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This journal is about raising identical twins.Thirty Fourth Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Thursday, May 6, 2000 (33m)
The twins are thirty three month old today.When we were in Paris, France, we called long distance several times to check on the twins. Grandma Ling said the twin didn't asked for us. When grandma asked the twins where mommy and daddy were, they replied "mommy daddy �h����" (they went to have fun). Before we left, we explained to the twins that they would stay with grandma in our absence. We didn't tell them how long we would travel, we don't believe they know how to count days yet. Time is a rather abstract concept. We only planned a short trip this time because we didn't know how the twins would react to our extended absence. Looks like we can plan even longer trip next time since they adapted to it quite well.
Tuesday, May 9, 2000 (33m+3d)
After a five-day trip, we arrived at SFO airport at around 1:30pm. We spent another hour and a half running around the airport to retrieve the item that we forgot on the airplane. With the help from an enthusiastic United Airlines employee, we located the airplane and the lost item after hopping couple of terminals. It was after 4pm when we got back to Grandma Ling's place. We saw grandma and the twins strolling on the street as our car drove by. We stopped and waved to the twins. They were so excited to see us that they stomped their feet. After we parked the car, they received five days worth of hugging and kissing from us.We took the twins home after dinner. After we put the twins in bed, we unpacked our luggage and then packed again for a trip to Southern California.
Wednesday, May 10, 2000 (33m+4d)
We went on our way to San Diego after lunch. We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel at around 6pm. Since we planned to visit Disneyland on our way back, we stopped by the hotel to get more information while we avoided LA's rush hour. When the twins saw the statues of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in the hotel, they hugged them and wanted us to take pictures for them.We had buffet dinner at Goofy's Kitchen at the hotel. When the twins first saw the "live" Minnie Mouse character at a distance, they were excited. But as soon as they saw the character moved, they were scared and trembled in fear. The twins hid behind us and refused to take a picture with Minnie when she approached them. Throughout the dinner, other characters such as Goofy and Pluto greeted other kids in the restaurant. The twins covered their eyes whenever a cartoon character walked by. Mommy even set an example by giving a big hug to Minnie, and daddy did the same with Goofy, but the twins still didn't want to get close to any of those characters in costume.
The twins absolutely adored the static cartoon characters including dolls, statues and even poster pictures. On the contrary, they ran away from the "live" costumed characters.
We continued our southbound journey after dinner. We settled in the hotel in San Diego before 11pm.
Initially, the twins said they wanted to go home when they were tired. Then we told them that we wouldn't go home for several days. We also explained why daddy and mommy didn't come home in the past few days because we were travelling. The twins learned the concept of travel.
Thursday, May 11, 2000 (33m+5d)
We went to the San Diego Zoo after having breakfast at the hotel. The highlights of the day were the bus tour, the sky safari, the polar bears, hippos and pandas. The kids were tired around 4pm. We took them back to the hotel for their afternoon nap.We made contact with mommy's Cousin Jennifer who is working on her master degree at UC San Diego. We had a delicious Thai dinner together in LaJolla. Jennifer's student ID card got us a 20% discount on the bill too.
Friday, May 12, 2000 (33m+6d)
We overslept and missed the free breakfast at the hotel. On our way to LEGOLAND, we missed the highway exit and were lost for awhile. By the time we got there, it was already past noon.LEGOLAND is targeted to kids from age 3 to 12. Our twins were allowed to use only a small portion of the rides at LEGOLAND. That explains why their admission is free. Nevertheless, the kids still enjoyed their limited rides.
The twins lingered at their favorite rides for a long time. And since we had prior dinner engagement with our friends in Irvine, we had to rush ourselves towards the end and didn't see the whole park. In retrospect, the admission (for the adults) was too expensive for the few hours we spent there.
We arrived at Irvine at around 7pm, but were lost for 45 minutes before arriving at my friend Rick's place. We dined out together before settling down for the night.
The twins were still afraid of E.T., Rick's pug, perhaps because she excitedly jumped on them when we visited a year ago. Despite the fear, the twins were very curious about the dog. They wanted us to carry them to E.T.'s den and watched her from high above.
Saturday, May 13, 2000 (33m+7d)
After lunch, we followed Rick, Kathy and their real estate agent to see the houses in their neighborhood. Though the home price in the Turtle Rock area is not cheap, e.g. they saw one priced over $1 million, but I think they are of better value than those million dollar houses in the Bay Area. Mommy went shopping with Kathy for her own Mother's day gifts at the South Coast Plaza while the kids took the afternoon nap.The twins were getting more used to the dog, but they still stayed on the sofa whenever the dog was around. Joanne was more curious about E.T. I let her hold the leash when we walked the dog. At least it was an improvement over keeping the dog out of sight. I had encouraged the kids to pat the dog, but they refused to.
Sunday, May 14, 2000 (33m+8d)
It is Mother's day today.We went to Fashion Island shopping center at Newport Beach in the afternoon. Daddy kept the twins in a toy store while mommy went shopping. We returned to Rick's place for a Mother's day barbecue. Chef Rick served us delicious rib eye steaks, beef short ribs and many grilled vegetables.
After two days, the dog was no longer excited about us. E.T. actually ignored the twins, even though the kids were still very excited when she was around. While Jasmine was not paying attention, I took her hand and swept it over E.T.'s fur. She suddenly realized that it was not that scary to touch a dog, and she was willing to do it on her own. Joanne saw Jasmine's bold act and she decided to follow suit because she was more interested about the dog in the first place. Since the dog moved when touched, the kids were still nervous when patting the dog. I showed the twins that E.T. enjoys being scratched around the ears and under the chin. Joanne was brave enough to do the former but not the latter. I don't blame her, not many people including adults feel comfortable touching a dog's mouth. I asked the twins to give E.T. a big hug, but they refused to.
Later at night, when we were watching some old video of Rick's kids Raymond and Derek, E.T. was asleep next to Derek. I took out the camera and asked the twins to hug the sleeping dog for a photo. Joanne hung her arm over the dog's neck while keeping a distance. Jasmine was more nervous and stayed near the rear of the dog. Her so-called "hug" was just hanging her hand over the dog's butt. All the commotion woke up E.T., and that ended the photo session.
Though with nervousness, the twins were no longer scared of the dog. They sent E.T. to her bed and fetched her favorite toys too.
Monday, May 15, 2000 (33m+9d)
In the morning, we took more pictures and video footage of the twins and the dog. After we said goodbye to Rick and Kathy, we headed northbound to Disneyland. We checked into the hotel and took the monorail to Disneyland. The lines to the rides were long; the waits were around an hour each. We rode couple of rides like Dumbo and the carousel. They were tired after 4pm. They actually fell asleep on our shoulders when we took the monorail back to the hotel for their afternoon nap.Joanne woke up at around 6:30pm. Mommy had a terrible headache and decided to stay in the room and let Jasmine continue her sleep. After a long struggle, I decided to take Joanne with me back to Disneyland. When we arrived, we found out that we missed the nightly 7pm parade already. We took the train to Toon Town and found out that it was closed in preparation for the nightly fireworks. I rode the teacups with Joanne and she asked to repeat couple more times. We settled down to watch the fireworks. Joanne was scared of the loud noise from the fireworks. She covered her ears tightly and shivered at the louder ones. Towards the finale when the noise was loudest and frequent, Joanne cried but still kept her eyes open to watch the fireworks in daddy's embrace.
Jasmine and mommy slept in the hotel room until the fireworks woke them up. When mommy told Jasmine it was the fireworks, she jumped up from bed instantly. Mommy opened the curtain and sliding door; they enjoyed the fireworks at a distance from the hotel room balcony. After the fireworks, we made contact using our family-radio-frequency walkie-talkies. Mommy planned to take Jasmine to dinner and invited us too. However, I predicted it would take us a long time back to the hotel due to the crowd at closing time. So Joanne and I had a hot dog inside Disneyland while mommy and Jasmine had an expensive seafood dinner at the hotel. By the time we found mommy and Jasmine at the restaurant, they were done with dinner already.
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 (33m+10d)
As hotel guests, we were allowed to enter Disneyland earlier than the general public. After we finished breakfast, the crowd was already waiting to come in, so we didn't take full benefit of the privilege. The lines at the rides were much shorter than yesterday. Most lines were shorter than fifteen minutes and the longest were about half an hour. I guess most people schedule their trip around the weekend, so Monday would be more crowded than a Tuesday.At around 5pm, we told the twins we were going home, and asked the twins to say goodbye to Disneyland. I guess they were surprised to hear the word "home" after seven days. The twins were so happy that they screamed their "goodbye" in joy. They ran out the exit so fast that Joanne fell and scratched both her knees. Apparently, they prefer home to Disneyland.
To our surprise, the outbound rush hour traffic in LA was not too bad. After a slight delay near I-710, we headed home at full highway speed. We took a quick meal at Burger King next to the highway. The twins slept well in the car most of the way. We reached San Jose before 10:30pm. We got home slightly after 11pm after a side-trip to buy milk and late take-out dinner.
Wednesday, May 17, 2000 (33m+11d)
After almost two weeks of vacation, daddy is back to work. Everything returns to normal.
Friday, May 19, 2000 (33m+13d)
We had dinner with Lillian. William was out of town. We then visited the house they just sold in Los Altos. Their investment appreciated more than three times in seven years. Since real estate is a leveraged investment, the ROI is much much much higher than 300%. I wish I had their vision to buy our house at the right location.We also went to their new house, which is being remodeled. The twins ran around in circle in the family room. It is surely a good way to burn their energy while mommy and daddy chatted with Lillian.
Saturday, May 20, 2000 (33m+14d)
We took the twins to the nearby park in the afternoon. We let Joanne ride the tricycle while we pulled Jasmine on a wagon. Joanne still had some problem in her steering and she ran off the pathway once in awhile. Joanne didn't let Jasmine ride the tricycle, but Jasmine didn't fight for it because she enjoyed the wagon better.We had dinner with Hing and Lucy. After dinner, we enjoyed desserts and night breezes on the balcony at their new home overlooking the Silicon Valley. Lucy again bought gifts for the twins. We are starting to feel that we owe them too much.
Sunday, May 21, 2000 (33m+15d)
Went to Grandma Ling's place before noon. Again it is a hot day in the 90s and 100s. Walked around IKEA's air-conditioned showroom in the afternoon. The twins enjoyed playing at the children's section. Not much done in a slow, hot summer day.
Monday, May 22, 2000 (33m+16d)
Mommy was trying to adjust the air-duct vent during the twins' afternoon nap. So she was tiptoeing and trying to move very quietly in the kids' room. She was startled when Joanne asked sternly "Mommy�A���A��" (Mommy, what are you doing?).
Tuesday, May 23, 2000 (33m+17d)
This morning, Joanne wetted her bed for the first time in months. She has not worn a diaper for many months now. So this accident meant a lot of unexpected laundry work for mommy. Jasmine still prefers to wear her bedtime training diaper though she most often keeps it dry. Both twins had been fully toilet-trained for some time now. With a footstool and an adapter ring on the downstairs toilet, they can use the toilet all on their own. They have good habit in washing their hands afterwards too. They actually prefer using the adult toilet to their own potty. Our upstairs bathroom has an elongated type toilet, which the adapter ring doesn't fit quite well. They would ask us to hold on to them while they sit on that one.Mommy took the twins to visit Amy in their new restaurant in San Ramon. I am not sure it is a wise move to take such a long trip in a hot summer afternoon.
At night, Joanne wetted her pants and the carpet while standing next to daddy's nightstand. We couldn't figure out what caused two accidents in one day. But mommy's theory was that the cool air caused the loss of control. Joanne was standing next to a running fan and an open window at the time of the accident. Also we left their bedroom window opened last night because of the heat. The cool air in the morning may be responsible for the leak this morning.
Thursday, May 25, 2000 (33m+19d)
I was scolding the twins for something that they did. Jasmine responded "���n�j�n�x�H" (don't scold loudly). I tried to lower my voice, but decided to just shut up.
Friday, May 26, 2000 (33m+20d)
Jasmine has been off her nightly training diaper for a few days. She cried this morning when she wetted her bed. She woke Joanne too. Mommy got up and changed her sheets and pants. It took the twins two hours to get back to sleep. That drained mommy's energy reserve for the rest of the day.
Saturday, May 27, 2000 (33m+21d)
Jasmine woke up crying "�n����" at 3am in the morning. Daddy got up and checked on them. Jasmine was crying to get her handkerchief to wipe off her tears. Sometimes we just don't know which is cause and which is effect. If she does not cry, she does not need her handkerchief and vice versa. In the attempt to avoid wetting the bed again, I took both twins to the toilet. The problem is that I failed to get back to sleep afterwards.We had lunch with Johnson, Simon, Winnie and mommy's Cousin Rowena from Hong Kong. We went to Sausalito afterwards. We also spent some time at the Corte Madera shopping mall. We had dinner at the Outback steak house in Sausalito before returning home.
Most of the comic strips on today's newspaper paid tribute to Charles Schulz by making reference to the Peanuts Cartoon one way or the other. At the moment, our twins know Snoopy because the character is more popular on kid's stuffs. I am wondering when they grow up, whether they will know who Charlie Brown was.
I was told that a friend of mine Raymond becomes a father of a baby girl today.
Sunday, May 28, 2000 (33m+22d)
Since Rowena planned to go shopping with Winnie in San Francisco, we wanted to find something to do for ourselves. The ideal event for the Memorial Day weekend is to watch the Civil War reenactment at the Henry Cowell Redwood State Park in Felton. It is an annual event presented by the American Civil War Association for the Memorial Day. There is also a steam-powered train that makes a loop into the Redwood grove. The twins would enjoy the ride into the woods.We first attempted to get on Hwy 17 after lunch, but the traffic was slow. So we turned off at Hwy 9 and tried to approach Felton from a different direction. The drive through Hwy 9 was smooth despite many winding turns on the single-lane hilly road. The traffic stopped completely when we got near Felton. We waited for a long time and the traffic was not moving at all. The twins woke up from their afternoon nap and demanded their choo-choo train ride. We knew we had missed the last train at the Roaring Camp Railroads before we gave up and turned around. To fulfill the twins' crave for the train ride, we stopped at the Vasona Park in Los Gatos. We rode the train around the park and then let the twins ride the carousel till the closing time.
Monday, May 29, 2000 (33m+23d)
Today is Memorial Day holiday.We had brunch (a portmanteau meaning Breakfast and Lunch) at IHOP in Union City. We then went to New Park Mall in Fremont. The twins took couple rounds of mini-train ride at the mall before returning to the car for their afternoon nap. We picked up great-grandma and then headed to Simon and Winnie's place in San Francisco for dinner. Winnie's kid Samantha shared her toys with the twins and also showed them her drawings. Simon prepared us a sumptuous meal with Sashimi, squabs and few other dishes for appetizer, the main course was fish plus one whole baked lobster for each person. We were almost full after the appetizer, but we just could not resist the lobsters.
After dinner, we took Rowena to visit other relatives in Alameda before taking her home for the night. The twin were asleep in the car, we put them in bed without waking them. Mommy showed Rowena our wedding and baby photos. They stayed up till 1:30 in the morning.
Tuesday, May 30, 2000 (33m+24d)
Mommy took Rowena and the twins on a shopping trip to the Gilroy Outlet and Stanford Shopping Center. The twins were still shy about Rowena. When she was around, they would keep a tight lip. But when she was not around, they asked her whereabouts.Kevin was in the South Bay for a job interview. Kevin worked in Hong Kong for a few years, so he knows Rowena quite well. We had dinner together.
After dinner, we showed Rowena video footage of the twins first few months. The twins watched quietly. They knew they were watching themselves, but they just couldn't recognize the tiny babies. This was the first time the twins saw their footage from the hospital. We tried not to show them because all the IVs and electrodes attached to the babies might scare them.
Wednesday, May 31, 2000 (33m+25d)
Mommy took Rowena back to Winnie's place in San Francisco. The twins went along with the ride.
Thursday, Jun 1, 2000 (33m+26d)
The twins stayed home all day long. It is an unusual day.The twins have not grown much lately. The last time we checked, they are still a little short of 36" tall, and weigh around 23 lbs. each.
Joanne starts to develop black stains on her teeth like Jasmine's.
Friday, Jun 2, 2000 (33m+27d)
Mommy took the twins to Japantown SF. They went with Debbie and Kendrick.We asked the twins if they wanted to go to the movie. Of course, they didn't know what movie was. Anyway, they answered yes. Then we told them movies are loud. We even demonstrated the effect by turning up the sound on the TV. They covered their ears and said they didn't want to go to the movie. We then asked them if they want to go to the park with Grandma Ling when mommy and daddy go to the movie. They agreed with the plan.
Saturday, Jun 3, 2000 (33m+28d)
We dropped off the twins at Grandma Ling's place and went to see the movie "Mission impossible 2" (DVD|VHS) in the afternoon. We visited Simon and Michelle after the movie. They are expecting their baby in just a few days.
Sunday, Jun 4, 2000 (33m+29d)
Today is the 11th anniversary of the massacre at Tien-an-mon square in Beijing. I did not hear about it in the news today. However, the news mentioned that today was a significant date in the history of WW2 because of the victory at the Midways.Jasmine wet her bed again. Daddy got up and changed her at 5:30 in the morning.
Lucy and Hing's baby is past due. They went to the labor room preparing for the induced delivery of their baby.
We went with Aunt Tina and Cousin Natalie to Stoneridge mall in the afternoon and then went to Amy's new restaurant in San Ramon for dinner. Evening and Sunday are slow for them. But they are very busy during lunch hours on weekdays because of some big business campuses such as PacBell nearby. Amy's husband is a very good chef with many years of restaurant experience in the kitchen. He made us a very delicious meal. They are new to running a business and they said they still have slight problem handling the tables during busy hours, but they should be able to manage after the learning curve. The restaurant is Pearl Garden at 2101 Camino Ramon, Ste. 100, San Ramon CA 94583, (925) 355-9888.
Monday, Jun 5, 2000 (33m+30d)
Lucy gave birth to her baby Terence at 7:25am. The baby weighs 7lb. 6oz. and measures 20" long. Mommy took the twins to visit the new baby at the hospital.Joanne finishes her 8-oz. milk in 5 minutes. Jasmine sometimes takes almost an hour for the same thing. During the hour, we must constantly check on her to make sure she does not spill on the carpet. For that reason, Jasmine often makes mommy mad at feeding time.
Tuesday, Jun 6, 2000 (34m)
The twins are thirty four month old.
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started on Jun 8, 2000