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This journal is about raising identical twins.Thirty Six Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Thursday, Jul 6, 2000 (35m)
The twins are 35 months old today.The contractors continued working on the house. Mommy took the twins to school in the afternoon. The afternoon class only has ten students and it is less chaotic than the morning class. Due to the holiday on Tuesday, the twins had not gone to school for a full week.
Mommy spent some time observing from outside the classroom. The twins cried for awhile when they first entered the classroom, but were okay afterwards. After school, Joanne denied she had cried, but Jasmine was honest about it. Joanne was either too happy in school that she forgot she cried or she lied to defend her pride.
We had dined out and went to grocery shopping with the twins after dinner.
Friday, Jul 7, 2000 (35m+1d)
Remodeling at home continued. It was completed by the end of day.I worked overtime and didn't know enough to write about the twins.
Saturday, Jul 8, 2000 (35m+2d)
The twins fell asleep in the car around lunchtime. We parked the car at Aunt Tina's place and went to lunch with Alan, Wendy and their daughter Valerie. Their friends Dennis and Vicky joined us too.After lunch we picked up the twins and Cousin Natalie and went to the Asian Arts Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We saw the "Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology" exhibition. The exhibit included many very famous artifacts, such as the terra-cotta warriors, two jade burial suits etc. To me, the highlight of the exhibit are the oracular turtle shell and ox shoulder bones with pictographic inscriptions dated back to 1200 BC. I had seen pictures of these precursors of Chinese written language since grade school, but this was the first time I saw the real thing. The other amazing display was the set of twenty-six bronze bells. They are evidence of sophisticated metallurgy and music development in ancient China, even though much had been lost.
The twins, Valerie and Cousin Natalie played happily in the exhibition hall. Since most of the exhibits were high in display cases, they couldn't see much even if they were interested.
Valerie is four months younger than our twins are. But she is at least ten pounds heavier and couple of inches taller. She can say a lot in Cantonese. Valerie complained that our twins did not talk to her. Our twins are very quiet when they are away from home.
Daddy got a sore throat, probably worked too hard last night.
Sunday, Jul 9, 2000 (35m+3d)
We went to Grandma Ling's place. We celebrated Cousin Natalie's 8th birthday though her birthday is more than a week away. The twins were eager to blow the candles for her.
Monday, Jul 10, 2000 (35m+4d)
Jasmine talked too much when she drank her milk. Mommy was mad at her because she took too long to finish her milk.Daddy's sore throat developed into a cough. No other symptoms besides coughing.
Tuesday, Jul 11, 2000 (35m+5d)
The twins cried at home and refused to go to school. However, once they arrived at school, they didn't cry. Mommy told them that they must go to school crying or not. But they would not come home if they didn't stop crying. The scare tactics stopped the crying, but may not make them to like school.
Wednesday, Jul 12, 2000 (35m+6d)
When they were in the car, the twins often argued about whom would be singing along with the music. They often said things like "Stop singing, let me sing this one and you sing the next" (in Cantonese of course.) Today, Jasmine was mad because Joanne wouldn't stop. Jasmine said, "Stop singing or I'd spank your butt." Joanne replied, "You can't spank my butt because my butt is in the car seat." What a smart-ass!We had dinner with Jenny at Banana Leaf. It was crowded at around 7pm and we had to wait for almost an hour at the door.
Thursday, Jul 13, 2000 (35m+7d)
The twins cried when mommy dropped them off at school. They stopped crying once they went inside the school.My grad school friend Oscar and his family Sabrina and Agatha visited. Their last visit was over four years ago before our twins were born. Agatha was just a kid when we saw her last time, now she is a teenager as tall as we are. They just spent a three-week vacation in Hong Kong and the Three Gorges of YangTze River. Most ancient Chinese culture concentrated along the riverbanks and these thousands year old relics will go underwater when the river is dammed in the year 2002. They wanted to see these pieces of Chinese culture before they disappear underwater. They made a stop in California to wear off the jet lag before going home to New Jersey. They arrived in the afternoon and took a long nap before dinner.
We had a late dinner at Banana Leaf. The place was still crowded at around 8:30pm and we had to wait at the door for about half an hour.
Friday, Jul 14, 2000 (35m+8d)
Oscar and family went to UC Berkeley for a campus tour. They went to San Francisco afterwards and experienced first-hand the Bay Area rush hour. They visited some friends in Fremont and didn't come back until past midnight.Twins and mom stayed home all day.
Saturday, Jul 15, 2000 (35m+9d)
We had lunch in Palo Alto with Yick, Doris and their daughters Josephine and Anita. Doris had not seen Sabrina since they were in Pittsburgh, PA almost two decades ago. They met each other's kids for the first time. After lunch, Oscar and family went to tour the campus of Stanford University. They later visited their friends in Fremont.We went our own way when the twins wanted their afternoon nap in the car. Mommy went shopping at Stanford Shopping Center while daddy and twins took a nap in the parking garage. We later had dinner with Uncle Ivan, Aunt Tina and Cousin Natalie in Oakland. We were home around 9pm. Oscar's family returned shortly after. They packed up their luggage getting ready for their departure in the morning.
Sunday, Jul 16, 2000 (35m+10d)
Oscar and family left for NY in the morning after a three-day stay. We stayed home most of the day except we went out for a quick Vietnamese Pho dinner nearby.
Monday, Jul 17, 2000 (35m+11d)
Dad and Mom went to the dentist at lunch hour. The twins came along and sat on our lap to watch while our teeth were being cleaned. We tried to warm them up for their own appointments. We scheduled them for Wednesday.
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2000 (35m+12d)
Jasmine didn't want to go to school. Mommy asked if she wanted to go to the dentist instead, she replied yes. That answer showed that they dread school more than dentist. The twins cried a little when they arrived at school, but they played normally afterwards. The twins talk a lot at home between themselves. At school, the twins are awfully quiet; they don't say anything at all. Probably they realize that everyone at school speaks a different language so they keep their mouths shut. I bet once they understand what others are saying, they would start to speak.
Wednesday, Jul 19, 2000 (35m+13d)
Mommy returned to the dentist to have two fillings done. The twins had their own appointments for the teeth cleaning too. The assistants at the clinic bribed the twins with toys, Barney toothbrushes etc. They even let them play with the switches that control the up-down movement of the chair. They barely managed to get the twins mouths open for the dentist to look inside while the twins sat on daddy's lap. The dentist found no cavity besides some stains on the teeth surfaces. The dentist said the stains should not affect the health of their teeth and it would be okay to leave the stains alone.When mommy come out from her filling work, she was unhappy to find that the twins didn't have their teeth cleaned. She insisted to clean them for aesthetic reason, because the black stains look really ugly on Jasmine's teeth. It would be a disappointment that daddy took half a day off and achieved so little.
Mommy first scared the twins that she would leave without them unless they cleaned their teeth. Then she bribed the twins with the promise of a Barney doll. The twins agreed to open their mouths while sitting on mommy's lap. The hygienist was able to use the polish machine to get some stains out of Jasmine's teeth. Jasmine doesn't like the grits in the tooth polish. She kept struggling to get up and asked for a rinse for her mouth. Without the full cooperation from Jasmine, we lowered our goal and were happy to get most stains out of the front facing surfaces.
Joanne's teeth had little stains to start with, so her polish didn't take long. She earned her Barney doll effortlessly. Both twins didn't cry a bit while being cleaned. The experience was not unpleasant at all. They made friends with several clerks and hygienists in the dentist office and collected many toys and toothbrushes. They gave a big hug to Judy the office manager before they left. Compared to the traumatic dentist visit six months ago, today was a great success. At least this time, no one tried to ply open the mouths of two screaming kids with a metallic device.
Thursday, Jul 20, 2000 (35m+14d)
On the way to school, Jasmine was crying because mommy didn't play the song she requested. However, when the teachers came to pick them up from the car, they both smiled. It was the first sign that the twins started to like going to school.In the evening, I asked the twins to play teacher and student. They took turns to be the teacher and ordered each other to do things. They got a great laugh out of the game. We found that they have picked up new English words from the teachers. But since they were so quiet at school, the teacher could not have corrected them even when they got it wrong. For example, Jasmine said "SeeDah", which obviously meant "sit down". Via the game, we got a chance to review and correct what they had learned from school.
After putting the twins in bed, we watched Jackie Chan's "Who am I?" on DVD (VHS). In my opinion, this is one of the better movies by Jackie Chan. I was surprised that this excellent movie was released directly to Cable TV without screening in theatres first. What a marketing blunder! Since this movie was not produced by a Hollywood studio, it might have hit a stonewall when trying to get in the theatres.
Friday, Jul 21, 2000 (35m+15d)
Mom and the twins went to Melinda's place to play with Alan. They came home after dinner.Daddy still has a minor cough, much improved from last week.
Saturday, Jul 22, 2000 (35m+16d)
Joanne started to have a runny nose. There was a kid with a runny nose in the dentist office waiting room few days ago. She probably got the bug from touching the toys there.We had lunch with Wil'n'Lil, Steve, Shirley and their kids Edbert and Stephanie. After lunch, Mommy went shopping at Stanford Shopping Center while dad and twins took an afternoon nap in the parking garage.
We had an early lunch at Yong Kang Restaurant in Union City. When we finished, there was already a crowd of people waiting at the door. It was still early when we got home, so we took the twins to the park nearby.
Sunday, Jul 23, 2000 (35m+17d)
We dropped off the twins at Grandma Ling's and went to X-men the movie (DVD|VHS). We enjoyed the story and special effects. We went shopping at IKEA before retrieving the twins. We bumped into Alan, Wendy and their kid Valerie at IKEA. We pooled together our purchases so the total qualified for a discount.
Monday, Jul 24, 2000 (35m+18d)
Early in the morning, the twins asked mommy to take them to the Pokemon 2000 (DVD|VHS) movie. They overheard mommy talking on the phone with Bonnie last night. Mommy mentioned that the Pokemon movie was out and we saw a large crowd of kids waiting outside the theater yesterday. The twins heard the conversation and probably dreamt about it all night. The twins hate loud noises. They often cover their ears and say the noise hurts their ears. We use the loud sound as an excuse for not taking the twins to the cinema until now. However, the Pokemon movie should change that. But I wonder how long they can sit still in a dark theater, because they seldom sit long enough through a thirty-minute episode of Pokemon on TV.While playing in the family room, a ball rolled underneath the TV. The twins ran to fetch a fly swatter to reach for the ball. They saw mommy did that once last week and they remembered. Mommy went crazy because the swatter was most likely contaminated with gunk from dead flies.
Joanne almost recovered from her runny nose.
We were shocked when we heard about the sudden death of Connie and Francis' newborn son. The three week old baby died today after some kind of seizure. Mommy planned to visit their new baby yesterday, but we cancelled the plan because my coughing and Joanne's runny nose had not recovered yet. We felt really sorry for their loss. This tragic news deeply saddened us and we had a hard time coping with it. It was the first time we learned about infant deaths among our friends.
Tuesday, Jul 25, 2000 (35m+19d)
The twins behaved very well at school. Looks like they finally adapted to the new environment. Joanne saw mommy through the observation window and she excitedly tried to tell the teacher about the "peeping Tom".Jasmine started to have a runny nose in the evening. She finally got the bug from Joanne.
Starting from few weeks ago, the twins fetch their own clothes from the drawer, set them on our bed before they take their bath. After we dry them with towels, they would dress themselves. They are proud of that and refuse help from us. But once in awhile, we had to tell them that they had the shirt backwards, and they would correct the problem on their own. Today, Jasmine picked a warm long-sleeve sweatshirt herself, most likely because she was not feeling well with her runny nose.
Wednesday, Jul 26, 2000 (35m+20d)
The twins use adult's toilet on their own for sometime now. Recently, they do it without the footstool. They will get mad at us if we leave the footstool in front of the toilet. They wiggle and slide their way up the toilet seat and then drop their butt a few inches inside the ring to do the business, and then wiggle their way off the seat. They wipe themselves afterwards and wash their hands too. We still prefer to wipe them after they pooped, but they don't always tell us when they go to the toilet.Joanne asks a lot of "why" recently. Her favorite one is "�A���žx��?" (Why do you scold me?) She doesn't seem to understand why we don't scold Jasmine as much. She is simply naughtier than Jasmine.
Thursday, Jul 27, 2000 (35m+21d)
Jasmine still has a runny nose. Mommy called the school to find out what we should do. The school said it is not a problem if what runs out is clear. However, if the discharge from the nose is yellowish, then the kid must stay home. Jasmine lost her excuse to skip school today.Lucy and Hing came to our house for lunch. They have hired a baby-sitter to take care of the baby and most of the housework plus cooking. It seems a good deal for $1200 a month to buy a lot of freedom.
After school, Jasmine told mommy that the teacher didn't let her go to the toilet. We know the teacher encourages the students to go to the toilet as an important part of their training. We really puzzled what actually happened because Jasmine was unable to explain clearly. My guess is that she wanted to go peepee at the same moment mommy's car pulled up at the front door. The teacher probably didn't want to create a traffic jam at the drive-thru pickup line. Anyway, Jasmine held without a leak until she reached home.
Mommy bought some new panties for the twins. They are for age 3 and 4. The twins found the new panties and demanded to wear them after their bath. Since our twins are so much underweight, the panties are way too big for now. The panties were so big that they kept dropping on the floor. I got a good laugh at them. I told the twins they should wear them only after they've grown bigger. Joanne didn't agree. She told Jasmine that if she put a pair of tight pants on, the pants would hold the panties in place. She then demonstrated to Jasmine. Daddy was speechless when they both wore the oversized panties successfully. Sometimes I am surprised what kind of brilliant idea goes on inside their tiny heads.
Friday, Jul 28, 2000 (35m+22d)
Mommy and twins went out with Debbie and Kendrick. They had not gone out together for quite sometime, Debbie had been busy with selling their house. The paperwork finally completed; hence they could get back together again today. They went out to buy a Little Tykes Kitchen toy-set (buy) for the twins upcoming birthday.Daddy assembled the toy kitchen after dinner. The kitchen has a stove that glow a ring of blue light that looks like the fire. It also makes a bubbling sound as if the water is boiling. The twins started to play cooking and served daddy and mommy a pretended meal right away.
Daddy's Cousin Alex and family from Los Angeles were in the neighborhood. They visited us in the late evening. Their daughter Alisa liked our twins very much. She asked if she could exchange her two-year-old sister Amily for the twins. She loved to lift up our twins because they are lighter than Amily.
Amily enjoyed herself very much too. She dragged a big stuffed animal and ran around in our house like a restless locomotive. She went up and down on the slide in our living room. She joyfully asked her mommy Ereko to see her do various things. Her parents had trouble getting her to settle down to eat her late supper. She stopped a short while when we served ice cream. She resumed her activities as soon as the cup was emptied.
They planned to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium tomorrow before driving back to LA.
Saturday, Jul 29, 2000 (35m+23d)
We had lunch in Oakland Chinatown with Wil'n'Lil, Bonnie and her kids Addison and Deanna. After lunch, we went to the Berkeley Kite Fest at the Berkeley Marina. We sat on the grassy knoll to watch contestants flew their acrobatic kites. There was an event for the kids to participate. Candies were loaded in the pockets on a kite first, then the kite flew over the kids in the fields and candies rained down on the kids for them to pick up as the kite turned upside down to empty the pockets. Our twins were on the field with us. They didn't know what was going on. But they were happy when Addison gave his loot to them. We left the kite festival at around 4pm.Wil'n'Lil have other engagement in the evening, so they left us early. We then went to Jack London Square for the Pokemon 2000 (DVD|VHS) movie. The twins were in a cinema for the first time. They were not very excited perhaps because we had been telling them movies are loud. After the light dimmed and the movie started, they started to cover their ears at first and then they fell asleep in mommy's and Bonnie's laps within 15 minutes. When they woke up after the movie, they told us that the movie was not loud, contrary to what we had been telling them.
We bought some takeout food from Oakland Chinatown and headed back to Bonnie's place for dinner. CW was on a business trip in Shanghai, so we spent the evening there to offer company to Bonnie.
Sunday, Jul 30, 2000 (35m+24d)
Elizabeth, Steven, Lori and Harrison bought us lunch at Todai Seafood Buffet in Eastridge mall. After lunch, we let the kids ride on the merry-go-round at the mall. Their family wanted to do some shopping at the mall afterward, so we went separate ways. We took the kids home for their afternoon nap.
Monday, Jul 31, 2000 (35m+25d)
The heat wave hit the Bay Area again. Mommy and twins stayed home and stayed cool.
Tuesday, Aug 1, 2000 (35m+26d)
Jasmine told us the teacher didn't let her peepee again. We still don't understand what happened.
Wednesday, Aug 2, 2000 (35m+27d)
Mommy and twins stayed home because of the summer heat.
Thursday, Aug 3, 2000 (35m+28d)
Today is the last day of summer school. The teacher was changed so we still couldn't find out why Jasmine was not allowed to use the toilet two days ago. We observed the twins from the window. We saw that Jasmine was very eager to follow instructions. For example, when the teacher said, "Stand up", Jasmine was the first one on her feet. She also grabbed Joanne's clothes and pulled her up.The heat wave was over.
Friday, Aug 4, 2000 (35m+29d)
Joanne woke up with a bleeding nose. She likes to pick her nose and probably broke the skin inside her nostrils. Jasmine on the contrary, does not let anything touch her nose.Jasmine cried in the morning because Joanne didn't wait for her when she left the bedroom.
When I called home during lunchtime, the twins picked up the phone. When I asked to talk to mommy, one of the twins told me she went out to buy lunch. I was surprised that mommy was not with the twins until Debbie picked up the phone. Kendrick and Alan came with their moms to visit the twins.
The toy kitchen from last Friday didn't last very long. The faucet was already broken off; the stove switch was broken too. We were lucky that it was just a toy, or the broken faucet would shoot water all over the playroom.
Saturday, Aug 5, 2000 (35m+30d)
Joanne wetted her bed in the morning. Accidents are uncommon because both twins are very good at holding.We went out and bought an iMac for the twins' birthday present.
Sunday, Aug 6, 2000 (36m)
The twins are three years old today.
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started on Aug 22, 2000