Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 3 No. 21

2009-12-29 23:54 (Kristen) I ended up in the same bed as Liam again last night, as it's the only way he would settle down enough to get some sleep. We got up individually between eight and nine, and enjoyed a visit from Mrs. Engelbrecht and Carrie, who came with presents for the boys. We rushed after they left, however, to make it to lunch downtown with Ted, Alice, Ian, and Amy, who are also in Ottawa for two days. We all had dim sum, which was yummy and had something for everyone to eat. I have to remember to put slivers of ginger in my congee from now on: yum! The boys loved the mango pudding at the end, and Jamie enjoyed playing with the animation program on Ian's new DSi. I suspect we'll be buying one for him sometime in the next year for that program alone. He wants us to buy one when we get home, but we've told him this is Not Likely. After lunch, we came back for a calm afternoon of this and that, and I spent some time playing my dad's guitar in the living room with Liam. He likes to strum the strings, and to play with different kinds of sounds. Eventually Auntie Jennie came over, we had dinner, and watched the first half of Mary Poppins, which the boys were enjoying. It did bother Jamie, however, that no one ever actually gives a definition of "supercalafragalisticexpialadocious".

2009-12-30 23:43 (Kristen) The boys were unhappy about going home, but eventually were resigned to it. We ate our traditional departure breakfast with Jennifer, Anna, Grammie and Rod, Grandpa and Liz, and Anna's friend Taylor, along with Matthew, the son of Jennifer's boyfriend. Jamie and Matthew had fun playing DS together, and Liam had fun hanging with the relatives. Then we hit the road, and met up with Ted and Alice and family on the way as they headed back to Kingston. We stopped off for lunch at Ted and Alice's house, then raced home to find Becky and Ian already ensconced at our house. The boys were delighted to see them, of course, but then it was time for bed. Big day tomorrow, with New Year's Eve to celebrate.

2009-12-31 23:58 (Kristen) We all got up late, but the boys were delighted to have Ian to pounce on in the green room (much to Becky's amusement). They spent the day playing Super Mario Bros. and watching Spirited Away, and it was very funny to watch three people (Ian, Liam, and Jamie) play Super Mario Bros., which is a very frustrating game to play in teams. Ross came over to play some Rock Band 2, as well as Mario, and our house was full of the sound of happy children for a good part of the day. We had ramen for dinner, but Liam in particular was already pretty tired and didn't eat much. I later figured out that he likes to eat his ramen with a fork, but won't ask for one--that solved a mystery, as he usually inhales his ramen, and I was puzzled. He fell asleep in the car on the way to Reid and Luisa's for the New Year's party, but woke up after ten minutes when we arrived. The party was fun, and the boys ran about doing this and that with the other kids. Liam only played strange a little, but soon got over it and was romping around with Tom and other people. He was completely determined to play Rock Band, which had its ups and downs, and Jamie had fun playing it too. I should set it up for them to play more at home. I had the boys in their pjs and with their teeth brushed around 10:30, when JOhn (who had gone home to nurse his cold) picked us up. Jamie fell asleep in the car, while Liam took a while longer to fall asleep. He's going to be shredded in the morning. One funny incident happened when I was downstairs with Liam playing Rock Band. I had Liam on my lap, and Jamie kept insisting that I come upstairs Right Now to help him with something. I got Liam off my lap, finally, and went upstairs to see what the problem was. Jamie dragged me into the living room, and over to a plate of cookies on the coffee table. "Mom, can I eat this?" he asked. And that was the entirety of his emergency. *headdesk*

2010-01-01 24:06 (Kristen) Happy New Year to all of you blog readers. It's been over six years that we've been keeping this blog, and we've amassed an amazing record of our boys over that time. We have an entry and a photo for every day of our boys' lives, which is either great dedication to this project, an expression of love to our relatives and others who can't be here with us on a daily basis, or a very impressive case of OCD. I'll let you make your own decisions.

We started the new year off by sleeping in. I think that I got up around 10:45, and I know that the boys were flaked out with me and John for a good part of the night. In fact, I even took Jamie back to his own bed once before he ended up back in bed with us. They're getting big; it's not contributing to good sleep anymore to have them there! We ate breakfast late, of course, then waited for John's aunts to arrive with the traditional New Year's Day feast. Ian and Becky enjoyed the food very much, and Jamie and Liam devoured anything that looked like sushi. I got Jamie to eat a piece of really lovely tuna sashimi, and he liked it very much. He was less thrilled with the octopus, but we'll try again with that. We had a lovely time with John's aunts, who spent the afternoon with us and went home around four. John taught Ian how to play Scrabble, and we did this and that until it was dinner time, when we went to Browning for some chicken katsu, courtesy of Tom and Michelle. It was a lovely evening, and all the kids had a great time before we came home far too late at 9:30. Liam fell asleep around 10:45, but Jamie wasn't asleep until well after 11:00. We'll have to work very hard to get them to sleep earlier tomorrow in anticipation of the return to school on Monday.

Jamie and Liam are growing quite fond of Ian, who plays hours and hours of video games with them. At one point, Ian was lying down and Liam kept putting layers of small toys on him, telling Ian that he would be comfiest that way. I had to intervene, telling Liam that Ian was quite comfy now, and didn't need any more toys on top of him.

2010-01-02 21:32 (Kristen) Our cleaning lady was coming this morning at 9, so I was up at 8:30. Jamie had come into bed in the night with me and John twice, and Liam came too at some point, and when Jamie came the second time, I collected Liam and slept in Jamie's bed. Appropriate, somehow. I was up at 8:40, and was already into theswing of cleaning by 9. Liam was dying to pounce on Ian and Becky, and I let him do the desired deed, one in each room, around 9:30. He was gleeful. Jamie was up around the same time, so we took advantage and dressed and fed them early. John took the whole crew to the St Lawrence Market, while I cleaned and worked at home. I met up with everyone at the bus station, and was there for the goodbyes. Jamie made darn good and sure that he got his hugs goodbye, and Liam was pretty firm about it in his own way. After we left Becky and Ian at the bus station, we ran an errand or two then went home. Liam fell asleep in the car as we were driving up Pottery Road, less than five minutes from home. We let the poor underslept boy sleep for about half an hour before I gently woke him up in front of Mary Poppins. That forestalled much potential screaming. We watched the movie, played Super Mario Bros., then switched when the complaining about partners became too intense to Rayman Raving Rabbids. It's a hard game, so John and I got sucked into playing it too for a while after dinner. At dinner we had New Year's leftovers, and Liam had his first bite of mochi (it's so sticky that he can only eat it with careful supervision). He ate a mochi and a half. We put the boys into the bath at 8:30, and now it's time for bed.

2010-01-03 22:34 (Kristen) Liam didn't fall asleep until after 11:30 (I think...) last night. Maybe it was the nap; maybe it was that he was hungry in the end. John gave him a slice of apple, and he fell asleep soon afterwards. Either way, I think that naps are, officially, verboten. No, nay, never, as they say in the song. The boys were both in bed with us this morning, tossing, turning, lying on top of us, and otherwise ensuring that we were all up by 10. As we'd all gone to bed a little late, 10 was probably best. This meant, however, that the boys needed a good run around. We decided on an outing to the Science Centre, along with a trip to Loblaws to open a bank account for Jamie and his mad savings. The boy is a scary good saver, and John has been coming up with ways for Jamie to manage his money, mostly in response to Jamie's frequent requests to spend small amounts of money (nova gems: 200 to the dollar) playing Mechquest. Now he has his own account, his own bank card, and his own system for saving up, courtesy of his dad. Liam had fun running away from me in the large crowded Loblaws as we picked up a few groceries, which led to Words from me to him about said activity, and restricted choices regarding movement on his part. We ate some sushi for lunch, then headed over to the Science Centre. The boys stopped first as a K'Nex display in the Great Hall, where children were building anything they could think of with huge bins of K'Nex, and both boys enjoyed doing that. Then it was down to KidSpark, where they exhausted the left-hand room in about an hour and a half. They particularly enjoyed the water exhibit and the soap bubble exhibit, and the two-sided walls with movable pins that hold shapes pushed into them. Eventually they were tired enough to want to go home, and we did. John was allowed to listen to the radio for one song before Liam was chanting that he wanted *his* favourite song, which is "Soak Up the Sun," and which he asks for by name. Then he sings the chorus, which is really sweet. Once home, we had dinner, played a round of Pictureka! (which is perfect for the boys), and played more Super Mario Bros. Liam gets a little too wound up in the game and had started speaking very sharply to people he's playing with, which I am nipping in the bud right smartly. I should have reminded him that he had told John last night that he didn't like it when Jamie yelled at him when they are playing Super Mario Bros. (also known as Divorce Bros. around here), and that he thought Jamie was being rude when he did it. We got the boys to bed on a school-night schedule, and they fell asleep without too much waiting on my part; Liam put up a fight, but eventually succumbed.

2010-01-04 23:17 (Kristen) John woke me up with a start at 8:30 this morning, telling me that it was a school day and we were late. Boy, were we. Somehow, I managed to get Jamie dressed, out the door, fed, and at school on time. I am unsure how I managed this, but all was well in the end. We had lunch at Browning, and dinner too, all of which went well. It was nice to be back into the swing of things. I took Liam with me in the afternoon to the library, and he was put out that it was too cold to sleep in the wagon. I was relieved that it was too cold for him to sleep.

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

Back to Vol. 3 No. 20, or up to Jamie Chew's Web Log Archive. or forward to Vol. 3 No. 22.