Jamie and Liam Chew's Blog: 2009-09-30

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...