Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 3 No. 2

2009-08-18 23:18 (Kristen) The boys both went to Hakobune this morning, and we managed to get there on time! I was very pleased with them. Jamie is in an odd spot right now, in that he doesn't want to go anymore, but he knows that he'll miss the people there. It makes him feel a little better that he'll be able to visit when we pick up Liam. Afterwards, we went to the library and to Treasure Island, where Jamie's money was burning such a hole in his pocket that he wanted to buy *anything*. We settled on a pack of Pokemon cards, as he's actually playing with those right now. We walked back home, slowly, but Liam still expired outside Jackman School, and I had to put in a call to John to come and get us. The vening was calm, with more joint homework. Jamie's still pretty quick with his Japanese homework, and Liam is enjoying some pencil work that is geared towards his being able to write letters eventually. His control is getting better, and he is so gleeful about being able to work like Jamie it's incandescent.

2009-08-19 23:20 (Kristen) In the morning, Waka came over and played with the boys while I got some work done and some errands run. They seem to be getting along. In the afternoon, we did a bit of this and that, and worked on homework. Liam likes getting stickers. It was a quiet evening, as Liam isn't feeling all that well with a cood, and I"m starting to feel pretty lousy myself.

2009-08-20 23:26 (Kristen) We have established, beyond a doubt, that Liam is not a morning person. Today, at 9 am or so, Liam began to wake up in his darkened room, and I went to him. He told me, in a crabby, half-crying voice, that the sun was in the house, and that the sun was burning him. This is not the first time that that unruly sun has woken my son by entering the house unbidden. As he does not spontaneously combust when the sun shines directly upon him, I have to assume that he is not, in fact, a vampire but a person who really really doesn't like mornings.

I was not feeling my best this morning, and thought that we'd go to Hakobune a little late because Ididn't want to rush and cause a miserable morning. At least I got the extra sleep, because it was a miserable morning, and we were ultimately 45 minutes late. John came to meet me for lunch, and we picked the boys up after Hakobune. We came home, and watched the massive storm that swept over the GTA after dinner. The tornadoes were all to the northwest of us, but the storm we got was still awfully savage, with green skies and sudden darkness as the clouds moved in. Jamie and Liam loved the rainbow afterwards, however, which was a good way to end the day.

2009-08-21 23:31 (Kristen) As John and I were not feeling our brightest or shiniest, we got off to a very slow start today on our trip up to Ryde Lake for the annual Hakobune Daycare Camp Weekend. Jamie protested the entire way that he *did* not want to go to camp, and I reminded him that there have been a number of activities lately that he did not want to do and then had a great time doing. He actually slept for a good part of the trip, while Liam was bright-eyed and bushy tailed, happy to call out when he saw cows or corn or hay, or something else exciting and new. We took an alternate route, as the 404 and other areas seemed choked with too much cottage traffic, and had a very nice trip up to the camp. Once we arrived, we went down to the water and had a dip before coming back up. John took the boys out in a paddle boat while sick me sat on the dock in a chair to read and take photos of the men out boating. As I sat, I saw a creature coming towards me on the dock out of the corner of my eye, and thought first "groundhog. A...skinny groundhog. No. A marten! Move feet! It's going to bite me!" I've been around too many ferrets with a taste for feet. This one, however, just wanted to be on its way, so it raced around me, and I could feel the wake in the air as it passed, as it headed to the rocks beyond the dock. John got the camera back from me (d'oh, I didn't take a picture), and the boys and he chased it in their paddleboat along the bank until it decided that it had had enough, swam across the little river mouth, and up and away on the far bank. Later on, we identified it as a mink. How cool!

We headed up to dinner, buzzing with our animal sighting and Jamie's concern that the river current was going to sweep them away (John did some hard peddling). In the dining hall, Jamie found a game of Battleship, which is now his favourite game. John lets him play two turns to his one, and with a little help from Mummy (and Papa being "helped" by Liam, who called the shots in numerical order across the board, logically), sank Papa's battleship (and everything else). Yay! Afterwards, we took Liam and Jamie to the campfire singalong, but Liam started to expire so I took him back to sleep. Jamie and John were soon back too, as they tired of being mosquito fodder. Liam fell asleep quickly on the Thomas inflatable bed, while Jamie was to fall asleep with me. Liam was asleep by 9. Jamie was asleep by 11, kept awake by excitement, the strangeness of his environment, and the hour-long nap he'd had in the car. Sigh.

2009-08-22 23:44 (Kristen) Liam slept a slightly unsettled night, waking up and needing me to come down with him until he got himself back to sleep. I vaguely recall John taking him to the bathroom at some point too. He was awake by 7:30, and woke everyone else up soon after that. We went for dinner at 8:30, and then down to the water for a long canoe trip up the river to the rapids, where a number of people were fishing. Mr. Sasaki let Jamie use a fishing rod, as Jamie was about to expire from his desire to try it out, while John and Liam walked around and climbed on rocks. Liam got a few tries with a rod (I was doing most of the work for both boys), and then it was time to go back. We made it back without too much difficulty, then played at the beach until lunch. After lunch, we went to the "suika-wari" (watermelon bashing), which is like a pinata contest but with a watermelon on the ground. Contestants are blindfolded, so it's not as easy as it sounds. The boys ran around, and John took Liam for a ride in a kayak. I was worried, as Liam forgets that he's not supposed to stand up, but he was very mellow out in the kayak, trailing his fingers in the water as John took him around. It was Jamie's turn next, and Liam was just melty as I tried to get him back to the cabin for some quiet time. I ended up taking him on my back, and we saw some lovely monarch butterflies in the milkweed as we reached our cabin. The other children staying in our cabin came back with their parents while we were doing homework, and Liam was playing with the DS. The DS was a hit. Dinner came at 5:30, and Liam's head hit the table at 5:50. He's been asleep ever since, and I'm making plans for an early morning tomorrow. If he sleeps to 7, I'll be over the moon. Jamie is probably back at the dining hall with John, making him play yet another game of Battleship.

Jamie did, indeed, make John play some Battleship, and he played some Jenga, as he'd had a rousing game of it with another boy earlier in the day. They came back in the rain, and it turned into an evening of games. We played Concentration and Go Fish, then Go Exploring (a version of Go Fish with cards printed with planets on them). Then Jamie initiated a game of "Daruma-san" (a game that involves making the other person laugh) with one of our cabinmates and his mom, and then we read a book about animals with them. Jamie was very giggly and very very tired, so I read him some Pokemon manga and put him to bed around 9. It's 9:30 now, and I realize that a) Liam's been asleep for almost four hours, and b) John is asleep too, so it's Really Quiet. A very strange state of affairs for our family at this time.

2009-08-23 23:28 (Kristen) Liam delighted me this morning by sleeping until 7:10, which meant that he slept for an amazing 13+hours last night. I think that he needed it. Jamie got up not long after, and asked me to read to him from the Pokemon manga that he has. He's really enjoying Pokemon, which is nice. We all went for breakfast at 8:30, and counted our new mosquito bites. The bugs are really fierce this year, and all the kids here are covered in big red spots. After breakfast, we went down to the rapids (walking this time) to see if anyone was fishing. Our cabinmates were, and we stayed with them until lunch. The kids ate well again, and then it was time to make our goodbyes to new friends and head back home. We made it home easily, despite the heavy holiday traffic, and Jamie raced inside to visit with Gary for a "I missed you" playdate. We unpacked the car, had chicken noodle soup from a can for dinner, with crackers, and headed up to bed. I should note that we asked Liam whas he wanted for his birthday tomorrow, and he thought first before saying "Balloons. Cake. Presents. Banandas. Fish." So we'll make sure that we have all those things for him tomorrow.

2009-08-24 23:34 (Kristen) Liam and Jamie were both up unreasonably early this morning--before 7, I think--and unusually, both boys let me sleep. I appreciated that greatly: it was like it was my birthday, and not Liam's! We wished Liam a happy birthday, and responded with gleeful delight. He has been looking forward to this a good deal. Jamie, however, despite a quality morning with me and playing with Sadaru, was not himself. He broke down in tears after we picked Liam up, saying that he was sad because he felt left out of the festivities. I assured him that he was special, good things would come to him too, and that he should try to be happy for Liam rather than thinking about what Liam was getting and that Jamie wasn't. He was somewhat gloomy for parts of the day, but fatigue might have helped. Both boys were a little out of control--we created mayhem when we dropped by for five minutes at Browning to look for a house key (I forgot mine and was locked out), and wound each other up completely. John was out buying last minute presents for Jamie and Liam, but Liam was delighted by the balloons and bananas that John had left behind for him. The boys calmed down a bit, but were very excited by the trip to Ichi Riki for dinner with Gary, Ayami, John's dad, and John's aunts. The party was a great success, with cake, candles, presents, and fish (very yummy california roll and salmon sushi!). The look on Liam's face when he realized that he had a DS ("My DS! My DS!") was worth everything. He also loved the birthday cake hat that Gary and Ayami gave him as part of their present, and wore it for the rest of the vening. The boy is all about funny hats. Jack declared Liam an intellectual by the end of the evening, as Liam completely ignored his ice cream to play with the DS, thereby proving matters of the mind concern him more than matters of the body. A great time was had by all, and we were very tired when we came home at close to nine o'clock. Liam still managed to keep going, well past his brother's conkout, until close to 10:30. When he dropped off to sleep, it was very sudden. It takes a lot of energy to keep going like that. Liam was happy, Jamie was happy, and the rest of us were content with a job well done.

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

Back to Vol. 3 No. 1, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 3 No. 3.