Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 86

2009-04-28 24:34 (Kristen) This morning was the class trop to the local fire hall, and the kids were completely into it. A ride on a school bus (first time for Jamie! all sorts of questions: what happens if I need to pee at the fire hall? Can I really not eat on the school bus? How long will it take to get there?) meant the kids were very excited, and pointed out everything that they could see from the window. Jamie, Jake, and Charlie were in John's group, and he says that it was like playing Whack-a-Mole to keep them in their seats. All the children had questions at the fire hall, and got to see two trucks leave and arrive, firemen go down poles, and to swarm all over the fire trucks. Too cool. Meanwhile, I took Liam to Hakobune on foot (no stroller!) for the first time, which he seemed to appreciate, as it meant that he automatically got a seat of his own on the subway and street car. He was delighted, as usual, to be there, and reported when he came home with John, "I love that place!" Liam loves a lot of things: John reports that when he came out into the parking lot, he gave the car a hug and said "My love my car." However, Liam does not like big buildings; he likes his house. So he doesn't love everything, apparently.

I took Jamie to skating with Jake and his family, and Jamie did really really well. The new skates are making an enormous difference, and he's finally starting to glide with some confidence instead of walking. Afterwards we went to IKEA, and the boys played in the ball room while Jake's mom and I did a little shopping for storage items. When we came back, John was doing taxes and the boys were happy to play in the living room with bakugans and other toys.John and I were stressed and tired, so the rest of the day was a bit of a blur. Liam didn't nap again, and was very tired by the end of the day. However, he was overly tired when he got to bed at 9, and didn't fall asleep until 9:45, after some stern talk from his mother.

2009-04-29 23:15 (Kristen) Jamie came into our room at 7:15 or so, proud as anything that he and Liam managed to stay in their own rooms last night. He's getting good at it, which is lovely. John got Jamie to school, and we played a little with Liam and did household chores and packing. Liam ended up watching Anpanman on John's computer while he packed around him. We got into the car to pick up Jamie, which occasioned a game of Papa the Monster, then dropped Jamie off at Hakobune. We took Liam to Ichi Riki for lunch, where he inhaled california roll and tonkatsu, along with edamame. He spilled his water, and I spilled my soup all over myself, so we were even. He walked a few blocks afterwards as we did some errands, but was pretty tired by the time we got to the car. He failed to sleep, however, but also demonstrated his new ability to unbuckle his seat belt. *maternal face palm* We got home, and said 'goodbye' to John, who is leaving for a week for Malta. Once John had left, the boys and I had a reasonably calm rest of day, punctuated only by Liam's screams as he didn't want ANYTHING at bedtime. He was so very tired...Jamie was too, although he wouldn't admit it. He was asleep by 9, while Liam was asleep a few minutes later.

2009-04-30 24:21 (Kristen) We got up in the morning and got Jamie off to school with a minimum of fuss and bother. Liam and I kept going (Liam shoeless, because we couldn't find his shoes in time, so he had to ride in the stroller, grumpily) to do some groceries and drop by John's mom's house. We didn't find his shoes there, so we went home to find them. We stayed home for a bit before going out again to get Jamie and take him to Browning for lunch. Unusually, Jamie didn't have a playdate after school as all his friends were off at appointments or doing other things, so he hung out with Gary while I tried to get Liam to fall asleep. I failed after half an hour, so I came back to Browning to find Gary asleep on the couch and Jamie watching Pokemon. Tami took Liam out for half an hour so that I had a little time to myself, then brought him home while Gary did the same with Jamie. It was a calm rest of day, with some dinner and a relatively easy night.

2009-05-01 24:21 (Kristen) The boys were very excited to know that their grandmother and cousins were due to arrive today. Apparently they were telling everyone about it. They did very well waiting for them, given how excited they were and how long they had to wait. Jamie went to Jackman in the morning, while Liam went to Hakobune. I went back for Jamie, and we enjoyed a trip on the subway together, which gives us a chance to talk and get caught up. I picked Liam up after lunch, and he showed me the boys' day flag (a koinoburi*) he made. What made it special was that it had little hand prints in paint on each side. Apparently Jamie did it too, which would be the first time I've ever heard of him voluntarily getting his hands covered in paint for any reason! I took Liam for a walk through Kensington Market, and he fell into sleep around 2. I did some shopping and came back t oget Jamie. We went home, and vegged until it was time to go to Browning. We played, and ate, and played some more until it was time to go home and meet Grammie. I got the boys into the bathroom, figuring that the boys could bathe and then wait in their pajamas, when a knock on the bathroom door told us that Grammie, Anna, and Becky were here. There was much happiness, hugs, and kisses, and general hilarity. It was also much later when two very wound-up boys fell asleep.

2009-05-02 24:54 (Kristen) Jamie was up early this morning, and I'm thinking that it's time to teach him how to make his own breakfast. He wakes up about an hour before I do, but is crazy hungry when I do get up, which leads to problems. This morning, we managed to deal with it but it was touch and go. I got him fed and out the door, leaving a sleeping Liam with a sleeping Grammie and sleeping cousins as I took Jamie to our friend Junko's house, who had very kindly volunteered to take Jamie to Nisshu Gakkuin for me. I came back, got into the shower, and promptly had to deal with an awake and unhappy Liam. Grammie got him to pee (the source of the problem), and took him downstairs, where he put his head on her shoulder and his arms around her neck, and all was well. He was the bagel monster today, as it was all he wanted to eat for a good part of the day (my mom brought bagels, yum). I zipped up to Jamie's school to do lunch room duty, then did work until Jamie was ready to come home at 2:30. We met up with the gang at the Second Cup, where Liam was all bundled up and had been sleeping since 1:50. My mom says that Liam told everyone that he was tired, and climbed into the stroller himself to make the point. He'd woken up the night before with a nightmare and screamed for half an hour solid, so it wasn't surprisng that he was tired. I woke him up a little after 3:30, and he was a happy boy. We walked home while Grammie and the girls did some shopping, getting a little exercise and a little wet in a passing rain shower. We walked back to the Silk Road for dinner with Ted, Alice, Ian and Amy (who were in town for about five hours, with Ted going home with the kids and Alice staying to help out with John's mom, who is still ill), and my mom and nieces. It was a lovely evening, and we walked slowly home. Liam still fell asleep at 11, which didn't seem fair, given how much I made him walk after his nap. We met up with Auntie Millie and Scott at our house, and had a fun evening playing this and doing that, until it was time for bed. Jamie fell asleep in a heartbeat; Liam, of course, did not.

2009-05-03 22:17 (Kristen) We had a slow, lazy morning, full of pouncing, playing, and eating bagels. I still remain awestruck by Liam's ability to pack away bagels. We packed the boys up around noon to go to the Eaton Centre for this and that, and they enjoyed the mass trip on the subway to the mall. We ate some lunch, then browsed about. Jamie was unimpressed with time in the mall, and REALLY wanted to do something else, but put up with it. The green tea frappuchino helped. Liam almost fell asleep but something woke him up just as he was going under, and that was that. The rest of the afternoon was spent keeping him from falling asleep. When we got back from the mall, Daniel and Ross came over, and there was much frivolity and rambunctiousness. Dinner was eaten, and a mass trip to the Dairy Queen was made. The boys inhaled a shared banana split (I got a little), and ran home, playing and laughing and having a great time on the front lawn until it was time to come inside and go to bed.

2009-05-04 24:29 (Kristen) My mom and nieces went home today, and we were sad to see them go. We droppped Jamie off at school, then took Liam to the Detroit Eatery for our usual greasy spoon sendoff breakfast. Liam was cranky on the way down, but brightened up considerably after his second breakfast of the day. I took him to Hakobune after breakfast and goodbyes, and dropped a cheerful Liam off. I had made arrangements (somewhat Byzantine, but there you go) for Jamie to be taken to his soccer class and then dropped off at Browning for lunch. This was to enable me to stay near Hakobune and pick up Liam at 1, which I did. Liam surprised me by falling asleep on the subway ride home, and slept until 3:30. Gary kept Jamie at Browning until 3, where they played Bookworm Adventures and watched Pokemon. It was remarkably peaceful here. The boys puttered while I cleaned the house (I washed the kitchen floor and did laundry, yay me), and were happy to go to Daniel and Ross's house. There they played and romped in the usual way, and enjoyed cake for Michelle's birthday. We came home and had a bath, and got ready for bed. The remarkable thing was that, after half an hour of sitting with Liam in the dark, my phone rang and I left the room to pick it up. I finished, went back to check on Liam, and found that he was asleep. Without me! This is a first! It probably is a fluke, but a lucky, useful one , just the same.

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

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