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This journal is about raising identical twins.Forty Second Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Saturday, Jan 6, 2001 (3y+5m)
The twins are 41 month old today.One of the pictures from the twins' photo album on photopoint.com was selected as the Photopoint's "Photo of the Day" for today.
We went to the Costco in Waltham, MA to replenish our supply of photographic films. We had our brunch there too. We drove into Boston for some sightseeing. Since daddy is better in map-reading, mommy took the helm and daddy navigated. We visited the Boston Tea Party. It was closed for the winter, so we looked at the ship from a distance. We then went to the Boston Common, and the Newberry street shops nearby. We stopped by the Cheers pub for a beer and a Boston cream pie (which looked more like a cake than a pie.)
At around 6pm, we went to the Copley Place again for dinner and movie. The movies we wanted to watch were sold out until 10pm. So we had dinner first at Legal Seafoods before we watched the movie "Cast Away". During the movie, I kept asking myself, why did we pick this movie about a plane crash when we would take a flight home the next day? When we got back to the hotel in Waltham it was past midnight. It was not too late for us because it was only 9pm in California time.
Sunday, Jan 7, 2001 (3y+5m+1d)
We got up rather late, but early enough to be out of the hotel before checkout time. We went next door to the Westin Hotel and had brunch in the restaurant. We then went to the Harvard museum. We spent some time in the botanical galleries seeing the flower specimens made in glass. We were impressed with the realism and diligent craftsmanship. We also spent some time checking out the minerals and gem stones collections. We paid particular attention to the precious stones and metals. Honestly, gold nuggets, diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald were not too impressive in their natural forms. We drove the car and circled around the campus. We also drove to MIT, and took some photos of the Boston skylines by the Charles river bank.It started to get dark after 4pm. We headed towards the airport early since we couldn't see much in the dark anyway. Mommy took a wrong lane and missed the tunnel to the airport. We looped around and tried to get back to the same intersection, but we were trapped in a maze of unexpected one way streets for at least 15 minutes. If we didn't have a street map in our hand, we would be totally lost for hours. Unlike the grid-like streets in California, the streets in Boston go one direction for a few blocks and then they switch to the opposite direction all of a sudden. Apparently the city planners purposely try to inhibit through traffic. Cars can never go in one general direction. If you missed one turn, you would be forced to turn away from where you are heading. Some Bostonians blame the traffic problem to the "Big Dig" underground freeway construction. But in my opinion, the streets of Boston form a labyrinth by itself regardless of the construction.
After returning the rental car, we had ample time to get a burger before our flight. Our flight departed at around 6:30pm and we arrived at San Jose almost an hour early. We got a good sleep for the night.
Monday, Jan 8, 2001 (3y+5m+2d)
Daddy went back to work in the morning. Mommy went to Grandma Ling's place to pick up the twins. Mommy and twins called daddy at work because the twins were unhappy when daddy didn't show up with mommy. The twins sounded maturer on the phone. They just seemed different to us after being away for just four days. They might have picked up some new vocabulary from Grandma Ling and great-grandma. Mommy and twins returned home after dinnertime.I got a sore throat on Saturday. It went away after a day but turned into a cold sore outbreak. With the cold sore, I had to refrain from kissing the twins after the Boston trip. The twins were curious about the scar on daddy's lips. But I warned them that daddy's lip is sick and they would get sick too via contact. The twins had experienced fever, sneezing, running nose, stomachache themselves and they understand what "sick" means. They know not to touch each other's stuff when one of the babies is sick. They should know how to keep a distance from daddy.
I heard that Kendrick already has cold sore at age 2. Cold sore is a painful virus infection that is incurable and contagious during its outbreak. The sad thing is that it comes back again and again over one's lifetime. It is a terrible disease for a child to get from careless adults. I would try my best not to pass it to my twins.
Tuesday, Jan 9, 2001 (3y+5m+3d)
The twins were back to school after skipping last Thursday's class. Joanne got a stuffed nose, but it cleared really fast. They claimed to have spoken to the teachers, but when mommy asked what, they couldn't tell.When they took their nap today, they insisted mommy to stay on their beds. They attached to mommy like two little koalas. Though they didn't articulate to us, but their insecurity surfaced as subtle gestures after missing daddy and mommy over the weekends.
Wednesday, Jan 10, 2001 (3y+5m+4d)
Mommy's Cousin Kay gave birth to a baby girl this week. Her parents came to the Bay Area from Hawaii to help out. When mommy called them, Kay was still in the hospital. She talked to Kay's mom for awhile. We understand new parents are usually overwhelmed, so we don't plan to visit them until they settled down.Daddy took off from work early today to take Grandma Chui to the eye doctor office. The doctor said her eye recovered quite well after the surgery. The retina was reattached properly. Grandma could only see a blur. The doctor said the surgery altered the shape of the eye, so prescription eyeglasses are needed to correct her vision after she fully recovered.
We joined Jenny and Tammy for dinner at Umi Sushi. Joanne ordered tamago (egg sushi) of course. We are amazed that she remembers that name every time.
The twins insist to read the menu every time in a restaurant. And they insist they hand the menu back to the waitress on their own. They usually look for the number 7 on the menu, sometimes as the item number, sometimes in the price. They point to it and ask us to order seven for them. When the dishes arrive, they would ask which one is seven. We usually just point arbitrarily to one of the dishes and say that is seven. They would particularly enjoy the dish they ordered. Sometimes they would ask what seven is before ordering, of course we tell them a dish we've already planned to order instead of reading what seven really is on the menu. Kids are so gullible. Sometimes we wonder if we would go to hell for lying to the kids. :-) They ordered five and some other number before, but seven is still their favorite.
Thursday, Jan 11, 2001 (3y+5m+5d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy can tell that the twins enjoy school and they fit in the routines very nicely. When mommy picked up the twins from school, Jasmine bursted into a chatter with mommy once in the car. But when mommy asked her to say goodbye to Ms Akira who was still helping Joanne into the car, Jasmine dropped into total silence.
Friday, Jan 12, 2001 (3y+5m+6d)
Jasmine started to have a runny nose.Daddy went to Costco and bought a Pioneer DVD-C503. It was to replace the Philips that I bought a few weeks ago. It was not working properly with some of the twins' Chinese cartoon VCDs. The Pioneer works very well with all the DVDs and VCDs in all types of media.
Saturday, Jan 13, 2001 (3y+5m+7d)
We went to Costco to buy fruits and other supplies. I also returned the Philips DVD751 player that I bought few weeks ago. After the twins fell asleep for their afternoon nap at home, daddy went out to drugstore to buy some Campho-Phenique for the cold sore. The Blistex didn't work too well for the past few days.
Sunday, Jan 14, 2001 (3y+5m+8d)
We had DimSum lunch with Aunt Tina, Cousin Natalie, Aunt Jun and great-grandma. We were short on cash last time, and Aunt Tina ended up paying a bigger share than everyone else for her birthday dinner. This lunch was to makeup for the birthday treat for Aunt Tina.After lunch, we went to Stanford Shopping Center for some window-shopping. As usual, the twins enjoyed visiting Warner Brothers' and Disney's store. Mommy bought quite a lot from Warner Brothers due to the store closing sales. The twins would have one less store to visit after its closing. We parted our ways in mid afternoon. The twins took the nap in the car. We had dinner with Hing and Lucy in Mountain View before going home.
Monday, Jan 15, 2001 (3y+5m+9d)
Daisy and Sebastian visited the twins. They went out together to Mitsuwa grocery for some shopping. Joanne tripped and fell on the floor. Sebastian thought it was a game and he sat down on the floor next to her.Daisy is a piano teacher and she had an appointment in the afternoon. When it was time to leave, the twins refused to let Sebastian go. Then Sebastian went into a tantrum refusing to leave. Daisy terminated the commotion with a whack at Sebastian's head. It was brutal but effective.
Tuesday, Jan 16, 2001 (3y+5m+10d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy said the school was packed with parents who wanted to sign up their kids for the next school term. We had gone through all that last year. All returning students has priority, the twins' applications was submitted last week so we didn't need to join the crowd this time.Mommy and the twins had lunch with Lillian and they went to the Great Mall afterwards. She didn't stay for dinner. William is on business again, but Lillian is very busy herself packing up before selling their old house.
When mommy asked Joanne her Chinese name, Joanne replied "���l��" and laughed. She gave herself a nickname by changing the first syllable of her Chinese name ������, now her name sounds like "grapes".
Wednesday, Jan 17, 2001 (3y+5m+11d)
Jasmine's stuffy nose is not recovered yet after 5 days. She also has an occasional cough. Her immunity is not as strong as Joanne is. Joanne usually recovers in a day or two.Mommy dropped off the twins with great-grandma. She took the BART to San Francisco for some shopping with Evon et al. She returned with the twins after dinner.
Thursday, Jan 18, 2001 (3y+5m+12d)
California is currently in a power shortage crisis. The cold weather this week pushed the power reserve below 1.5% and the power company per regulation had to implement rolling blackout to reduce power consumption. Across California, various areas were scheduled to cut off electricity one hour at a time in a round robin fashion. Except those who live near emergency facilities such as hospitals or fire stations, all Californians will be hit by power outages until the crisis is resolved.This morning, the twins' school was hit by a power outage. The twins told daddy that the lights went off in school. It was no surprise to daddy because daddy also got a share of that at work yesterday. Even though the power returned after just one hour, many coworkers went home because all the computers went dark.
Friday, Jan 19, 2001 (3y+5m+13d)
Mommy took the twins to a music activity class. The class will last for 9 weeks on each Friday. The kids and parents dance and make noises with instrument along with the music. It exposes the kids to music fundamentals such as beats, tempo, melody etc. Usually, Joanne is the first one to cover her ears when she hears things that make noise. Today, she was so involved with the rattles and drums herself that she didn't complain.Daddy joined mommy and the twins at lunch today.
Saturday, Jan 20, 2001 (3y+5m+14d)
We stayed home most of the day except we took the twins out to some grocery shopping in the late afternoon.Joanne got a minor cough.
Sunday, Jan 21, 2001 (3y+5m+15d)
We went to Sarah's baby shower. There were other kids in the party. The twins were the oldest among the other kids. The twins didn't play with them. They just attached to daddy and mommy most of the time.We went to Mitsuwa to buy grocery for dinner. The twins wanted their ride on the mechanical horse outside the store. They managed to stay awake before we got home. They took a nap in their beds before dinner.
Monday, Jan 22, 2001 (3y+5m+16d)
Mommy and twins stayed home all day.Mommy was angry because Joanne took a long time to eat each bite of food during dinner. She just sat there with the food in her mouth. Her minor cough was not recovered yet, that may explain the loss of appetite.
Jasmine finished hers much earlier and played on the slide in the living room. When Joanne talked to Jasmine instead of eating her food, mommy asked sarcastically "Are you talking or eating?" Joanne answered naively, "talking!" She took over an hour and a half to finish her dinner. It was a test on our patience.
Daddy's cold sore healed completely. With the cold sore, shaving could be painful, so daddy didn't shave the moustache for the past two weeks. I gave the twins a good night kiss on the cheek after a two weeks hiatus. The twins tried to dodge and didn't enjoy the kiss fearing a whisker burn.
Tuesday, Jan 23, 2001 (3y+5m+17d)
Daddy shaved off the moustache in the morning.The twins went to school as usual. The twins still didn't speak to the teacher, but they spoke to their classmates.
Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 (3y+5m+18d)
Gung Hay Fat Choy. Happy Chinese New Year. Today is the beginning of the Year of the Snake.Daddy went to work as usual. Mommy took the twins to visit Winnie and Samantha in San Francisco. The twins wore a traditional Chinese outfit we bought for them sometime ago. They went to Chinatown. As a Cantonese tradition, we would say "���ߵo�] Gung Hay Fat Choy (wish you good fortune)" whenever we greet people during the first 15 days of the New Year. We had a hard time forcing the twins to follow the tradition. They were reluctant to greet anyone regardless of which phrase to use. They didn't say it to Winnie, but they said it well on the phone to Grandma Ling and grandpa.
In their Chinese costumes, the twins looked just like a pair of Chinese dolls. The twins drew a lot of attention today. When mommy and twins went to a Wells Fargo Bank, the entire crew of tellers stopped working to take a look at the cute dolls.
Thursday, Jan 25, 2001 (3y+5m+19d)
Before the twins went to school, I reminded Joanne to say "Gung Hay Fat Choy" to the teachers. Joanne replied "teacher���Ѯ��ߵo�] (teachers don't understand Gung Hay Fat Choy)". She understands other people speak a different language, which explains why the twins refrain from speaking in school.A friend of mine told me that his kid was able to distinguish Cantonese, Taiwanese, Mandarin and English at preschool age. He was able to use the appropriate language depending on whom he talked to. He lost the ability when he grew up, probably due to lack of practice or the expansion of the vocabulary was beyond his capability. Kids' language ability is amazing. I think it was our fault that we mixed Cantonese and English at home. If we were more consistent in the language we used, the twins should be able to separate the two languages without confusion.
The twins went to school in the same outfit as yesterday. We bought the costume mainly for that. The twins told us the teachers praised them for the nice outfit.
Friday, Jan 26, 2001 (3y+5m+20d)
The "Music Together" class was cancelled today. The teacher was not available.In the past week or so, the twins were not very diligent when brushing their teeth. Ever since mommy told them that they were going to see the dentist soon, the twins used it as an excuse and said the dentist would clean the teeth for them even if they left them dirty.
Saturday, Jan 27, 2001 (3y+5m+21d)
We joined Aunt Tina, Uncle Ivan and Cousin Natalie for lunch at Peony Restaurant in Oakland. We then paid a New Year visit to great-grandma, then to Great Uncle Colin, then Great Uncle Fai.The twins wore the Chinese outfit again today. When we bought them, the merchant showed us those made in Hong Kong. We bought the ones made in Vietnam because they were much cheaper. The clothes were so poorly made that they were falling apart at the seams and some buttons had already fallen off. They were really costumes that last only a few days. The twins' Cousin Matthew also wore a cute Chinese dress "���m���o".
We visited Grandma Ling last and dropped off the twins there before going to see the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (DVD). The plot was very typical of Hong Kong martial arts movies. The new actress was getting too heavy a role in the movie, while the big stars didn't get much of their shares. The fighting choreography was outstanding. The movie is worth seeing just for the martial arts sequences alone. (Retroactive notes: this movie received 10 Oscar nominations including best movie.) When this movie is out on DVDs, I plan to buy a copy and play the fighting sequences in slow motion.
We all went to the family reunion dinner in the evening. The restaurant kitchen was slow. We sat down at 6:45 and didn't finish until 10pm. The twins didn't take a nap in the afternoon. They were too hyperactive when played with Cousin Natalie. They both fell asleep in the car on the way home.
Sunday, Jan 28, 2001 (3y+5m+22d)
The twins wore the Chinese costume again. By next Chinese New Year, the twins would have outgrown the costume, so we didn't really care even if the clothes were falling apart.We brought some take-out lunch and visited Hing, Lucy and Terence. After lunch, mommy and Lucy went shopping at Stanford Shopping Center. They later told us that the Disney's store at Stanford was closing down. The Warner Brothers' store was closed couple weeks ago. Now, with both their favorite stores closed, the Stanford Mall will not appeal to our twins any more.
The twins went to a different room and watched Disney's cartoons on DVD.
Daddy and Hing watched the Super Bowl game on Hing's high definition big screen TV. The Baltimore Ravens was so lopsided over the New York Giants that the commercials became more interesting than the football game. We flipped back and forth between the standard and high definition broadcast. The differences in picture quality were so great that the standard broadcast was intolerable in comparison.
After the football game, Hing called three other families to go out for dinner together. The twins took a short nap on the way to dinner.
Monday, Jan 29, 2001 (3y+5m+23d)
Mommy took the twins to visit Debbie. Kendrick had a nasal infection again after a runny nose. Melinda's second son got yeast infection on his skin. Knock on wood that our twins were mostly free of sickness so far. They then visited Lillian before returning home.The twins played rough in bed and elbowed mommy. Mommy responded to the painful blow with a grunt and then played dead. The twins poked the motionless mommy and said, "�N�q(Out of battery)!"
Cold night, the temperature dropped into the 20°Fs (below freezing).
Tuesday, Jan 30, 2001 (3y+5m+24d)
The twins went to school as usual.The twins started to do some craft work at school sometimes ago. The teacher had taught them how to use scissors to cut paper. Jasmine held the scissors normally. Joanne insisted to hold the scissors with the tips facing towards the palm. Shredded paper scattered all around the house. Last week, Joanne damaged the strap on her Hello Kitty bag with the scissors. Both twins got a good lesson on what could be cut and what not.
They had a three hour long nap in the afternoon.
Wednesday, Jan 31, 2001 (3y+5m+25d)
Mommy took the twins to visit Sharleen and Claire. Sharleen invited several families to lunch at her home. Debbie, Jane, Sarah were there too. All the moms talked about pregnancy and raising kids. Sarah benefited most because she was the only rookie there.Kendrick weighs almost 40 lbs. Our twins are still around 26 lbs. each.
Jasmine had a poop accident after returning home. She said she only farted. Apparently she had a minor run.
We had been playing the same lullaby music CD to the kids at bedtime everyday since they came home from the hospital. The only exceptions were that we wouldn't bother if they were already asleep when we took them to bed. We have tried switching to different CDs, but they wanted the old one back. After listening to the same CD every night for 3.5 years, they probably have the music grooved onto their brains.
In fact, turning on the CD player became a nightly ritual. There are two switches to turn on the music, and the twins sometimes fought to press both switches. The second twin would turn off the music so that she could turn it on again. Sometimes they agreed to press one switch each. Sometimes they fought if the wrong switch was pressed not according to the agreement.
Tonight, Jasmine insisted that she didn't want the music. On the contrary, Joanne insisted she wanted the music. Jasmine wouldn't say why she wanted the music off. After some crying, Jasmine let the music played on.
Thursday, Feb 1, 2001 (3y+5m+26d)
The twins went to school as usual. Joanne proudly told us that she sang along with the teacher at school. Even though the twins love going to school and enjoy the activity, they still don't say a word at school. Singing along is a good start. Now Joanne had broken the ice, Jasmine should participate in the singing soon. In our car, we always encourage the twins to sing along to the CD music as loud as they can. They don't reserve a bit.Daddy forgot the wallet. Mommy and twins delivered lunch to the office.
Jasmine insisted again that she didn't want the lullaby music. Daddy let Jasmine decide this time because Joanne won last night. They fell asleep without the lullaby music.
Friday, Feb 2, 2001 (3y+5m+27d)
Mommy took the twins to the "Music Together" class. The teacher cancelled last Friday's session. They would resume the class for another 8 weeks.They went to the Happy Hallow Zoo after lunch. Debbie and Kendrick joined them. They spent about 1.5 hour there before returning home.
We speak to the twins in Cantonese at home. Naturally they don't respond to us in English. However, occasionally we caught them speaking to each other in English. Only then we got an idea on their progress in their English language. I heard Jasmine saying "Wao you doing?" instead of "What are you doing?" and "Chri-mas" instead of "Christmas". I corrected her immediately.
Saturday, Feb 3, 2001 (3y+5m+28d)
We carpooled with Aunt Tina, Uncle Ivan and Cousin Natalie to the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show at Cow Palace in San Francisco. We tried to keep the kids away from the dangerously looking huge dogs such as the BullMastiffs after the fatal attack in San Francisco last Friday.Joanne patted many big dogs including some big friendly ones such as the Russian wolfhound Borzois and golden retrievers. Jasmine only selectively patted some. She wanted to pat a Spaniel in a cage, but couldn't. She kept calling her Lady, as in the Disney's cartoon "Lady and the Tramp". Cousin Natalie didn't touch any dog all day.
We had dinner in Sunset district before returning home.
Sunday, Feb 4, 2001 (3y+5m+29d)
We went out for lunch. When we left the restaurant, mommy left with Joanne first, daddy and Jasmine was slow behind. Jasmine cried at the top of her lungs complaining mommy didn't wait for her.We went shopping at Costco. When we were leaving, the twins stayed with daddy in the shopping cart while mommy took the car to the gas station. Jasmine cried like crazy again complaining mommy left without her. She became a loud crybaby nowadays. Joanne does not have such problem.
The twins stayed home for the rest of the day.
Monday, Feb 5, 2001 (3y+5m+30d)
Mommy took the twins to the doctor's office for the 42nd month checkup. The last check was 18 months ago.When they were waiting in the doctor office, they looked out the windows and saw a park. They insisted to play in the park after the doctor visit.
When the doctor asked them to read the eye chart with different shapes, they didn't respond initially. Then mommy threatened them that the doctor would operate on their eyes if they didn't say what they saw. Immediately, they said the shapes out loud.
The doctor said the twins were very healthy. The twins weighed 26.5 lb. at the 5th percentile, and measured 37 inch tall at the 10th percentile.
They played in the park behind the doctor office for a while and after they returned home, they went to the park near home also.
When daddy tucked in the twins tonight, Jasmine said she didn't want daddy to tuck her in, she wanted mommy instead. Daddy ignored her demand, she bawled loudly. Yet another example of a crybaby.
Tuesday, Feb 6, 2001 (3y+6m)
It is the twins' 3.5 year old birthday today.
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started on Feb 7, 2001