Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 3 No. 8

2009-09-29 22:58 (Kristen) We said goodbye to our houseguest Lisa today, as she headed back to Japan to finish up her physical chemistry degree. It was lovely to have her around, and we'll miss her help. John drove Liam to Hakobune, where he read Sailor Moon books and may have done other things. He was singing Japanese kid songs to himself later in the afternoon, and doing not a bad job of remembering the words. He enjoyed having both parents around after John brought him home, I think. He was fairly grumpy about doing anything that didn't involve a DS for much of the day. Liam and I picked up Jamie and took him to the Second Cup for a snack, then bought a few groceries and came home. Jamie spent almost the whole evening doing homework, as John has told him that he can have Mario Party 8 when he finishes all his Japanese homework for the week. Jamie is now motivated. He did some reading for me tonight, but he was very tired, and so it was a litle painful at times. He had picked a book that was on the upper edge of his ability, and was adjusting to smaller type and more words. We made it halfway through, and agreed to finish reading it tomorrow. He's doing very well, but needs lots of encouragement. Liam is insisting that help be supplied at select parts of Kirby's Squeak Squad, especially any part that has a "boss battle," and is starting to speak sternly and with irritation at the screen when things go badly. Uh oh.

I forgot to mention earlier that my aunt dropped by with my cousin Jeff tonight to drop off a late birthday present for Liam. The boys were just about to get into the bath, which was fortuitous, as the present was a Viking ship bath toy with two Vikings (from the show Yo Gabba Gabba). Liam, on questioning, figured out that he was the last person with a birthday, and that the present was for him. Auntie Millie was on the receiving end of a big Liam smile and cry of delight, which was (as always) awesome to see. Jamie too was happy to see her, and it was a lovely surprise upon which to end the day.

2009-09-30 35:06 (Kristen) Today Jamie forgot his backpack at home, so Liam and I took it to him on our way to Canadian Tire, to buy a skating helmet for him. We left later than I intended, so we ate pizza at the subway station (pizza slices! support the United Way! Only $1!...ok...) for lunch. Canadian Tire had a a pathetic selection (we're restocking! they say...) of helmets, so I decided that we'd make due with Jamie's old helmet (too big, but that's what hats are for). I did one or two other errands, then found that our ride to skating had arrived just as I arrived at the subway station to go home. John got Liam's stuff together, went to Sam's mom's house to get a helmet that, at the 11th hour, we found that she was happy to give to us (thank you, Sarah!) and picked up the stroller and other shopping from me at the subway station where Michelle, Jack, and Tom were waiting for us. Whew!

Liam was excited to go skating, but when he realized on the ice that a) he couldn't do it by himself and b) it wasn't coming as easily as he expected, he lost it. You know there's always one kid lying on the ice, crying away? Well, today that was Liam. The class was large, and the teacher picked him up and let him "skate" back to the boards by carrying him under the armpits. We decided that next week he'd go on the ice for ten minutes, then fifteen the week after, and so on, and would have a little extra help while on the ice. That way, we could ease him into it. Seems like a plan. Liam, upon questioning in the changeroom, said that he'd had fun and he wanted to come again. There you are. I also figured out how to size the helmet, which was slightly too large, and my Swiss army knife and I did that in the playground later.

Liam played and cuddled in the playground after we came back and picked up Jamie, and then we headed home. Jamie was a homework machine tonight, despite being very tired. He has done all but three pages of his Japanese homework, and finished off the Very Hard Reading Book for Jackman. He also did his first math homework, which was all about patterns, which he loves. It was almost 8:40 when he was finally done, so I let him got to play with Gary, despite my worry that he was too tired and should go straight to bed. I worry more that he hadn't had enough time to decompress. He came up by 9:30, and the boys were in bed by 10:00. They didn't fall asleep until 10:10 and 10:20 respectively, and I'm concerned that they'll be really overtired tomorrow. I worry a lot, it seems...

2009-10-01 16:13 (Kristen) Jamie brought home a book from the next level up in difficulty, and it didn't work out. The type was too small, and there were too many words on the page for him to even want to try. I was disappointed that he didn't try, but understand. Jamie also was (likely) too tired for new things, since he'd had a long day at school followed by a playdate over at Jake's. Meatballs and lasagne were involved, I am told, and he had a great time. Liam went off to read more Sailor Moon books at Hakobune, which is what he likes to do. There were some toys left outside the daycare that they were giving away, and Liam's choices were a little Fisher-Price dog/ball, and a figure from Disney's Hercules, with long purple dress (I know not the character's name). I have no worries that Liam is in touch with his feminine or his masculine sides, but seems to mesh the two seamlessly. He is still completely obsessed with Kirby, and John has been helping him out with the game.

2009-10-02 24:11 (Kristen) The rain held off until lunchtime, allowing me to get Jamie and Liam to their respective destinations without drenching. John came into the area for lunch, so we all headed home together. Jamie had finished all of his Japanese homework early this week, so his reward was the Wii game Mario Party 8. He and Liam are delighted with new Mario adventures, and are happily playing. We went down to Gerrard Square and did some other shopping while we were there, in addition to the Wii game, then went to Daniel and Ross's for dinner. I really didn't see much of either boy this evening, and when we came home, Jamie zipped downstairs for a bit before coming up for the bath. It was very late, however, so it was straight to bed after the bath with no story. I don't like to do it, but they need the sleep so very badly.

2009-10-03 23:24 (Kristen) I had to wake Jamie up to get him off to school with John, but Liam slept in until almost ten o'clock. I thought about waking him up a number of times, but he just wasn't easy to rouse. When he did wake up, he was hungry and interested in playing as much DS as I would allow. It was a quiet morning, but by noon he was starting to feel, I think, the way I felt after a long morning of Saturday morning cartoons. Despite the weather, we headed out for a walk/ride to run errands on the Danforth. We did a bit of this and that, and Liam lobbied for a new Backyardigans book at the bookstore (but was denied). We made it back home after John and Jamie arrived back from school, and Liam excitedly declared as he headed up the front steps, "Jamie is my best friend!" It was very sweet. The rest of the day was pretty sleepy, involving lots of Mario Party 8, and more ramen soup for dinner. Jamie and Liam were both pretty happy about that. Jamie made me read more Jellaby to him, which he's really enjoying, and we did a little other reading (his turn). Jamie fell asleep soon after lights out, but Liam (for some reason...) took much longer to fall asleep.

2009-10-04 23:05 (Kristen) We got up, puttered (or played video games), then got dressed to meet Simon and his parents Peter and Leslie for brunch. Liam mourned his DS having been left in the car, but his steady requests for bits of Simon's breakfast indicated that he was more hungry than actually cranky. We had fun with Simon and his family. I'd asked Liam what toys he thought Simon was going to bring with him, and Liam replied, fairly quickly, "Cars." He was right. The boys shared a very large hamburger, and then we said our goodbyes before going to pick Daniel up at a nearby subway station. Every year around this time, we go out to Daniel's armourer to pick up new pieces of armor for him, or to fix/replace bits that are too small or need repairs. Jim lives about an hour away from our house, and the boys had fun with Daniel sitting between then for the trip. Once there, we got Daniel fixed up, and bought Jamie a pair of bracers and a little breastplate of his own. He now has Daniel's old shield, and is very pleased by this. The next generation of armoured children in our lives... Liam isn't interested in it yet, but I imagine that he will be in a short period of time. We drove back, dropped Daniel off at home, saw John's parents briefly, and then hung about the house doing much of what we did earlier in the day. Ross dropped by with some Finnish pancakes for us that Tom had made, and which we made short work of. Yum. Liam hadn't run around enough today, I think, so he took a very long time to fall asleep, with much flopping and turning to and fro. Jamie took a while too, but I'm not entirely sure why (and neither was he).

2009-10-05 23:25 (Kristen) It was time for Liam's first soccer class, and he was not interested in going at all. "My want my DS!" he wailed, before going off in the car with John. Of course he had a great time. He listened to the teachers (when one asked the class "WHat is my name?" Liam helpfully said "Tea-cher!" It was Ryan, but Liam still got points), ran, kicked the ball, and had a blast. Yay! Earlier in the morning, he was a monkey, demanding bananas. Jamie, in the meantime, went to school, came to Browning for lunch, and had a playdate with Jake after school, which they both enjoyed. Jamie did some homework at Browning, and played as much as he could with people and electronics, and Liam continued to be obsessed with his DS. All in all, it was a normal day.

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

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