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Jamie and Liam Chew

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Jamie's main Photo Archive is updated nightly around midnight.

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NOTE: If it's your first time reading Jamie and Liam's diary, you might find it less confusing to start with the older entries first. Or you can help test the new interface, which works fine if you have a monitor that displays at least 1024 pixels across, and less fine at the moment if not.

2009-08-18 23:18 (Kristen) The boys both went to Hakobune this morning, and we managed to get there on time! I was very pleased with them. Jamie is in an odd spot right now, in that he doesn't want to go anymore, but he knows that he'll miss the people there. It makes him feel a little better that he'll be able to visit when we pick up Liam. Afterwards, we went to the library and to Treasure Island, where Jamie's money was burning such a hole in his pocket that he wanted to buy *anything*. We settled on a pack of Pokemon cards, as he's actually playing with those right now. We walked back home, slowly, but Liam still expired outside Jackman School, and I had to put in a call to John to come and get us. The vening was calm, with more joint homework. Jamie's still pretty quick with his Japanese homework, and Liam is enjoying some pencil work that is geared towards his being able to write letters eventually. His control is getting better, and he is so gleeful about being able to work like Jamie it's incandescent.

2009-08-19 23:20 (Kristen) In the morning, Waka came over and played with the boys while I got some work done and some errands run. They seem to be getting along. In the afternoon, we did a bit of this and that, and worked on homework. Liam likes getting stickers. It was a quiet evening, as Liam isn't feeling all that well with a cood, and I"m starting to feel pretty lousy myself.

2009-08-20 23:26 (Kristen) We have established, beyond a doubt, that Liam is not a morning person. Today, at 9 am or so, Liam began to wake up in his darkened room, and I went to him. He told me, in a crabby, half-crying voice, that the sun was in the house, and that the sun was burning him. This is not the first time that that unruly sun has woken my son by entering the house unbidden. As he does not spontaneously combust when the sun shines directly upon him, I have to assume that he is not, in fact, a vampire but a person who really really doesn't like mornings.

I was not feeling my best this morning, and thought that we'd go to Hakobune a little late because Ididn't want to rush and cause a miserable morning. At least I got the extra sleep, because it was a miserable morning, and we were ultimately 45 minutes late. John came to meet me for lunch, and we picked the boys up after Hakobune. We came home, and watched the massive storm that swept over the GTA after dinner. The tornadoes were all to the northwest of us, but the storm we got was still awfully savage, with green skies and sudden darkness as the clouds moved in. Jamie and Liam loved the rainbow afterwards, however, which was a good way to end the day.

2009-08-21 23:31 (Kristen) As John and I were not feeling our brightest or shiniest, we got off to a very slow start today on our trip up to Ryde Lake for the annual Hakobune Daycare Camp Weekend. Jamie protested the entire way that he *did* not want to go to camp, and I reminded him that there have been a number of activities lately that he did not want to do and then had a great time doing. He actually slept for a good part of the trip, while Liam was bright-eyed and bushy tailed, happy to call out when he saw cows or corn or hay, or something else exciting and new. We took an alternate route, as the 404 and other areas seemed choked with too much cottage traffic, and had a very nice trip up to the camp. Once we arrived, we went down to the water and had a dip before coming back up. John took the boys out in a paddle boat while sick me sat on the dock in a chair to read and take photos of the men out boating. As I sat, I saw a creature coming towards me on the dock out of the corner of my eye, and thought first "groundhog. A...skinny groundhog. No. A marten! Move feet! It's going to bite me!" I've been around too many ferrets with a taste for feet. This one, however, just wanted to be on its way, so it raced around me, and I could feel the wake in the air as it passed, as it headed to the rocks beyond the dock. John got the camera back from me (d'oh, I didn't take a picture), and the boys and he chased it in their paddleboat along the bank until it decided that it had had enough, swam across the little river mouth, and up and away on the far bank. Later on, we identified it as a mink. How cool!

We headed up to dinner, buzzing with our animal sighting and Jamie's concern that the river current was going to sweep them away (John did some hard peddling). In the dining hall, Jamie found a game of Battleship, which is now his favourite game. John lets him play two turns to his one, and with a little help from Mummy (and Papa being "helped" by Liam, who called the shots in numerical order across the board, logically), sank Papa's battleship (and everything else). Yay! Afterwards, we took Liam and Jamie to the campfire singalong, but Liam started to expire so I took him back to sleep. Jamie and John were soon back too, as they tired of being mosquito fodder. Liam fell asleep quickly on the Thomas inflatable bed, while Jamie was to fall asleep with me. Liam was asleep by 9. Jamie was asleep by 11, kept awake by excitement, the strangeness of his environment, and the hour-long nap he'd had in the car. Sigh.

2009-08-22 23:44 (Kristen) Liam slept a slightly unsettled night, waking up and needing me to come down with him until he got himself back to sleep. I vaguely recall John taking him to the bathroom at some point too. He was awake by 7:30, and woke everyone else up soon after that. We went for dinner at 8:30, and then down to the water for a long canoe trip up the river to the rapids, where a number of people were fishing. Mr. Sasaki let Jamie use a fishing rod, as Jamie was about to expire from his desire to try it out, while John and Liam walked around and climbed on rocks. Liam got a few tries with a rod (I was doing most of the work for both boys), and then it was time to go back. We made it back without too much difficulty, then played at the beach until lunch. After lunch, we went to the "suika-wari" (watermelon bashing), which is like a pinata contest but with a watermelon on the ground. Contestants are blindfolded, so it's not as easy as it sounds. The boys ran around, and John took Liam for a ride in a kayak. I was worried, as Liam forgets that he's not supposed to stand up, but he was very mellow out in the kayak, trailing his fingers in the water as John took him around. It was Jamie's turn next, and Liam was just melty as I tried to get him back to the cabin for some quiet time. I ended up taking him on my back, and we saw some lovely monarch butterflies in the milkweed as we reached our cabin. The other children staying in our cabin came back with their parents while we were doing homework, and Liam was playing with the DS. The DS was a hit. Dinner came at 5:30, and Liam's head hit the table at 5:50. He's been asleep ever since, and I'm making plans for an early morning tomorrow. If he sleeps to 7, I'll be over the moon. Jamie is probably back at the dining hall with John, making him play yet another game of Battleship.

Jamie did, indeed, make John play some Battleship, and he played some Jenga, as he'd had a rousing game of it with another boy earlier in the day. They came back in the rain, and it turned into an evening of games. We played Concentration and Go Fish, then Go Exploring (a version of Go Fish with cards printed with planets on them). Then Jamie initiated a game of "Daruma-san" (a game that involves making the other person laugh) with one of our cabinmates and his mom, and then we read a book about animals with them. Jamie was very giggly and very very tired, so I read him some Pokemon manga and put him to bed around 9. It's 9:30 now, and I realize that a) Liam's been asleep for almost four hours, and b) John is asleep too, so it's Really Quiet. A very strange state of affairs for our family at this time.

2009-08-23 23:28 (Kristen) Liam delighted me this morning by sleeping until 7:10, which meant that he slept for an amazing 13+hours last night. I think that he needed it. Jamie got up not long after, and asked me to read to him from the Pokemon manga that he has. He's really enjoying Pokemon, which is nice. We all went for breakfast at 8:30, and counted our new mosquito bites. The bugs are really fierce this year, and all the kids here are covered in big red spots. After breakfast, we went down to the rapids (walking this time) to see if anyone was fishing. Our cabinmates were, and we stayed with them until lunch. The kids ate well again, and then it was time to make our goodbyes to new friends and head back home. We made it home easily, despite the heavy holiday traffic, and Jamie raced inside to visit with Gary for a "I missed you" playdate. We unpacked the car, had chicken noodle soup from a can for dinner, with crackers, and headed up to bed. I should note that we asked Liam whas he wanted for his birthday tomorrow, and he thought first before saying "Balloons. Cake. Presents. Banandas. Fish." So we'll make sure that we have all those things for him tomorrow.

2009-08-24 23:34 (Kristen) Liam and Jamie were both up unreasonably early this morning--before 7, I think--and unusually, both boys let me sleep. I appreciated that greatly: it was like it was my birthday, and not Liam's! We wished Liam a happy birthday, and responded with gleeful delight. He has been looking forward to this a good deal. Jamie, however, despite a quality morning with me and playing with Sadaru, was not himself. He broke down in tears after we picked Liam up, saying that he was sad because he felt left out of the festivities. I assured him that he was special, good things would come to him too, and that he should try to be happy for Liam rather than thinking about what Liam was getting and that Jamie wasn't. He was somewhat gloomy for parts of the day, but fatigue might have helped. Both boys were a little out of control--we created mayhem when we dropped by for five minutes at Browning to look for a house key (I forgot mine and was locked out), and wound each other up completely. John was out buying last minute presents for Jamie and Liam, but Liam was delighted by the balloons and bananas that John had left behind for him. The boys calmed down a bit, but were very excited by the trip to Ichi Riki for dinner with Gary, Ayami, John's dad, and John's aunts. The party was a great success, with cake, candles, presents, and fish (very yummy california roll and salmon sushi!). The look on Liam's face when he realized that he had a DS ("My DS! My DS!") was worth everything. He also loved the birthday cake hat that Gary and Ayami gave him as part of their present, and wore it for the rest of the vening. The boy is all about funny hats. Jack declared Liam an intellectual by the end of the evening, as Liam completely ignored his ice cream to play with the DS, thereby proving matters of the mind concern him more than matters of the body. A great time was had by all, and we were very tired when we came home at close to nine o'clock. Liam still managed to keep going, well past his brother's conkout, until close to 10:30. When he dropped off to sleep, it was very sudden. It takes a lot of energy to keep going like that. Liam was happy, Jamie was happy, and the rest of us were content with a job well done.

2009-08-25 22:49 (Kristen) Both boys were up early, and played together for a bit before I got up. The morning was a little rocky as both boys, unusually, complained about breakfast and that they didn't want to go out. They've been so busy, I think, that a day at home seemed like not a bad idea. It was a Hakobune day, however, so I took them there, and both boys were excited to play with their own DSes on the subway. When I picked them up, they were pretty wound up. We went home by transit, which was a little tiring for me as both boys were prety loud and excited. When we got in, we watched a little television but mostly stayed away from the tv until later in the afternoon, when we were all tired and the boys were having trouble entertaining themselves. I made dinner, they ate, and the evening was also full of boys tired and having trouble listening or playing without assistance. I was somewhat tired, as much work needs to be done around the house, and John was sick in bed for most of the day. Liam fell asleep very quickly, while Jamie was playing with Gary after the bath, and then Jamie came in to sleep just after Liam fell asleep. Jamie had trouble falling asleep, once again, and wasn't asleep until almost 10:15.

2009-08-26 24:59 (Kristen) Not a lot happened out of the ordinary today. It rained in the morning, so there was no playground excursion with Waka. The boys went to Loblaws with John in the late afternoon and ate a great deal that never made it back to the house. They like going to Loblaws with their dad.

2009-08-27 24:59 (Kristen) Liam had his friend party today for his birthday, and it was a Pirate Party. We bought pirate balloons, and a special pirate hat with feathers for Liam and there were swords and hats for his friends too. And pirate decorations. Liam was the Dread Pirate Liam, and his friends the Dread Pirate Jack and the Dread Pirate Simon had a great time with sword fights and pirate-themed videos. Charlie came with his little brother Jack to keep Jamie company, and we also had Daniel and Ross. It was a great time, and everyone was very happy. Liam liked his presents, and it was most heart-warming when Jack hugged Liam after Liam said thak you for his present. Mass parental melt. The earlier part of the day was spent preparing for the pirate party; the rest of it was spent recovering, although not too much as it was fun but not crazy. Arrrr!!! John will be taking over the reins for the next few days, as I will be off in Boston on my first ever trip away from the kids. I'm not sure hwo is more anxious about it: me or them.

2009-08-28 23:45 (John) We made it through the first day without Kristen without unexpected glitches. Liam fell off the sofa while watching me play Mercury Meltdown Revolution, hitting his head on the padded arm of the sofa. He does this practically every day, and always insists on personal attention from Kristen (Mah-Yee). This time, I reminded him that Mom was away on a plane, and he grumbled but calmed down. Then at bedtime, Liam got as far as insisting that he was going to go to the airport and find a plane to chase Mommy down, but I managed to pull him back at the bedroom door. Liam passed out at 10:25, almost an hour after lights out, and about five minutes into a story. Jamie succumbed about ten minutes later, letting me join the rest of the gang (Tom, Jeff, Bruce, Andy and Reid) downstairs playing Battestar Galactica.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We got to Hakobune only five minutes late. The boys insisted that I staywith them until clean-up time, which was fine with me. At pickup, we said goodbye to Yutaka, which turned into my letting each child in the room climb up my chest and back flip back to the floor, three times. At home, we played video games, finished lunch, did homework (Liam worked on a Kumon book introducing him to hiragana, and is trying to learn the difference between a shi and a ku). Tom made us ribs at Browning. As I predicted, Liam dug right in with glee and Jamie initially refused but was willing to eat them if I deboned them and told him they tasted just like sausage. Of course, by that time Tom had made hamburgers, so the boys split one of those. We were a little late getting home after a long and goofy Skype session with Mom, went straight to the bath, brushed teeth, watched Anpanman and got to work getting to sleep.

2009-08-29 23:40 (John) In principle, Saturday without Mom ought not to be too different from Saturday with Mom, as I usually take the boys to the St. Lawrence Market while Kristen stays at home and does housework. This one was a tiny bit more challenging though, as I had had only five hours' sleep for the second night in a row, and the boys had had only nine hours. The each melted down once over the course of the day, which is once more than usual, but not too bad, all things considered.

The boys ate half a samosa each at the market, before I noticed that one of the consequences of a mistaken Indian food delivery I'd been warned about was that the samosas were about four chillis on a Thai scale. No wonder they both finished their water bottles. They finished off their lunch with pizza and ice cream, and afternoon snack was leftover pizza. For dinner I wokked broccoli, sole and then broccoli-sole-fried rice, fed to the kids as quickly as it came out off the heat. My parents, who had come along to the market, dropped by and had dinner too, while the kids ate wild blueberry pie a la mode for dinner, trying not to be too goofy Skyping mom.

The boys were extremely compliant about bathtime at 20:30, were in bed by 21:15, and after fifteen minutes of Anpanman and fifteen minutes of a bedtime story from me, they both nodded off at about 21:45. I've finished a couple of hours of work now, and I'm beat, so I'm off to bed.

2009-08-30 23:00 (John) Jamie woke up at 6:30, stressed out over Mom's absence; Liam slept in until about 8:30. I had planned on taking us to the JCCC Bazaar today, but Jamie was adamant that he was too tired to go, and preferred to spend Sundays quietly at home, and I couldn't argue with that. I made waffles, sausages and eggs for breakfast. We tidied, played video games and vegged out until lunch time. Ayami made us sushi. We did our homework, with Jamie again a little resistant due to stress, and Liam a little overeager due to so much paternal attention. Jamie did his scheduled five pages; Liam did six pages of hiragana (he's up to shi, ku and tsu now), four pages of mazes, then about a half hour of colouring. Kristen texted to say she had managed to catch an earlier flight, so I left Jamie with Gary and Ayami (he felt he would get carsick on the way to the airport) and walked with Liam to my parents' to pick up the car, then drove to the airport to pick up Kristen. Liam was quietly thrilled to see her back; Jamie was much less quietly so. We got the boys to bed a little early, and they fell asleep again around 21:30.

2009-08-31 23:41 (Kristen) I was feeling a little groggy when I got up, but managed to do it. The boys were already up, and I managed to time breakfast so that they were actually hungry and ready to eat it, and not past hunger and into low blood sugar territory. There lies madness, or at least lot of yelling. We made it to Hakobune on time, and I left Liam there and took Jamie to Starbucks to see Sadaru. Unfortunately, Sadaru and his mom weren't able to come, as Sadaru's little brother was having a bad reaction to a mosquito bite and they were taking him to the doctor to make sure everything was all right. Jamie ended up playing with me for the morning, by and large, which killed my productivity. Truthfully, my productivity was shot with the cold I'm fighting, which is kicking my butt. We had some pizza and picked up Liam, who needed to pee before we got home. We stopped off at a place on Broadview, and walked the rest of the way home. The afternoon was spent playing with Gary or lounging around on the couch, and the evening was spent at Browning withouth the Browningites, who left on a short trip. Gary and Ayami were there, as were Simon and Leslie, and a good, if tired, time was had by all. Simon and Liam were playing together (not parallel playing), and it was so nice to see the two of them being happy and friends together. They really do like each other. Bed was welcome, and tomorrow we have big things to plan.

2009-09-01 24:00 (John) Realising that summer has ended for Ottawa-area students, and there was no further hope of cousins visiting, we made last-minute arrangements to drive to Orleans this afternoon on a whirlwind surprise trip. Kristen took the boys to Hakobune in the morning, I got the house ready for our absence and packed the cars and picked them up. After the traditional visit to Starbucks, we hit the road at 14:00. Jamie fell asleep after an hour, without benefit of Benedryl, so we appear to have determined that carsickness# makes him sleepy, which isn't a terrible thing. He slept through Liam's pit-stop at 15:30, but woke up at around 17:00 when Liam next needed to stop, needing to both pee and eat. The boys enjoyed a rare treat: cheeseburgers and fries. Despite moderately heavy traffic, we made it to Grammi's house at 19:00. Everyone was pleasantly surprised. The boys chased Owen around the house until bedtime, I drove the cousins home, the boys quieted down watching videos and then taking a bath, and Grammi told them bedtime stories until they fell asleep. We're heading back home the day after tomorrow, and apologize in advance to the many people in Ottawa that we usually call on but may not get a chance to this trip.

2009-09-02 24:00 (Kristen) The boys were up early this morning, and I think that Grammie fed them something for breakfast. Jamie was very excited about going to the mall to play in the playpark there, and the boys happily did that after some lunch in the foodcourt. They played for about an hour and a half, I guess, and refueled with water and Timbits (Auntie Jen and I had coffee). John was running around doing this and that, and picked us up on the way back home around when school let out for the day. We played at home, and the boys particularly liked Grammie's hammock in the back yard. Both boys spent a good deal of time in it today, asking someone or another to swing them back and forth in it. They did their usual things, some homework, and my dad came by to give Liam his birthday present. Dinner was with Jen, Grammie, Anna, and Becky (Owen had tae kwan do, and homework at home with his dad), and Liam had a great time colouring purple princesses that Becky drew for him. He also copied out his name, after Bcky wrote it down for him. The first time! Yay! The boys played together a good deal, and it's so funny to see how closely Liam imitates Jamie. He parrots what Jamie says, laughs when he does, and never takes his eyes off his brother. Jamie, for his part, takes it all in his stride and goodnaturedly, as he has a willing and able playmate and audience for whatever goofiness he has planned. The boys fell asleep instantly, surprising my mom and I, until we looked at the time and realized that it was 10:30. No wonder!

2009-09-03 38:36 (Kristen) It was a whirlwind tour, but today we needed to come home. In the morning, Liam went for a walk around Grammie's front garden, and now can identify Grammie's begonias when asked. He was very interested. There was more play in the backyard, and a few mosquito bites (unfortunately). Yay, Benadril spray. We went out for breakfast with Grammie, Poppy, and Auntie Jen, then went home to pack and head home. We stopped three times for food, pee breaks, and drinks, and Jamie slept for about an hour very soon after we left for Toronto. The boys were royally bored by the time we got home, however, and Jamie in particular was finding the trip a bit of a trial. We made it home in one piece, however, and some fun was had with Gary. After the bath, Liam was running around with his towel and saying "My a bat!" A little later, his towel fell off, and he said, mournfully, "My cape fell off. My was a vampire. Now my a monkey." I need to illustrate that somehow, somewhere. It was pretty funny. Liam fell asleep quickly, but Jamie didn't fall asleep until 11:00.

2009-09-04 47:10 (Kristen) Today was Jamie's last day at Hakobune, and he was surprised that he felt sad in the end. He definitely was getting too old to be there, and it was time, but he wasn't as happy as he thought that he was going to be. He was quite thoughtful, and needed a cuddle or two, and reassurances that he'd see his teachers again and that they wouldn't forget him. I am pretty sure that Jamie would be hard to forget. John and I picked up Jamie and Liam, said our thank yous, and took the boys home. The day was pretty standard after that, with a dinner at Browning. Liam hadn't seen Tom in a little while, and didn't leave his side very much at all the whole night. Jamie got very involved with creating levels on a Super Mario 63 online game, and was very hard to peel away. It was way too late, really, when we got the boys home, and there were minor crises galore, but we made it and put them to bed. I fell asleep with Liam, and didn't wake up until the next morning, myself.

2009-09-05 23:14 (Kristen) We're going to have to teach Liam not to gloat. He's so cheerful and pure about it--he's not trying to hurt feelings--but his rejoicing when he gets his own way can't but grate on his older brother a little bit. Tonight's reason for gloating was that he'd asked first to play Super Mario Galaxy, and Jamie had to wait. Glee, and arm pumping as he ran around in a big circle. John explained that when the big hand (which was on the 6) reached the 9, it was Jamie's turn, and that when the big hand reached the 12, it was bedtime. And then Liam piped up, "and when it reaches the 10, it's Liam's turn again!" Um, no. But a good try.

We took the boys to the St. Lawrence Market today, and I worked in a nearby Starbucks while John took the boys around shopping. Afterwards, he took them to the splashpad nearby (they all close after Labour Day Monday) for one last splash, and then we took them home. They did work, and played, and watched television, and ate dinner. Jamie had a very hard time falling asleep again. He's been having trouble lately, and tonight he wasn't asleep until almost 11:00, despite exercise and proper food. I hope that going back to school deals with this problem, and quickly.

2009-09-06 47:39 (Kristen) Today we took the boys, and Daniel and Ross as well, to the Coffee Mill in Yorkville for our annual "hooray, school's over!" lunch. It was more of a "well, school's over and just about to start again" lunch, but the tradition was honoured, and the kids appreciated it. Jamie liked his raspberry float, but Liam decided that he didn't like his and had to have Dad's ginger ale float, because that was the proper kind to have. Poor John. Eventually, lunch concluded as we were chased off by a particularly aggressive hornet (we were on the patio), and went to watch jets from the airshow from the big rock in the Yorkville park. The boys had a great time playing tag and running until they were ragged. The boys and John (Daniel and Ross went home) played a bit later in the Jackman playground while I got some groceries. Dinner was quiet, and the evening was as well.

2009-09-07 23:42 (Kristen) Today, being the last day of summer, was celebrated by Jamie finishing off his Japanese homework for the summer. As a reward, he received the second DS game that John brought back from Japan, and is delighted. Otherwise, he spent almost every waking moment playing Super Mario 63, which is a flash game on the Internet, as it allows him to build new levels, his favourite thing. Liam watched television, did his own work, and at one point jumped up from the table where he was working with John, and announced that he was going to work. He jumped onto his little yellow car, and drove into the living room, parked, and declared that work was playing Mercury Meltdown ("Mercury Downmelt"). Na na na. His imagination is definitely in full bloom. Tomorrow, he'll go to Hakobune without Jamie, and I wonder how much he'll miss him. Jamie is, of course, very anxious about starting Grade 1, and was full of worries and concerns. John and I tried to walk him through the day as much as we could, but it took him a long time to fall asleep nonetheless. Funny moment of the day was when John and Ross were trying to solve the Speedy Comet run on the Gold Leaf Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy at Browning. After the two of them were trying for quite some time, John offered the controllers to Jamie, who did it the very first time. Na na na, as Liam would say.

2009-09-08 22:40 (Kristen) To my pleasant surprise, Jamie got all the butterflies and nerves dealt with last night, and was full of nervous but positive anticipation this morning. We all went to school with him, and helped him to find the lineup with his class. He was happy to have hugs and kisses before he went in -- unlike his friend Jake, who asked his father why he was still there and that he should go already! Jake has decided that fussing isn't his thing anymore, I guess! I took Liam to Hakobune after he had fifteen minutes of playing Pirate Liam on the Rocket Caterpillar in the playground with John. I picked him up, and took him back home with me on the subway. It was nice to spend a little Mom and Liam time together, and I think that we're going to have a lot of that this year. We went in the wagon to pick up Jamie at 3:30, and were pleasantly surprised to find Gary had followed us to do the same thing. When Jamie came out, he pronounced his day as "Great!" and seems to like his teacher, Ms. Kidd. She is young, and pretty, and seems very gentle. I hope that she survives the year! Jamie told me that she's engaged, and has a very silly dog, and that she knew what Super Mario 63 (Jamie's latest gaming obsession) is, so I am feeling optimistic. John reported, at lunch, that Jamie was also appearing to be remarkably untraumatized by Grade 1, and that the posse were deliriously happy to be together again, even if they are split up between two classes. Tomorrow, Jamie will have lunch at school, along with the other 3/4 of his class, and seems quite good with the whole idea. It will feel more than a little strange to me that I won't be heading out of the house at 11:30, or that Jamie won't be having lunch with us. I know that Liam will miss him. We came home after school, and met up with John's mom, who brought juice. The boys played with Sam and Luke for a bit, then came in for dinner. Luke very sweetly gave Liam an old Tomy Big Ladder set, which has a little battery-operated construction site that delighted Jamie and Liam both, once Mom set it up. It was very thoughtful! The evening was spent reading, singing, playing with this and that, and Jamie hanging out with Gary. I had the boys in bed after bath and hair washing about 9:30, and Jamie was asleep first. Liam took a little longer, but it's likely because I was lying with my feet, not my head, near him, so that I could look over at Jamie while I lay with Liam. The intricacies of keeping both boys happy at the same time at bedtime!

2009-09-09 47:16 (Kristen) I had a chat with Jamie's teacher this afternoon, after we went in to his class after school to find a piece of paper that Jamie thought he'd forgotten. I got to see Jamie's desk (he sits with two other kids at a round table by the blackboard, and one is a Liam! There are two Liams in his class, much to Jamie's amusement). She told me that Jamie was reading very well, and that she was surprised at what a good reader he was. I was, of course, proud. He's been tired by the end of the day, but has been bearing down and working as best he can with a minimum of goofy. I'm very proud. Jamie also stayed to eat lunch at school, but found the day a little too long that way, and wants to eat lunch at home tomorrow. He was definitely tired. Liam was tired too. Both boys woke up at 7:00, after climbing into bed with me in the middle of the night, and we were all up by 7:15. Waka came over to play with Liam, and he was C.R.A.B.B.Y. They eventually worked out some things to do that didn't involve the television or the DS. Liam is glued to it, and was attracting a fair amount of attention in the playground as he sat in his wagon, playing away, and oblivious to the rabid attention of a number of older boys looking over his shoulder. Waka and Liam painted, did puzzles, and had fun in the end. I took Liam to the library after lunch, but he fell asleep in the wagon for an hour, bent over a bag of books at first, but then on his back, his feet and head on the seats and his bum in the footwell. I had a cherry Italian soda ready for him when he woke up, hot and dehydrated, and mad as a hornet about being awake. He was happy enough when we picked up Jamie, who wanted to come straight home to play Super Mario 63. We headed home, and spent a quiet evening waiting for John to come home from New York City and the first night of Scrabble for the season. They fell asleep very quickly, surprise surprise.

2009-09-10 23:25 (Kristen) John took Liam to Hakobune, and Liam couldn't have been happier about it. Jamie was in a good mood too, and it was such a relief to have both boys happy and engaged with their world. John reports that Jamie ran into school with a cheery wave, and that was that. Again, no signs of trauma. John and I picked Jamie up from school for lunch, and were greeted with big hugs and happiness. We ate at Browning, which worked out nicely, and John took Jamie back to school. Then he picked up Liam, and brought him home. Liam and I picked up Jamie, who was full of glee at being with the posse, and invited them all over to our house to see Super Mario 63. Charlie and Jake were up for it (or, rather, their moms were), and they had fun eating freezies and playing until their moms came to get them at 5:15. Jamie spent the whole time designing a level for his friends, but wasn't able to finish it before they had to go. We had dinner, and the boys finished at the same time. They ran off to play, and John and I stayed behind to talk to each other. Odd! Tomorrow is Gary and Ken's birthday, so we went over to Browning for a cake eating ceremony, which the boys appreciated, but it was soon time to come home and go to bed. Again, they fell asleep quite quickly.

Both boys are very affectionate beings, who kiss and hug their mom without being self-conscious, which is really lovely. Liam likes to talk about his best friends, who can be me, John, or Jamie, depending upon the time of day. I signed Liam up for soccer and skating today, but I'm still floundering around for things for Jamie to do. He wants to skate, but there isn't anything that isn't hockey at a time we can agree on, and nothing near by. I'll have to look further into it, but I'm thinking about judo. The trick is to find things that he wants to do that don't overwhelm him; he's one tired little boy right now.

2009-09-11 24:33 (Kristen) It was a full and exciting day today. Liam and I dropped Jamie off at school, as John is running the annual Toronto Scrabble tournament this weekend, and will largely be out of the house. Liam and I ran some errands, had something to eat at the Second Cup, and hung out until it was time to pick Jamie up for lunch. Liam and I did go to Book City for a bit, and Liam got very excited and asked for a "little book" for himself. I bought him a little Backyardigans book, and he happily "read" it in the wagon for a while. Jamie, Liam, and I ate at Browning, and then took Jamie back to school. By then, Liam and I were pretty tired, so we vegged at home until it was time to back to get Jamie. Jamie was very excited and happy after school, and ran off to find the posse and play. I went through his stuff, and found a folder that detailed his work schedule for the year (he takes music! and drama! yay!). The funny part was when I explained that he was going to have spelling tests on Fridays, and we segued slightly into the idea of spelling bees. Jamie's face lit up and he said "You mean you can *win*? I want to start now!" I think that he'll be attacking the idea of spelling with a little more edge than most of his other classmates, but I'm fine with that. His folder also contained a letter home that Jamie had written, and his teacher explained that the kids wrote their letters on Friday and would every Friday this year. She said thatgetting them to write the letters had been challenging (I bet!) but that it woul d be worth it. I expressed happiness at the idea, and I'm looking forward to what Jamie feels is worth writing about this year.

We stayed at the playground until 5, as Jamie and Liam played hard in the schoolyard. Liam found the sheer number of children intimidating, and stayed close to me until it had thinned out a bit. When we finally exhausted the playground, we headed to Browning for dinner. John joined us eventually, and he and Ross were working very hard at a fast comet star at Super Mario Galaxy for a while. Eventually, Jamie came down and did it in one try. Fast comets are his specialty, yo. The boys were blitheringly tired, and fell asleep very easily.

2009-09-12 24:37 (Kristen) John was gone early this morning, so I got the boys up and ready for a half day at Jamie's Japanese school. It was the first day, and we did a great job of making it to the subway on time, despite having to walk there due to no buses. There was complaining... We ran into Jamie's friend Harry at Yonge station, and rode all the way there with him and his family. Jamie was nervous, and I think that he relaxed when he saw Harry, and knew that he'd have one friend there. The assembly and sorting into classes went smoothly, and I reassured Liam that he'd have his own class to go to next year. He liked that idea. We sat and had coffee with Harry's family, and then went back to get Jamie. He was happy, and went out to play with the other kids while the other moms and I went through backpacks to see what the homework looked like this year. We were all shocked to see that the summer homework was still in the children's backpacks, and it seems that the teacher is new and didn't see/forgot it. We'll make sure that she gets it next week.

After playing for a bit, we had pizza and headed home for a good long veg. The kids were, once again, very very tired, but they stayed up a little late to see John when he got home from the tournament.

2009-09-13 24:44 (Kristen) As usual, Jamie was up early and John kindly made him breakfast before he headed out to the tournament for its last day. I woke up around 9, feeling a little disoriented, and Liam was up not long afterwards. I had planned a quiet day for the boys to veg and recuperate, but our friends Peter and Leslie called us to go out for lunch. Simon wanted to see Liam and Jamie, and by noon it was time to do something out of the house. We had a lovely lunch at Allen's, but Jamie was definitely out of sorts and needing a good deal of one-on-one attention for much of the lunch. We took the kids to St. Barnabas afterwards, and they all ran around until they were flushed and tired. Yay! We headed back home and parted company around 4:45. By that time John was on his way home with two Scrabble friends, and plans for dinner. The boys complained a little about going out again, but enjoyed dinner at 7 Numbers, and playing on their DSes. Jamie biked there and back, and fell asleep almost instantly. Liam is having a good deal of trouble sleeping tonight, and I think that he's having some tummy trouble of some sort. We'll keep an eye on it, and hope that it's nothing more than gas.

2009-09-14 23:13 (Kristen) Another week of school, and Jamie was happy to get to school and start all over again. Liam was happy to hang out with me in the morning and play with his DS, and I let him as he'd gone to bed late the night before and was up quite early this morning. This is, always, a recipe for disaster and I had low expectations of him and his ability to deal with much today. We did go pick up Jamie for lunch. We ate at Browning, which delighted Jamie, and then John came to take him back to school. In the afternoon, Liam and I hung out again, and then had some extra time together in the afternoon. Jamie had a playdate at Sam's with the posse, which included dinner. This seems like it's going to be the pattern from now on, as the boys don't get much time to play together anymore if dinner isn't somehow involved. I left Liam with John, and went to get Jamie and bring him to Browning around 6:30. Jamie had had a fabulous time, which included playing with Sam's bouncy castle in the back yard along with Jake and Parker. When we got back to Browning, I helped Jamie to do his spelling homework before I went off to play Trivia. John reports that he got Jamie to do his Japanese homework, and that Liam was overtired and in a delicate state when he finally got the boys home. Something happened to set a very tired Liam off, and he melted down completely in the bathroom. He cried for 20 minutes before falling asleep on the floor. Boom. When I got home, both boys were in bed, asleep, and John notified me that Liam had not peed, or brushed his teeth, or changed into his pajamas. Given his state before he fell asleep, I'd say that was acceptable.

2009-09-15 23:13 (Kristen) Jamie went off to school, and Liam went off with John to Hakobune to read more Sailor Moon books. He really looks forward to going, and was sad yesterday that he wasn't going to be at Hakobune. Risa Saito, who is a Japanese woman staying with us for the next week, was helping out at Hakobune and confirm ed that this is Liam's favourite activity. For the first time, too, Liam started to participate in cleanup time. Wow! That's a surprise, but a welcome one. After school, five of Jamie's friends came over for a playdate and dinner. Everyone had a great time, and we even managed to get Jamie to do some homework after dinner and everyone had gone home. Liam enjoyed having the big boys around. While I got the boys in bed a half hour early, they still fell asleep at the usual time. We'll work on that.

2009-09-16 23:00 (John) Reviewing the blog, I noticed a slew of missing entries here, and I'm guessing Kristen accidentally deleted them. From secondary sources, I know that Jamie went to school as usual (reading, art, library), Liam stayed home and hung out with Mom, and the photo of the day was snapped as I headed out to Scrabble club for the evening and the boys were waiting for dinner.

2009-09-17 23:00 (John) Reviewing the blog, I noticed a slew of missing entries here, and I'm guessing Kristen accidentally deleted them. From secondary sources, I know that Jamie went to school as usual (reading, art, library) and Liam went to Hakobune with Mom. As you can see from the photo, the vampire game mentioned on 2009-09-03 has evolved into a regular apres bain tradition, with me alternately carrying two little towelled vampires flying through the air turning their hapless victims into more vampires.

2009-09-18 23:00 (John) Reviewing the blog, I noticed a slew of missing entries here, and I'm guessing Kristen accidentally deleted them. From secondary sources, I know that Jamie went to school as usual (reading, art, library) and Liam went to Hakobune with Mom. It's been unseasonably warm, which adds to the ludicrous amount of energy that explodes out of Jamie at the end of the school day, especially on a Friday. Liam, more sensibly, finds the least noisy corner of a very loud schoolyard and logs a few more hours catching up with his Nintendo DS and Kirby's Squeak Squad.

2009-09-19 23:00 (John) Reviewing the blog, I noticed a slew of missing entries here, and I'm guessing Kristen accidentally deleted them. I don't need to check secondary sources for this one, as it was a big day. I took Jamie to Nisshu Gakuin in the morning, came back home to pick up Liam and took him for his usual snacking/shopping expedition to the St. Lawrence Market. I dropped Liam and the groceries off with Kristen so the two of them could go out shopping for Jamie's sometime girlfriend Makaiya's birthday party. I then went to get Jamie, curtailed his after school rampage and we joined the party in progress. We learned there that the recreation coordinator at Earl Bales Community Centre, where we play Scrabble, is Makaiya's aunt!

2009-09-20 23:00 (John) Reviewing the blog, I noticed a slew of missing entries here, and I'm guessing Kristen accidentally deleted them. I remember our all being totally exhausted this day, and the photos bear me out. I thought we would have more energy what with Jamie being in school full time, but somehow our schedules have gotten even fuller than they were before, and if we didn't have a quiet Sunday now and again, we'd be in trouble.

2009-09-20 21:10 (Kristen) John is teaching the boys math while they're in the bath. He asked Liam what 1+1 was, and Liam responded "Eleven!" Then John asked Liam what 2+2 was, and he answered, hesitantly, "Two eleven?" John said "We call that 'twenty two.'" Liam responded with glee, "Twenty two!" He is happy. John is also teaching a tired Jamie some math tricks with the 9 times table, which has some funky number tricks in it. Jamie is more interested in being goofy, but he's asking John a few questions about it, and they're all enjoying themselves, which is the important point.

I took Jamie with me to the Second Cup for some mother-son bonding time, and we had fun. John stayed home with Liam for some father-son bonding time, otherwise known as "being Liam's Wii slave." I read to Jamie from Bone, a graphic novel series that I really like and that Jamie is really liking too. He pestered me fiercely to read to him from volume two, "The Great Cow Race," around dinner time, as I had promised, so I did. Liam has lost the stylus for his DS, and isn't being as careful with the DS as he has been in times past, so we may have to have some more intense observation and rules about the DS. I got Jamie to do some reading for me for homework, and have a pile of books that are around his level for him to pick from any time we do reading practice with our own books. He enjoys picking his own reading material, which is good for both of us. The boys are still in the bath, joking around with John, and life seems to be good.

2009-09-21 23:00 (John) Apart from our usual Monday schedule, with Jamie going to school for the day and Liam staying at home (soccer doesn't start until next week), and our making dinner at Browning in the evening, our big event was that Risa Saito (a friend of Sasaki-sensei) has come to visit with us for day. Risa is a physical chemistry student in her early twenties, spending a few weeks in Canada to improve her English and see a little of the world.

2009-09-21 23:10 (Kristen) It was a little hard to get Jamie up and out the door this morning. He was complaining that he doesn't like Jackman, but we established that what he really means is that his days are very long, and he's having some trouble with that. Not surprising, now that the blush is off the rose of the new school year. Liam hung around at home with me, playing his DS, and was happy to leave the house to go to Browning for lunch. Jamie and John met us there, and the boys had a good time talking with Ross and doing their usual Browning things. They had to be reminded, however, that they would be back in the evening and so leaving wasn't such a tragedy as it seemed. The afternoon was quiet, again, and we stayed to play a little at Jackman after picking up Jamie. Dinner was at Browning, where Jamie and Ross had an intent discussion about the merits of this or that song in Dance Dance Revolution, and where Liam ate dinner grudgingly, because it took away time from important things like Putt Putt on the computer. The boys went to bed a little late, which isn't good, because they're both so tired in the mornings.

2009-09-22 23:00 (John) We appear to have invited the whole posse over, including Dylan, for dinner. What were we thinking?! There appears to be no physical damage to the house, and PTSD has erased the memory from our minds. I asked for a round of serious photos and a round of goofy photos from the boys, and have omitted most of the goofy ones.

2009-09-22 23:10 (Kristen) Jamie went off to school, and Liam went off with John to Hakobune to read more Sailor Moon books. He really looks forward to going, and was sad yesterday that he wasn't going to be at Hakobune. Lisa, who is a Japanese woman staying with us for the next week, was helping out at Hakobune and confirm ed that this is Liam's favourite activity. For the first time, too, Liam started to participate in cleanup time. Wow! That's a surprise, but a welcome one. After school, five of Jamie's friends came over for a playdate and dinner. Everyone had a great time, and we even managed to get Jamie to do some homework after dinner and everyone had gone home. Liam enjoyed having the big boys around. While I got the boys in bed a half hour early, they still fell asleep at the usual time. We'll work on that.

2009-09-23 23:10 (Kristen) Jamie, upon being questioned, told me that Jenna is his girlfriend, and that they eat snacks together almost every day. I asked him why she was his girlfriend, and he didn't quite understand the question, so I asked him what it was that he liked about her...was she funny? kind? and he leapt in instantly and said that she was kind. Sounds good to me. The evening is kind of a blur for me, as I was quite tired, but the boys were tired too, and were in bed and asleep around 10.

2009-09-23 23:10 (Kristen) Jamie was in an uncharacteristically grumpy mood today, and Liam was too. Liam's bad mood could be attributed to a refusal to eat enough food at any given meal, and so needed to snack frequently to keep his blood sugar up. He might also have spent a little too much time playing his DS. Jamie's mood was harder to diagnose, but is likely a combination of a lack of sleep and having some trouble adjusting to his new school schedule. He has needed a bit more Mummy time than usual, and lots of reassurances. It is hard to adjust to a full day schedule, but he really has been doing well. He just needs to be reminded, and have a little extra attention. Liam and I went book shopping in the afternoon to spend some of his birthday money, and we had fun reading when we got home. Jamie and I read more of The Great Cow Race, and both he and Liam loved it. He really likes Bone, and it's so nice to read him material that he likes. Jamie told me about his girlfriends (he and Makaiya are boyfriend and girlfriend again, but I don't think that this affects Jenna's status, if history is any indicator). Note to everyone: please don't talk about Jamie's girlfriends! I don't want him to be self-conscious about it at all. We managed to get to bed on time tonight, and the boys were asleep by 9:30. Tomorrow night, if we can, we'll pull that back another fifteen minutes.

2009-09-24 22:47 (Kristen) Jamie is still finding days long at Jackman, and was less than happy about going to school. I'm wondering if the bloom is off the rose, or he's just tired enough that he's having trouble with transitions again. I'm suspecting the latter, as he has done this before, and he's happy enough when he's there. Liam had no trouble going to Hakobune, and roared straight over to the Sailor Moon books before putting his attendance sticker into his attendance book, OR saying goodbye to his mom. He is a boy of strong obsession. The DS is starting to be a problem, speaking of obsession, as playing Kirby's Squeak Squad is all he wants to do, otherwise. Thank goodness for Hakobune and Sailor Moon.

2009-09-25 22:52 (Kristen) Today was the Terry Fox run at Jamie's school, where they are all crazy about cross-country running. The school got all 700 or so kids to walk over to a nearby park and do at least four 400-metre laps of a soccer field. Jamie had turned large, saucer eyes on me this morning when I said that I might not be there (nevermind that John had already confirmed his attendance), as I had to pick up Liam at 1. The walk/run started from the school at 1, and after I got a late project off and picked up Liam, it was past 1:30. I got Liam to walk from Chester station (under protest) to the park, and saw Jamie going around the field for the last time on the back of the friend of his reading buddy David. I made Jamie get off and walk around the rest of the way on his own steam, and he seemed happy that I was there, once he noticed. I grumbled to another mother that he had better remember this, given the amount of sheer aggravation it took for me to get there, and was reassured. Liam was not going to walk home when it was time to leave, and I was wiped out with a load of daycare and work-related stuff. A schoolyard mom/friend, Corynn, drove Liam and me home, for which I am very grateful. Liam settled in at home to play DS, and I waited to see if Jamie wanted to go with me to the Second Cup after school. Turns out he didn't, and played with his friends in the playground until 5. Then it was dinner at Browning, and time to go home and go to bed in anticipation of a long day on Saturday.

2009-09-26 22:58 (Kristen) John tells me that Jamie has been telling him all about Terry Fox, who (for those of you not Canadian) was a young man who ran the Marathon of Hope back in 1980/1. Fox had lost one leg to cancer as a young man, and decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research afterwards. He only made it as far as Thunder Bay before falling ill from a recurrence of his cancer, and died in 1981 at the age of 22. The Terry Fox Run, held every year, is the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research. The story has made a large impression on Jamie, and he's been asking me questions about cancer ever since. He knows that John's mother had cancer, so we've been talking about what we know, what causes it, and other things, usually at breakfast. Liam continues to be obsessed with his DS, and it's getting hard to get him to do anything else once he starts. John did take him to the St. Lawrence Market today, and to a curriculum meeting at Nisshu Gakkuin, and notes that the DS ensured that Liam sat quietly through the entire meeting. So, not entirely a socially useless device... I had some people over for a Pampered Chef party, run by Michelle Hunt (Charlie's mother), and Simon came with his mom. Liam was delighted to see Simon when he came home, and we'll have to make arrangements for them to see each other again, as they do very much like each other. It was a very quick, easy dinner tonight, and a very mellow evening before a little Rock Band and bedtime.

2009-09-27 23:09 (Kristen) I decided to take the boys swimming today, as Liam and I had missed our Friday swim due to the Terry Fox Run. We had intended to leave the house around 1, so leaving at 1:35 wasn't all that bad. I decided to drive, which makes the trip slower anyway, but a major area between us and the pool was also closed for a large literary/book festival, further snarling the works. We made it there and into the pool with only half an hour left, and there was much complaining when it was time to get out. I should note that Jamie complained bitterly about having to go to the pool in the first place, so it was rather funny to see him complain about leaving, and agreeing so quickly to having another swim day next Sunday. Funny, in a good way, I should add. We came back home to have the boys play with Alexandria, Sam, Ben, and Luke in the front yard while I made dinner. The boys liked their dinner of fish, broccoli, green beans, and rice, and watched part of Wall-E with me and Lisa. Jamie played with Gary, and Liam played with his DS, but Jamie also did some reading with me for school. He finally picked a book that was a challenge, and was very pleased with himself when he was done. Now he's going to find an even harder book, he said, to see if he can read it. He is so funny, going back and forth between "I can't do it!" and "Whee! I did it!" and the despair is as intense as the joy. I have to remember not to help him unless he asks for it, however, which is hard, sometimes.

2009-09-28 23:11 (Kristen) Liam went to soccer class with John around lunchtime, even though he is on the waiting list for the class and not officially registered. They hung around as Liam wasn't allowed to participate today, but Liam had a good time watching the other kids, pointing out the differently coloured lines on the floor, and playing with his DS. While they were on the way back, I got a phone call from Parks and Rec saying that a space had opened up, and we were officially in the class. That will make Liam very happy. Tomorrow, I have to go and buy a hockey helmet for Liam, as I fear Jamie's will be too heavy for him (it's a little heavy for Jamie), so that he can go to his first skating class on Wednesday afternoon. I told Liam, and he brightly told me that he would skate, and use a chair...he clearly remembers the one time I took him and Jamie skating last winter, when there were chairs available for the more wobbly. Good for him.

Jamie had a good day, reciting his spelling words and spelling them for me at lunch as he'd incidentally memorized them. He also brought home a little read-a-book on tarantulas, which prompted questions about whether or not a tarantula can paralyze a small boy. He also read "paralyze" by himself, which was a point of real pride to him. He played lots of video games, and did his homework, so was happy enough and tired when he went to bed tonight. Neither child stayed awake for very long, although 10 really isn't a good bedtime for either of them.

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.

2009-10-06 23:25 (Kristen) Today was better than yesterday, when I woke up annoyed that John had left the clock alarm on on a Sunday. D'oh. Jamie and Liam also woke up well, but I let John sleep in by accident, so he was late getting Liam to Hakobune. It was quiet until they got back, and then I hauled Liam out to get Jamie, over his protests that Kirby was going to be lonely. Or something like that. (Kirby is the main character in the DS game that Liam is obsessed with. The DS stayed home.) He and Jamie played for a bit in the schoolyard, then I got them to come to the Big Carrot with me for some groceries before coming home. It's easier when I have the two of them, because they keep each other amused and cared for. I saw Liam hit his head (lightly) out of the corner of my eye, and then Jamie give him a gentle hug and a light rub on the head before making sure that Liam found me for his Mom hug. I'm so glad that they have each other. They also chased each other home for a good section of the walk. Also very handy. Dinner was simple but the boys ate well, and the evening was full of homework and video games. Liam was put out that he was the spectator for a "no-fail" family game of Rock Band, but got over it.

2009-10-07 22:45 (Kristen) Life, I think, needs a reboot. Jamie was up around 7:30, and seemed all right at first. However, he was pretty tired and it began to show when it was time to go to school. Liam, in the meantime, woke up just as I was getting Jamie dressed and out the door, and was sleepy enough not to protest when I left him behind to take Jamie to school (John was at home, btw). Liam and I had a quiet morning, punctuated with some numbers and the ABC song, before John brought Jamie home for lunch. The kids ate well, and were all right, and there was only pro forma grumbling from Jamie when it was time to go back to school and leave his DS behind. Liam and John did some DS before it was time for us to go to skating (which I had spaced, d'oh). Liam did much better this week than last week. This week he cried while hanging on to a glider, instead of lying on the ice and crying. Progress... I had prepped Liam with talks about what was going to happen when he was on the ice: to shuffle, not walk normally; that he was going to fall, but everyone did and that was OK; that he was going to have a glider, and he should hang on to that. He certainly hung on to his glider. Eventually, he did get the hang of it enough that he skated, slowly, from the blue line to the door, crying, but with only 15 minutes left in the lesson when he came off the ice. Yay! Progress! I was happy about that, and Liam was very cheerful, while telling me "I cried." We got a ride back to the school, grabbed Jamie, then headed home as the weather was cold and windy and overcast. Brr. Jamie was pretty good about doing his homework when we got home, but we didn't get to his reading until after dinner. This is never good, because Jamie is just shredded after dinner and it's always hard going then. He had picked out another difficult book, and was utterly unengaged from the process. Eventually, after distraction/interruption number 15, I lost my temper and snapped. The exercise lost its fun, and we eventually had to abandon it and agree to complete it tomorrow. Jamie was upset too, and told me that he didn't like reading at all because it was "boring." There was nothing that he liked to read, and it was just a stab through the heart. I was a bad mother; I was pushing him too hard, he was pushing himself too hard; it was my fault for letting him watch too much television and play too many video games; and it went on from there in my inner monologue. However, I reminded myself that he was wickedly tired, and so was I, so we wrapped up the evening with a game of Ladybirds (Jamie's suggestion), and went to bed early. The boys were in bed at 8:50, and we read Jellaby, which both boys enjoyed. So, Jamie still enjoys being read *to*, at least. Lights out at 9:15, and Jamie was asleep by 9:30. Liam held out for another 15 minutes, flipping, flopping, and keeping up a sotto voce running commentary before finally being overwhelmed by sleep.

2009-10-08 23:23 (Kristen) Jamie slept until 8, when I woke him up. He woke up well, did everything that he had to do, and went to school with no mucking about and no whining/complaining/fuss. Wow! This sleep thing is really rather amazing. John took Liam to Hakobune, and I cleaned up the house for my dad's visit with his wife, Liz. They're staying with us until the weekend, and the house needed to be cleaner than it was. Everyone arrived here around 2:30 or so, and my dad came with Liam and me to pick up Jamie at school. Jamie was very upset because his adored Mr. Kat (his gym teacher) had been unhappy with the class for some goofing around at the end of class, and Jamie was in complete tears about it. Mr. Kat reassured him that he was doing great, but I think that Jamie just needed to decompress. Sensitive boy. Mr. Kat told me that Jamie tells him "Still like gym!" every time he sees him in the hallways. Mr. Kat is a very nice man.

We needed to get back home so that I could finish making dinner (a roast chicken, which needed stuffing), and the boys hung out and Jamie did his homework before it was time to eat. We ate early, because tonight was Curriculum Night at Jamie's school, and we needed to be there for Ms. Kidd's presentation at 6:30. We made it, and Jamie was very excited and proud to show us his classroom, his work, and his school. It was very interesting for us, and I think that I'm even more impressed with his school than I was before. Once home again, the boys hung out and Jamie did a little reading for me before bedtime. Bedtime was 9:40, which was about half an hour later than I'd hoped for, but I'm still pretty happy that it wasn't later.

2009-10-09 23:15 (Kristen) Jamie was a star again this morning, getting up and getting dressed, and putting his games down without fussing, and getting to school on time and cheerfully. Wow! He is really trying hard to be good and helpful, and I'm just as happy as can be about not having to fight him. More importantly, I'm really enjoying having a pleasant morning with my boy, and he seems to be doing the same. I dropped Jamie off, came back to see how Liam was going, and found hi in John's lap in the living room, having woken up ten minutes earlier. John went back to bed, and I got Liam ready for Hakobune. We said goodbye to Grandpa and Liz, then went off. When John and I picked Liam up after daycare, I went up to get him while John stayed in the car. Liam showed me his newest book, with another group of female Japanese superheroes in it. My son really doesn't care about traditional gender divisions, which is really rather cool. What, I'm going to stop him from reading about strong women and enjoying it?

Liam and I stayed home while John went to get Jamie in the rain, and we waited for Grandpa and Liz to come back so that we could go out for dinner. The boys alternately walked down to the Silk Road or rode on John's shoulders to "Keep Papa's head dry in the rain." There is a photo of Liam, complete with umbrella, riding on John's shoulders that is to die for. Dinner was very nice, and we all ate a good deal and had a good time. Jamie helped to serve the ice cream, as usual, and Liam protested that his mango ice cream was touching his lichee ice cream. Then, after a few bites of lichee, he wanted the mango ice cream back. It is, indeed, fortunate that I foresaw this and kept most of the scoop of mango ice cream in my bowl for safe keeping.

John reminds me that, yesterday, Liam was trying to get John to read to him when John was in the middle of helping Jamie do his homework. Liam then tried to read the book himself, and burst into tears after a few minutes because merely willing himself to be able to read wasn't working. Poor boy. We're starting to teach him to recognize a few words, if he's willing, because he seems to want it so much. We'll report back on whether or not it works.

2009-10-10 22:31 (Kristen) It was a rare Saturday with Jamie home, so it was a rare family outing to the St. Lawrence Market. My dad and Liz followed us down to the market, then parted ways with us as they went on to the next stop on their trip. Jamie was asking about them later in the day, and was visibly disappointed to learn that they had left. I think that Jamie was enjoying getting to know his grandfather, and Liz too. We bought a metric tonne of food at the market, and ran around picking up turkeys and other foodstuffs in our neighbourhood. Jamie was flat bored by the end, but managed to hold it together until we got home. I wish that I knew more about what they did for the rest of the day, but I was running around getting the house and food ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Jamie did spent 90 minutes with Gary, which they both enjoyed as Gary has been fighting an evil cold and so hasn't been around to play much.

2009-10-11 22:40 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 7:30, and came into bed with me and John until 8. Liam was up around 8:30, and came in with me and John until around 8:45, when I gave up and got up. Today was all about Thanksgiving dinner, and the boys were helpful in their own ways. They helped John buy a folding table at Canadian Tire to give us extra space for guests to eat at, and kept out of my way during food prep. When Ian and Amy arrived with Ted and Alice, Jamie and Liam were delighted. They brought a cool birthday present for Jamie, whose birthday is in a month, and Liam is looking forward to playing with the building system too. Dinner was a success, and both Liam and Jamie ate about half of the sushi that John's aunts brought before dinner even started. So, not much turkey went into either boy, altough Jamie did eat well, and ate a pumpkin tart that Alice made too. Yay, someone to share pumpkin pies with! The day and night were chaotic, but in a good way, and all were fed and made happy with food. Jamie and Ian played video games together, and Liam followed along. It was a good day, and the boys were in bed almost indecently late.

2009-10-12 23:43 (Kristen) Jamie and Ian were up early this morning, playing video games, and that was pretty much what the boys did all day. They played old video games, new video games, cooperative and competitive. They played them upstairs, and downstairs. Amy watched, or played her own, as did Liam. It was not the most productive day we've ever had, but it's not every day that you can blow off a day playing with your cousins like that, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. Ian and Jamie have that same deadpan, "are you really serious?" sense of humour, which had me shaking my head more than once as I listened to them, but it was fun to see them together. Ted, Alice, Ian and Amy left around four to go and see Tai Tai and Ho Ho at their house, and Jamie and Liam played with the present that they'd received last night from Ian, Amy, Ted and Alice. We ate dinner with the Browning folk, as is usual for a Monday night, and the kids were happy when they went to bed.

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.

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.

2009-10-20 20:10 (Kristen) Jamie and John went on a field trip with Jamie's class today, and report that they had a blast. They went up to a working farm north of the city, where they are set up to receive kids and talk about where food comes from. There were baby goats that were born as the kids were unloading from their bus, pot-bellied pigs, cows, goats, and sheep, along with various types of fowl. The boys, in particular, enjoyed getting the turkeys to run to and fro in a panic with a sound that the farmer taught to them. They climbed on hay bales, picked pumpkins, and saw a ten-minute lecture on where food comes from, just to make sure that Education was achieved. Jamie was so tired that he passed out and slept for half an hour on the bus home (but won't admit it). The nap was fortuitous, as Jamie just wouldn't have made it past dinner without one. He was one tired puppy tonight.

John also reports that Jamie has a small bevy of girls vying for his attention. Makaiya has declared Jamie to be her boyfriend again, and I'm not sure where this leaves Jenna, who is the only one to call Jamie "James." Knowing Jamie, she's still in the picture, because exclusivity isn't an idea he's familiar with. He's going to drive the girls crazy with his general cluelessness until he hits puberty, and that's all right with me.

Liam, in the meantime, had a good morning at Hakobune, and was in a great mood on the way home from daycare. We read a few books, he played his DS, and it was a good day for him. He really likes a book called Rhyming Dust Bunnies, which he thinks is hilarious, and will shout out his favourite lines whenever he can. Liam is also very happy because John was able to unlock "Extra" mode on Kirby's Squeak Squad for the boys, and can play five levels on his own of Marble Blast. John also points out that Liam, when Chelsea was over having her Japanese lesson, was able to identify the hiragana character "shi" by himself. Yay, Liam!

2009-10-21 23:15 (Kristen) Jamie's big achievement today was reading his borrow-a-book in one go (minus one page, which we read last night). It was the longest book he's read to this point, and certainly the fastest speed. He had math homework, which I got him to do by timing how quickly he could do it. Page 1 (counting) was finished in 60 seconds; page 2 (more counting) in 48 seconds. He liked that. Liam's achievement was to stand on the ice by himself and figure out how to use the glider in an effective way. He initially was. not. going. on. the. ice, and I kept him off, watching the other kids and eating goldfish, until he got restless. Then I dumped him onto the ice. The teachers tried to get him to skate without a glider, but he clearly can't. He did skate holding one teacher's hand, however (step step step), for a distance, and he did stand on the ice without falling. In his little black snow pants, black helment, and grey sweatshirt, he looked like a little emperor penguin chick from a distance. Thump! They gave him a glider, which he figured out how to use properly when he took his mittens off. Then he was starting to use it to bump balls on the ice, and actually have a good time. He even took two solo steps when motivated to choose a sticker at the end from the teacher, who stood just far enough back from the glider to make him come over to her. He was very happy when he came off the ice. Tom and Jack insisted that Liam come over for a playdate, which we did, and Jamie came over too when school was over with Charlie (Tom and Jack's brother). The boys had a great time, we all played together, and it was with some reluctance that we left. It was a quiet evening, and that was good.

2009-10-22 23:42 (Kristen) When John dropped Liam off at Hakobune today, he reports that Liam said to him, "I'm going to have fun playing at Hakobune now. See you later," before running off for an exciting morning of books and play. I may have mentioned that when I was a small child, I always had my nose in a book despite the irritated demands of my playmates to play with *them*. My younger son may have a bit of that in him too. Jamie had a playdate with Jake, and had dinner there too. Apparently the other boy visiting asked Jake's mom if they were going to be having "English" food for dinner. He was out of luck, because they had miso soup with tofu. When I picked Jamie up, I asked him what he had for dinner, and he said, "I think that I like Michelle's [Jake's mom's] soup better than yours. Sorry, Mummy." Then he suddenly worried that my feelings might be hurt, but I assured him that Jake's mom was a great cook and that I'd get a recipe. He was relieved.

2009-10-23 23:31 (Kristen) When Jamie came home from school today, Liam ran to meet him at the door. He threw his arms around his brother, saying "I love you, Jamie! I missed you! Here's your DS!" Jamie was more than a little delighted with this greeting, I think, judging from the look on his face. I think that it's the little brother equivalent of "pipe, newspaper, slippers."

We went to the Harvest Festival at Jamie's school, and had a great time eating hot dogs, picking up books, and eating cupcakes. It was dark and pouring rain when we left, so we walked over to Browning, where we dropped the boys off for a night of babysitting. John and I came back to pick them up at 9:00. The boys had been great, and had a great time, but went to bed far far too late.

2009-10-24 23:35 (Kristen) We were up a little late this morning, and so Jamie was ten minutes late getting to Japanese school today; John said "it was horrible," so I think that we'll all be up earlier next week. John came back to pick up Liam and me, and we went down to the Saint Lawrence Market together. Liam was insistent that I not drive, and when asked which parent should drive, he said to John "Papa! You win!" Then he turned to me and said "You lose!" and rubbed it in a little more. Gleefully. We did our shopping, came back home, and then John went to get Jamie at the usual time. Liam gave Jamie his usual effusive greeting, and they played happily for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening, our neighbours decided to have some sort of party with live music, and it was loud enough that, even with an alley, a garage door, and a yard separating us, the boys oculdn't sleep in their room. We have them in our room for now, so that they can sleep, but it was funny doing so. Jamie objected that John wasn't lying down with him, the way we used to; John pointed out to him that he and Liam are much bigger now, which is why everyone is sleeping in their own beds now. John just moved Jamie to his bed, and wonders out loud how he got to be so big. He was just a baby not that long ago...

2009-10-25 23:21 (Kristen) We all slept in until 9, which was lovely. Edna came to clean the house, and we all cleaned, played DS, or computer games, depending upon our ages. By lunchtime enough DS and computer gaming had been done, lunch was produced, and arrangements were made for a playdate at St Barnabas with a friend who was looking after her boyfriend's son. Jamie and Graham had a great time once they got together, and Liam, who had melted down on the way (unlike Jamie, who melted down when we were trying to leave) eventually perked up when his promised cookie finally materialized. The boys played soccer, climbed on everything, played with dirt, and had fun being boys. We eventually came back to our place via Jackman, where Jamie ran into Jake and Liam fell and gave himself an almighty good whack on the head when he slipped while climbing a caterpillar apparatus (short fall, but a lump was made). We made it home, where Jamie and Graham played some more, and Liam played with his beloved DS. Eventually Graham and Jennie went home, just as John returned with Daniel and Jim, our armourer, arrived. Jamie has some armour of his own for Hallowe'en, and Daniel's suit of armour continues its path to awesome. I made grilled cheese and soup for dinner, which the boys wolfed down. Unsurprisingly, really, given how active they'd been in the afternoon. Our friends Reid and Luisa were getting rid of a single bed, and John drove over to pick it up for Jamie, whose bed isn't that comfortable for him. We gave his old bed to John's parents' tenant, who hasn't a very nice bed, so everyone is happy and no beds were thrown away. Yay, green living. Jamie had a moment when we were disassembling his old bed when he was very unsure and wanted his old bed back, but he was delighted when his new one was set up and he could test it out. It's a real improvement, and while he's still finding it strange and adjusting, it's a Good Thing.

2009-10-26 22:57 (Kristen) Today was Show and Tell, and I suggested to Jamie that he take his Japanese Pokemon Encyclopedia to show his classmates, as the pokemon have different names in Japanese sometimes than they do in English. He says that it went very well, and the book looked like it had been well looked over. He seemed happy. Liam went off to soccer in protest, but had a great time once he was there. Jamie had lunch at Browning then ran off to school, while Liam showed up soon after Jamie left. They met up together, finally, after school at Browning again, and they were happy to play together and have fun. Jamie stayed close to Ross, as Ross shows him new and cool online video games, and Liam was a small, sensitive, melty boy on occasion. Both he and Jamie didn't get enough sleep the night before, and it showed. Dinner was made and eaten, and lots of fun was had doing this and that. Jamie did homework, and Liam played with his DS, accosting John (in the main) to help him "help Kirby." He loves his father very much, but was unimpressed with him when it was time to go home and get ready for the bath. I was out playing trivia, so I wasn't there to help stave off meltdowns from Sensitive Tired Boy. As he was falling asleep, Liam said to John, "I like Mummy. I no like Papa." Jamie, of course, was scandalized by such a statement.

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.

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.

2009-11-03 24:15 (Kristen) The end of daylight savings strikes again, as I was woken up by both boys being loud as crows in the morning, happy to be awake, and notifying me in their own ways that it was daytime, Mummy. It was also about 45 minutes earlier than I'm used to, and as I'd been up quite late the night before, I was no entirely happy about it. And yet, we soldier on. Jamie got to school on time and with a little to spare, and Liam was at Hakobune on time too. Wow! Liam greeted me with an enormous running, "leap-into-Mummy's-arms" hug, and I whisked him off home. I should mention that, instead of playing DS the entire ride there and back, we read Rhyming Dust Bunnies, which is Liam's favourite book right now. He also pounced on me to read Blueberries for Sal, which delighted me. Maybe the end of the DS obsession is in sight? There might be room for other pursuits? I live in hope! We went to pick up Jamie, played a little, and then Jamie went home with Gary (who happened by at the wrong time) while I went to get a few groceries at the Big Carrot with Liam. He fell asleep just as we approached our house, despite his protestations when prevented earlier that he wasn't sleepy and he wouldn't fall asleep, and was made to walk the last few metres home. Protest. However, it was close to 5:00, and a nap at that time would have been more than disasterous. The kids played, ate dinner here and there (it was far from an organized family meal night), and stayed home with John after I went a few houses over to go to my book club. John informs me that the new rule for nights when I'm out is that they only speak in Japanese when I'm not there. They forget every few minutes, of course, but then they remember and start again. I'm all in favour of this, and may use it was an excuse to go out. "Oh, don't you want a Japanese boys' night again? Don't the kids need some language practice?" We'll see. I came home to put the boys to bed with John, and they were bouncing off the walls. As I came upstairs, John was pretending to call me on my cell, saying to come home right NOW, and Liam delightedly pounced on me, saying that he *knew* I was coming home to put *him* to bed. The boys were asleep in less than ten minutes, which was a clear indication that it had been a long and satisfying day.

2009-11-04 21:52 (Kristen) In keeping with my new theory, I have started Liam's days with a rundown of what we're going to do. It seems to be working, and some of the transitioning problems we'd had have not been present. Yay! Got Jamie off to school in the morning, and Liam had a quiet morning playing DS and other things before Jamie came home for lunch with John. After lunch, Jamie went back to school and I took Liam to skating. He had another good class, but he was just wiped after 20 minutes on the ice, and had to come off. I could see him taking longer and longer to get off the ice each time he fell, so wasn't surprised when he skated to the gate and cried to come off. We went over to Jack's house, after Jack and Tom chorused that they wanted Liam to come over for a playdate. I went to find their brother Charlie and Jamie too and brought them back for a spell too. Jack, Charlie, and Tom all had H1N1, and are all well now, but are just starting to get back into their usual round of playdates. They're about crazy for company, so it was a raucous time, as the siblings have seen as much of each other as they can stand and were more than pleased to have someone else over to play with. We ran home to do homework with John, then had dinner. We did more homework after dinner, and Jamie was very tickled to see that a book he'd thought too hard a month ago was now very easy (Danny and the Dinosaur). Liam didn't get much attention, unfortunately, as he'd wanted it, but we all watched Robot Repairman (Backyardigans) together before a short play with Gary and bathtime/bed.

I forgot to mention that Jamie forgot his coat yesterday in the school. We found it in the lost and found after school, but later, when I was talking with another parent, I pointed him out. "Oh, THAT's Jamie!" she exclaimed, and said, "He's very silly, isn't he?" After confessing that yes, he was, she said that she'd seen him at lunch (on a cold day) without his coat and asked him where it was. He looked up and said, "Umm...I forgot it? Umm...I ate it?" and ran off. That would be my son.

2009-11-05 23:07 (Kristen) Tonight, when I brought a complaining Liam up to the bath, he protested to his dad that he wanted to play his DS. John explained that I hadn't allowed the DS into the bathroom in case it got wet and was broken. Wouldn't that make Liam sad? "My already sad," Liam replied. The pits of three-year-old despair.

It was a quiet day, all things considered. Jamie did manage to finish off the rest of his Japanese homework for the week, and Liam is showing signs of emerging from his Kirby obsession. They're both starting to get me to read to them more, which is fine by me.

2009-11-06 23:42 (Kristen) Jamie had a big day, with a trip to see the play Alice in Wonderland in the morning, with his class and a big playdate at his friend Sam's (referred to in the family as a "big fat playdate" since it's gonna be big with lots of kids). He tells me that he ate pizza and had ice cream for dessert, and it sounds like it was a total blast. He was exhausted when he was dropped off at Browning at 7:30. Liam had a great time at Hakobune, and put up with me dragging him to the library, toy store, book store, and grocery store. He loves the library and makes sure that we go home with a stack of books for him, and always expects a book will be bought for him when we go to the bookstore. He made sure that we bought the raisin bread by holding onto it and refusing to put it back. He certainly ate two pieces when we got home as snack, so it was the right thing to do. By the time we got home, he was tired but still in a good mood. Both kids were more than ready for bed when we got home, and fell asleep in about five minutes flat.

2009-11-07 22:22 (Kristen) Jamie woke up at the usual time, had breakfast, and complained that he didn't want to go to school this morning. I didn't take much notice, but brushed my arm against his forehead as he was going upstairs to brush his teeth. Uh oh. I asked John to confirm, and we agreed that he had a fever and should stay home. So, it was a somewhat irregular Saturday, as both boys were home and John was out at a Scrabble tournament. We managed to stay in without any real meltdowns or trauma, and without too many declarations of "I'm bored!" I pulled out a "excavate your own velociraptor" kit of Jamie's, which kept us busy for a good part of the day pulling plastic dinosaur bones from a block of plaster. Liam played with his DS, helped a little to brush away "dirt" from our dinosaur bones, and watching "Robot Repairman" (Backyardigans) over and over as much as he was allowed. Jamie's fever remained low but present, but he had no other symptoms and was both functional and in a good mood. We had dinner, and watched some "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" before John's return, and bedtime.

2009-11-08 23:42 (Kristen) I fell asleep with Liam last night, but Jamie ended up with John after having a nightmare or two. The boys were up by 7:48 (if I recall Jamie's announcement correctly), and John was off to his Scrabble tournament by 9:30 or so. I was pretty sure that Liam was going to explode spontaneously if we didn't go out, and so we arranged to have our friends Peter, Leslie, and Simon come over for lunch and a playdate. Both Jamie and Liam exploded simultaneously as we were trying to get out the door, and I was both unhappy and unimpressed with this, but we managed to get them out the door and down to the Detroit Eatery for lunch. Jamie managed to keep a rather impressive grump out until we reached Jackman, then more or less gave it up in the face of a beautiful day. Liam's meltdown was largely a reflection of Jamie's, as he was upset that Jamie was upset, and insisted on holding Jamie's hand until Jamie felt better. We stopped off to see an open house for a newly renovated home near Jamie's school, and Jamie and Liam both enjoyed running through a large uncluttered home with lots of doors and closets. Jamie asked it we could buy it, and I told him that we could if Mummy won the lottery last night (which I do doubt). This led to an explaination of what lotteries were until Jamie got bored and we headed out to get our lunch. The boys ate suprisingly little of their food but did hoover back half a strawberry milkshake each and steal some of Simon's onion rings. Then it was off to the playground to burn off more steam, which they did. Jamie did manage to give himself a really impressive lump just above his right temple on a gate lock, which occasioned me running across the street to the Second Cup for a cup of ice to bring down the swelling. It did, but he has a really impressive lump still, with a bit of a contusion. Ouch. We went home after an hour or so, and waved goodbye to Simon and his parents as they went on to their next engagement. Dinner was haphazard as my initial meal didn't work out, and we were all happy to see John when he got home from the tournament. We were all pretty tired by this point, and so it was an early bath and into bed. Both boys were asleep by 9:30, which was very very good for all.

2009-11-09 22:07 (Kristen) We've got Party Week here at our house, with my dad's birthday today, John's mother's tomorrow, and Jamie's on Wednesday. John has his usual Scrabble night on Wednesday, and we usually have a separate party for Jamie and Sai, but there were other people to factor in and it became Complicated. So, at the last minute, we decided to have a party for Jamie over at Browning with the Browning crowd. Liam went with John to soccer, while I took Jamie to Browning for lunch, then Gary dropped Jamie off at school while I took over Liam after he ate lunch at Browning post soccer. The afternoon was spent shopping for presents for this, that, and the other child, and then realizing that I'd forgotten to buy cake and had no more time, so John had to run out and buy some. Jamie had an impromptu playdate with Aidan, so John and I took Liam for a quick checkup (all systems A-OK) after his long cold and then went to Browning to wrap presents and otherwise prep for a usual dinner. I already had plans to go and play pub trivia tonight, so we really had to rush. Jamie was suprised, although he said that the minute the lights went down, he knew that there would be cake (for him). John had found a table top hockey set at the Games Convention on the weekend, for an excellent price, so we gave it to Jamie for his birthday. It certainly wasn't what I would have picked for Jamie to like, but everyone had a fabulous time with it, and it was a real hit. Hooray! I'd gone to trivia by the time they were playing, but heard all about it. The boys were still awake when I got back home at 10:20, but Jamie must have fallen asleep earlier as only Liam was asleep when I got upstairs. He took about ten minutes to calm down enought to sleep, but it still was waaayyyy too late.

I forgot to add that today was a beautiful day, with the temperatures in the high teens (Celsius), and I was thinking all day about how the 9th of November, 2003 was exactly like this. I was out raking leaves, taking a chance to get some work done before the baby was born, and everyone told me "Oh, you'll have the baby soon!" I was "Yeah, right, the baby'd be a week early!" Sure enough, I was in labour the next day, and Jamie was born the day after that. But today was just like that day, and I remember how I felt so very clearly.

2009-11-10 22:36 (Kristen) John had a five-minute conversation with Jamie about how you get someone to marry you. "How do you *know*?" he wondered, and John explained that you would likely know because you've been spending a lot of time with this person. Then Jamie wanted to know how proposals worked, exactly, and so John asked him about his prospects. "I could get Makaiya to marry me," Jamie said. "Maybe." John reminded him that he had a lot of time, and that he'd know when the time came. "OK," he said, "but I think that it will be Makaiya."

Today was a Jackman/Hakobune day, and the boys both made it off to school/daycare without incident. Afterwards, I realized that it was my last chance to pick up a piece for part of Jamie's actual day of birth present (a binder with card sleeves for his Pokemon cards for easier display, access, and transport), and made Liam walk all the way from Hakobune to Bathurst and Bloor (over a kilometre, for sure). He complained for part of it, but enjoyed the walk over new and unfamiliar edges, ledges, and benches. Beside the comic store that was our ultimate destination was a toy store I'd forgotten about, and which contained a copy of the old version of Battleship: almost impossible to get, now that the new hexagonal version is available. We played a lot of Battleship over the summer, and Jamie has really wanted a copy of his own, so voila! Luck! I picked it up. We picked up the rest of our things, and Liam was getting pretty tired by this point and so we went home. We went out soon after to get Jamie, and Liam did not step out of the wagon once in the playground. John met up with us and we went home for homework before going to John's parents' house for dinner. It was John's mother's 76th birthday, and we celebrated with takeout Indian food from John's mother's favourite Indian restaurant. Yum. The kids had fun seeing her and being back in their house, as we haven't visited with them much since she's been ill. The boys played the piano, and Jack taught Jamie how to play 'Chopsticks." Once home, we had another rousing game of table hockey with Gary and Ayami, complete with yelling, cheering, and trash talk, before it was early to bed. I think that Jamie took less than five minutes to fall asleep, and Liam not much longer than that. Boy, were they tired.

2009-11-11 46:57 (Kristen) Jamie was up early this morning, and indignant that I hadn't wished him a happy birthday as he crawled over me to get out of bed. I told him that I was still asleep, and wished him a happy birthday, and that was all right. He was excited about opening his presents later in the day, but first we had to take him to the dentist for an emergency appointment when he knocked a filling out of a front tooth. I first heard of it when John called downstairs less than half an hour after I'd dropped Jamie off at school, telling me that the school had called, Jamie had chipped a tooth, and was all right but scared and wanted a parent there. I ran back out the door and sure enough, he'd knocked the filling out of a front tooth he'd had a pulpectomy on when he was 2. It took up about half the tooth, so it looked quite startling. Poor boy and his poor dad went off to the dentist for an assessment, and, as he's in no pain, they'll rebuild the tooth in a week or two. In the meantime, no tough, chewy foods like bagels for him. Vicky, the receptionist, did give him a birthday muffin, however, and he got to have a sushi lunch with his dad at the Eaton Centre, which wasn't bad, before going back to school.

In the meantime, Liam and I watched some of the Remembrance Day ceremonies on television and ran outside to see four vintage warplanes fly by after their 11:00 flyby downtown. It was a pretty mellow morning for us before going out to skating, which was not a great success. He was in a cheerful, happy, excited mood, all ready to skate, until it was time to go onto the ice. Then: he balked. Like a mule. There was no way he was going onto the ice. He claimed that skating was too easy, and that he was afraid of falling. I have no idea what happened. He eventually went onto the ice for about the last fifteen minutes of class, but it wasn't an enthusiastic fifteen minutes. Afterwards, we played with Tom and Jack at their house, and Jamie came over too to play with their older brother, Charlie. John picked us up, we went home for food and homework, and then settled in for a quiet evening while John went to Scrabble.

John came home early, however, so that Jamie could open his birthday presents with all of us. We gave him the first season of Dr. Who, the next three volumes of Bone, and a clear blue plastic binder with plastic sheets inside to hold Pokemon cards, with two new packs of Pokemon cards. I'd put all of his Pokemon cards (minus the new ones) into the pockets, so they're all arranged for display and easy access. The binder was his favourite gift, and he was absolutely delighted to have it. Jamie and I have had a long talk about how Pokemon card trades are supposed to work, so that he won't get fleeced by the bigger kids in the playground, and I'm pretty sure that he's prepared. It's not like any of the kids play; they just trade cards back and forth...but it was the simplest thing that Jamie was most happy with. And that was cool.

2009-11-12 23:10 (Kristen) Liam's nose was running this morning, and Jamie's fighting a cough. Can we please recover from the old viruses before new ones take their places? It meant that Liam, in particular, was in a mercurial mood. One minute he was sunshine and the next the world was coming to an end, or (worse) he just kept up a low-level stream of complaints. Not really like him, but no fun for anyone. Jamie had a good day, but lost two larger paper components of his Pokemon game in the schoolyard. We'll likely get new ones from his friends for his borthday, so I'm holding off on any replacements until then. In the meantime, the kids spent a quiet day at home after school. Jamie and Gary played table hockey, and Jamie disappeared downstairs to play with Gary and Ayami for a little while longer than I realized. When I went to get him, he was tired and very grumpy, and it was less good than usual to drag him upstairs. Liam, this time, fell asleep in less than five minutes, while it took Jamie much longer to fall asleep, after a long long conversation about this and that.

The latest linguistic game in the house is to read a bath book with pictures of a cow, a house, a cat, and so on, and to state what the picture is in English, Japanese, and Spanish (thank you, Go Diego Go!). They look at a picture, and say "Mummy says..." (children then chorus, "Cow!"), "Papa says..." (children chorus, "Ushi!"), and "Diego dice..." (children yell "Vaca!"). Liam, in particular, is acquiring a small arsenal of Spanish words, which is rather fascinating.

2009-11-13 21:54 (Kristen) Today was a professional development (PD) day at school, so the kids were all off for a long weekend. This meant that I took Jamie with us when Liam and I went to Hakobune, and Jamie was able to say hello to the teachers there. He was oddly reluctant to go, and I got it out of him that he missed his friends and teachers; I imagine that he felt odd going back and knowing that he wasn't going to be there himself anymore. Liam stopped for a moment and I thought we might have a scene when he realized that Jamie wasn't going in too, but it was all right. Jamie and I went to Starbucks, like we did this summer, where Jamie played on his DS and mused that it was amazing that two people could become friends over a DS (him and Sadaru). We read some Bone, then went for lunch with John ad Nataraj and made faces at Gary through the window at BMV. John drove us to pick up Liam and drove us all home before going off to some appointments of his own. The rest of the day was pretty low energy, but the energy ramped up again when we went over to Browning for dinner. Much fun and mayhem ensued, then it was time for home, and bed. Liam has Rhyming Dust Bunnies almost completely memorized, and I need a copy of our own, stat.

2009-11-14 47:04 (Kristen) Jamie made it to school this morning, and John made it to the market to pick up our groceries. When he came back, we had a bank appointment and had to take Liam with us. He was good as gold for the long time we were there, playing with his DS and checking in with us on occasion to make sure that we were still there and still loved him--check, back to his DS. We put him in the office one over because (for a series of long and silly reasons) the office we were in did not have an outlet for his DS charger. We finished up, picked up things for Jamie's party tomorrow, and then decided on the spur of the moment to go and get Jamie en famille. Liam started to complain that he was feeling sick, halfway up, but it really meant "I'm falling asleep now! Clunk." D'oh. John went and played with Jamie after school for a bit while Liam slept in the car for about an hour and a half. Sigh. He woke up when we got to Loblaws for more party supplies, and was in a pretty good mood. As he'd not been in all that good a mood, good behaviour at the bank aside, the nap was good. We got home, and vegged out for the rest of the day, all of us tired tired. Liam, of course, took a little while to fall asleep because, well, he'd had a nap.

2009-11-15 23:08 (Kristen) Jamie was crazy excited that it was his class party today, and we had about sixteen children show up at Playground Paradise (you don't think that I would have sixteen six-year-olds in my *house*, do you?!) for the festivities. Jamie was very happy and the kids ran until they were just about to lose it when we called them in for snacks. Then it was back out to the playground to play for another half an hour before cake. We had a Star Trek ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, which hit the spot for almost everyone. Yum! Then it was more play before it was time to go. The kids were great, no one was hurt seriously (various bumps and bruises, of course), and Daniel earned a few crateloads of karma points by offering himself as a target to overwound, oversugared kids. It was all good. Jamie spent the afternoon unwrapping presents, and was delighted with them. We have a house full of new toys with teeny tiny parts, so I'll be reorganizing the toys soon to make room for them. We spent the afternoon in a bit of a daze before going to John's parents' house for dinner with them and John's aunts to celebrate all the various birthdays in the family this month. Jamie got a Battleship game from his grandparents, and proceeded to beat his grandfather at it, much to his intense delight. We had fortune cookies, and had a hilarious round of "What's your fortune?" Liam's was "Others love your dramatic side," while Jamie's was the accurate "Friends are more valuable than money." As Jamie's real wish for his birthday was to have a big party with his friends, I'm happy that it came true. The stuff is nice, but friends are where it's at, and he seems to have a nice bunch of them.

Needless to say, the boys were unconscious in about two minutes flat when the lights went out tonight.

2009-11-16 10:11 (Kristen) I forgot to mention, last night, that Liam made us all laugh when we were over at John's parents' house by yelling "Otooo--san!" from the living room when he wanted John's attention. It's the first time he's called John "Dad" in Japanese (although Otosan is formal enough that it could be "father"). He understood everything Hari-kun's mom said to him in Japanese yesterday, and his teachers at Hakobune are saying that he's speaking much more Japanese now. I think that all the Sailor Moon book reading is, in part, paying off. He was speaking Japanese reflexively, I think, last night because he heard other people speaking it, but the inflexion and tone he had in his "Otoooo-san!" was very funny.

2009-11-16 23:09 (Kristen) This morning, Liam insisted (unusually) on accompanying me and Jamie to school. As it was 8:35, we were leaving, and Liam was still in his pajamas, this posed a problem until I decided to put his sneakers on without socks, and let him come in his coat and pajamas. I wrapped a blanket around his legs and put him into the wagon, and problem solved. He had fun at soccer, and Jamie had fun at school, and all was well. In the evening, we were over at Browning for dinner. Simon, Peter, and Leslie were there, and Liam and Simon had fun playing with Tom. At one point, Jamie and Liam were attacking Basil, Ross's friend who was also over for dinner, and Liam kept yelling "Demon fang! Demon fang!" This is, apparently, a spell in the video game "Song of Symphonia," and Liam has picked up on it as a thing to yell at a person while attacking them. Good grief. A good time was had by all, and the boys were in bed far too late, again. Tomorrow night, we'll have to go to bed much earlier or it will be Not Good.

Please note that John has been working feverishly to update the photos of the boys in the blog, and that we are now Up To Date. We've also sorted out some problems with missing entries (some fixable, some requiring rewrites), and we hope that everything is Peachy Keen, Hunky Dory now with the blog as a whole.

2009-11-17 25:18 (Kristen) Liam was fine this morning with staying home while I took Jamie to school, and decided that he wanted to stay home all day to play DS instead of going to Hakobune. Not an option. There was some yelling, tears, and general protest as I hauled him off to the bus stop, but I explained when he was still crying on the bus that this was not on, and why, and he gulped back the tears and stopped. Strangely rational sometimes, is Liam, but you can never really comfortably predict it. He brightened up, of course, by the time we got to the daycare, and he ran off as usual without a second glance. John and I picked him up afterwards, did a little shopping, then headed for home. He got to play his DS for an hour or so as I ran errands in the neighbourhood and he got to sit in the wagon. More than one adult looked at him, enviously. We got Jamie, and came home for some intense Papa time before he leaves on his long, two-week-long trip tomorrow. Liam is, I think, more sensitive to this departure than before, and is insisting on more personal time, or he could just be crabby in general. Jamie is an old hand, and knows that he'll get to talk with John on Skype, so it's not all bad. John's mom came by and Jamie did some Japanese reading with her. There was some intense World of Goo playing, I think, with John and boys, and then it was bedtime. This required one last game of Bath Towel Vampires, but Liam pointed out that he is allergic to purple bath towels, and therefore cannot be turned into a vampire by Jamie (who was wearing a purple bath towel). We wonder where this idea of "being allergic" to something made it into the mind of our three-year-old boy...

2009-11-18 23:18 (Kristen) John left this morning for a two-week trip in Asia (Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore). His taxi arrived after he walked Jamie to school, and played one final level of Kirby with Liam. He got a kiss from Liam and a hug too. Liam and I hung out for a bit, then picked Jamie up at school for lunch. We had lunch, dropped Jamie off at school, then went to skating. The instructors pulled out the glider again, as Liam was somewhat apprehensive about going back onto the ice, and he spent most of the class with it again. I think he just needed a little confidence again. When he wanted to get off the ice, I told him that he could if he skated to the red line and back without it. He did, and didn't fall, which ended the class on a good note for him.

We played over at Charlie, Jack and Tom's house afterwards, and Jamie came along too for what has been a Wednesday afternoon tradition. Unusually we didn't have to head back early to do homework before John went to Scrabble, so we were home around 5:30 or so. We, daringly, did homework after dinner and it worked out. It helped that it was math, which Jamie can do in a heartbeat. This page took longer because there was colouring involved. As recompense, we did some timed addition practice, and Jamie tore through 40 very simple (x+1) addition questions in a little more than a minute and a half. He liked that. Liam did some mazes earlier in the day, and I'm hoping to get him back into the habit of working when Jamie does. It was later than it should have been when we got to bed, as I was pretty tired and losing track of time too easily.

2009-11-19 22:28 (Kristen) My alarm was set at the right time, but my morning routine fell apart quicker than I would have liked. We did manage to catch John on Skype this morning aorund 8, when he was about to go to bed in Japan. It made the kids happy, but I fell behind in my appointed tasks and got Jamie to school just as the second bell sounded. Gleep. Liam and I, after what was a stressful departure from the house in pouring rain, wandered over to McDonalds for an apple juice and a sausage McMuffin. Liam was cute and remarkably quiet as he wolfed the whole thing and ate some of my hash browns besides. He never eats the hash browns. Sigh. It's not like I needed the calories anyway... I dropped him off at Hakobune, and note that it's the first time in ages that he didn't ask to play his DS on the subway, even though I'd put him into the stroller for ease of movement (for me). He, in fact, didn't remember it until we were on the subway on the way home. In the meantime, Mrs. Sasaki told me that Liam has joined in the Christmas pageant rehearsals (last year he completely refused) and has been dancing and singing. He's been dancing around the house lately, with lots and lots of spins, and he does like singing. Cool! We went to Book City because he asked to, after a few errands, but he wasn't interested in the books by the time we got there. We had a bathroom break, picked up some groceries at the Big Carrot, and went to get Jamie. Jamie came out into the rain wearing his sneakers and no coat, so we went inside for another Liam bathroom break and to dress Jamie properly. Jamie is excited because his class is going to have a baby from Roots of Empathy visiting (Wyatt) next week. I reminded him that Liam had been a Roots of Empathy baby, and Jamie asked why he wasn't one too. This required explanation that babies in the program have to be a certain age by November, and Jamie hadn't been born until November. OK, he'd concede that one. We went home, vegged, ate dinner, and then did homework and wrote out thank you cards for birthday presents. We had a long Skype session with John (almost like being there but you don't have to wipe bottoms), and then I put the boys into the bath early. Liam by this point was crazy tired, and had his impulse control on Off. It was just better that way, and he fell asleep pretty quickly. Jamie took longer, but it still wasn't all that long.

Have you tried the new interface yet?

* For the benefit of Scrabble players, words that are not in the Scrabble dictionary are marked with an asterisk. For the benefit of North American Scrabble players, words that are acceptable only in international play are marked with a #.