Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 3 No. 10

2009-10-13 23:48 (Kristen) I slept in by half an hour, so this morning was a mad race to get kids ready and to their respective destinations. Jamie was really good with the abbreviated morning routine, while Liam too was happy and easy to get going out the door. After Hakobune, I took Liam to the house of a school mom friend of mine, and played with her kids' toys and with her son Evan. Liam liked their cat, as well as their toys and the fact that they too like the Backyardigans. We picked up Jamie, who wanted to play with Jake, and so we all ended up, for complicated reasons, over at Jake's house. Jake's mom Michelle fed the boys dinner, and Liam was terrified by Jamie's friend Charlie in a zombie costume and burst into tears. Poor Charlie felt pretty badly. I got the boys home around six, let Jamie play for a bit, and then did some homework with Jamie. John did Japanese homework with Jamie after a short break, and I did some work with Liam. Bed was a little late, and the boys were a little wound up, but all was well in the end.

2009-10-14 23:31 (Kristen) Liam was up early (groan), but Jamie slept until 8. I got Jamie to school without too much trouble, while Liam stayed home with his dad. It was a quiet morning with some book reading (Green train! Blue train!) before Jamie came home for lunch. I had to hand feed Liam again, as he's going through a phase where he'll only eat until the hunger pangs are gone before running off to do something more important. Jamie went back to school with John, then I went with Liam to skating. It was a better class than before (every time, a little better), but I think that Liam needs more closely fitting gloves so that he can control the glider better. I explained to him that when he hangs off the glider, he puts extra weight on it, and that makes it harder for him to push it around. He understood with a bright burst of comprehension that I hope we can translate into next week. On the bright side, he can pick himself up off the ice now with the glider's help. We came back, and found Jamie. Jamie wanted to play in the bright, cold afternoon, and we let him play for a while before finally calling time when noses were red. We went back home, did homework, ate dinner, did a little more, then went to bed around 8:50 for 20 minutes of reading before lights out. Both boys were asleep by 9:25, which was great.

2009-10-15 22:47 (Kristen) I'm knitting a sweater for Liam that was (although I did not share this information) originally going to be for Jamie but he grew after I'd started it a year or two ago. Liam is excited that I'm knitting him a sweater. Jamie is wondering where the hell his sweater is, and has been asking me as often as Liam has (frequently) about *his* sweater, and when will I knit him one? I have chosen a design, and will be going to buy wool soon. I will have to knit the sweaters in parallel, however, so that both boys can see that they are both getting sweaters, and that I love them equally as a result. Jeez.

Liam had a rough start to the morning, but was happy to be at Hakobune by the end and reading books about Japanese superheroines. Jamie seems to have also had a good day at school, but has been having some friction with a girl named Kendra. I've told him that he doesn't have to like her, but he does have to be polite, and that other people can learn by example. He has a dim view of this girl's ability to do so, but I'm not big on the impolite. Jake and Dylan came by for dinner, and much discussion of Pokemon cards was had. The evening was eaten up largely by homework, but I was happy that Jamie's reading speed has once again improved if a) he isn't tired and b) is focussing. Liam did some work while Jamie was doing his homework, which was good, and both boys were happy and excited to have two books before bedtime. Today's first was Liam falling asleep with John while I was still in the room. Yay, Liam! Yay, John!

2009-10-16 22:58 (Kristen) We got Jamie to school with seconds to spare, it seemed, but on time. I took Liam to Hakobune, but wanted to do some shopping afterwards on Queen Street: specifically, to find some wool for Jamie's sweater. I took Liam down on the streetcar, which he enjoyed except for the part where he had to put his DS down to transfer streetcars. He was very good in the wool store, which was not the most fun he'd ever had, but he still found the different colours and textures interesting. I was not so happy at the end when he decided a knitting needle made a good rapier, but it was very good behaviour for a three-year-old. Afterwards, we walked to Bakka-Phoenix, where Liam saw Michelle when we went in. "What are you doing here?!" he exclaimed, not realising that Michelle has more than one setting to live in. He played his DS while I browsed and chatted, and was very very good again. I should add that I now feel some empathy for my mom (yet again) as Liam and I were on the elevator in Broadview Station. A woman commented that he knew his numbers, after he pressed and identified the "3" button (3 is also his favourite number, of course). The woman asked him who had taught him his numbers, and he said (after a moment) "My dad." Because, of course, I've never worked on him with his numbers or anything. Chopped liver. That's me. In case it's not clear, I once did this to my mother too.

We met up at home, and John told me that Jamie had come out of school with his arms piled high with his stuff, and that a girl from his class was trailing him, and picking up the stuff he was dropping. Jamie has been forgetting coats, mittens, sweatshirts, and other stuff this week in an unprecedented orgy of lost stuff (he's never been this bad). Distracted boy. We had his friend Charlie home for a playdate, then went to Browning for dinner. We came home early, put the boys to bed early, and they fell asleep early.

2009-10-17 23:05 (Kristen) I have no idea what happened today. John had the excuse of not being able to sleep last night and the boys slept well enough, but I was a zombie mother. Liam played DS all day in his pajamas, and was lucky to get fed. Large parts of the day vanished without a trace. John did the market shopping, dropped Jamie off at Japanese school, and picked him up again. I did make dinner, although it was a very simple one. We got the boys out of the house in the evening with the excuse that we were low on our personal ice cream intakes, and found Daniel, Ross, and their houseguest Terry to join us. Terry is a good deal of fun, and can run down the street with Jamie slung over his shoulder for quite some ways. It was after ten when the lights went out, but the boys were asleep fairly quickly.

2009-10-18 20:45 (John) Among the many personality traits that make Liam who he is (an appreciation for feminine fashion and Sailor Moon, obsession with Nintendo DS Kirby Squeak Squad, the ability to turn a tantrum on or off in a split second, incredibly general cheeriness and enthusiasm) is one that I'll never be able to attribute with certainty to nature or nurture. He asks for my time several times during the day, will have a tantrum if it is refused, but is always satisfied with a relatively short interval - long enough to defeat one tricky enemy in KSS, or to watch an Anpanman video together.

2009-10-18 47:44 (Kristen) Jamie has been having some trouble with another child in his class, and we've been working on different ways to deal with it. I've tried showing him that there are multiple points of view, but we're settling on "you don't have to be friends, but you do need to be polite when not being provoked." He finished a hard book for reading practice today about Lipizzan horses, which took us about a week because he'd declare himself "tired" after a page or two. We're fine with working out the words, but still working on stamina...He's very proud that he finished the book, however, as I think it may be at the hardest level available in the graded "read-a-book" bins in his class. So am I.

2009-10-19 23:53 (Kristen) I got Jamie off to school on time this morning, which not something that I take for granted. When I got back, Liam was happily playing with his DS. He did step away from the electronics for a bit, this morning, to play with me and John and to fill us in on his morning thoughts. I appreciated this more than might be obvious. Jamie came home for lunch, food was ingested (quickly and with gusto by Jamie, with less gusto and more distraction by Liam), and Liam and I took Jamie back to school before proceeding further afield with errands. We spent time at the library reading books and came home with a big pile of them in the end. First, however, we bought brussels sprouts on the stalk (I swear it looks like a brussels-sprouty Christmas tree) as Liam and I both thought it was cool, along with other veggies, then stopped for a cookie at the Second Cup. We bought one for Jamie too, picked up bread and other staples at the Carrot, passed up the bookstore despite Liam's pleas for a new Backyardigans book, and then found Jamie. We had to go back in to find Jamie's glove (failed...will look again tomorrow), and ended up buying our Halloween pumpkins, which the school sells in anticipation of the annual Harvest Fair. By this point, the wagon was so full that Liam couldn't fit in it anymore and had to walk home. First, the boys played for an hour at the school, and then we walked home. Jamie did his Japanese homework, and we went to Browning for dinner with two very hungry children as we went over a little late. They settled down eventually, and ate, played, and had their usual good time. We were home late too, so Jamie was asleep after 10. He's got a field trip tomorrow, but I anticipate he's going to be very very tired, and may even fall asleep on the bus coming home.

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

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