Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 95

2009-06-30 24:25 (Kristen) It was another day at camp for Jamie, and he seems to have had another good day. Liam had his usual good day at Hakobune, and was happy to see me and Grammie pick him up. It threatened to pour and storm all day, but the storms kept going north. This let Grammie and me walk Liam around a bit, do some grocery shopping, and have a snack at the Second Cup. We didn't manage to make it home beofre it was time to pick up Jamie, and we let the kids play at the playground for a bit before heading home. After a late dinner, we went to Dairy Queen with most of the Browning crowd and Gary and Ayami. It was the usual manic fest, and the boys were overwound but happy when we got home. Eventually they calmed down enough to sleep, but it would be a good thing if they both slept in tomorrow.

2009-07-01 22:59 (Kristen) I was thinking about taking the boys to see any fireworks that might be fired off in our neighbourhood to celebrate the birthday of our lovely country, but inertia and John's imminent return from Bangkok kept us in our house. It was a lovely day, in fact, perfect for laundry, so we stayed indoors all day. Jamie has had a very active few days, and I thought that a day of doing nothing wouldn't hurt for once. We watched television a bit, did a lot of crafts and otherwise managed to keep ourselves occupied. It was a good day, I think, but it's hard to detail what, exactly, we did. Liam was up early, and fell asleep almost instantly at bedtime (somewhere around 10). Jamie took a while longer to sleep, excited, I think, by John's return around bedtime. There are presents upon presents to see, but that will be for tomorrow. Tonight is all about rest.

2009-07-02 24:30 (Kristen) The boys were, to put it mildly, overjoyed to see their father again. John took Jamie to the bus stop this morning to go to camp, and let a visibly delighted Liam sit on his lap and watch Anpanman videos for a while this morning. John faded over the day, as Tokyo time began to catch up with him, but the boys had a good time in their various ways. Liam went for a walk with me in the afternoon to do errands, and stopped to play at the school playground for a bit. Jamie did something at camp to do with pets and dogs; apparently there was an obstacle course somewhere too. He's really enjoying himself at camp, but I'm not entirely sure of half of what he's doing. Liam and Jamie played with Gary and Ayami this evening, and it was a great thing for me to see Jamie and Ayami playing at some imaginary game entirely in Japanese. Well, except for the word "Laser gun," which is the same in English as in Japanese. Liam is speaking more Japanese too, but is much more clear about who he'll speak it with and who he won't. He is getting older, and is surprising us with the depth and complexity of his imagination. He has started trying to create his own games on paper, just like Jamie does. He is also insisting on doing "his work," which includes mazes or any work in a workbook. Both boys were in bed a little late, but went to sleep quickly enough.

2009-07-03 56:21 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 6, or so, which was a little rough on him. John got Jamie ready for his last day of camp, and took him to the school to catch the bus. I took Liam to Hakobune, and had some "quiet time" (a walk in the stroller) after I picked him up. Grammie came back from a visit with her sister, and Jamie came home around 5. Jamie really enjoyed his last day of camp, and will, I think, be more than happy to go again next year. They did canoeing, which he liked. It being John's and my tenth wedding anniversary, Grammie was going to babysit the boys for us, and took them over to Browning for dinner. John and I had a great time out, having dinner by ourselves, and came back to two quiet and happy boys, playing well with others. Tom and Grammie said that we'd come back too early, as the boys were still in good moods. If we came back to see them lioke this, we'd be encouraged to do it again! Well, yes.

2009-07-04 34:21 (Kristen) Jamie was up well before 7, as that's when John got up and he recalls hearing the sound of the television long before that. Hmmm. It was an old-fashioned Saturday morning, as Jamie watched television for about six hours, from six to noon, just as I did as a girl. He also exhibited the same manic irritation that I showed as a girl when separated from the television. The downside of the new kid channels is that you aren't kicked off the television by the advent of Saturday afternoon wrestling, or whatever it was that channels changed to to signal the end of their kid programming. To get the kids out and doing other, healthy pursuits, we took them to Wetstock, the annual watergun party at the house of our friends Reid and Luisa. It was a wonderful, wet time, with both kids spending lots of time in the pool. Liam, in particular, was starting to get the idea of swimming. When not in the pool, my children did their best locust routines, eating and eating and eating some more. They also enjoyed the hanging chair that doubled as a swing that they could both sit in. I can't recaull seeing both boys have so much fun in a long time. Eventually it was time to go home, and we had the boys' pajamas, as Jamie had insisted on bringing them (probably remembering last year). We had fun weirding out our friends by telling them that Jamie *remembers stuff*. Like pajamas, and what teachers want brought to school the next day, and his lunch bag with all the stuff in it (minus lunch) that he left home with. He does forget the occasional hat, but he's new to hats. The boys put on their pajamas, and fell fast asleep in the car on the drive home. Amazing.

2009-07-05 23:18 (Kristen) John wasn't feeling very well, so he spent most of the day either working or sleeping. The boys slept in until almost 9, thanks in no small part to the sheet I put up over their window last night. Yay! Grammie was leaving to go back to Ottawa today after a lovely long visit, and so we went out to have our usual departure breakfast. The boys ate a very large breakfast, and went with me afterwards to the park to play while John went home to nap and Grammie left to visit Auntie Millie before heading home. Unfortunately, Grammie left with Liam's car seat! D'oh! Good thing we still have Jamie's old seat in the garage! Liam was very happy to run all over the playground but Jamie was feeling punky and not all that interested in playing without adult company today. We headed home around 1, then spent most of the day doing not very much. Both boys were very melty around the edges when bedtime rolled around at 9, and I was very relieved when both boys were finally asleep.

2009-07-06 23:42 (Kristen) The new routine in place for the summer is to have me take Jamie with me to the university while Liam goes to Hakobune. We did it for the second time today, and it's been a success both times. I bring a DS and some other activites for Jamie, and he has a good time drinking something or another from Starbucks while I work. He particularly likes to go and see what's going on in the pool nearby, and got to see some water polo practice today. There's a boy named Sandaru(?) who is there with his mom while they wait for their kid at Hakobune, and we've decided that Jamie and he should play DS head-to-head games next week, as Sandaru spends all his time playing on a DS while *his* mother works! We had a good time, picked up Liam, and went to the library and Treasure Island on the way home. Jamie walked a lot today--over 2 miles--while Liam didn't walk half as much. It's good exercise for him, as he hasn't been doing much physically when he's home. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing stickers and other activities and then watching Spongebob. Dinner was at Browning, and John reports that all went well (I was playing trivia). Jamie fell asleep before I got home, but Liam stayed up to meet me (not intentionally).

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

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