This web site is made possible by the advertisement on these banners.
This journal is about raising identical twins.Forty Fourth month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Tuesday, Mar 6, 2001 (3y+7m)
The twins are 43 months old today.The twins went to school as usual. Tuesday is the show-and-tell day. The twins brought the coloring books we bought them at the Disney On Ice show. When the twins took out the books, they wore a big grin on their face. Though they didn't know how to tell they saw the show, they were still very excited to show off the books from the show.
Jasmine became the fast drinker this week. She finished her milk faster than Joanne did almost every time. It was a drastic change compared to just last week. They still take a long time to finish dinner.
Jasmine hurt her foot. She was following mommy too closely. When mommy closed the door behind her, Jasmine's foot caught in the bottom of the door. She got a shallow cut over one inch long on the top of her foot. She didn't bleed, but a narrow strip of skin was scraped off. It must be very painful. She cried in daddy's embrace for about 15 minutes. She didn't forget to take the opportunity to make all kinds of demands. She wanted the Blue's Clues bandage. She wanted to skip bathing for the night. That makes sense to us because we didn't want her wound to get wet either. She also wanted to skip brushing her teeth and went straight to bed.
Wednesday, Mar 7, 2001 (3y+7m+1d)
Mommy and twins joined a lunch gathering with Jane, Debbie, Melinda and their kids. After lunch, they all came to our house to continue. The kids played while the moms chatted. Kendrick fell asleep after the exhausting play. Jane's Jonathan was the most energetic. He outlasted all other kids.When mommy held Jane's Benjamin, the twins wanted to hold him too. They put their arms around the baby and stood still like a stone statue. I don't blame them, I got nervous around young babies too, especially other people's babies.
Joanne started a runny nose in the evening. That explains why she drank milk much slower than Jasmine recently. Her body had been fighting a battle with the germs and she lost her appetite.
Thursday, Mar 8, 2001 (3y+7m+2d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to Toys'R'Us after school.
Friday, Mar 9, 2001 (3y+7m+3d)
Mommy cancelled the "Music Together" class and will make up for it next Wednesday. Joanne just recovered from her minor runny nose from two days ago. Mommy doesn't want her to expose to more viruses from school.Mommy and twins went to Debbie's house. Jane, Melinda et al. and kids were there too.
Saturday, Mar 10, 2001 (3y+7m+4d)
We had dimsum with Uncle Ivan, Aunt Tina and Cousin Natalie at Koi Palace in Daly City. We took off early and arrived at the restaurant around 10:30am. We still had to wait for about an hour to get a table. The restaurant is good but expensive. The price doesn't seem to deter its clientele.After lunch, we took the twins to Tilden Park in Berkeley. We spent some time looking for the pony ride, but later found out that it was closed due to heavy rain in the recent months. We let the twins ride the miniature steam train at the other end of the park. They were very excited about the ride. They didn't remember their last time there. It was when they were just 10 months old.
We stopped by their Uncle Kevin's new house. Granduncle Colin is a builder and he built a big house for his son. We jokingly said the house is too big for one person. It now desperately needs a mistress. Uncle Kevin has to hurry up to look for a girl friend.
We stopped by Tricity in Fremont and bought two bicycles for the twins. The twins were asleep in the car when daddy made all the purchasing decision. We had dinner with Hing and Lucy's family in Mountain View.
We took a long trip around the bay today. We went north on the peninsula to Daly City, across the bay bridge to Berkeley, went south on the east bay, around the tip of south bay to Mountain View and then back to San Jose. We traced a big letter Q around the San Francisco Bay.
Sunday, Mar 11, 2001 (3y+7m+5d)
We went shopping for a pair of bicycle helmets for the twins after lunch. We then went to Maddie L's first birthday party at Gymboree. The twins were probably oldest among all other kids in the party. They were the veterans. They still remembered the Gymboree routines, though they had stopped going to Gymboree long time ago.
Monday, Mar 12, 2001 (3y+7m+6d)
Mommy and twins joined Melinda, Debbie and kids at the park. Mommy brought along one new bicycle and the old tricycle for the twins to ride in the park. Joanne was the brave girl who wanted to try out her new bike. Jasmine didn't get much riding on the tricycle before Joanne got her own bike. So Jasmine specially requested to stick with the tricycle for now. The bike and trike didn't get much used at all because the twins abandoned them once they reached the sandbox. Jasmine's new bike stayed home as the in-door bike for Joanne because Jasmine was not too enthusiastic to use it yet.Mommy, the twins, Debbie and Kendrick went to lunch afterwards. They bumped into daddy in the restaurant.
Tuesday, Mar 13, 2001 (3y+7m+7d)
The twins went to school as usual.Mommy said the twins were quite lazy in the playground. They would sit on the swings and other kids would come over to give them a push. The teacher said they still didn't speak much in school, but they knew when to yell STOP when they wanted to get off the swing. When they were on the merry-go-round, they would just jump on and let other kids push them.
Wednesday, Mar 14, 2001 (3y+7m+8d)
The twins went to the "Music together" class to make up for the session they missed last Friday.In the afternoon, we took Jasmine to the children hospital to see an ophthalmologist. We worried about her cross-eyes for many months now. When we asked her pediatrician before, she told us it didn't look like a serious problem. Since Jasmine's nose is quite flat, it might be just an illusion that her eyes seem crossed. However, Joanne served as a control that highlight Jasmine's problem in comparison. The differences were quite obvious when the twins took photos side-by-side.
Joanne came along and she was more enthusiastic than Jasmine in participating in the eye tests. The doctor had to put the pupil dilation eye drops into Jasmine's eyes. She cried so hard that the tears washed out the medication. As a result, the more she cried the more drops she was getting.
The eye doctor confirmed that she has strabismus (cross-eyes). She believes it is accommodative Esotropia, i.e. Jasmine crosses her eyes whenever she strains her eyes to focus on near objects. The doctor prescribed Jasmine a pair of far-sighted glasses to relax her focusing and hopefully the glasses would correct her problem. Cross-eyes can develop into Amblyopia (lazy eyes) permanently if not treated early.
The twins fell asleep in the car on the way home. Joanne woke up wet. She leaked and wetted her car seat. Jasmine took a piss-stop in the hospital but Joanne didn't. This is a very rare accident because the twins have pretty good bladder control.
Thursday, Mar 15, 2001 (3y+7m+9d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Friday, Mar 16, 2001 (3y+7m+10d)
The twins went to the "Music together" class.Daddy took Grandma Chui to the eye doctor to follow up on the last eye surgery. The doctor said her retina has started to come off again. He gave her a gas bubble operation on the spot. The gas bubble basically acts like a balloon that presses her retina toward the back of her eye. We need to return to the clinic on Monday to get a laser treatment to weld the retina into place.
Saturday, Mar 17, 2001 (3y+7m+11d)
We went to the farmers' market in the morning. We had lunch with Bonnie, CW and their daughter Deanna. After lunch, Bonnie asked if she could borrow Joanne for several hours because Deanna liked to play with her. Joanne dropped everything and followed Deanna immediately. They went to pick up Deanna's brother Addison from his baseball game. They spent some time playing in the park too.We took Jasmine to an optometrist to fill her prescription. We picked a frame, but they needed to order her a smaller size. We decided to try on the frame before making the glasses.
We then went to Fry's electronics to rendezvous with Bonnie. They were there selecting a mouse for their computer. We then went to Valley Fair Mall together for an afternoon snack. When we arrived there, we found out that the mall opened a new expansion wing this weekend. There were live music and other entertainment. We decided to stay a little bit longer after the snack.
We had noticed a lot of construction for the past year or two since Westfeild took over the mall. The construction continues. Another wing will open next year.
In the evening, we went to Pleasanton to have dinner with Ronald and Evon.
Sunday, Mar 18, 2001 (3y+7m+12d)
We went to Grandma Ling's place after lunch. We left the twins with grandma and went to San Francisco in the afternoon. We had dinner at grandma's before we paid a visit to Irene and Tom.
Monday, Mar 19, 2001 (3y+7m+13d)
In the morning, daddy took Grandma Chui to the eye doctor for her laser operation on her eye. We had lunch at a restaurant after the operation. In the middle of the meal, the restaurant was hit by a rolling blackout.California is in a power crisis. Whenever the electricity supply went too low, the Independent System Operator (ISO, a government authority) would order the utility company to cut off power to save the power grid from damage. The power outages take place in a round robin fashion according to the outage blocks assigned to each customer. Basically everyone will get their share of power outage that usually lasts between 60 to 90 minutes when their turn is up. Since the outage rolls from one block of circuits to the next, hence the term rolling blackout. We usually have 30 minutes warning before a rolling blackout. This one occurred with no prior warning at all. Many people complained that they would have saved their computer data if they were given a few minutes warning. The weather was getting hot today. Increased air-conditioning usage must have drained the power supply.
When the twins were brushing their teeth before bedtime, mommy asked the twins to go to the toilet. Just minutes after that, Joanne leaked on the floor in front of the toilet. That made mommy very mad. She was yelling at Joanne while washing and changing her. Jasmine came to me and asked quietly if I could tuck her in. She said she wouldn't bother mommy because she was really mad. She was smart to stay away from mommy at the time.
It was a mystery to me why Joanne lost control of her bladder. It is very unusual.
Tuesday, Mar 20, 2001 (3y+7m+14d)
The twins went to school in summer clothes. The weather was quite hot recently. The kids in school got their school pictures taken today.
Wednesday, Mar 21, 2001 (3y+7m+15d)
Daddy went to the optometrist for an overdue eye exam. Mommy and the twins also came to the optometrist's office to pick up the eyeglass frame we ordered over the weekend. They were disappointed because the frame had not arrived yet.In the evening, daddy asked the twins if they loved daddy. Jasmine said no. She said she likes mommy and she likes daddy only when daddy reads to her. Ouch! That hurts if I take her words seriously.
The twins like to play Winnie the Pooh Preschool computer games. They fought many times because Joanne always hogged over the keyboard and mouse. Joanne liked to play at level 3, the most challenging level. Jasmine would set it back to level 2 whenever she got her turn. She said she did not like level 3. Perhaps it was too difficult for her. We couldn't blame her because she didn't get as much practice time as Joanne did. Jasmine usually gave up her turn after a short while and let Joanne take over. She sometimes tells us that the computer brings tears in her eyes. My theory is that she strains her eyes when she uses the computer. So she has to give up when her eyes are not feeling well. I hope the eyeglasses she is getting will improve her condition.
Thursday, Mar 22, 2001 (3y+7m+16d)
The twins went to school as usual. The weather turned cold after couple of hot days at the beginning of the week.Mommy and the twins had lunch with Lillian. Daddy joined them at the restaurant. After lunch, Jasmine didn't want me to leave. She cried when daddy departed for work. She missed daddy even though she said yesterday that she didn't like daddy.
Friday, Mar 23, 2001 (3y+7m+17d)
The twins went to the last "Music Together" class in this series.
Saturday, Mar 24, 2001 (3y+7m+18d)
We took the twins to grocery shopping in the morning. We also bought some takeout food for lunch because grandpa and Grandma Ling were coming to visit. They came just because they had not come to our house for over 16 months. There was no need for them to visit us because we visited them almost every other week.Aunt Jun, Aunt Tina and Cousin Natalie also came for lunch. They all went out to see the new Valley Fair Mall after lunch. Daddy stayed home alone to work on the tax return. There is less than a month before the filing deadline on April 15.
Sunday, Mar 25, 2001 (3y+7m+19d)
We stayed home all morning. We went out for lunch. Then we stayed home for the rest of the day. We watched the Academy Awards show at home. We started in the afternoon with those pre-shows about the movie-stars fashions on the red carpet outside of the venue. Mommy preferred the fashion show to the actual award ceremony.Mommy was busy watching TV and didn't force the twins to take their afternoon nap. At dinnertime, Jasmine was dozing off at the dinner table. When we told her she did not have to finish her meal, she woke up and became active again. We put them in bed early, but they didn't fall asleep early.
Monday, Mar 26, 2001 (3y+7m+20d)
Mommy and the twins went to the Happy Hallow zoo with Melinda and Alan. The kids went into the patting zoo to feed the goats and sheep. They threw the feeds on the ground and ran. Joanne wanted to pat the animals as we expected she would.During dinner, I asked the twins what their favorite foods were. Both said oranges. Jasmine also added ice cream. They have a huge appetite on Cantonese style steamed fishes. We know how much they like it by how much they eat. They are very good at spitting out the bones that we missed.
Like all babies, the twins' butts still got their blue-greenish color patches. When the twins were taking shower, daddy asked Joanne why her butt was green. She explained it was because of the cantaloupe she ate. She still remembers that whenever she eats too much cantaloupe, her urine becomes acidic and causes rashes on her butt. She thought the rashes made her butt green. Jasmine then added, "��o�[! Cantaloupe�S���Y���. ��YKiwi��! (Silly! Cantaloupe is not green. It was because of the Kiwi fruit!)"
Fifteen minutes after we tucked the twins in bed, they got out of bed and came to our room asking for ice cream. They mentioned ice cream at dinnertime and they couldn't get the idea out of the mind. We promised them ice cream after school tomorrow.
Tuesday, Mar 27, 2001 (3y+7m+21d)
The twins went to school as usual.We went to Hing and Lucy's place for dinner. Joanne likes to wear her hair with the pigtails. Jasmine hates it. She removes it whenever possible. She even blames the pigtails for preventing her to put on her seat belt properly.
Joanne's teeth get the same black stains as Jasmine's. We now force them to use the electric toothbrush because their own brushing was not good enough.
Joanne woke up in the middle of the night to request a change of pillow. Her nose bled and stained the pillowcase. We again told her to stop picking her nose. Unlike Joanne, Jasmine does not pick her nose.
Wednesday, Mar 28, 2001 (3y+7m+22d)
Mommy and twins visited Melinda and Alan.When we were having wonton and noodles for dinner, Joanne told me she liked wonton. And she asked me to write its name into the computer. I didn't understand what she meant. Mommy explained that Joanne wanted me to record that into this journal. Mommy must have told them that daddy wrote down their favorite foods in the computer two days ago.
Thursday, Mar 29, 2001 (3y+7m+23d)
The twins went to school as usual.They went to Toys'R'Us after school. Mommy bought them a plastic sandbox about two feet in diameter. It shapes like a ladybug, where the wings form a lid to cover the sand when it is not in use. There was another one in the store with the shape of a turtle. The twins picked the red ladybug instead of the green turtle. Instead of filling it with sand, mommy put water in it to turn in into a tiny wading pool in the backyard. The twins enjoyed getting their feet wet. Mommy got the idea from Melinda. The twins enjoyed playing with a similar box in Melinda's backyard.
While the twins played in the tiny pool, mommy got plenty of time doing some garden work. It was pretty sunny and warm, it was not a problem for the twins to get themselves all wet. They spent almost two hours in the backyard before taking their afternoon nap.
Friday, Mar 30, 2001 (3y+7m+24d)
Mommy bought them a sprinkler that shaped like a fire hydrant. Cousin Natalie came to play with the water too.
Saturday, Mar 31, 2001 (3y+7m+25d)
We had dimsum with Hing and Lucy in Daly City. After lunch, we took the twins to the Exploratorium. The twins had a great time there. It is too early to understand all the science behind the things they played with. However, they like it so much that they asked us to bring them back again. We drove by to the Lombard Street in San Francisco. The twins screamed in joy when the car zigzagged down the crookest street in the city. They also screamed (not sure if in fear) when the car went down the 40° steep streets in the area. They took their afternoon nap in the car on the return trip. We went to the big new Dynasty Restaurant in San Jose for dinner.
Sunday, Apr 1, 2001 (3y+7m+26d)
It is the day to switch to daylight saving time. We lost one-hour sleep last night. It is also April fools day, so we didn't believe it at first when we heard we needed to change the time.We took the twins to the farmers market nearby to buy fruits and vegetables. The twins enjoyed eating the free sample of orange. They went back again and again for more.
We returned home for brunch. While mommy was preparing the meal, we found Joanne crying and screaming with her palms tightly over her mouth. She was in such pain that she ran away from us when we tried to find out what happened. I guess it is just animal instinct to hide when injured. Jasmine confessed that she pushed Joanne and she fell with her face into a door. Jasmine repeatedly said sorry to Joanne and she also kissed her on the forehead trying to make her better. After almost 15 minutes of hugging, Joanne eventually let us inspect her wound. Her upper lip was swollen with little blood on her teeth. We made an ice bag for her to reduce the swelling. By the time mommy finished cooking, she already returned to normal. After the swelling was gone, we noticed a thin abrasion wound running from the side of her nose down the mouth to the chin. We applied some medication on her wound. The red line was formed when her face fell against the edge of a panel in the door.
We took them to Costco for some shopping. We returned home for their afternoon nap. Mommy sneaked out to get a hairdo. Daddy stayed home to work more on the tax return.
Despite the injury in the morning, Joanne didn't complain about pain for the rest of the day. She recovered well.
Monday, Apr 2, 2001 (3y+7m+27d)
Mommy took the twins to the optician. Jasmine's eyeglasses were ready for pick up.Joanne's abrasion wound over her mouth turned in a thin brown line of scar. Joanne explained to me that when it turned brown, the pain was gone.
Tuesday, Apr 3, 2001 (3y+7m+28d)
The twins went to school as usual.The teacher would have no problem telling the twins apart today. Joanne has a brown scar across her mouth; Jasmine wears her new glasses.
The weather was very cold in these few days. The nighttime temperature dropped to the upper 20s.
Wednesday, Apr 4, 2001 (3y+7m+29d)
It was a sunny but cold day. Mommy took the twins to the park with their bicycles. Mommy let them switch between the tricycle and the bicycle. Jasmine preferred the tricycle. She only stayed on the bicycle for a short time. She was afraid of falling because the bicycle leaned on one side or the other despite the training wheels.
Thursday, Apr 5, 2001 (3y+7m+30d)
The twins went to school as usual.Jasmine was getting extra attention from other moms because of her eyeglasses. Some moms praised Jasmine for being cute with the glasses. Some said she looked so formal and serious that she looked like a little teacher. Jasmine also acted serious by mimicking her teachers.
Friday, Apr 6, 2001 (3y+8m)
The twins are 44 months old today.
Previous Next Site map Book List
Visitor Count
Search this site!
started on Apr 6, 2001