30 or so, and went down to investigate. Liam was apparently playing air guitar and headbanging to music on his own initiative. Then he'd stop, throw his hands into the air, and give a joyous "Yay!". !!!!! He was also very funny when he opened the Imaginext dinosaur from his cousins and aunt Jenny, as not only does it roar (Liam: "ROAR!") but it walks when you press a button on its back. Beautiful. He leapt into my lap, but wouldn't stop pressing the button and having it "eat" the people around him. Very funny. Both of the boys were close to present overload by the end of the day, but neither one melted down, surprisingly.

That changed today. Jamie was tired when we left the house around 11:20 to go to the Boxing day sales at Yorkdale Mall. Liam was too, as he'd woken up at 7:45 or so, but he at least didn't have to walk. Jamie got Gary to carry him on his back through the mall, however, so perhaps he didn't walk as much as I'd thought. John took the kids home around 2, while I stayed with Grammi and did some more shopping. We all met up at Browning at 5 or so, and Jamie was looking very tired. After dinner, both boys (as Liam once again did not nap) were perilously close to meltdown, so we decided to take them home. Boom. Jamie melted down entirely, and could not hold it together for longer than a few minutes before melting down again. We put him straight to bed, and he was asleep by 8. Liam, on the other hand, decided to use his personal atomic reactor to keep himself going until 10:30. He is so very overstimulated, but at least he's a happy overstimulated. I hope that they both sleep long and well tonight.

2008-12-27 48:05 (Kristen) John took Liam with Anna and Becky to the market, while Owen and Jamie stayed home and played video games and watched Kung Fu Panda about seven times. Liam had a nap but woke up late, so he didn't fall asleep until midnight again. We're trying to get the boys back into a routine, but it's not very easy to do. Jamie had a calm day because he was so overstimulated, but did spend some time over at Daniel and Ross's, as he was fixated on designing his own level of Step On It. Daniel and Ross came over in the evening for one last round of D&D, and Liam entertained us by feeding play food to his new dinosaur.

2008-12-28 24:10 (Kristen) Anna, Becky, Owen, and Jason all left by train this morning, and so I woke up Liam at 8:15 to say goodbye to them. Liam was not ready to be awake, and had one of his more difficult wakeups, but it would have been worse if he'd not said goodbye, and spent the day wondering where they all were. He's very attached to his cousins, and both boys are, I know, missing them now. The boys spent a quiet morning, and Mom, Jen, and I took Liam out for late walk after a late lunch. Liam was up around 4:15, but had only slept for an hour and a half at that time. He walked to the Silk Road Cafe for dinner, chasing Jamie and pretending to be a dinosaur. Jamie and Liam were both in wonderful moods, ate heroic quantities of food, and walked most of the way back to the house. We put the boys to sleep in their own room, and while Liam still had some difficulty calming down, I think that being back in his own bed helped to calm him down and get him to sleep. I don't know what time he fell asleep, as I was asleep too.

2008-12-29 18:45 (John) Phrases I didn't think I'd hear from Jamie for a few years yet: "What's 'necromancy'?"

2008-12-29 23:36 (Kristen) Liam had a rough night, waking up with stomach troubles and having a hard time getting back to sleep. I ended up sleeping in the same bed as him for the rest of the night, as he kept stirring and wondering where I was. Poor guy. The boys and I were up around 8:20, and we had a quiet morning. Jamie and I are reading Charlotte's Web one chapter at a time, and while he's outwardly casual about it, he does seem to be enjoying the story. He's just about to meet Charlotte, and I've been playing it up a little and talking about the story after we read the chapter. I'm enjoying it, and Jamie is too, he admits. Liam listens in, but I don't know how much he's getting out of it other than the cuddle and the picture of the pig and other farm animals.

Jamie declared himself to be "bored" today, and Liam followed suit, but I think that they just miss their cousins. We found things to do quickly enough. We ate lunch at Browning, where Gary at one point, slightly frustrated by Liam's insistence that he play the drums for Guitar Hero World Tour, suggested that Liam play the drums with his head. Liam, of course, did just that, to Gary's eternal chagrin. The drum pads, at least, are soft... Liam slept for about an hour and a half, and I picked up Jamie from Browning on my way back home with Liam. Jamie needed some quiet time then, and we watched some of WALL-E before going back to Browning for dinner. Grammi and Auntie Jenny had left earlier in the day, after being given many kisses and hugs, and the next wave of family arrived in the evening, with Ian, Ted, Amy, and Alice. It was good to see their cousins, but the boys were pretty tired by 8:00 or so. We took them home, and put them to bed. Jamie was out by 10, but Liam still is having trouble settling down. He was out, I think, all of a sudden at 10:30, but is having a restless time of it.

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

Back to Vol. 2 No. 67, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 2 No. 69.