Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 3 No. 0

2009-08-04 24:28 (Kristen) I took the boys out today to a local mall with a Trader Joe's and a local bookstore. I needed to get out, more than anything, and the boys were a little difficult while we were out. They demanded ice cream but didn't finish it; ran around the bookstore until I had to speak very sharply to keep them quiet, and were generally very wound up. The day was very rainy, with bands of thunderstorms rolling through. We took a cab to the mall, but had arranged with the hotel to pick us up and bring us back. This was a Good Thing. We went back to the Smokin' Barbque for lunch, but they had no burgers (they'd run out!) but had other acceptable examples of Texan-style bbq. We ate, then headed back for our usual late afternoon SpongeBob festival. Dinner was quiet and consisted of leftovers, but Liam wasn't hungry. I played a version of Go Fish with Jamie called Go Exploring (we have cards with planets on them), which is Jamie's favourite game right now, then I got the bright idea of having Jamie watch the first Harry Potter movie with me while Liam played DS. I got chips and some fizzy lemonade out, and we were almost ready to start when Liam fell asleep. It being only 7:45, I was surprised but delighted, as it would give me some mom-and-son time with Jamie, who has needed it lately. We enjoyed the movie until about an hour in, when Liam woke up, crying, and then throwing up. We just made it to the bathroom, but there was still a mess. If you have to be far away from home, then a hotel is a good place to be sick because housekeeping comes up and cleans your bathroom and gives you new towels and takes away the old ones. Poor Liam was sick for the rest of the night, and ran a fever too. John came back from his meetings and helped, and we moved Jamie into John's bed while I slept with Liam. Jamie didn't get to finish Harry Potter in the end, as the movie was too long, but I promised him that he could in the morning.

2009-08-05 24:39 (Kristen) John took Jamie with him to the tournament, where Jamie helped out by running messages here and there and getting things for John when he needed them. He spent the rest of his time playing with his DS and drawing. John ended up keeping Jamie until 4, after the tournament was over and the prize ceremony. Jamie handed the winners their cheques, and told each "congratulations." Awesome! He was a big help, and John is looking forward to taking Jamie with him to tournaments in future. We were talking about how important it is to be part of your paretns' lives and their work, and this is a lovely start. Liam and I stayed and had a decadent morning, preschooler style. We drank juice, andstayed in bed, watching cartoons. Liam didn't really get up until after noon, when the Advil I'd given him at 10 really kicked in. He got his appetite back, and we had a lovely time cuddling and spending nothing time together. We went to see John and Jamie around 4, and brought Jamie back with us. Jamie watched the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and promptly grabbed his sketchbook to draw a picture of Harry Potter and dictate a fanfic story to me. He was upset that he couldn't draw a picture of Harry that matched what was in his mind: an early run-in with his perfectionist streak. I'm so delighted that he likes the story so much; he was watching his favourite parts later in the evening, and eventually watched the movie from the beginning with me. We went out to dinner later in the day, where the boys had fun playing, and then it was home to bed. Tomorrow we go home, and it's going to be a long trip home.

2009-08-06 23:40 (Kristen) We got up, put a little more Motrin into Liam to kick the last of his fever, and had a leisurely breakfast with Sherrie at the club room. Then it was pack pack pack and get our two wildly wound-up boys into the car and off around noon. We stopped to get coffee and lunch at a Kroger's in Troy, OH, then stayed on the road until we reached Windsor. For those travelling through Detroit to Canada via the Peace Bridge, the construction has made making it to the bridge convoluted and not well signed... We stopped two more times, once for pizza and once for a rest break, then arrived home. The boys watched videos, slept, and otherwise stayed as good as could be expected under the circumstances. Jamie missed Gary terribly, and was delighted to spend some time with him when we got home, and Liam with Ayami. They watched the start of Ponyo, the new Miyazaki movie, which Gary got from Japan (yay!). We'd all been looking forward to seeing it when it arrived in theatres in a week or so, but now have the jump on it. W00t.

2009-08-07 23:47 (Kristen) Jamie had a picnic with Hakobune out at Toronto Island, which is a Big Kid expedition, so Liam stayed home with me today. We went out for lunch at a sushi restaurant on the Danforth, did some grocery shopping, and went to the library. We went home so that John could go to pick up Jamie, and John's cousins Jonathan and Cheryl Clymer arrived soon after. They are staying with us this weekend, and it's been very nice to get to know them better. Liam went with John to get Jamie and fell asleep on the way home; I transferred him inside to the couch, but woke him up at 5, because he's still be awake now if I hadn't. We headed dwon to Taste of the Danforth for dinner, and went to Taste of the Silk Road first. Margaret let us eat in the restaurant, which wasn't open to customers, and Jamie wanted to help out as he saw people rushing through with food, this, and that. He asked Margaret how he could help, and she put him to work doing a few tiny jobs. He really likes to help Margaret. In return, Margaret comped us an order of gyoza, saying that Jamie had earned it. He was pretty proud, and so were we. We went to St. Barnabas and played, ate ice cream, and headed home. The boys were in bed dreadfully late, despite their fatigue, but I'm sure they thought that it was still too early.

2009-08-08 23:54 (Kristen) Today we all slept in: Jamie after 8:30, me and Liam around 10:15, and John after noon. We're all still recovering, in our own ways, from the trip. John took the boys to the market, and they vegged out in front of Ponyo after they got home. They played with Sam, Ben, and Luke for a bit, but they were pretty tired. We had dinner at Ichi Riki tonight with Jack (John's dad), Jonathan, and Cheryl, and the boys had a great time eating a good deal of sushi and doing this and that. Bedtime was an experiment in getting Liam to either fall asleep by himself or with John, but that failed. We'll keep working on it.

2009-08-09 25:37 (Kristen) John was very tired today, so he ended up taking the boys out in the afternoon to Playground Paradise (Jamie's pick) while it rained and thundered outside. The boys ran themselves silly for about two hours, which meant that they were really tired and pokey and somewhat crabby by the time dinnertime came around. We went to Mocha Mocha with John's dad, and with Cheryl and Jonathan, but the boys were too tired to eat much, and so John took them home early. They were bathed by the time I got home, and Liam was falling over, he was so tired. I tried to put him to bed early, but he just wouldn't fall asleep: possibly because Jamie wasn't there, and possibly because the mother of all thunder storms was keeping up a steady artillery barrage for about an hour and a half outside. He fell asleep, then we put Jamie to bed.

2009-08-10 25:41 (Kristen) Today I took Liam back to Hakobune, which he'd been telling me he'd missed, and brought Jamie with me to Starbucks. I got some work done, and he played DS with Sadaru, his friend. After a pizza lunch, we got Liam, went to the Labyrinth to pick up birthday presents for Charlie and a new Pokemon manga for Jamie, then headed to Dr. Kennedy's to catch up on our boosters. Both boys detest their needles, but I think that Liam hates the Advil he had to take almost as much. They were very brave in the end, although there was still much crying, but Jamie was delighted to know that he won't need another booster until he's sixteen or so. Liam still has some needles in his future. We vegged at home, and went to Browning for dinner. While there, Liam saw John lying on the couch with a crossword, and informed John that he was going to help him with his Scrabble. He took John's pen, climbed up beside his dad, and gave some serious consideration to the Sudoku. He's a real papa's boy right now, and adores any scrap of time his father can give to him. Jamie is needing some special Mom time, so it's balancing out.

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

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