Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 2 No. 99

2009-07-28 49:42 (Kristen) It was a rough day for me, as the boys were in somewhat wild and oppositional moods, and Jamie had one of his increasingly frequent meltdowns. We're thinking that Jamie may have been suffering from allergies this month, as he has been complaining of itchy eyes and other itchiness. This may explain his moods, and geneal wildness. I hope it's something so simple that a shot of Benedryl will take care of it. By the evening, we were all rather tired and crabby, and this peaked when Liam suddenly moved his head while John was trying to cut his hair, and piked his little ear on the point of the scissors. Liam was fine--barely noticed, in fact, but John was horrified. He buried his face in his hands and said "I"m a bad dad!" Unplanned, in chorus, Jamie and I said "No, you're not." This was so funny that John laughed, and the overall mood in the house lightened up considerably by bedtime.

2009-07-29 24:53 (Kristen) Today was pretty much "packing packing packing" and other prep work for our week-long trip to Dayton for the National Scrabble Championships. Gary and Ayami, as usual, will be looking after the house in our absence. Today was also "how do you get the smell of dead mouse out of the house?" However, we don't need to go into much detail about that. The boys played with Waka in the morning, and went with me to the library in the afternoon, and to the toystore for last minute trip notions. They really needed the outing, as they were a little stir crazy and sluggish from being inside all day (it poured for a good deal of the morning), and it was fun in the end. In the evening, Jamie played a good deal with Gary and Ayami, as they got some last-minute playtime in before our trip. Liam was extremely tired, and was doing his best to see how far he can actually push John before John lost it. We didn't quite reach that point, but it was close. The boys are very excited, and took forever to fall asleep tonight.

2009-07-30 23:29 (Kristen) John and I took forever to fall asleep too, but it was because we had a great deal to do before it was time to leave. We hit the road about an hour later than we'd hoped, but managed to make very good time along the 401. Jamie slept for an hour while Liam played DS. Liam has no troubles with carsickness caused by playing with handheld devices, unlike poor Jamie. When Jamie woke up and we went to have a pee and buy some Timbits, we headed back onto the road. It was easily the longest road trip the boys have ever taken, and we clocked into Dayton at eight hours after departure (7 pm or so). Jamie had spent a good deal of the trip asking John how minutes until we got there, but fortunately John had patience for that sort of questioning. I read the boys some books, which seemed to go over well. Which reminds me, I have to investigate the names of the dwarf planets again for Jamie... Upon arrival, we checked in, looked around, found Sherrie, went grocery shopping, unpacked, and put the kids to bed. They were beyond hysterically tired, and it wasn't until 11:15, one very stern threat enacted, and some attempts at calm behaviour before the boys were asleep.

2009-07-31 23:43 (Kristen) I'll confess, I've been a little worried about what to do here in Dayton while we're here, but things are starting to fall into place. Today was a quiet day, because the boys needed it. Jamie was up early, at 7:40 or so, which was far too early. So, we hung out in the room, had breakfast, played some games, read some books, did some Pokemon stickers, and otherwise grooved. The boys didn't eat much breakfast, but hoovered down heroic quantities of Thai and Japanese food at lunch. We may visit this place more often, a restaurant called Thai9. The Thai Scrabble players here all know about it, which is yet another mark in its favour. And it makes a good dinner without being reheated, which is good as we have a refrigerator but no microwave. The Chinese food we had when we got here was fabulous when hot (I love a chef unafraid of garlic), but it's not as good cold. We enjoyed lunch because we got to eat with John and our friend Chris, which made it enjoyable even more. In the afternoon, after some quiet time, we went to the pool until they got so old that Liam's teeth were chattering. After some more quiet time and some food, we went to see John for a bit until Liam fell and hit his head on some marble floor. I hope not to see a goose egg quite like that on my child's head again, but he's all right. We went back to the room, watched an hour and a half of Spongebob Squarepants, then bathed and went to bed by 9:25/45.

2009-08-01 23:29 (Kristen) We're starting to settle in here, I think. The boys woke up around their usual times, and I'm getting better at reading when the particular goofiness that will result in tears is getting started, and heading it off. We did a bit of this and that before heading out the door to a farmer's market that Google placed three blocks away. It was six (unsure of were the error in the address came from), so we stopped at the library to have a pee break and play briefly at a little playground. We saw a cardinal on the ground fly up and fall off a branch before finally landing on a stable one, and lots and lots of chipmunks and squirrels. There is a joke about squirrels in the Pixar movie Up, involving the phrase "I hate squirrels." Liam has adapted it for chipmunks as I keep calling out "chipmunk! Look!" Jamie was reluctant but game to make it to the market as I promised an ice cream for his efforts. When we got there, we had a walk around a very cute market, then sat at a place called Crepe Belgique and shared a ham and cheese crepe, along with a cream soda float and an orange pop fload. These made an enormous impression on Jamie, who was telling me how much fun he had at the market today for the rest of the day. We picked up some Thai food from another vendor, and headed back to the tournament site to visit with John and Sherrie. The boys were superb mice, creeping into the playing area quietly and with no loudness or goofing around. We visited, the boys ate more of John's food, and then we went back to the room. We vegged out, snacking on crackers, cheese, and deli meat, and watching a lot of SpongeBob. At 6:30, we headed down to get John, and to go out for more Thai food at Thai 9. The boys ran around the tournament area, which they love to do when players are not around, and I took Liam around on a requested trip to see the numbers on the tables (so that players can find where they are supposed to be playing). We used the opportunity to teach Liam to count to 20, and he was doing very well. Use the tools you have at hand! Dinner was a great deal of fun. The surprise of the night was not that Liam hoovered four pieces of salmon sushi in under two minutes flat, along with some California roll, but that he then fell asleep while he was doing so. I took him to the bathroom, where he peed while basically asleep, then he was out for the night at 7:45. He slept the whole time in a very noisy restaurant, and barely twitched when we got back to the hotel and I lifted him out of the stroller and put him to bed. Jamie, in the meantime, ate curry and other food, drew, talked with Sherrie and Jane, and seemed to have a great time too. Jane had found some children's books being given away by someone on the street (an odd situation, but convenient!) that we read to Liam before he fell asleep, and Jamie was pleased to meet Jane because she was responsible for the incredible room we had in Florida last year. He's been saying that our room is nice, but itn's not like Florida. I don't think that we'll ever have a room as good as that one in Florida ever again, myself. Jamie fell asleep very quickly once his head hit the pillow. I have no idea what we did to exhaust the children so thoroughly, but I have got to do it again.

2009-08-02 23:34 (Kristen) I managed to exhaust Liam so much today that he fell asleep at 5:30, so deeply that I was unable to wake him until 6. Augh!

It started when Liam slept for a little over twelve hours last night, and Jamie woke up around the same time (8:00). The boys and I had a quiet morning inside, then went to find lunch. I wanted to go to the smoked bbq burger place that everyone was talking about, but it was closed. Foolishly, I thought that I'd still get a burger for Jamie because he likes them, and went to the Arby's across the street. This is like going to the Chum Bucket when you want a Crabby Patty (why yes, we have been watching a lot of SpongeBob lately. Why do you ask?) It was just about the worst meal I've had in years; truly inedible. The boys didn't care, but I sure did, and I carefully ditched the meal before we were done, saying (with truth) that it was time to find John. I was very irritated with myself, and will not make that mistake again. We arrived to see John, and met up with John's cousins, Jeff and Paula Clymer, who had driven up from Cincinnatti to see us. They were lovely people, and kind, and took us out for lunch (a decent one!). John had to go back to work, but we finished eating and then they drove us out to Wright-Patterson Air Base to the US Air Force Aviation Museum. It is the best aviation museum I've ever seen, by far, and will be forever remembered by me as the time I had to stop Liam from hanging by his arms from the landing gear of an old WWII plane (didn't get the make, too AUGH!). It also allowed me to say, when a boy asked me if a nearby object was a ride, "No dear, that's a thermonuclear device." Surreal doesn't even cover it. We only had half an hour there because of car seat exchanges and pee breaks, but it was definitely worth visiting the museum. On the way back, Liam fell dead asleep, and nothing would wake him up. I let him sleep for half an hour, then woke him up. He didn't like that much. We went back to our hotel room while Jeff and Paula picked up dinner at Thai 9, and all ate together while John went off and had meetings. Jeff and Paula left around 8:30, and John got back at 9:30. The boys were asleep after 10, and LIam was awake until almost 11; not a big surprise there.

2009-08-03 24:09 (Kristen) After yesterday's debacle, Jamie was obsessed with getting a burger from the Smokin' Barbque on the corner nearby, across from the Arby's (now forever known as the Chum Bucket). We had lunch with John and Chris and a number of players from Thailand, and Jamie (with coaxing) said hello in Thai to the players there. The boys ate well, and Liam inhaled his usual four pieces of salmon sushi. We had planned to go out, but ended up vegetating in our room instead. For dinner we had the much anticipated Krabby Patties, and they were very good. Jamie could have eaten a whole one on his own, I think, instead of just a half. It was just right for Liam. We wandered back and spent a lazy evening before the boys went to sleep.

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

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