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This journal is about raising identical twins.Forty Ninth Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Monday, Aug 6, 2001 (4y)
It is the twins' fourth birthday today.I wished them happy birthday in the morning and I asked Jasmine how old she was. She replied "Three!" I explained to her that they are four year old starting today.
The twins went to school as usual. During music time, their classmates had already sung the Happy Birthday song to the twins. Mommy arranged with their teachers to bring in their birthday cake and balloons during the regular snack time. The kids sang the birthday song again for the sake of our video recording. They all seemed to enjoy the cake. Some kids even asked for second servings. They also enjoyed the goodie bags the twins gave out to them. Apparently in preschool, the birthday girls were supposed to give out gifts instead of receiving them. :-) When they got home, the twins told mommy that they were very happy today.
Mommy decided to keep their birthday low profile this year. She found it too much work to throw a big party every year. We believed the activities in the past two days were enough for their memory. They also had gone to many birthday parties this year, so they understood very well what they were. When the twins went to the swimming pool, they sometimes pointed to the clubhouse there and told us that was where they had their birthday party. So they remembered their last birthday party even though they were just three-year-old then. Mommy promised to throw them a bigger birthday party next year.
The twins didn't take their afternoon nap today. They went to bed early.
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2001 (4y+1d)
The twins got up early and they wanted to get dressed for the dance class. They originally insisted to let their hair hang loose. Daddy told them that mommy was going to take pictures for them today, and they wouldn't look like a ballerina unless they tied up their hair. They eagerly complied. Girls are girls. Photos must look good.They went to Elephant Bar for lunch after the dance class. Then they went to school as usual.
A heat wave hit the entire USA. Temperatures were reaching record high across the country. The Bay Area was no exception. Although we were not too hot in comparison with the rest of the country, it was hot enough for the twins to ask for a swim after school.
When they bathed in the bathtub after the swim, mommy let them play with the handheld shower-head. The twins were pouring water on each other's hair. In the past, they would cry whenever the water dripped from their hair to their faces. Today, they just wiped off the water and laughed. Daddy told them that was a good step forward because they needed to get their heads wet when they learned how to swim.
Wednesday, Aug 8, 2001 (4y+2d)
The twins went to school as usual.They went swimming again after school. Mommy asked Joanne to close her eyes and pinch her nose, then she dunk her underwater. When Joanne came up again, she didn't even know she was under water for a brief moment. Jasmine did not like the idea of dipping under water. However, one of the other kids at the pool played rough and dragged her under water for a second. Fortunately, mommy was nearby to pull her out.
Thursday, Aug 9, 2001 (4y+3d)
We could tell the twins really liked the dance class by their eagerness when they put on their leotards in the morning. After the dance class, the twins went to Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant to meet their ex-classmates for lunch. Then they went to school as usual. Today was the last day of school for the summer.
Friday, Aug 10, 2001 (4y+4d)
The twins went to Paramount's Great America for a few hours. Elizabeth invited us to dinner at her home. Lori and Harrison showed the twins the Sesame Street games on their computer.
Saturday, Aug 11, 2001 (4y+5d)
We dropped off the twins at Grandma Ling's place. The twins played with Cousin Natalie. Daddy and mommy went to see the movie "Rush Hour 2" with Aunt Tina and Uncle Ivan. When we came back, mommy and Auntie Jun went out shopping again. Daddy set up a phonics game for the twins and Cousin Natalie to play on the computer in Aunt Jun's room. When the kids were indulged in the computer game, we all walked away.Aunt Tina has falling asleep on Aunt Jun's bed. Daddy and Uncle Ivan were in the living room reading magazine. All of a sudden, we heard a motorized noise followed by two thuds. We rushed in and found the twins on the floor next to Aunt Jun's treadmill machine.
When we left the twins with Grandma Ling for our vacation several months ago, we have instructed grandma and Aunt Jun with emphasis to keep the machine unplugged because we had heard too many news stories about children injured by treadmills. They have followed our instructions to the letters until these days. The machine was not plugged in today as in the past few months. We found out later that Jasmine asked nine-year-old Cousin Natalie to plug in the machine for her. The twins were both on the treadmill when Natalie plugged the power cord in. The treadmill moved at a fast speed and the twins fell off the end.
When we came in the room, the twins were just getting up from the floor. Both were giggling and laughing at their fall. But seconds later Joanne started crying. When the thrill wore off, the pain set in. On inspection, I found that Joanne hit her right cheek on the machine when she fell. She got a minor bruise and scuff on her cheek bone and a small abrasion wound near her temple. While I dressed her wounds with Band-Aid, she complained about pain on her hand and knee. A piece of skin about 3 sq. cm was peeled open. There was no bleeding. I.e. the wound was very superficial. Nevertheless, it must hurt. I put some hydrogen peroxide on her wound and lightly moved back the flap of skin over the wound. The wound on her hand was a small abrasion the size of an ant. The bleeding had stopped and the wound healed already, but I gave her a Band-Aid for that regardless. After I took care of all the wounds, I asked her what hurt the most. She pointed to the cheekbone and started weeping again.
All along, Jasmine was watching on the side quietly. After I was done with Joanne, I asked if Jasmine felt any pain on her body. She pointed to a small white scuff on her hand about a quarter inch in diameter. She said it was only a white spot, and it was not painful. But when I put on the hydrogen peroxide, she retracted her hand in pain. She didn't cry probably because she knew she was guilty of causing the accident.
The lesson we learned from this was that the presence of an older kid could compromise any childproof safeguards designed for younger kids. Our twins have learned from us that they are not allowed to touch any power cord. They also knew what electrocution meant because of Pikachu who electrocutes his enemies in every Pokemon battles. But in this incident, Cousin Natalie didn't follow the same rule because she thought she was old enough. She might understand the danger of the electricity, but she didn't know the consequence and danger of turning on a machine.
Any fall is dangerous. The skull can crack, or an eye can be poked out if the head lands on the wrong place. The twins were lucky this time.
The kids including Natalie learned a lesson too. When I asked the twins whether they understood now why we had always told them to stay away from the treadmill. They said yes.
Sunday, Aug 12, 2001 (4y+6d)
In the morning, Joanne used some drawing papers to wrap up items as gifts. She imitated mommy quite precisely. She first stuck several pieces of adhesive tape to her arm before she wrapped the items and taped it up. She made a present for each of us.After lunch, we went to Coyote Point Museum near the San Francisco Airport. The twins fell asleep on the way. So we rested in the parking lot for over an hour before we went inside. The scenery from the museum was gorgeous. We could see wind surfers and kite surfers from the cliff outside the museum. However, the wind was blowing too strong so we didn't stay long. We had dinner in San Mateo before returning home.
Monday, Aug 13, 2001 (4y+7d)
Joanne became a crybaby in these few days. Mommy guessed she might have caught a virus or something that made her feel uncomfortable. I guessed the wound on her knee might bother her, but she said it did not hurt anymore.There is no more school until the fall term. Mommy and twins had lunch with Lillian. Joanne told daddy on the phone that she went to Lillian's house to play hide'n'seek.
They went to Costco for some grocery shopping.
Tuesday, Aug 14, 2001 (4y+8d)
In the morning, the twins came to our room and asked for clam chowder instead of milk. I was puzzled. Mommy explained that they bought some canned clam chowder from Costco yesterday. The twins must have planned all night for their choice for breakfast.Crybaby Joanne cried again with no apparent reason. It seemed like anything could irritate her. Mommy and twins came to pick up daddy during lunchtime. We all went to the dentist to have our teeth cleaned.
Jasmine went first. She wanted to lie on top of daddy on the dentist chair. Her teeth were very healthy with no cavity. She got "black-line stains" on her teeth, which were footprint of some kind of bacteria in the mouth. The dentist said usually mouthwash would help, but he did not recommend mouthwash for kids. Since the stains did no harm besides the ugly look, he just prescribed more diligent brushing.
Joanne was called to another room before Jasmine was done. Joanne decided to lie on the dentist chair all on her own. Her condition was similar to Jasmine's: all healthy teeth with a lot of stains.
Daddy and mommy went next while the twin went to play with the office manager George. The dentist said both mommy and daddy had the black-line stain though ours were all on the back teeth. The twins' stains were in front and more visible.
Since the twins have good memory, I was sure that they remembered George from last dentist visit just half a year ago. They were usually shy in front of stranger, but they had no trouble playing with George. They worked on some coloring books with crayons. They each got from George a pencil that was made as a dentist mirror and a rhinestone emerald ring.
The dentist and hygienists all praised the twins for being cooperative during the cleaning process. They said other kids at their age are usually impatient with the procedures. The twins were very happy to see no stain on their teeth. When we asked if they liked having their teeth cleaned, they both said yes.
In the evening, Jasmine said Joanne's name was spelled with two N's, so her name should be "Jo Ann Ann".
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2001 (4y+9d)
Mommy invited several moms and the twins' ex-classmates for lunch at our place. The kids played in the inflatable pool in our backyard after lunch. Mommy said that when one of their ex-classmates arrived late, four kids surrounded the new comer and splashed him with water before he changed into his swimwear. They went to the real pool later in the afternoon. Melinda and Alan also joined them at the pool.The twins didn't take their afternoon nap. They were so tired after a day of activities that they went to bed early before daddy came home. I had to learn about their stories the next day.
Joanne later told daddy that she dipped her head under water in the pool. Jasmine said she did the same. But mommy said Jasmine only dipped her face in water, not the entire head like Joanne did.
Joanne announced that mommy had been a nice girl, so she awarded mommy a Pokemon tattoo. She wanted to give one to daddy too, but she had to wait till the next morning.
Mommy was lying on bed. Joanne told mommy that she loved her very much and wanted to hug her. So she climbed on top of mommy. She wiggled for awhile but couldn't find a comfortable spot to rest on. I jokingly suggested mommy to gain a few dozen pounds so that she could be a soft cushion for Joanne.
Thursday, Aug 16, 2001 (4y+10d)
The twins woke up early because they went to bed early last night. They played noisily around the house. Apparently, mommy had told them not to come into our room before we wake up. They didn't come in, but they made so much noise outside that we couldn't sleep any longer. As soon as mommy opened the door, they stormed in. The first thing Joanne did was to put a Pokemon tattoo on the back of daddy's thigh even before daddy got out of bed. After daddy took the morning shower, I asked Joanne if I had washed the tattoo away. She called me silly. She said the tattoo couldn't be washed away with water, only baby lotion could wash it away. She was as confident as a Pokemon tattoo expert was.When they were getting dressed for their dance class in the morning, Joanne complained that she wanted to dance with boys like the princesses danced with the prices in the Disney cartoons. I told mommy that tap dance and ballet was not what they wanted. They wanted ballroom dancing. I wonder if anyone offer social dance class to four year olds?
After the dance class, they went to Sharleen's place for a Mandarin class. Mommy said there were three other moms in the class. All the other kids in class except our twins and Claire were mixed Caucasian/Chinese. They took a long nap in the car after class. They went to Elizabeth's place for the rest of the afternoon.
Since they took their afternoon nap, they were allowed to stay up later than the past few days.
Friday, Aug 17, 2001 (4y+11d)
Mommy took the twins to visit the famous garden in Filoli Center with Lillian. The twins requested to go to Lillian's house afterwards. They enjoyed playing hide and seek with Lillian. The passageways in their house connect the living room and the kitchen in a circular manner. I guess the floor plan is particular suited for hiding and chasing around. At the end of the day, the twins requested to stay over. They asked mommy to come back the next day to pick them up. Mommy declined and told them they could not stay overnight without their sleepwear.
Saturday, Aug 18, 2001 (4y+12d)
Daddy stayed home in the morning to do some weeding in the garden. Mommy took the twins to the farmer's market with Grace and her kids. The twins loved to eat the fruit samples from every stall in the market. They were almost full before they left.The twins attended their ex-classmate Sinna's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant. Joanne later told daddy that she touched Chuckie's huge head today. But she was still scared of him because his head was too big. Jasmine said she stayed away from Chuckie and she did not want to touch his head.
After the party, they returned to Grace's house. They were tired and all kids took a nap while Grace and mommy chatted.
At dinnertime, the twins demanded to have rice noodles. We picked a restaurant to fill the twins' request. When we walked in we saw Lillian and William there having dinner with their family, they twins were happy to see Lillian. The twins complained to mommy that she should have brought along their sleepwear today.
Sunday, Aug 19, 2001 (4y+13d)
The twins asked for pancake for lunch. We went to IHOP despite a half-hour wait for the table. The twins were impatient and complained that they were hungry. When we asked them if they wanted to eat something else, they said they were willing to wait.Mommy ordered them a "Happy Face" pancake. They were not too interested until we poured some strawberry syrup on it. It proved that the twins were not into pancakes; they just liked the syrup.
After lunch, we were heading towards the mall when the twins fought in the car. Jasmine said Joanne hit her. Joanne said it was because Jasmine used a straw to spray some liquid on her. I forced the twins to apologize to each other. But mommy was already upset and cancelled the trip. The twins first blamed each other for ruining the trip. Then they asked each other to talk mommy into going to the mall. But mommy didn't change her mind. The twins went straight back home for their afternoon nap.
After the nap, we prepared the twins to go to the park. Mommy was upset with daddy and threw something across the family room. Jasmine commented that she was like Cinderella's mother who liked to destroy things. That made mommy went berserk and she told the twins she was not taking them to the park. The twins asked daddy to take them to the park. Joanne asked mommy to come along with daddy or else we would leave her behind.
The twins asked daddy to take them to a park with swings. They rode their bikes around the park before spending over an hour in the playground. When we got back, mommy was in a worse mood. The twins going away with daddy didn't cool off mommy but aggravated her even more. Though mommy was only venting on daddy, the twins were scared. When I asked them to go up to their room, they ran fast.
At bedtime, I asked the twins to give mommy a good night kiss before going to bed. The twins said they were afraid of mommy because she was mad. They asked daddy to go with them as their bodyguard. They returned safely. :-)
Monday, Aug 20, 2001 (4y+14d)
In the morning, the twins looked for mommy. They didn't ask for daddy's escort.The twins went to Happy Hallow Zoo with mommy.
Tuesday, Aug 21, 2001 (4y+15d)
The twins went to the dance class. Joanne told me that she picked to wear the dress that Lillian gave her instead of her leotard. They went to a nursery to buy some colorful flowers. They planted them outside our front door.In the evening, Jasmine yelled out from the bathroom. When daddy went to check on her, I found her standing in a large puddle of urine just in front of the toilet. For some reasons, she leaked and let go of a full load of pee before getting up on the toilet. Daddy didn't scold her, because accidents do happen. I asked her what happened, she refused to say anything. I didn't press for an answer because the question may hurt her self-esteem. She got a rinse in the tub and a change of clothing after daddy cleaned up the mess.
Wednesday, Aug 22, 2001 (4y+16d)
The twins stayed home most of the day. They spent sometime doing garden work with mommy.Jasmine leaked again in front of the toilet. This time, it happened before daddy came home, so mommy dealt with the mess.
After Joanne pooped in the toilet, she used a long strip of toilet tissue paper. The tissue paper was stuck to her underpants. As she dismounted from the toilet, she dragged a stinky wet tail along the floor. Mommy wasn't too happy about cleaning up two stinky messes on the same day.
Thursday, Aug 23, 2001 (4y+17d)
The twins went to the dance class. They wore the Zoe dresses today. When I asked why they don't wear their leotards anymore, Joanne said she didn't like it. No response to the question why.After the dance class, the twins asked mommy to take them to Stanford mall. They were reluctant to leave. But when mommy got them home, they stayed home for the rest of the day.
Friday, Aug 24, 2001 (4y+18d)
Joanne got a bubble like lump (probably a cyst) behind her upper left eyelid for over two weeks now. She said it was not painful, so we didn't take any action. For the past two days, it moved down to the edge of the eyelid just next to the eyelashes. It turned red and swollen. Joanne complained about the pain too. In Cantonese, the condition is called "�Ͳ��D�w".Mommy took her to see the pediatrician. The doctor said there was not much to do about it. We could use a warm towel to dress the infected area to improve circulation. It should heal by itself in a few days. Mommy didn't even asked what this condition is called. With $15 insurance deductible, mommy only got a short advice from less than one minute of the doctor's time after half an hour of wait in the waiting room. Nowadays, medical care is not getting the money worth.
I looked up a medical encyclopedia, I believe what Joanne got is called a sty or a chalazion. Either requires any medical attention and it should resolve on its own.
Mommy weighed the twins at the doctor's office while they were waiting for the doctor. She said the twins weighed 31 pounds. I doubted that she might have misread the physician's scale because I weighed them again at home at only 28 pounds. Daddy didn't trust mommy's reading, but mommy didn't trust the scale at home.
Saturday, Aug 25, 2001 (4y+19d)
We went to San Jose Arena to see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum, & Bailey circus. The twins loved the show and they watched it with great attention. Besides the clowns and acrobats, there were quite a lot of animals in the show. There were 15 elephants, 9 tigers, a dozen camels including 2 double hump species, some horses, zebras, llamas etc. At the end of the show, daddy surveyed the twins' favorite. Jasmine liked the elephants, but she wished she could see Dumbo. Joanne liked the dancers who dressed like a butterfly.After the show, we had sushi and udon for lunch at the Greatmall. We stayed home for the rest of the day.
Sunday, Aug 26, 2001 (4y+20d)
In the morning, the twins picked their own dresses. Joanne picked a pink Winnie the Pooh short dress. Jasmine picked a light blue long dress. Joanne wanted her hair braided. Jasmine insisted on hanging her hair loose. I said they looked too different today, and they didn't look like twins anymore. They didn't care.We went to Oakland for lunch with Aunt Tina's family, Aunt Jun and great grandma. After lunch, mommy went shopping with Aunt Jun. Great grandma and daddy took the twins to loiter around the street fair in downtown Oakland. The twins first asked for free balloons from the vendors. We then stopped at a stall that taught people how to do origami. The twins wanted a dinosaur, so daddy and great grandma sat down and made some for them. We also made a kangaroo, a rooster and some frogs. The twins found some markers on the table and they drew pictures on the origami paper. They also decorated the paper animals with a face (a smiley to be exact).
We stopped by the stage and saw some grass skirt dances from Tahiti, balancing act by a Chinese acrobat, and some martial arts demo.
As we were leaving the street fair, the twins saw some mechanical rides. I told them that they could get all the rides they wanted at Great America. Joanne insisted that there were no "coffee cups" at Great America. So I bought some tickets to let them have fun.
They rode the "coffee cups", the "biplanes" and they went inside a huge inflatable playground. They bounced and jumped and slid on the inflated pads. I told them we had tickets for one more ride. They chose to repeat the "coffee cups" instead of the mini-train. They enjoyed spinning the cups. They talked about riding the coffee cups in Disneyland (it took place 15 months ago back in May 2000).
When we got back to grandma's place, grandma gave them some fresh carrot juice and other fruit snacks. Mommy came back just a short while later. Mommy asked Aunt Jun to do a French braid with Joanne's hair since she does not know how to do one. Jasmine took a look at Joanne's stylish braid, but she still insisted on hanging her hair loose.
Daddy and mommy left the twins with Grandma Ling so that we could go out for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Joanne told us to come back to pick her up a few days later. She said she liked to stay with grandma. Mommy asked the twins whom they preferred to be babysat with. Joanne said she preferred grandma to mommy. Jasmine said she preferred mommy. Joanne added that Jasmine could go with mommy and she could stay with grandma.
I asked how about daddy because daddy took them to the circus and the street fair. Then Joanne said she preferred daddy if daddy took her out to play. How practical!
We came back to pick up the twins after our anniversary dinner because grandma had to work tomorrow. Mommy anticipated that the twins would fall asleep on the way home. She bathed the twins and changed them into their sleepwear before we left. On the way home, the twins complained they were hungry despite great grandma fed them just few hours earlier. Mommy thought that they must have burned all the calories when they went to the park after dinner. Mommy predicted that the twins would wake up early tomorrow because we wouldn't have any chance to feed them before they fell asleep.
As predicted, they were soundly asleep when we arrived home. Mommy managed to ask Joanne to empty her bladder at the toilet while being half-asleep. Daddy failed with Jasmine because she refused to wake up. We just transferred them from the car to bed.
Monday, Aug 27, 2001 (4y+21d)
The twins came to our room at 3:30 in the morning. They were mad at mommy because mommy didn't change them into their favorite Tinkerbell sleep gowns. They went back to sleep after the change.They got up again at 6am asking for milk. That was exactly what mommy predicted. They probably woke up hungry earlier at 3:30 but they were not awake enough to realize what irritated them, so they blamed it on the evening gown. They went back to bed after the milk.
When daddy went to work in the morning, Jasmine was in a bad mood. She refused to kiss daddy goodbye. She probably didn't get a good sleep last night or perhaps she was still mad at us for letting her sleep sans-Tinkerbell last night.
Mommy took the twins to join Sinna, their ex-classmate, at a splashing pool in the community center near their home. The community center charges $1 each kid for playing in a wadding pool filled with one foot of water. The twins had great fun. They continued to play in the park nearby after they changed back to some dry clothes.
Joanne still made up her Cantonese phrases. For example, she said "����" instead of "�@��" as in "continuously". She said "�Ӻ�" instead of "�Ӯa" as in "now". Jasmine was not very accurate in her Cantonese pronunciation. For example, she said "��D" instead of "��D" as in "hurry up".
Mommy used a Q-tip to clean Joanne's eyelid around the sty. The sty broke and discharged some pus. Mommy was glad because it should heal soon after the pus was released. Joanne was squirming because of the pain. But she was brave enough to tolerate the pain when mommy told her that she would recover soon. Despite the pain, Joanne was still a happy kid for the past few days. She even laughed at the ugliness of her eye.
While we were talking about Joanne's sty, she said that she cried in bed for a long time while she nagged for her Dalmatian doll sometime ago. We figured it took place a short time before the swelling of her eyelid began. Looks like her crying and a blocked tear duct caused a swelling that later made her eyes vulnerable to the bacterial infection. We used this as a lesson to teach the twins the bad consequence of nagging. But Joanne blamed us for causing her sty because we didn't give her the doll.
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2001 (4y+22d)
The four-week-long dance class was over. Mommy took the twins to a "Kids in Tune" class. The music class lasted only half an hour. But the twins managed to keep their mouths shut the whole time. When daddy later asked them why they didn't participate in the singing, Joanne said she worried someone might laugh. Jasmine didn't answer. But we knew that if Joanne didn't sing, she wouldn't. Mommy was kind of disappointed at the teacher, because a good music teacher should know how to motivate the kids to sing.Joanne's sty had dried, but it was not totally healed yet.
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2001 (4y+23d)
Mommy and twins went grocery shopping at the farmers' market. Of course, the twins would not miss the free sampling of fresh fruits.
Thursday, Aug 30, 2001 (4y+24d)
Mommy and Debbie had a gathering at Melinda's place again. Mommy noticed that the twins were taller than Alan now. Alan was about 9 months younger, but he grew past the twins some time ago. The twins' recent growing spur put them back at their right place. Mommy said the kids were playing with sands and Alan put some into the twins' hair.
Friday, Aug 31, 2001 (4y+25d)
The twins called daddy at work. They were not happy that daddy left for work without giving them a goodbye kiss. Daddy explained to them that they need to get up early if they want the kiss.Rick's family came to the area from Irvine. The twins referred to him as ET's daddy. (ET is Rick's pug.) The twins were disappointed that ET didn't come with them. We had dinner at Banana Leaf. Again, the wait was over an hour and no reservation was accepted. They came to our house after dinner. We chatted while munching on some fresh fruits. The twins invited Kathy to see their room. They also wrote ET on a piece of paper to show Kathy. Joanne wrote in small letters, Jasmine wrote in capital letters. Rick's two kids entertained themselves on our computers. One played video games on one, and the other used the Internet on the other to chat with friends via ICQ. It was close to midnight when they returned to their hotel.
Saturday, Sep 1, 2001 (4y+26d)
Rick and family visited the SONY Metreon in San Francisco. They had other plans with their own friends today.We took the twins to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We spent some time running errands in the morning, such as getting cash from the ATM, filling up the gas tank etc. It was half past eleven when we took off. The outbound traffic was terrible. It was stop and go traffic for the first hour. It took only one hour just to get out of the city limit. The 75-minute trip took more than two and a half hours. The twins fought a little, but they were quite well behaved considering the length of the trip. They asked us if there were big "things" walking around in the aquarium. We understood what they meant because they were still scared of Mickey Mouse the character in costume though they loved the character as doll or in cartoon.
It was almost 3 o'clock when we entered the aquarium. We brought along the stroller in case the twins wanted to rest. But the twins were attached to the stroller most of the time. We seldom use the stroller in these days, I guess the twins missed it. The highlights of the day included the big octopus coming out of hiding during a feeding, the sea horses exhibit, seeing the sea turtle and tuna fishes in the big tank. There was a long line outside the sea horse exhibit. It was the twins' special request to see Horsea. When they passed the sea otters tank, they called them seals. Daddy tried to correct them. I even pointed to the sign and read "sea otters" to them. Joanne was mad at daddy and insisted they were seals. I guess the kids knew better especially when they could not read. They also enjoyed playing in the splash area. They played there until the closing time at 6pm.
We had dinner at one of the restaurant in Cannery Row. While we were picking a restaurant, the twins saw a big lobster (a man dressed in costume for advertisement) walking around in the plaza. They asked us to take a different route to avoid it. The twins kept turning their heads to watch out for the "lobster man" during dinner. We left Monterey at 8pm. Joanne said she was tired and we asked her to sleep. Jasmine insisted that she wanted to stay up until we got home. Daddy then asked her to stay awake with her eyes closed. Both twins fell asleep within minutes.
We found that when it was futile to force the kids to something, we just went with the flow and we still got what we wanted. When the kids were tired, they would not stay up even if they insisted.
The return trip only took a little over an hour. We transferred the twins to bed and mommy changed them while they were soundly asleep.
Sunday, Sep 2, 2001 (4y+27d)
We had dim sum for lunch with Rick's family. We parted with them after lunch because they needed to visit other friends in the area. They planned to return to Irvine tomorrow morning.We stopped by Home Depot to check out some window blinds. The twins were pulling the strings on almost every blind in the showroom. We later went shopping at Costco. We bought a Disney sticker book for the twins after they agreed to share. Instead of taking a nap, the twins insisted on watching daddy work on the car. Since I was installing a car battery, I asked the twins to watch at a distance. They lost interested after a while, but they helped daddy to return the tools to the garage.
We went out for dinner at the Great Mall. The twins wanted to go to the mall after dinner. All the stores were closed, so we took a short stroll in the empty corridor to satisfy their crave. In the evening, the twins took turns working on the sticker book. It was quite educational. The twins needed to match the stickers with colors and shapes in the book.
The twins measured 39 and a quarter inch tall. They grew almost an inch since I measured them just a month ago.
Monday, Sep 3, 2001 (4y+28d)
It was the Labor Day public holiday. The twins knew daddy doesn't work on Saturday and Sunday, but they also knew I returned to work the day after. They asked me why I didn't go to work today.We took the twins to the Valley Fair Mall. We told the twins that they would meet Cousin Natalie there. However, Aunt Tina left Natalie at home. The twins were kind of disappointed, but they had a great time playing in the playland there.
After lunch, the twins saw the Halloween costumes in the Disney's store. They fell in love with the pretty dresses. Joanne picked a pink Sleeping Beauty dress. Jasmine picked a green/purple Little Mermaid dress. Daddy recommended the Snow White dress that looked more or less like the one Snow White wore in the cartoon. I also asked Jasmine to consider the purple dress of Aladdin's Jasmine just for the name's sake. The twins were not interested at all. Mommy said the twins wouldn't care if the dresses really look like those shown in the cartoon, they just picked by their favorite colors. Joanne likes pink; Jasmine likes green.
Joanne's criterion for pretty dresses is the glitter. When she was watching a beauty pageant show on TV sometime ago, she stared in awe at the dresses that glitters. She called them "�{�{�� (sparkling dresses)". Both dresses they picked today glittered.
We parted with Aunt Tina in the afternoon. We stopped by the Great Mall for some merchandise exchange. We went to KB toys and Barbie dolls were on sale. At $3.99 apiece, mommy said they were good bargain. Daddy didn't think Barbie dolls were good toys. They set unrealistic standards for body figures. Girls starved themselves to death to look like Barbie. I tried to convince the twins that soft stuffed animals were better than Barbie was. They still wanted Barbie knowing that the dolls were too hard to cuddled in bed.
We went for some afternoon snacks at Ranch 99 supermarket. Before we finished, Jasmine's Barbie already lost one high heel shoe and Joanne's Barbie dropped her top and exposed herself. When Joanne asked daddy to put back Barbie's top, I felt like a pervert fondling a naked doll in public. :-(
In the late afternoon, daddy washed the car that had been decorated with bird droppings for weeks. The twins helped daddy to rub off the dirt with the sponges. They spent the rest of the time with the garden hose spraying water on each other instead of the car. They had a great time while daddy washed the car.
We dined out in a Vietnamese restaurant near by. Towards the end of dinner, Joanne picked up a slice of chili pepper. Mommy washed Joanne's fingers with water immediately. Daddy told her not to touch her own face until she washed her hands with soap and water. I told her that the pepper residue on her fingers would burn her tongue and her eyes. She didn't listen. She tasted her fingers with her tongue. She needed to wash down the taste with iced water. Then she touched the corner of her eye. It burned, she cried. Mommy helped her to wash it off with water and a piece of paper napkin. When we got home, I helped Joanne washed her hands and face thoroughly. Joanne was in a phase that the more you say no, the more she would break the rule. This time, she learned the lesson the hard way.
The twins worked on their sticker book for a while before going to bed.
Tuesday, Sep 4, 2001 (4y+29d)
Mommy took the twins to the "Kids in Tune" class in the morning. The parents waited outside the classroom this time. Joanne told mommy not to peek, or else she would not sing.In the afternoon, the twins went to school. It was the first day of school for the fall term (because of the holiday yesterday). This time mommy signed up the twins for the 5 days a week class. Jasmine said she cried for awhile in class because the teachers were new and she missed mommy. They had been off school for couple of weeks now, but Joanne had no problem fitting in again at all.
Mommy requested the twins to be in separate classes. The school had already arranged that. However, the teachers in the summer classes said the twins opened up better when they were together. So they put them back in the same class at the last minute. We heard arguments for both approaches of twins schooling. We trusted the teachers know what was best for our twins at this time. We would still prefer to separate them eventually.
We dined out at Fresh Choice buffet with Elizabeth's family. They got discount coupons for the dinner. It cost only $6 per adult and all the kids ate free. The twins didn't eat much of the healthy food. They particularly asked for Jell-O, and grapes. Daddy had to pick the grapes out of the fruit bowl for them. The twins also liked the ice cream cone without the ice cream.
At the end of the dinner, Jasmine said she was tired and wanted daddy to carry her horizontally like an infant baby. She enjoyed the trip to the car by admiring at the night sky. The only problem was that she was too heavy for my back muscles.
Wednesday, Sep 5, 2001 (4y+30d)
The twins went to school in the afternoon. Mommy complained that it was hard to pick up the twins from school this term. In previous terms, the twins were in the 3-year-old class that was the first group to be picked up. Mommy was always among the first few cars when picking up the twins. In this term, the twins went to the 4-year-old class that was not the first group for pickup. Hence mommy had to wait behind other cars for her turn even when she arrived early. Given mommy's impatient temper, it was a torture for her. She ended up parking the car outside the school and walked up to the front door to pick up the twins. In that way, she could just drive off as soon as the twins were buckled in.
Thursday, Sep 6, 2001 (4y+1m)
The twins are 49 months old today.
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started on Jan 11, 2001