Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 3 No. 12

2009-10-27 23:15 (Kristen) We were all up a little early this morning, as we all had to be out of the house to our respective destinations by 9:00. When I picked Liam up, he was playing hide-and-seek, and was hiding against the door out into Goforth Hall. When I opened the door, he was right there and delighted, absolutely delighted, that I'd found him. We went home, went out again to pick up Jamie, and played in the playground for a while. Liam was a frog for quite a bit of time, which meant hopping up and down in one spot yelling "Ribbit! Ribbit!" as loudly as he could. Liam Frog is not a quiet frog. Jamie was tired when we got home, but still managed to do his homework. We were in bed a little late again.

Funny child conversations: Mummy: What do clouds taste like? Liam: Rain! Jamie: ice cream.

2009-10-28 24:19 (Kristen) Liam wins both today's high and today's low. The high was when he went to skating and was so pumped about it that he shoved his way to the head of the line and was the first child on the ice. He skated all over the rink with his glider (this is a boy who was last on the ice last week, and only at the end figured out how to use the glider) for the first half of the class. Then the instructors, who had been each working with him to do this and that, took away the glider. I thought "uh oh," but he *skated* the ten feet to the glider! That was it! He spent the next ten to fifteen minutes skating, falling down, skating, falling down, and getting right back up again. He was so game, and never gave up once. We'd had a talk beforehand, and I'd given him warning first thing in the morning tht this is what we were going to do, and it worked. He was a very proud boy when he got off the ice today.

The low was when he started to sniffle as he was going to bed tonight, and his little nose is now so stuffy that he keeps waking up every fifteen to twenty minutes. There is no fever, so I'm not worried yet, and I've been fighting cold-like symptoms myself for the last day or two, so I do very much hope it's that.

Jamie had a good day at school, made better by it being pizza day, I think. He was disappointed that there were no playmates available for playdates, but we're going to have Liam W. over next week sometime, and I think that Jake is scheduled for tomorrow. He did his homework quickly and well, and seemed to have a good day overall. Tomorrow we go to get vaccinated against the swine flu, if the lines aren't too long. The logistics are a little tricky, but if Liam stays home with a cold, it would be easier to arrange.

2009-10-29 47:47 (Kristen) Liam slept badly last night, and we decided to keep him home today in the hope that he'd rest and kick the cold that was disturbing his sleep. The City of Toronto was holding an advance vaccination clinic today for children between 6 months and 5 years old, and for people who have extra problems (such as asthma or pregnancy). As three of us fit those descriptions (asthma, not pregnancy!), we thought it a good idea to get shots. John lined up at 10, the doors opened at noon, and I arrived with the boys around 12:30 (after signing Jamie out from school) when it looked like John was getting close to the head of the line. The line slowed down, of course, at that point, but it wasn't a bad thing. The weather was fine, there were hundreds of kids (of course), and the children all ran and played with each other. Some people brought portable chairs, portable DVD players, toys, food, drinks, and friends, and while it wasn't exactly festive, it was a bearable wait. We finally had our shots and were out around 2:30, and dropped Jamie off at school. Unfortunately he missed being in his class photo (how did we not know about this?), but being protected from the flu is important too. It was a quiet evening, marked by Jamie finishing off his read-a-book on city birds, which was the longest book he's read to this point.

2009-10-30 24:00 (Kristen) Liam and Jamie were excited about wearing their Halloween costumes to their respective parties today. Liam was a dragon at Hakobune, and was very pleased when I put the costume on him before I left. When I got back, he had a little construction paper bag with chips and some candy, and was very pleased. When we left, however, he stepped into a puddle with his shoes on, and was in a progressively worse mood, whining and making uncharacteristically unhappy but nonspecific noises. He just wanted to go home, but was happy to have some candy when we went to Jamie's school to see the Halloween parade there. John was already in the school, as it was raining and the parade had to be held inside the halls. He says that Jamie looked very good (and he did), but received a lot of attention from the grade 5 and 6 kids, boys in particular, who all seem to know him. They called out his name when they saw him coming down the hall with his class, and gave him high fives. Apparently his reading buddy David is in this bunch, and Jamie has made a real impression on him and his friends. They play hide and go seek and tag at lunch sometimes, Jamie says. He also saw Ross, dressed as a wizard (as usual), and Ross, when he saw Jamie, shouted "Finger of Death!" Jamie, of course, made his saving throw. After the parade, we helped out a little with Jamie's Halloween party, then took Liam home. Liam wasn't feeling very well by this point, and by the time I came home from picking up Jamie from school, along with his friend Sam and his little brother Harry, Liam was quite unwell. He had a strong fever, and so we gave him some liquid Tylenol. This knocked him out for half an hour or more, and brought down the fever. He was feeling better by dinner time, but spent the evening watching Totoro and playing DS instead of going with John and Jamie to Browning for dinner. He was chipper when John and Jamie returned, but I could feel his fever wanting to come back, so it was more of the hated Tylenol ("I hate the taste, May-ee"). Jamie was asleep almost instantly, and Liam wasn't that far behind.

2009-10-31 23:18 (Kristen) Jamie went off to Nisshu Gakkuin today, but Liam stayed home with me instead of going to the market with John. He didn't sleep well last night, so it was thought best if he stayed home. This he did, and played DS, and watched a little more Totoro, but more Anpanman. While he did, I decorated the front porch so that it would be spoooooky when Jamie got back from school. John came in with the dire news that someone had stolen all the crap off our front porch. Hah. Jamie did, however, pronounce the house acceptably spooky. The rest of the afternoon was spent carving pumpkins and otherwise getting ready to go out. Liam's fever hadn't come back all day, so we let him get into his dragon costume, a perfect match for Jamie's knight costume, and the boys went out trick or treating with John while I stayed behind and handed out candy. They stayed out much longer than I expected, and Liam only came home, I suspect, because he was cold. Daniel was wearing his full armour, and so he and Jamie went out for a bit together, and they made a great pair. Eventually all costumed individuals and their parents were at home, eating candy. The boys don't eat chocolate, so they very generously gave me all their chocolate bars. They managed to not get many, as John told me Jamie said to each house "I'm allergic to chocolate," and was able to get alternative candies at most places. That's good, because I don't need that much chocolate, myself. The boys went to bed late, excited but happy.

2009-11-01 23:26 (Kristen) The boys were up very early this morning, and I had trouble keeping them in bed until a reasonable hour. They were wide eyed and bushy tailed, and talking Very Loudly until I finally got up, in a less than happy mood. I eventually figured out that it seemed so early because John had set the clocks back the night before for daylight savings time. So, we were all jetlagged by an hour or so. Aha. The boys played with their DSes, and with little remote controlled cars that our Scrabble friend Libero brought for them. It was a very quiet day, as per Jamie's request, broken only by a rare trip out for dinner, as we were all very tired for some reason and none of us wanted to cook. The boys were in bed again somewhat late, but not too badly so. Liam was having trouble sleeping again, so I fell asleep with him.

2009-11-02 23:30 (Kristen) I thought that it was just something comedians talked about kids doing, but Liam is happy to run through the house saying "Candy candy candy!" in his search for sweet things. He does understand, thankfully, that one does not eat candy for breakfast, and is willing to eat that meal first before setting out on his candy quest. Jamie was up at 8:14, as I slept in, but was game enough to make it to school on time despite a good deal of the hated rushing. Liam, on the other hand, slept until almost 10:20, which he clearly needed. He was in a fabulous mood when he woke up, and was happy to eat, chatter, and play a little with his beloved DS before going off to play soccer. "I'm going to kick the ball!" he said excitedly before setting off with John. I picked Jamie up from school, and when we found Ross, he and Jamie ran to Browning together. Ross even held Jamie's hand as they crossed the street, leaving Ken and me way behind. I joked that we weren't needed at all to bring the kids home! They went back to school after lunch the same way. I went home to look after Liam while John had lunch at Browning and did some work, and tried to feed Liam some lunch. He's still not that into food, but that would explain his total meltdown when I pried the DS away from him to go and pick up Jamie. He cried the whole way, and didn't calm down really until he'd eaten a bag of chips. Hmm. Afterward, we went over to Jake's for some candy and playtime, then back to Browning. The kids played while we made dinner, but then Jamie had to do homework. I went to Trivia after doing some reading with Jamie, but John says that he and Jamie worked on Japanese homework until 8:30. It sounded exhausting. They were still up when I got home a little before 10, so I was able to put the boys to bed. They didn't stay up long at all, but Liam's been waking up every ten to fifteen minutes, coughing. He's had a drink and put himself back to sleep a few times, but I feel like I'll be in there, sleeping with him again tonight.

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

Back to Vol. 3 No. 11, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 3 No. 13.