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This journal is about raising identical twins.Thirty Ninth Months
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Friday, Oct 6, 2000 (3y+2m)
The twins are 38 month old today.
Saturday, Oct 7, 2000 (3y+2m+1d)
The 7th Fleet of the US Navy comes into San Francisco for shore leave around this time each year. This annual visit always associates with a weeklong celebration known as the Fleet Week. One of the many attractions is the US Navy Blue Angels precision flight demonstration over the weekend.We drove up to San Francisco at around noon. We circled around the Fisherman Wharf area to find a parking space. We parked the car at a metered space and we took a spot outside the Underwater World at Pier 39. The air show started at around noon with some small airplanes doing acrobatics.
Daddy laid down a picnic blanket on one of the benches to occupy the space. Mommy took the twins to visit the restroom. They brought back a couple of hot dogs for lunch.
By the time the Blue Angels arrived at 3pm, there were hundreds of people around and behind us. We were glad that we took up the space early on. Otherwise, the twins wouldn't be able to see anything behind the crowd.
The F-18 fighter jets were extremely loud especially when they flew right over our heads in low altitude. Joanne didn't like the noise. She ducked underneath the blanket and didn't want to see the airplanes. Jasmine was okay. She found the planes too loud also, but at least she still watched the show with the little palms over her ears.
After the air show, we let the twins played in the playground outside Pier 39 until the parking meter was about to expire.
Sunday, Oct 8, 2000 (3y+2m+2d)
We had been interested in some time to visit the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. We decided to go there since we had nothing to do. Since we were on the way to Walnut Creek, we stopped by Amy's restaurant in San Ramon for lunch. We found that their business had picked up quite well since our last visit. They have established a regular clientele and they are very busy at times.We went to the Lindsay Museum. The twins fell asleep on the way. We let them took the nap in the car. We entered the museum after the twins woke up. There were several scary ten feet tall taxidermic grizzly bears near the entrance. There was also a petting ring where children can touch small pet animals such as guinea pigs, hamsters and bunnies etc. Members of the museum can take home a small pet animal and return it back to the "pet library" a week later. It is a very good idea to test out if the pet fits in the family before committing to invest in the animal, the cage and feeding bottle etc. Cousin Natalie owned a hamster for about two weeks and it had to be given away.
Inside the museum, there were many birds of prey for display. The birds just perched on top of the cages instead of inside the cages. Initially, I thought those were just taxidermic display like the bears near the entrance. I was surprised when I saw the live bald eagle turned its head and spread its wings. The attendant also took an owl on her arm and walked around to show it to the visitors. There were other animals such as coyote, raccoon, snakes, frogs and other amphibians. The twins laughed when they saw the raccoon played with the attendant.
We had dinner with Hing and Lucy at Golden Island Restaurant in the evening. We later remembered that it was Marianne's son's first birthday today. We promised to go to the banquet. We just forgot.
Monday, Oct 9, 2000 (3y+2m+3d)
Alan, Kendrick visited with their moms Debbie and Melinda. They had not visited for awhile. Debbie was busy moving to her new house. She was pregnant too. Melinda was busy with her new infant plus the two year old Alan. They have not visited for at least two months because they didn't know we bought an iMac for our twins' birthday.The twins and Alan fought to take control of the computer mouse. Kendrick preferred to stick with his mom.
The twins always fought for doing things on their own. If one twin did one thing with the computer, the other wants to repeat it on her own. That is a good thing because we don't want one of them to become too dominant. The only problem is that we need to bear with all the fighting and crying as a result.
They are pretty good at the computer now. They know how to put in the DVD disc and select their favorite chapters. When they watch Pokemon, the first movie (DVD|VHS), they always repeat the scene where the dragon delivers the invitation to Ash. When they watch Wizard of Oz, (DVD|VHS) they always repeat the scene when the lion makes his first debut.
We dropped off the twins with Aunt Tina. We went to the Challenger School's workshop for parents. It was a Parent-Teacher meeting in which the teachers showed us what a typical day is like for the kids. They also went through some sample teaching material and technique. They also covered ways to control behavioral problems in class. After the meeting, we had dinner before picking up the twins.
Tuesday, Oct 10, 2000 (3y+2m+4d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2000 (3y+2m+5d)
The twins have been playing the computer CD-ROM game "Hello Kitty Big Fun" since last weekend. Cousin Natalie has out-grown the game, so she passed it on to the twins. There is a game on the CD-ROM that asks the kid to identify colors and shapes. The twins have no trouble at all to pass all the multiple-choice questions to reach level 3. At level 3, the game presents composite pictures of different colored shapes. The twins are asked to pick some shapes out of the pictures. For example, they would be asked to pick out the triangle off a sailboat's sail or a circle out of a car's wheels, or find all the ovals in a picture. The twins had no trouble with that either. However, at level 3, the Hello Kitty character disappears from the screen. The twins lose interest to play without Hello Kitty. They always quit the game and start over again at level 1 and 2 so that they can see Hello Kitty. It is a design flaw of the software to remove the incentive for kids to take on a new level.We went out for dinner and tried the Jujube Cafe in Milpitas Square. It was not at all impressive in my opinion.
After dinner when went to the crystal store next doors. The twins pointed out the Swarovski crystal figurines and called out panda, elephant, lion etc. They also pointed out those we have at home. We bought a baby panda, which goes with the big panda that Lucy gave us sometime ago.
Thursday, Oct 12, 2000 (3y+2m+6d)
The twins went to school as usual. Jasmine still cries when the car pulls into the school.In the evening, Jasmine wore a hair band and said she wants to wear it to school. When asked why, she said the teacher would say she is cute. She knows how to please others in order to get praise.
Friday, Oct 13, 2000 (3y+2m+7d)
It is great-grandma's birthday today. Mommy picked up daddy from work and went straight to Alameda for dinner.Great-grandma gave everyone a red-pocket with lucky money in it. Joanne told me that I don't need to work anymore, she now got money to buy milk. Whenever the twins ask mommy why daddy has to go to work, Mommy's usual answer is that daddy needs to earn money to buy milk for them. I wish I could retire just like Joanne said.
After dinner, we went to Equinox in San Francisco for dessert. We went with mommy's Cousin Kevin and Chin. Ken, Emily and baby Matthew needed to give someone a ride to the airport. They joined us on their way back. Matthew is just over a year old and he can walk very well now.
In the morning, a coworker of mine reminded me that it is Friday the thirteen with a full moon tonight. We were lucky that we didn't bump into Jason or the Werewolf. :-)
Saturday, Oct 14, 2000 (3y+2m+8d)
We joined Lucy and Hing and baby Terence at the Sunnyvale Town Center. Terence was having his photo session at a studio there. We were interested to see if our twins should take some studio pictures too. We then had lunch together at Cupertino square. We went to Hing's home after lunch.Hing has grown several big pumpkins in his garden. The twins helped us to select one. They tried to move the pumpkins, but it was too big for them. We cut off one from the vine, washed it and put it in the truck of our car.
Mommy went with Lucy to shop at Stanford Shopping Center. Daddy and twins stayed behind to watch TV.
We left Hing and went to CW's place for dinner. Lillian joined us too. Bonnie prepared a big pot of delicious seafood paella.
After dinner, the twins played with Deanna and Addison. Deanna took out a rubber bag that makes farting noise for practical jokes. The twins laughed and screamed like crazy at the disgusting noise.
Sunday, Oct 15, 2000 (3y+2m+9d)
Daddy worked overtime at the office. Mommy, the twins, Cousin Natalie and Aunt Tina went shopping at the Greatmall.Today, mommy asked Jasmine if she loves daddy or mommy more, she said she loves Joanne. Mommy likes to play this game with them to see how they respond to the question. In the past, one twin would say daddy, then the other twin would say mommy or vice versa. They seem to know that it is not right to leave one parent unloved. So usually the second response would covers what the first response lacked. This time, Jasmine's answer surprised mommy. She seems to understand it is a lose-lose situation to take any side. So she avoided the question totally.
The twins have much better attention span than before. Now they can sit in front of the TV or computer to finish a full-length cartoon movie. They misplaced the Wizard of Oz, (DVD|VHS) DVD recently, so they watched mostly A bug's life (DVD|VHS) or Pokemon, the first movie. (DVD|VHS)
Tuesday, Oct 17, 2000 (3y+2m+11d)
The twins went to school as usual. Joanne got phlegm in her throat. She must have caught some virus from school. Jasmine was okay.
Wednesday, Oct 18, 2000 (3y+2m+12d)
Joanne started coughing occasionally caused by the irritation in her throat.
Thursday, Oct 19, 2000 (3y+2m+13d)
Before they went to school this morning, Joanne came to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then she used both hands to cover my face. She didn't let Jasmine kiss me.
Friday, Oct 20, 2000 (3y+2m+14d)
Just two weeks ago, the twins didn't know all the alphabets. But now, mommy said they could flip through their alphabet book and said the names of each letter and what sound each makes.When daddy left for work in the morning, Joanne told me not to work, she got money in her skirt pocket. Jasmine added that I could use her money to buy milk for now.
Mommy took the twins to shopping at Valley Fair Mall. They bought some stuff from Disney store. They also went to Costco. Mommy bought the Toy Story 2 DVD. (DVD|VHS),
We went to Banana Leaf restaurant for dinner. As usual, the wait was almost an hour. We took the twins to the Best Buy across the road to kill time. At Best Buy we found out that their Toy Story DVDs were selling at outrageously low price, $19.99 vs. $26.99 at Costco. They also sell the 3 DVD ultimate collector set at $39.99 compared to the $69.99 listed price. The problem is that they don't have any in stock. My guess is that they either sold out because of the incredible low price or they found out they advertised the wrong price and they pulled the inventory to cut loss.
We opened the DVD and watched Toy Story 2 after dinner. In my opinion, it is even better than the original Toy Story.
Saturday, Oct 21, 2000 (3y+2m+15d)
Joanne threw up as she ate in the morning due to the irritation in her throat. She was otherwise okay in every aspect. We took her temperature and she was normal.Mommy took the twins to see Grandma Ling. They picked up Cousin Natalie and Aunt Tina on their way. Mommy went shopping with Aunt Tina in San Francisco. Daddy worked overtime at the office so that we can afford the shopping. :-(
Sunday, Oct 22, 2000 (3y+2m+16d)
We took out the pumpkin that we picked from Hing's garden last week. We found some stencil patterns from last year. In addition to the bunny and mouse pattern the twins picked from the stencils, daddy also drew a Pikachu on the pumpkin with a marker pen. Then daddy cut open the top. The twins reached in and removed the seed and pulp. Daddy then craved the pumpkin along the drawing with a steak knife. The twins participated by taking the cut pieces off the pumpkin. We took some video footage of the activity.As we just finished, Cousin Natalie, Uncle Ivan and Aunt Tina stopped by. We took some pictures of the kids with the freshly carved pumpkin.
Joanne had a nosebleed again. We told her that if she doesn't stop picking her nose, she would break her nose and we had to throw "it" in the trash. She promised she would let mommy clean her nose for her next time.
Joanne got bloodstains on her Minnie Mouse sweatshirt. Mommy changed her with the Tweety Bird shirt. She wanted to wear Jasmine's Minnie Mouse shirt instead. Jasmine fought very hard to make sure Joanne couldn't get her shirt.
Monday, Oct 23, 2000 (3y+2m+17d)
Jasmine wet her bed in the morning. Mommy got a lot of washing to do. Daddy helped rinse her in the shower and changed her pants. When in the shower, daddy asked her to take off her Minnie Mouse sweatshirt. She strongly refused. She feared that Joanne might take away her shirt if she took it off.When the twins got their hands on something, they held on fearing the other would take it away. Joanne often sat in front of the computer with her hand on the mouse and refused to move. She feared she would lose her place to Jasmine. They became very possessive lately. When they fought for an object, we would first ask them to share. If they don't listen, then we would just remove the item from them as a punishment. This strategy usually results in two crying babies, but we hope it would have a long-term effect on their discipline.
Daddy worked overtime at work till midnight. The twins said good night to daddy on the phone.
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2000 (3y+2m+18d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Thursday, Oct 26, 2000 (3y+2m+20d)
The twins went to school as usual. The Indian classmates in their class were all dressed up in their traditional clothing. Mommy found out from the teacher that they were celebrating the Dewali Festival at school.There was a thunderstorm in the late afternoon. The lightning must have hit the power station. We lost power in the house. Mommy had to take the kids out to dinner because without electricity she could not cook.
Without power, mommy had to release the emergency latch on the garage door and lifted the door by hand. While mommy was struggling with the emergency latch, the twins commented behind mommy that she was not strong enough to pull the latch because she did not drink enough milk. The twins each repeated the mocking comment several times, which made mommy wonder if she should laugh or cry.
Friday, Oct 27, 2000 (3y+2m+21d)
Joanne yelled from her bedroom early in the morning. She demanded to have her morning glass of milk in her bed. We don't know where she learned about the concept of room service and breakfast in bed. When mommy delivered the milk, Jasmine was very unhappy because her sleep was disrupted. She sent Joanne and mommy out of the bedroom.Daddy's Indian coworkers at work prepared over 50 kinds of Indian food to celebrate the Dewali Festival.
Saturday, Oct 28, 2000 (3y+2m+22d)
We went to Oakland and rendezvoused with Wil'n'Lil for lunch. On our way out, we saw Jane, Louis and Angela outside the restaurant. The twins as usual refused to call them "����" (uncle) and "����" (auntie). It was pouring rain in the afternoon.After lunch, we went to Oakland Museum of California to see the exhibit "Secret World of the Forbidden City." We saw some of the objects from the Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty of China. One of the exhibits showed the ceremonial dress of the Last Emperor of China. He became Emperor at the age of three. I jokingly told our twins that they could be an empress at their age too.
We then had snacks in a restaurant in El Cerito. We went to Wil'n'Lil's place for dinner. The twins played rough in the living room. Joanne fell from the sofa and hit her head on the leg of the coffee table. When I checked on her, she giggled and laughed. Apparently, it didn't hurt too much. Just seconds after Joanne got up from the floor, Jasmine fell from the same sofa and hit her head on the base of the adjacent sofa. Unlike Joanne, she broke into loud crying. We watched a Chinese movie "�s�@���ʷR" on VCD. William frequently traveled to Asia on business trips and often brought back current movies.
Sunday, Oct 29, 2000 (3y+2m+23d)
We had brunch with Aunt Tina and Cousin Natalie. Natalie had to go home to study. We took the twins to the Great Mall shopping for a pair of sneakers. The twins had already out-grown their sneakers. Mommy already bought a pair of white Nike with pink trims and velcro strap for Jasmine earlier, but it was the last pair in the store. Now she is on a mission to hunt for the second pair of the same style and size for Joanne. We visited all the shoe stores in the mall at no avail.Hing and Lucy invited us to their son Terence's "ginger and egg" banquet in Cupertino. It is a Cantonese tradition to throw a party for the baby after the first month. But Hing and Lucy decided to postpone the party until now because they were too busy. We helped them pick up the balloons for the party. The twins already told mommy in the car which balloon they like to have. We had to tell them the balloons are not ours. The twins were so excited about the balloons that it took us half an hour to make them take their afternoon nap. We dropped off the balloons at the restaurant and mommy went to the Valley Fair Mall to look for the sneakers while the twins slept in the car.
When it was about time, we woke up the twins for Terence's banquet. Lucy prepared a box of toys and goodies for each of the kids in the party. While the adults enjoyed the banquet, the toys keep the kids busy. The twins managed to get from Lucy the balloons they set their eyes on earlier.
Monday, Oct 30, 2000 (3y+2m+24d)
Mommy refused to give up on the sneakers and drove the twins to Gilroy's outlets to look for the second pair. She failed to find the velcro model of the Nike. She finally settled with a white one with purple trims made by Stride Right.It was pouring rain around noon in San Jose. But mommy said they were not caught in rain in Gilroy.
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2000 (3y+2m+25d)
Today is Halloween. The twins were excited to wear their Winnie the Pooh costume from last year.Daddy and mommy took some video of their Halloween activities at school. All the teachers and most students were dressed up in costume. The teachers also performed a Halloween drama to the kids. The teachers then led the kids into the pumpkin patch in the playground. They brought a couple of pumpkins back to their classroom. The kids each got an opportunity to carve a small piece out of the pumpkin.
For those kids whose parents had prepared the candies, they went around the classroom to give out candies into other classmates' trick or treat bags. The twins didn't know what to do at first. They just threw the candy bags in front of their classmates.
In the evening, we took the twins to Valley Fair Mall and trick-or-treated from the merchants. We were there at around 6:30pm. The mall was packed with kids and adults in Halloween costumes. Sharleen was there with Claire. Claire was dressed as a bunny. We took a quick round to collect treats. Most of the stores already posted the "out-of-treat" sign. The twins didn't get many candies. That was okay because I don't want them to have too many candies anyway. It was a good opportunity to fight their shyness by walking up the scary looking monsters for treats.
Wednesday, Nov 1, 2000 (3y+2m+26d)
My brother Ronnie visited from Hong Kong. He brought the twins many Cantonese Cartoons on VCD, bed sheets with Hello Kitty and Doraemon patterns and many other things.The twins remembered Uncle Ronnie very well. As usual, they refused to greet him properly. Just a few weeks ago when we watched some old home video, they recognized Uncle Ronnie from the picture.
Thursday, Nov 2, 2000 (3y+2m+27d)
The twins went to school as usual. The teacher told mommy that the twins are too quiet. They only react to the teacher by smiling and nodding or shaking their heads. The teacher said they seem to understand very well, they just don't say a word. Mommy said Joanne and Jasmine don't even talk to each other at school. Daddy asked Joanne why she does not speak to the teacher. She said she is afraid that someone would laugh at her. Jasmine does not respond to the question.Mommy and Uncle Ronnie picked up the twins after school. Daddy joined them at lunch. We saw Ronald at the restaurant. The twins want to give him a kiss on his cheek. Daddy returned to work when they went shopping at Costco.
After the twins woke up from their afternoon nap, Jasmine asked mommy if she went to school or not. Joanne called daddy on the phone and told me that they went to school today. They seem to have no recollection at all that they had lunch with daddy today.
Friday, Nov 3, 2000 (3y+2m+28d)
Daddy joined mommy, twins and Uncle Ronnie for lunch. We were talking about "�h��" (relocation), which in Cantonese is literally "move house". Joanne interjected that "house is too heavy to move."
Saturday, Nov 4, 2000 (3y+2m+29d)
Mommy took the twins to Grandma Ling's and went shopping with Aunt Tina. Grandma used scare tactic to ask Joanne to be careful when using the toilet on her own. She warned her that she might fall into the toilet and be flushed away down the drain. Joanne replied that her head is bigger than the hole so she would not be flushed away.Daddy went the separate way and took Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Elaine and the other grandma to San Francisco. We went to the SONY Metreon after lunch. We spent some time checking out the new SONY Playstation 2 at the Playstation store there. Grandma Chui was not interested and took a seat in the SONY Style store while we looked around various stores in the building. In the late afternoon, we watched the 3D movie "Sigfeid and Roy" at the IMAX theater. It felt like the real thing when the tigers approached the audience. The 3D effect was very realistic. We had dinner in Oakland before returning home. The twins were already in bed when daddy came home.
Sunday, Nov 5, 2000 (3y+2m+30d)
Uncle Ronnie and Grandma Chui went to church on their own. We went to the barbershop. Daddy and twins had a haircut. The twins' haircut cost $12 each; daddy's cost only $10. If you compare the price based on the weight of the trimmed off hair, the girl's haircut is much more expensive than daddy's is.We had a quick lunch and then did some shopping at Costco. The twins took a nap in the car. We went out for dinner at a TaiNan style restaurant after Uncle Ronnie came back from church.
Monday, Nov 6, 2000 (3y+3m)
The twins are 39 months old today.
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started on Nov 8, 2000