Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 80

2009-03-17 22:54 (Kristen) The boys were very excited because they knew that John was going to come to Ottawa today. Last night, Jamie declared that he was too excited to sleep, because John was going to arrive the next day. He did fall asleep, but both boys were waiting all day today for their papa to arrive. After a quiet morning, in which the boys slept until 8:30 or so, my mom and I took the boys to Loblaws for a grocery shopping expedition. The boys were hungry when we brought them hone at 1:30 (we were out a bit longer than expected), and I fed them a reasonable amount of food. It was after 2 then, and I decided to let Liam go without a nap as he hadn't exercised much, and was in a good mood. He stayed all cute and in a good mood for most of the day, cuddling and playing as much as he could.

The boys were delighted to see Becky when she came over in the early afternoon, and to see Auntie Jenny as well. Owen came over too, and there was much rompage* and playing. When Becky's boyfriend Ian came over later in the afternoon, Jamie was delighted to learn how to play Marvel HeroClix, which is a game of "3-D miniature combat" using characters from Marvel comics. Jamie apparently enjoyed it, but then (of course) wanted to play by Jamie Rules (I get to be invisible, and have five henchmen, and you didn't hit me there!, etc.). The kids all had a good time playing, and ate a good meal. Of course, they kept eating after the meal was over, and eating and eating. At 7:30, their dad showed up, and all was wonderful. Both boys were all over him, and then it was off to do their favourite activities with him to reassure themselves that all was normal again. Soon after, everyone had left and it was time for the bath. Boys were bathed, a story was read, and we put the boys to bed in the pink room, which has two single beds. Hopefully, they'll stay there for at least most of the night, as we're now trying to get them to fall asleep in their own room. Jamie was very dubious, and was put out that he wasn't sleeping in the bed with us (or at least with John), but eventually did so with the understanding that he can come into bed with us if he's lonely in the middle of the night. Liam took a long time to fall asleep, but finally did so to the quiet, even voices of his parents talking about boring adult stuff.

2009-03-18 23:22 (Kristen) The boys woke up well enough, and seemed interested in going to the mall to see the reptile show (Little Ray's Reptile Zoo) being put on for March Break. They watched for half an hour (until the tortise), but found the pace slow. I think that the show was aimed at slightly older children, but the boys enjoyed what they saw (the iguana was a hit). Jamie got us to go to the playpark, and he ran around for about an hour before we got him to come out for lunch. Liam was happy to run around, wrestle with his brother, and to beg for Timbits from the friendly women sharing our table at the playpark. He gets away with being cute *way* too much... The boys ate well enough, but were blitheringly tired by the time we got home. Jamie went to decompress by playing Adventurequest, while Liam went for a walk with Grammie.

It was a beautiful enough day that Grammie and I sat out on the front steps and watched Liam sleep. He woke up after an hour and a half, fussing and crying, and so I picked him up. He settled back to sleep on my lap until I woke him up at 3:45, as my back was starting to get a little stiff. Grammie went out for dinner, and John went to the Ottawa Scrabble club after dinner with us, and the boys were just completely wound up: I don't think that I've ever seen them quite so bad. They were jumping on the furniture, wrestling each other, sitting on each other, pulling off cushions, and generally unresponsive to parental disapproval. I think that Jamie had two time outs, where he had to sit in another room and count to 60 before he returned. Unheard of. Jennifer and her new boyfriend Zac were here for an hour, and they were here, as I warned them, at the worst possible hour of the day for both boys lately. I put the boys into the bath soon after they left, and they were asleep by 10. Thank goodness.

2009-03-19 24:04 (Kristen) This morning, the boys were awake at 7. Why, you ask, were they up at 7? I have no idea. I, of course, was up at 7 too. We ate breakfast, watched some Kung Fu Panda, and waited for John to get up. We were to go and visit a high-school friend of mine at her home out near Bayshore, and John drove us out so that we were there by 10:20. Kate was waiting for us, and we met her twin daughters (a year older than Jamie), and the children who are at the daycare that she runs out of her home. The boys were more than happy to play for two hours with the other children, including with a very cool set of large, MegaBlox-style blocks that, when assembled, turned into a child-sized fort or castle. John picked us up at 1, as it became clear that Liam was going to melt down our of fatigue, and we got him home just as he fell asleep. We successfully transferred him to the stroller, and my mother took him for a walk while Jamie mellowed out with Adventurequest.

Liam woke up after an hour and a half (perhaps less) for no discernable reason. He was in a good enough mood, however, so we carried on. We were going out again in the evening, to Badger and Jeanette's, and the boys were very excited to go there. Jamie was practically vibrating, and that Jennifer, my mom, Becky, her boyfriend Ian, and Owen were there too. The boys were very interested in the martial arts class that was being conducted in the studio while we were there, and were very good about being safety-conscious in keeping a good distance from the combatants. We all pigged out completely on Jeanette's excellent pastas and chocolate cake, and the boys enjoyed a frozen banana/mango smoothie in place of the cake. More running around and playing of the Wii occurred, and we didn't leave until after 9. When we got home, we brushed their teeth and put them to bed, where Jamie was asleep in less than five minutes, and Liam was asleep in less than 30. Liam is sleeping restlessly, but I'm not sure why he's not settling.

2009-03-20 24:48 (Kristen) Jamie was up at 7. How do we know? "Dad, can I go downstairs and play Adventurequest?" "Not until 8." "Dad, what time is it?" "7:00." Pause. "Dad, what time is it?" "7:10." Pause. "Dad, what time is it?" "7:20" And so on, until 8. He was tired and punky during the day, spending most of it watching videos of an old Super Mario Brothers cartoon on YouTube or Madagascar. He ate, but not hugely, and I didn't push it as he wasn't all that active. Liam was more sedentary too, but I thought that it was a good idea to have a calm day.

In the late afternoon, we thought to go to the playpark, but John had too much work to do, and so we settled for running around the front yard, timing how long it took us to run from point A to point B. When we were done, it was time to go to my dad's for dinner, which was very nice. The boys had some Playmobil toys from our friends the Engelbrechts, but Jamie was a little out of control and didn't eat much. When we got home, he fell asleep watching videos and waiting for Becky to arrive. He woke up a minute or two after Becky arrived, turned white as a sheet when he stood up, and I was behind him when John yelled "He's going to throw up!" I wasn't able to get him to the little bathroom nearby, as there was no time to do so and the way was filled with shoes and other objects, so we held a bowl under his chin as he threw up in the hallway, standing up. Yay, hardwoods and no carpet there. We cleaned him up, cleaned up the floor, and cleaned up the vomit, and Becky (yay!) played with Liam, keeping him amused and distracted. Jamie was shipped upstairs into bed, with a large basin beside him, and fell asleep on his side almost instantly. This is important, as when I checked on him a while later, after Liam was asleep, I found that he'd vomited all over the bed, most likely in his sleep as we'd heard no peep from him when this happened. Thank god he was on his side, or that he moved enough in a semi-sombulent state to get the vomit out without aspirating it. We stripped the boy again, put towels down, took the soiled duvet downstairs, and wiped down Thomas and Batty, his stuffed friends. Liam is fussing a lot tonight, and I'm worried that he's going to have what Jamie had, but Liam did eat a great deal more than Jamie, so I'm holding onto that hope. We have to go back to Toronto tomorrow, John says, so wish us a lot of luck. John is sleeping with Jamie, and I'm sleeping with Liam.

John says: I was playing with the small collection of miscellaneous toys in Grammie's living room and watching what Liam would do with them. He always surprises me with the richness and strangeness of his imagination. There was a little house about the size of his hand, which he called a "wash house." He popped the roof off, and put a little bicycle bell inside, turned to me, and said "The bell has baikin* (germs)." He closed the roof, shook the wash house vigourously, opened it up again, and said "Baikin* all gone." I think that he misses our front-loading washing machine back home.

Liam talks a lot, and sometimes it's easy to forget that he's only just learning. He's started using past tense verbs, and sometimes he'll say "Liam and Jamie" instead of "my and me". This morning, I gave him some refried beans and rice as a mid-morning snack, then asked if he wanted apple juice with it. He gave me a strangely familiar look (if John looks in a mirror--k), as if I'd taken leave of my senses, then politely asked for "apple juice in a *cup*."

2009-03-21 22:40 (Kristen) Before anyone else (i.e., our driver) got sick, we decided to high-tail it back to Toronto, lest we soil more of Grammie's linens or share more virus. First, Liam and I had a fabulous breakfast at Jason's house with Grammie, Jen, Becky, and Owen in attendance, where Liam packed away more food than I normally see him eat. Both boys have eaten very well in Ottawa, despite Jamie's illness. John packed up the car and brought Jamie over when it was time to hit the road. Poor Jamie wasn't looking well and threw up as we were getting onto the highway, but that was the last time (thank goodness). I was sitting between the boys in the back seat so there was a minimal mess to clean up, and Jamie slept for about half of the trip back. Liam was all smiles and laughs, and both boys, in the end, were fabulous on the trip back. We got home in about five hours, all told, including two pees breaks and the vomit break I mentioned above. We spent a very quiet evening and put the boys to bed early, as Liam didn't nap at all in the car--life was too interesting as it flew by his window, I suppose.

2009-03-22 23:21 (Kristen) I am not really sure what time Liam woke up this morning, but it was before dawn. He was flipping and flopping, and eventually I was awake enough to realize that Chattering Boy needed to pee. We got up, and I very clearly told him that it was *not* time to get up. False dawn was growing outside, and he didn't really feel like going back to sleep, and from the sounds in the bedroom next door, Jamie didn't much feel like it either. I gave up and went downstairs with Liam around 7 or 7:15, and was Very Grumpy about it. I vegged out and fed the boys a breakfast of toast and jam around 9. Jamie kept it down, which was my main concern, and his appetite seemed to be coming back, which was good. Liam and Jamie spent a very quiet morning, and I took Liam for a walk at 1. He was unconscious pretty quickly, so I picked up some groceries at the Big Carrot and headed back home. John went out an hour or so after I got back to do some groceries of his own, and Jamie was well enough to start getting bored. He wasn't all that interested in dinner, so it's not completely back, but we're going to send him to school tomorrow unless there's a clear and obvious reason not to. Liam had woken up after an hour and a half of nap, so he was very tired. The boys fell asleep in the same bed with me and John there, which was very nice. Liam has woken up with his 11 pm night terror, and has been moved into his own bed, where Jamie will join him later.

2009-03-23 24:29 (Kristen) Liam had a rough night, waking up at least three or four times before I gave up and went in to sleep with him for the rest of the night. Jamie switched with me, going in to sleep with his dad, although there were three of us in one single bed at one point. When we got up, the boys wished me a happy birthday, which was wonderful. John took Jamie to school, where he had a good morning despite being a little nervous about going after being ill on the weekend. I took Liam to Hakobune, where he was delighted to be back with his friends. He had a good morning, it seems, and was happy to see me when I picked him up. In the meantime, John had picked up Jamie and the two had gone to the Danforth, where Jamie insisted on going to It's My Party and picking up three balloons for my birthday (with "40" on them, and which were a lovely turquoise and yellow). Then, John says, Jamie insisted on picking out a present from him and decided upon a gold Mardi Gras-style bead necklace, saying that I'd like it. John convinced Jamie to go to the Ardene store near by, which had a wall of necklaces, and Jamie picked out a lovely blue necklace for me all by himself to give me. He knows that my favourite colour is blue, which is such a thoughtful thing that I'm just completely beside myself with delight. He also drew me a birthday card and wrote out Happy Birthday Mommy with love from Jamie in his clear, kindergarten handwriting. I'm such a very lucky mom.

Jamie told me, when I got home with a finally sleeping Liam, that he had a present for me but that was all he said: he managed to keep the secret all day, until after the cake when present giving began. John said that Jamie really put a lot of effort into the planning. For example: "Dad! Let me whisper into your ear." "What is it, Jamie?" "Are we going to sing 'Happy Birthday' when the cake comes out?" "Yes, Jamie, we are. Don't worry." Etc. I think that this is the first family birthday that he's been very aware of, and he needed to make sure that it went properly. Charlie White came over to play with Jamie for part of the afternoon, which was fun. Afterwards, we rested and did a bit of this and that while John did food prep for dinner. He made my birthday cake and a cheese souffle, in addition to the usual Monday night dinner, and dinner was very yummy. The kids were delighted to see Tom, Michelle, Daniel, and Ross after a week away, and were also happy to see Baby Simon and his parents, who came to the party. John's present to me was Rock Band 2, and I think that Jamie and Liam are looking forward to playing the drums, as they've been very interested in similar games at other houses we've been to recently. We got home much later than usual, and the boys weren't asleep until close to 11 (on the near side for Jamie, and the far side for Liam). It'll be a hard wake up tomorrow morning, but today was a happy day.

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

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