Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 78

2009-03-03 84:56 (Kristen) Today John took Liam to Hakobune while I took Jamie to skating. It was the last class, and I decided to talk with Jamie a little about why he was so bored at skating and how to have more fun. I said that he needed to stop worrying so much about falling, start taking bigger steps, and start having fun. He actually took my advice, and started both taking bigger steps (gliding on one foot for very short distances while using the other to push) and skating much faster. I think that he was gratified by the change. On the way home, Jamie played at Jake's and then at Charlie's while I went home to get Liam and take him out for a walk and a nap. The rest of the day was quiet, except that John decided to show Jamie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Jamie has been obsessing over Lego Indiana Jones, and let John show him the parts that are in the game. At one point, Jamie explaimed "That's what Indiana Jones looks like when he's not Lego!" He's also asked if we have Lego Batman on DVD somewhere...

2009-03-04 60:56 (Kristen) It was a quiet enough day. The boys were in good moods, although it is still a challenge to get Jamie out the door on time in the mornings, no matter what time he wakes up. Liam is chattering away and telling stories that are more and more elaborate. We're also not allowed to contradict him when he's telling them. Jamie was pretty tired, and neither boy was particularly interested in dinner, so bedtime came early. Both boys are enjoying being read bedtime storeis again--we were going through a long period where Jamie preferred to watch an Anpanman video (and Liam did too) instead of reading a book. They both enjoy Grumpy Bird and Boo Hoo Bird by Jeremy Tankard right now.

2009-03-05 46:56 (Kristen) Jamie wanted to go to Daniel and Ross's today, but was mollified by a big posse playdate at Jake's instead. Liam came with me and John to the hairdresser's, where he was entertained by watching us have our hair washed instead of him, and then by a visit to Browning for lunch. He had a walk with Ken, and we met up with John and Jamie at home around 4. The evening was quiet, yet again, which is fine by me, and punctuated only by Jamie getting a little wound up playing Lego Indiana Jones.

2009-03-06 22:56 (Kristen) I'm not sure how I got so far behind on the blog, other than I keep falling asleep with Liam at night when I put him to bed. He's been falling asleep around 11, which means that I lie in the dark with him for an hour, which is too much for me, if not for him. Tonight he fell asleep earlier, around 10:30, which was nice as he didn't have a nap today. It seemed like every time he was about to drop to sleep that something would wake him up. Arrrgggghhhhh! At it was, I took him to Hakobune in the morning, and picked him up at 1. Jamie was already there, having been dropped off by John, and he gave me a hug before going back to playing. Liam failed to fall asleep on the walk, perhaps kept awake by the fact that he hadn't eaten much lunch, the beautiful spring-like weather, or some gastro-colic action. This was a little frustrating, and we were not entirely pleased with each other by the time I returned to Hakobune to get Jamie. The nice thing to see was that Liam and Sasha-chan seem to be friends, and give each other huge hugs when they see each other. At least Sasha, who is four, is giving a hug. Liam may be grappling.

John picked us all up and took us home. We puttered until it was time to go to Browning, and we did. We had dinner, came home, played a little D&D and talked with Becky and Grammie on Skype, and then it was time for bed. It still took Jamie nad Liam a while to fall asleep because they were quite wound up, but eventually they both did.

2009-03-07 23:44 (Kristen) Jamie went to Nisshu Gakkuin this morning, while Liam stayed with me until John came back to take him to the market. He reports that Liam was happy and in a good mood, and this even lasted until it was time to go for his walk. He slept for about two hours, and woke up when we got home. He was very happy to see his brother, who was zoned out playing Lego Indiana Jones. We put the boys to bed early, in preparation for missing an hour during the switch to Daylight Savings Time, but I fell asleep with Liam, and don't remember much else.

2009-03-08 24:07 (Kristen) We woke up at 8:20, which was really 9:20, except for John, who woke up at 10, which was 11. We decided to take the kids to the Science Centre because Liam was wild to go, and we needed to run them around so that they'd sleep tonight. We did do this, and they had a great time, and we stayed until 5. Then Liam fell asleep in the cart while we picked up a few groceries at Lowlaws, and Jamie fell asleep in the car, and both boys were asleep for about half an hour before we got them home and tried to put them to bed as it was 7. Fail! Both kids were up, and John and I were wondering how in the world they were going to go to sleep at a decent time. In the end, we shouldn't have worried. Liam was very tired and grumpy all evening, and Jamie was a little wired. Liam was asleep by 10:45, which really wasn't bad, and Jamie was asleep a little earlier.

2009-03-09 22:45 (John) I made the mistake of trying for shared sympathy from the moms at school when I dropped Jamie off in the morning. "This Daylight Saving Time is brutal, isn't it?" One of them me was still hungover from Saturday night, another had just discovered her son needed three molars capped just like Jamie, and a third had not had time to recover from her first slumber party for an older child, had just paid $400 to have two stubborn milk teeth professionally extracted from the same child, was wondering if she had time to bake a second cake for her middle child's birthday party later in the day after the first one fell apart on its way out of the pan, but was having trouble concentrating on all of this because she was still reeling from the news that the family dog was off his feed not because of a virus but because of late-stage cancer. She won.

I took Jamie to soccer, then brought a bunch of boys home (Jamie, Charlie, Sam, Harry and Jake; Liam was out with Kristen at Hakobune and Parker was too tired from Daylight Saving Time) to spend the afternoon in the video arcade we call our house. Kristen came back in the middle of the afternoon to spell me off briefly. Once the young guests had left, Jamie did homework, and we went to Browning to make Monday night dinner. Kristen went to play pub trivia, I took the boys home to get them ready for bed in time for her return. I got Liam not to melt down in the bathroom by getting him to floss and brush a bath pig's teeth while I was doing the same to him, a huge improvement over last week (my ears are still ringing). I had the boys ready for mom to tuck them in at 21:45, stalled until 22:00, then found that she was still playing and wouldn't be home for a while. Aargh. When she eventually got in at 22:20, she found Liam in one room watching Anpanman videos, with me unsuccessfully trying to put Jamie to sleep in the other. Jamie fell asleep about two minutes after Kristen got home; Liam is still wide awake as I write this.

(Kristen) We have a new project for March Break: Get Liam to Fall Asleep WIthout Mum. Heck, getting Liam to fall asleep in less than an hour would be aces. He was a star until December then it's like he forgot how to fall asleep. I don't get what the problem is, although I remember Jamie doing the same thing at this age. I hope that it passes soon! He did say that he'd fall asleep for Grammie but not for Papa, so Mom: you're on notice!

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

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