Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 3 No. 27

2010-02-09 49:54 (Kristen) The weather wasn't all that good today, relatively speaking. We stayed in in the morning to do some homework, and it rained in the afternoon. We went down to the beach after the storm passed through, but John stayed up in our room because he was not feeling particularly well. The boys and I played in the sand and in the surf, but I wasn't all that comfortable playing in the water after the sun started to go down, as it was "ray time". We got out, and ate some lovely chicken pibil made by Mary, a friend of John's parents. We left for one last trip to the ice cream store, then went back home via some of the souvenier shops. John had stayed home to rest, but I was feeling a little the worse for the jelly fish stings I'd received the day before, and took some antihistamines. They knocked me out, and went to sleep with both boys.

2010-02-10 26:00 (Kristen) Jamie woke me up in the morning telling me that he did not want to go home today. He wanted to stay, to play in the sand and in the water. It was very hard on him to go, as he really wasn't ready to leave. He had a hard time doing his homework, and forcusing on much of anything. Liam slept past nine, and woke up discussing a dream he'd had about robots. We packed in the morning, alternately cleaning and helping Jamie to read the text-heavy Sonic the Hedgehog game he was playing on his DS. He is doing well, but gets tired, and when he does, he loses his ability to infer from context. We had one last lunch beside the ocean, one last walk along the beach, and then it was time to go home. We made it to the airport, grabbed some food, read some books, then got onto the plane. The flight was uneventful, and we arrived around 10:30 pm. We found our cars, and the boys blessedly fell aleep in the car on the way home. Liam's finger is infected, and we're going to the doctor tomorrow morning for antibiotics.

2010-02-11 24:14 (Kristen) In a heroic combined effort today, two parents, in concert, got a complaining Jamie ("I miss Mexico!") out the door to school and there on time. Lunch followed later, arriving at Jamie's school just in the nick of time at lunchtime (Jamie: "I was worried"). However, when Jamie arrived at school, he was greeted with a chorus of "Jamie's back! Hey, Jamie!" He later told me that Avery was so happy to see him that she told him that she wanted to sit next to him all day. It wasn't Mexico, but it wasn't all that bad to be home. Later, Jamie went off to a birthday party for his friend Sam after school and came home to play with Gary; life was all right back home in Toronto after all, or at least acceptable.

In Liam's life, all was more or less all right back home in Toronto. Grammie went home, but promises were made to reunite soon, so that was good for him (Jamie misses Grammie and Becky too, for those who are keeping track). John and I took him to see Dr. Kennedy, as we were afraid that his finger was getting infected, but we were very relieved to learn that his finger was not, in fact, infected: he was rejecting a stitch that still hasn't come out, so Dr. Kennedy snipped it quickly and that was that. Tonight, for the first time, I tried a bandaid on the hand and Liam, shockingly, was all right with it. I used tape, which seems to be the magic substance, which is great. Gauze is wicked expensive, and finding the stuff without elastic is just about impossible. John took Liam off to Hakobune for lunch, to help him with the transition back to Toronto life, then brought him home. Liam bonded with his Wii, and played just about every game he could think of. Jamie wanted to read Bone, and I managed to accomodate everyone. The boys were very tired by the time bedtime rolled around, and while they didn't fall asleep at 9:30, when the lights went out, they didn't take too long to do so.

2010-02-12 23:19 (Kristen) While reading the materials in Jamie's book bag last night, I saw the class list and a notification that there was going to be a Valentine's party on Friday afternoon. Oops. We told Jamie that he'd be coming home for lunch to sign a whole bunch of valentines, and what would he like to bring for the party? He asked for gummy bears and jelly beans, so I went out after dropping him and Liam off at their respective destinations and bought valentines, jelly beans, and gummy bears. I picked up Jamie, who signed and addressed 21 valentines, ate lunch, and then took him back to school and ran off to pick up Liam. John was trying to sleep off his pneumonia, and stayed asleep for the day except when he watched Liam while I picked him up from school. They've been playing a lot of Super Mario Bros. together. In the evening, we went to Browning, where rapturous reunions took place. We made it home a little late, and put the boys to bed as quickly as possible.

2010-02-13 23:25 (Kristen) Today, John was trying once again to finish 7-Castle on Super Mario Bros., and to access Level 8, when his character died. In frustration, he said "Fffff!!", cutting himself off before he said something worse. Liam, hearing his father, and knowing what I usually say under similar situations, helpfully supplied, "Fruitcake?" Tee hee!

As John was still feeling poorly, our friend Tom drove Jamie up to Japanese school in the morning, while Liam and I stayed home. Eventually I got a very grumpy Liam out of the house to go and pick up Jamie, and Liam Did Not Want to Go. He complained bitterly as I made him walk to a pet store and then to get Jamie. He really wasn't in the best of moods; I think that he was fighting a cold, or something, because he just wasn't bouncing back from the sorts of bobbles and bumps that he normally does. Eventually we went to the Second Cup and he felt better after a cookie. The boys helped me to do some grocery shopping and we headed home. It was a quiet evening, as we were all pretty tired, and that was it for the day.

2010-02-14 23:45 (Kristen) It was a very slow day. We had late breakfasts, and were late getting dressed. OUr cleaning lady was here, so we had to be somewhat presentable, but we were not that ambitious. I decided to take the boys out to a pet store to buy some supplies for our fish, and to give them a walk and something gainful to do. We took the TTC there, and then had fun looking at the snakes, lizards, and fish. Liam did not like the big birds, like the parrots, and did not like the smell of the animal food, so we left after finding what we went for. There was a Tim Horton's nearby, and I treated the boys to a donut and myself to a coffee. Jamie later said that his Maple Dip donut was the best part of his day, but he clearly enjoyed his donut. We went home, played more video games, ate dinner, and watched some of the Olympics together (under protest from Liam, who was offended that we were not playing more video games). It was a nice day.

2010-02-15 22:33 (Kristen) Jamie has wanted to go to see the the CN Tower for a while, so when Simon, their friend, wanted to go and see it today, it seemed like a good chanceto do it. We took the subway down to meet them at the tower, and then went up. The three boys were having a great time together, looking out the windows and playing on the famous glass floor at the top. They decided that they were hungry, so we went down to a local Second Cup to have a snack. The boys were having a great deal of fun playing together, and were quite wound up by the time to go home. We said goodbye to Simon and his mom on the way home, and ended up at Browning for dinner. The boys had their usual good time, and enjoyed watching the Olympic pairs skating competition with us. Both boys were whirling around the living room, "skating", and having a great time, which opnce again raises my fears that I will be spending time sitting in a cold arena in the early morning some time in the future. Then it was bedtime, and time to dream of whirling around on ice.

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

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