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This journal is about raising identical twins.Forty Seventh Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Wednesday, Jun 6, 2001 (3y+10m)
The twins are forty-six month old today.The twins loved to play on TV the three video-jigsaw puzzles that came with the Anastasia DVD movie. Joanne found an old 24 piece Barney jigsaw puzzle she used to ignore. She wasn't old enough to play before. Now she can put the puzzle together in couple of minutes.
Jasmine still asks for help with the puzzle frequently. Jasmine is reluctant to play because Joanne can do it faster. She has the "if I can't win, I won't play" attitude. We hope we can put some competitor spirit in Jasmine.
Mommy took the twins to shopping at Stanford Shopping Center because Nordstrom was on sale. Mommy said the twins seemed to enjoy shopping more than she did. She bought two pairs of shoes for the twins. They were more than one size bigger than their current size. Mommy said it is very tough to find matching items during a sale. So she bought bargain items in advance whenever available.
Thanks to Hing L. and the convenience of digital photography, I have added another page of pictures to our photo album.
Thursday, Jun 7, 2001 (3y+10m+1d)
The twins went to school as usual.They went to Daisy's place for a swim again after school. Mommy left the twins' swimming gears on the roof of the car when she put the twins in the car. She forgot about the stuffs when she drove off. She lost several flotation devices including a new swimming kickboard she bought just today, their swim sweaters and the buoys she lent to Sebastian and Rachel. I estimated the total loss could be more than $50 at replacement cost, though mommy said the actual cost was much less because she purchased most items on sale at the end of last swimming season.
In the evening, I helped Jasmine do a jigsaw puzzle. She repeatedly asked Joanne to finish off for her. I had to insist that she finished it herself, despite Joanne's eagerness to help. I told her that it was okay to seek Joanne's help, but it was not okay to just hand an unfinished task off to someone else. She finished it with reluctance.
I was told that most educators encourage twins to be separated in class. When twins are together, they have a tendency to avoid what the other half is good at. Hence the presence of the other twin would become a hindrance to the learning process. I can see clearly this symptom with Jasmine. We've already planned to separate the twins in the next school term.
Friday, Jun 8, 2001 (3y+10m+2d)
Mommy and twins picked up daddy at work in the evening. We dined out. We went to Valley Fair Mall afterwards. Mommy returned some shoes she bought from Nordstrom earlier. The twins had a great time in the shoes department. They were picking shoes from the shelves and trying them on while mommy was standing in line for the merchandise return. I started to understand what mommy meant when she said the twins enjoyed shopping more than she did. Joanne picked up a pair of shoes. She showed them to daddy and said mommy bought her a pair like that. She tried to put them on, but they were too small for her.When we were home, Joanne wore the shoes she showed daddy earlier. Mommy bought those at a size larger for their future use. Joanne said those were dancing shoes. Mommy scolded her when Joanne wore them throughout the night.
Saturday, Jun 9, 2001 (3y+10m+3d)
We went to Lake Elizabeth in Fremont Central Park for Jonathan's second birthday party/picnic. We were there by 11am. There were only two other guests, the host's brother and his girlfriend. The host Denis said he was there since 8am to occupy the picnic tables because those were on first come first serve basis. Poor Denis spent three hours alone in the park in preparation for his son's birthday party. I'd say it is not easy to be a daddy.We got the bikes out of the minivan. Mommy rode her bike that she had not touched for almost three years. Daddy had to inflate the tires this morning. They were totally airless for years. Mommy led the way, while the twins followed on their bikes. Daddy followed the twins on rollerblades. After just a short while, mommy and Jasmine were out of sight. Joanne was pedaling leisurely. I told her to hurry up and catch up with Jasmine. She said she did not want to go fast. I tried to push her faster from behind. She scolded me. I tried to set a faster pace by skating in front of her. She went even slower. She said she might run into me because I was in front of her.
Mommy and Jasmine were waiting under the shade of a tree when we finally caught up. Then we switched. Joanne followed mommy and Jasmine followed daddy.
Almost the same thing happened with Jasmine. Mommy and Joanne rode off and were out of sight totally. Jasmine slowed down and did not want to go. She even dismounted her bike and asked daddy to carry her back to the picnic. I told her that daddy could not carry a baby and a bike while on skates. She cried. I told her that she still had to ride her bike back after she finished crying. She reluctantly completed the loop with daddy pushing from behind. The path we took should be less than a mile in distance. It took us more than an hour to finish.
Mommy later said I was too lenient to the twins. The twins actually manipulated me by whining and crying because they knew they could get away with what they wanted. I agreed with her assessment because the twins never tried their tricks on mommy. With mommy, there is no option.
When I lied down on my back giving out a sigh of relief, Jasmine asked me what was wrong with me. I told her that daddy's back hurt after pushing her most of the trip with my back bent down. She turned me over and gave me a back massage. Though her massage was just child's "play pretend" and didn't help the pain whatsoever, her gesture brought warmth to my heart.
After lunch, the twins played Frisbee with other kids on the lawn. They didn't play the Frisbee by passing it from player to player. They just tossed the Frisbee on the ground and all kids rushed to it. The kid who picked it up first got the next toss. To the adults' eyes, their game was unskillful and silly. However, both Joanne and Jasmine said they loved it.
In mid-afternoon, the twins remembered that mommy promised them a boat ride on the lake when they were here last week. We rented a pedal boat for $16 and pedaled out on the lake. The twins fought for the helm. The boat went in circles for a while because the twins only knew how to steer in extreme left or extreme right. I guess keeping the helm in the middle was too boring to any child. We later went around the island at the far end of the lake. We got to see dozens of snowy egrets on the tiny island.
The twins' feet could barely reach the pedals while sitting on our knees. They pedaled the last 25 yards all on their own before we returned to the dock. Poon and Sharleen was on the dock with Claire when we returned. The twins put in some serious effort as they pedaled. Perhaps they were highly motivated knowing Claire was watching them from the dock. I guess peer pressure starts at early age.
It wasn't too bad when we went out downwind. When it was time to return, we pedaled across the full length of the lake against the wind. At one point we worried that we might be stranded in the middle of the lake if both of us got muscle cramp. The idea of asking the police patrol boat to tow us in came to our minds repeatedly whenever it passed by us. I guess stupid pride won over sore muscles, so we just waved at the policeman instead.
The twins took a nap in the car when we returned home for a quick shower. We went to Natalie S's third birthday party in the evening. The twins woke up just as we arrived at Yvonne and WaiKit's home. We were over 90 minutes late. We missed the birthday song and the cake cutting, though we still got a piece of birthday cake. We were just in time for a magic show performed by a teenage kid among the guests. The twins had a great time playing with Natalie's toys and jigsaw puzzles before dinner was served.
Only when compared to 3 year old Natalie and 15 month old Maddie, I started to realize that our twins were not babies anymore. It was a long and busy day. We all got a good night sleep.
Sunday, Jun 10, 2001 (3y+10m+4d)
Daddy went to the office to work overtime.Mommy and twins went to pick up Cousin Natalie and Aunt Tina. They parked the car at the Fremont BART station and rode the BART into San Francisco. They went shopping until late afternoon. Cousin Natalie and the twins had a great time riding the subway. They could move around while the train was moving. It was something different from being strapped down in a car seat. The trip was quite time consuming because the trains between Fremont and San Francisco do not run on Sunday. They had to switch train at a station in Oakland. Mommy tried to hurry home in time for their afternoon nap. But the twins didn't take their nap today.
Joanne became cranky after dinner. Kids always do that when they skip their nap. Mommy sent them to bed early. They came out of their beds at least five times asking for this and that. Before they began to think it was a fun game, I told them I would lock their bedroom door until next morning. They stopped and went to sleep.
Monday, Jun 11, 2001 (3y+10m+5d)
Mommy and twins picked up daddy at work in the evening. We dined out. Joanne demanded daddy to feed her. But she kept the food in her mouth for a long time before swallowing. She took a long time to finish her dinner. Jasmine did fine. She played tic-tac-toe with mommy while we all waited for Joanne.The twins each got some toys from Jonathan's and Natalie's birthday party. The Tic-Tac-Toe game was one of those. The twins enjoyed taking their turns to flip the pieces. They did not know how to win the game yet, so we had to hold back our winning moves. They were happy whenever daddy announced they won a game.
Joanne recently developed a habit of smelling her hand whenever she touched something. Besides the action looked weird, we worried that she would expose herself to more germs and viruses due to the sniffing. We ordered her to cut that out, but she didn't listen. Today, I asked her how her hand smelled. She said it smelled good. It had the smell of the lotion. I didn't expect the kids to understand sarcasm any time soon.
Jasmine started to like the jigsaw puzzle. She had been practicing with her Blue's Clues 24 piece puzzle over and over again. She was not as fast as Joanne was. But at least she enjoyed finishing up on her own. She was still quite possessive of her own puzzle. She didn't like to exchange hers with Joanne's Barney puzzle.
Mommy said Joanne repeated her Barney puzzle about 20 times a day. She got to play the Blue's Clues puzzle only if Jasmine was not watching. We planned to buy them more new puzzles. Solving the same puzzle repeatedly is pathetic.
Tuesday, Jun 12, 2001 (3y+10m+6d)
The twins went to school as usual. Daisy invited the twins for a swim in their pool after school. Mommy declined because she didn't sleep well last night and the weather was cooler than last week. Mommy and twins stayed home for the rest of the day.In the evening, the twins fought again because Joanne played with Jasmine's Blue's Clues puzzle. Jasmine forcefully interrupted Joanne numerous times with hitting, pushing and grabbing etc. At the same time, she hid several pieces in the box. Jasmine took double insurance, she made sure Joanne couldn't play or finish her puzzle. Joanne disregarded Jasmine and put together all the pieces she had. When Joanne asked Jasmine for the hidden pieces, the final showdown was about to happen. Daddy intervened and told Jasmine to play with Joanne's Barney puzzle as an exchange. She refused, she said she did not know that puzzle. Instead of going against Jasmine's will, I asked Joanne to sit back and watch Jasmine putting in the remaining pieces. All applauded when Jasmine put in her finishing touch.
Later Joanne unselfishly asked Jasmine to do her Barney puzzle. Jasmine reluctantly did it. She was happy and proudly showed it to everyone when she finished.
We could observe two different personalities. Jasmine didn't want to do new puzzles because she didn't know how to do them. She only wanted to stick to the familiar. Joanne wanted to do other puzzles because it was fun to take new challenges.
Wednesday, Jun 13, 2001 (3y+10m+7d)
Mommy and twins stayed home all day.
Thursday, Jun 14, 2001 (3y+10m+8d)
The twins went to school as usual.After school, the twins told mommy it was so hot that she must take them to the swimming pool. The twins must have hypnotic power; mommy obeyed. Mommy bought a replacement for the swim sweaters that she lost last week. Since it is tough to watch for two kids in the pool at the same time, it is important that one twin is in a safe buoy while mommy plays/swims with the other. She only bought one because the twins would not need that soon. They brought a floating "noodle" to the pool. Neither twin wanted to wear the new swim sweater. Both fought for the noodle.
Daddy worked overtime at the office. They were all asleep when I got home.
Friday, Jun 15, 2001 (3y+10m+9d)
In the morning, daddy got a surprise gift from each twin. The teacher helped them make happy father's day cards yesterday at school. They handed me the card with a happy father's day wish and gave me a kiss on the cheek.The power went out in the morning. The twins couldn't accept that they couldn't use their computer or watch TV. They kept asking me why the electricity went out. I could only show them there was no power anywhere in the house. I didn't know how to explain to them why California got in such a mess of power shortage and rolling blackouts. Only the politicians know. The twins were happy again when the power resumed after 15 minutes.
Saturday, Jun 16, 2001 (3y+10m+10d)
We got up at 3am in the morning. The twins got up with no complaint at all when we told them it was time to go to the airport. We dressed them and fed them a glass of milk. We put them in the minivan and headed for Aunt Tina's home by 3:45am. We fed them some bread on the way. We picked up Aunt Tina, Uncle Ivan and Cousin Natalie. Then we headed for the airport. We arrived at the airport by 5:30am. After I dropped off everyone and all the luggage for check-in, I parked the car at the long-term parking.When I got back to the terminal via the shuttle bus, they were all checked in and waiting at the gate. The twins asked me why we gave away their car seats. I explained to them that we could get back our checked-in luggage after we arrived at our destination. I still had twenty minutes before boarding. I took the twins to the play area near the gate. There were some tubes for kids to crawl in. Joanne decided to climb on top of the tubes instead. Jasmine, of course, followed her sister's lead.
The play area had a Tornado machine from the Exploratorium. The machine blew out some white smoke at the bottom. A suction fan at the top created an upward draft. When the smoke rose to the top of the machine, it spun around to form a twisting tornado. The twins said it looked like the twister that took Dorothy to the Land of Oz. Jasmine followed other kids to play on top of the machine. Whenever the whirlwind was formed, Jasmine jumped into the middle of it and broke it up. Perhaps she wanted to visit the Wizard of Oz.
The twins each had a Hello Kitty suitcase with wheels. They pulled their own luggage onto the airplane. Jasmine sat next to daddy, Joanne sat next to mommy at the row in front of us. Cousin Natalie and her parents sat several rows behind us. Jasmine was asking questions one after another. She asked what each button was for. She asked why the stewardess took so long to serve the drinks. She asked when she could unbuckle the seat belt. She asked where Cousin Natalie was. She just kept the questions coming. I found an audio channel with some Disney's songs. The twins told me they heard The Lion King before I recognized the melody of the song. Jasmine was quiet for a while when she listened to the music with her headphones. She pointed out pretty pictures to daddy when she flipped through the SkyMall catalog. I was worried that she might ask me to place an order.
We landed at the Vancouver airport in Richmand, BC, Canada about two hours later. After we found all our luggage and rented a minivan, it was almost lunchtime. We had lunch in Richmond and checked in to the hotel early. Though check in time was at 3:30pm, the hotel let us check in around noon. Everyone was exhausted and decided to take an afternoon nap to recover the sleep time that we missed in the morning.
We had dinner before going for a swim at the hotel's pool. Mommy only brought one inflatable buoy and Jasmine hogged over it. Joanne was okay without the buoy when she piggybacked on top of daddy zigzagging across the pool.
In the middle of the night, Joanne fell off the bed. She climbed back in bed by herself. The noise woke us up.
Sunday, Jun 17, 2001 (3y+10m+11d)
It was father's day. Jasmine said happy father's day to daddy with a kiss on the cheek. Joanne repeated reluctantly.We left the hotel at around 9am. We drove around to look for breakfast. Most Chinese restaurants in town were not opened until 11am. We found one 24 hour Chinese restaurant. We had a full brunch before going to the Capilano suspension bridge in North Vancouver. The twins remembered the place and they had fun walking across the swaying bridge. They enjoyed the swaying motion so much that they refused to hold on to the rope on the side as they stumbled across. On the other side of the canyon, they had fun throwing stones into the ponds. We parted with Cousin Natalie's family and turned back early when the twins wanted to go to the bathroom. After they had waited for Cousin Natalie impatiently for awhile, they wanted to cross the bridge again. Daddy stayed behind to take some video footage of their crossing. Mommy and the twins turned around when they found Cousin Natalie and her parents near the far end of the bridge. We then spent some time shopping for souvenir.
We later went to Pacific Center in downtown Vancouver. We had a quick lunch in the food court. Mommy took Joanne and went with Aunt Tina to shop on Robson Street nearby. Daddy took Jasmine and went with Uncle Ivan and Cousin Natalie to look for toy stores. To our disappointment, there were no toy stores in the entire shopping mall. Jasmine was tired and she fell asleep on daddy's shoulder. We returned to the food court to wait for mommy to return. Mommy said Joanne was very well behaved and she enthusiastically helped mommy shop. The best thing was she didn't ask mommy to carry her.
We returned to Richmond to make dinner reservation. Most restaurants were fully booked because of the father's day. We booked a table for 7:30pm at the earliest. We did some shopping to kill time before dinner. The restaurant was crowded and the kitchen was slow because of the crowd. The dishes were served intermittently over a period of two and a half hours. We were glad that the twins were not too impatient at the table.
Due to the delay at dinner, we cancelled the swim plan at the hotel. In lieu of swimming, Cousin Natalie got her dad's approval to play Nintendo games in the hotel room. The twins were watching intensely, but they never got their hands on the game. Joanne lost interest after a while, but Jasmine was most interested in the game. She didn't stop nagging until daddy promised her that she could play Cousin Natalie's Nintendo games after we returned to the US.
In the middle of the night, Jasmine fell off the bed. She climbed back in bed as if nothing happened. The noise woke up daddy. Mommy was so soundly asleep that she didn't know about it.
Monday, Jun 18, 2001 (3y+10m+12d)
Cousin Natalie and her family joined a local tour to Victoria. They left at 7:30am in the morning before the twins woke up. We went to Butchart Gardens last time. We decided not to go again this time because the trip was quite costly.After lunch, we took the twins to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. The Aquarium was not very big, but the collection of species was quite impressive. The twins were particularly interested in the little sea horses. They called them Horsea like one of the Pokemons. They were also awed by the octopus. They feared the octopus because of the villain in The Little Mermaid cartoons. They also liked to watch the beluga whales from the underwater observation deck. The twins were tiny in comparison when the whales swam behind them just outside the window to the tank.
We stopped by the Costco in Richmond on our way back. They had a large collection of Swarovski crystal figurines (close to 100). The Costco near home only carries one or two pieces at a time. The Canadian Costco also carries more selections of DVD movies.
We rendezvoused with Cousin Natalie and family at the restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we went swimming in the hotel's pool for more than two hours. Jasmine again hogged over the buoy almost the whole time. When Joanne got her turn of the buoy at last, I asked her to jump into the water from the edge of the pool. She was brave enough to jump and she enjoyed the thrill of sinking under water for a brief moment. Jasmine refused to try. But she was willing to jump into the water from daddy's shoulders that were leveled with the water surface.
We went out for another late night dinner before going to bed.
In the middle of the night, Joanne fell off the bed with a loud bang on the wall. She whimpered because she was disoriented in the dark. She was stuck in the gap between the bed and the wall. Daddy had to rescue her from the awkward position. She woke up everyone, but she got back to sleep right away.
Tuesday, Jun 19, 2001 (3y+10m+13d)
We checked out from the hotel by 9am. By this time, Joanne already had enough of pulling her own luggage. She asked daddy to carry her luggage. Jasmine still pulled her own suitcase enthusiastically. We went to the 24-hour restaurant for breakfast. We bought some takeout to substitute the awful airline lunch.I dropped the luggage and everyone off on the curbside at the airport. I returned the rental car before joining the group again just outside the US Customs Service. It was kind of strange to clear US Customs on Canadian soil. When everything is cheaper in Canada, it makes good business sense.
Jasmine fell asleep just before the plane landed. Daddy had to carry her off the plane. She woke up before we reached the luggage claim area. While everyone else waited for the luggage, daddy took the shuttle bus to retrieve the minivan from the long-term parking. I noticed the long-term parking at Vancouver airport was at Canadian $7.5 per day (US $5). The long-term parking cost $15 per day at San Francisco Airport that was three times as expensive. During the trip, we used the family band two-way radios to keep in contact whenever we had to separate. The radios were extremely helpful in situation like this.
Joanne fell asleep on the way to Cousin Natalie's home. Jasmine stayed awake all the way. I asked Jasmine to take a nap. She said she already did, even though she only napped for about 15 minutes. We knew what was on her mind, but we just refrained from reminding her. As soon as we arrived at Natalie's home, Jasmine asked for the Nintendo games. We wished she forgot, but she didn't. We carried Joanne together with her car seat into the house. She continued her nap while Jasmine played with the video games. We went home after Joanne woke up.
The main goal of this trip was to eat delicious food. The restaurants were cheaper and the foods were better and closer to Hong Kong style than those near our home. We had many sumptuous meals during the trip. So we decided to have just a fruit salad for dinner. Everything returned to normal after the four days excursion.
Wednesday, Jun 20, 2001 (3y+10m+14d)
The heat wave hit the area again. The temperature reached above 100 degree F.Mommy and the twins had lunch with Lillian. The twins demanded to go to the pool because it was too hot. Mommy was still very tired from the trip, so she declined the request. They stayed home for the rest of the day.
We bought two new jigsaw puzzles in Canada for the twins. Joanne picked Dumbo; Jasmine picked Aladdin and Jasmine. They opened the new 40-piece puzzles for the first time today. While mommy was helping Jasmine halfway through the Aladdin puzzle, Joanne came to mommy and showed off her finished puzzle. Mommy was surprised at her speed because the 40-piece puzzle was twice as complex as the 24-piece they used to play with. This time Joanne was quite possessive of her Dumbo puzzle, she was unwilling to share it with Jasmine.
Daddy worked overtime at the office. But I still got home before the twins went to bed.
The twins' Blue's Clues toothpaste was about used up. Mommy took out the new Barney (Colgate) toothpaste that the twins picked sometime ago. Just like last time they changed brand on toothpaste, both twins complained that they didn't like the new flavor. Mommy said it was not her fault because the twins picked the Barney toothpaste themselves. Daddy told them that they should stick with what they liked instead of choosing new toothpaste by the cartoon patterns on the tube.
Both toothpastes had bubblegum flavor, however, the Colgate brand was fruitier. Joanne gladly switched to the new toothpaste. Jasmine insisted that she wanted to stay with the Blue's Clues toothpaste. I told her that there was not much left in the tube. She had to switch over soon. Yet this was another observation on the twins' different personality. Joanne welcomes the new; Jasmine sticks to the old and familiar.
Thursday, Jun 21, 2001 (3y+10m+15d)
Today was the last day of school. It was the clown's day. The school suggested the kids to wear clown's makeup for the occasion. Mommy decided to leave the twins as they were. It was too much work to get the kids ready for school in the morning, let alone extra makeup and costumes. The school set up a clown's visit and special activities for the kids. They rented an air-pumped bouncer for the kids to jump on the inflated pad.The twins woke up from their afternoon nap crying. Mommy thought they probably had nightmare of the clown at school today. The twins told me that the clowns were actually their teachers in disguise. I asked them why they woke up crying. They said it was because they jumped too hard in the bouncer in school. I don't quite understand how the jumping and crying were related. I guess it was a withdrawal effect of the adrenaline rush.
It was another hot day today. They went to the pool in late afternoon.
Friday, Jun 22, 2001 (3y+10m+16d)
It was another hot day today. Sharleen invited mommy and twins for lunch at their house. Claire enjoyed the twins' company so much that when they left, she cried.Daddy worked late again. This time, they were all asleep when I got home.
Saturday, Jun 23, 2001 (3y+10m+17d)
It was not as hot as the past two days. Daddy slept in because of the late work yesterday. We stayed home in the morning.We went out after lunch. We went to a "dollar store" hoping to find some cheap new jigsaw puzzle for the twins. There were only 500-piece puzzles. We didn't buy any because they would be too hard for the twins. The twins were happy to get other items such as Pokemon sticker books and some extra large crayons. At a dollar a piece, we didn't refrain from buying everything the twins picked as long as the items were appropriate for their age. The twins got eighteen items in their "shopping spree".
We went to Hing & Lucy's in the late afternoon. The twins were asleep when we arrived. Daddy stayed in the car with the twins while mommy went inside the house to chat with Lucy. When the twins woke up, we went in the house. The twins were fully occupied with Terence's toys.
One year old Terence went after what the twins were playing. Lucy said Terence didn't play with his toys as much when he was alone. Perhaps it was his way to tell the twins, "It's mine!"
Terence was particularly interested in Joanne. Joanne walked away whenever Terence crawled towards her. Perhaps Terence thought it was a game. He seemed to have fun going around the living room. Joanne ran away from Terence because he was literally drooling all over her. Joanne kept returning to mommy to have the drool wiped off.
For some reasons, Terence didn't go after Jasmine. Perhaps it was because Jasmine was totally absorbed in the toys. She didn't pay attention to Terence at all, and attention was what Terence sought after.
Later in the evening, when Jasmine was not playing with the toys after dinner, Terence approached her too. Jasmine yelled for help when Terence got a firm grip of her dress. Daddy explained to her that little Terence needed to hold on to her or he would fall down. Jasmine stood still nervously until Terence let go of her. It didn't take long because Terence was not interested in her once she stood still.
The twins asked several times to leave because they were tired. But we decided to finish watching a Hong Kong movie on VCD before we left for home. The twins were asleep before we reached home. We transferred them from the car to their beds. They woke up for a short moment. Jasmine went back to sleep right away. Joanne requested to be changed into her favorite Tinker Bell nightdress before falling asleep again.
Sunday, Jun 24, 2001 (3y+10m+18d)
Daddy decided to work overtime at the office. Mommy and twins had lunch with Hing and Lucy. They later went to the 18th annual Northern California Asian American Expo. They spent over two hours at the show. They enjoyed the free concerts and free toys handout at the expo.They got home after 5pm. When mommy asked if the twins were hungry, they said of course they were hungry since they'd walked a long time today. They also asked mommy to give them plenty to eat. They took their nap after they played a round of jigsaw puzzle. They napped for over three hours.
Monday, Jun 25, 2001 (3y+10m+19d)
Joanne playfully poked mommy's face with her finger. Mommy told her that she should not do that because she might accidentally poke out the eyes. With some exaggerations, she added that mommy might die if she poked the wrong acupressure point. Joanne uttered a long response (of course in Cantonese) that basically said the following: "If mommy died, I would take my pillow downstairs and cry for a long time. When daddy comes home and asks me why I cry, I would then tell him that mommy died."Joanne probably was bored after she repeated her jigsaw puzzles numerous times. Today she cried in frustration because she failed to do what mommy did with the puzzle. She wanted to do the border of the puzzle first before filling in the pieces in the center. I explained to her that she didn't have to do that as long as she could solve the puzzle her own way. She insisted, so I showed her how to pick out all the puzzle pieces with a straight edge. She took much much longer to put together the puzzle this way than the regular way.
Tuesday, Jun 26, 2001 (3y+10m+20d)
No school for the twins until the summer school term that starts next week. We signed them up for the afternoon class four days a week.The twins went to the Happy Hallow Zoo in the morning. Then they visited Debbie and Kendrick during lunchtime.
Recently, the twins have been watching the Disney's animation "Hercules" over and over again. When I suggested them to switch to another DVD, they both screamed a firm "No!" They occasionally watched the movie from start to finish, but they often just selected the chapter where Hercules dove into the life-sucking green slime in the underworld. To me, the scene was very scary with ghostly images and Hercules almost turning into a zombie. I don't understand its appeal to the twins. The other scenes they liked were that of baby Hercules turned into a mortal after drinking the potion from Hades and those scenes with Meg (the main female role of the story).
Wednesday, Jun 27, 2001 (3y+10m+21d)
Mommy and twins bumped into daddy during lunchtime. Jasmine didn't let go of daddy when it was time to return to the office.I bought a 3-D jigsaw puzzle (a crab) for the twins at the dollar store. The twins liked to piece together the 3-D crab, but not as crazy about it as the regular puzzles.
Thursday, Jun 28, 2001 (3y+10m+22d)
After the afternoon nap, the twins proudly announced that they didn't need to sleep ever again. Mommy simply said "We would wait and see!" Shortly after dinner, the twins changed their minds and said they wanted to sleep.
Friday, Jun 29, 2001 (3y+10m+23d)
Debbie brought her sons to visit the twins during lunchtime. Kendrick and the twins played in the inflatable pool in our backyard.
Saturday, Jun 30, 2001 (3y+10m+24d)
We went to Charlie & Helen Conklin's wedding in the morning. We have not seen Charlie and Helen for several years now. The last time we met was in one of Charlie's hot air balloon launch before the twins was born.We told the twins in advance that they could not make any noise during the wedding ceremony. The twins kept very quiet during the ceremony although they were restlessly climbing up and down the church bench. Since we sat behind most other guests, the twins didn't cause any disruption at all.
At the end of the ceremony, the couple and guests released butterflies in the courtyard outside the church. We were told that it was an American Indian belief that the butterflies could bring the wishes to heaven. Jasmine opened the envelope and released her butterfly successfully. Joanne was startled and threw the envelope on the ground when the butterfly fluttered. She was scared and refused to pick it up. Mommy released Joanne's butterfly for her. Since the hosts told us in advance that the wedding reception was not appropriate for kids, we didn't go to the reception.
We went to Grandma Ling's place for lunch. In the afternoon, mommy, Aunt Tina, Aunt Jun and Cousin Natalie went shopping in San Francisco. Daddy went to IKEA when the twins took their afternoon nap.
Joanne cried several times for various minor incidents. Jasmine sternly ordered Joanne not to cry again because she had already cried earlier. Jasmine usually cried more often than Joanne did. But once in a while, their mood swing reversed and Joanne became the crybaby instead.
We left after dinner. The twins requested that they wanted to play with Cousin Natalie. When we asked if they wanted to stay overnight with Cousin Natalie, they eagerly agreed. We dropped off the twins with Aunt Tina on our way home. The twins happily said goodbye when we left.
We had a peaceful night and sound sleep without the twins. The twins chat a lot with each other in bed before they fall asleep. They are very noisy especially when they just wake up.
Sunday, July 1, 2001 (3y+10m+25d)
We slept in a little because it was a rare occasion that we could sleep in absence of the twins' noise. We called the twins on the phone. Jasmine said she was scared last night, but she said she didn't cry. They slept on a mattress on the floor in Cousin Natalie's room. Aunt Tina said when she checked them at night, Jasmine was in Natalie's bed, and Natalie was on the mattress with Joanne. In the morning, Natalie was on her own bed. Sometime during the night, they switched places.We picked up the twins around lunchtime. Joanne told us to come back later because she wanted to stay with Natalie longer. Since Uncle Ivan and Aunt Tina had their own plans for the day, we ignored Joanne's request.
After lunch, mommy wanted to visit the hairdresser. The twins followed daddy to the office. I thought I could get some work done while babysitting the twins. It turned out that babysitting the twins was an exhausting full time task.
As we walked in and passed by the copier room, Joanne pointed to the copy machine and demanded to take some "black photos". It took me a while to figure out what she meant. Once a long time ago, when the twins were in my office on a weekend, I showed the twins that we could make a copy of the hands on the copier machine. Because the pictures came out very dark, she called them black photos. It was probably over a year ago. I didn't expect the twins to remember that at all.
Worrying the scanning light might be too bright for their eyes, I picked up Joanne and put her head sideways on the machine to take a profile of her. The scan only showed her ear. She was not satisfied. She demanded to take a picture of her face. So I picked her up again and asked her to put her face on the glass and keep her eyes shut to avoid the bright light. The copy turned out to be extremely funny with a flattened nose and tightly squeezed eyes. When the twins saw the picture, they both laughed hysterically. After the laughters settled, Jasmine wanted her picture taken too. Since Jasmine had her glasses on, her nose wasn't pressed against the machine. Her picture turned out quite normal. When Joanne saw Jasmine's decent picture, she wanted to take a better one. On the contrary, Jasmine requested to take an ugly one with a flatten nose. But because of her glasses, her second picture came out normal too. I stopped the madness by telling them that the bright scanning light was not good for their eyes.
The twins were restless in my office, so I gave them some color markers and paper to draw pictures with. That didn't help. They kept asking me to draw pictures for them to fill in the color. I searched the Internet and found http://www.coloring.com. But instead of coloring the printed pages, they wanted to do the coloring on the computer. That was when they seized my computer, no productive work was done since then. The twins enjoyed the activities and printed their work for mommy to see.
When mommy returned, mommy asked the twins whether they had fun in daddy's office and whether they preferred to be with daddy or mommy. Joanne said she preferred to stay with daddy. Jasmine said she preferred mommy. Daddy was so exhausted that we all returned home for an afternoon nap. We woke up after dinnertime. We went out for a late dinner.
The twins played with their jigsaw puzzles and spread them on the family room floor. When it was time for bed, mommy asked them to put their puzzles back in the boxes. Joanne said she was tired and she did not want to pick up the puzzles. Both twins ignored mommy's order and just walked away. Mommy gave the twins a spanking and a lecture about leaving the mess behind. Jasmine was in tears when she picked up the puzzles. Joanne giggled and gave daddy a cunning look instead. She probably thought that she was lucky to get by with just a slight spank.
Monday, July 2, 2001 (3y+10m+26d)
Mommy took the twins to Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant in the morning. Several families of their classmates from last school term decided to have a gathering there. The twins had a great time playing the games and rides there.When mommy took the twins to school in the afternoon for the summer school term, she found out that the twins were assigned to the morning class despite mommy signed them up for the afternoon class. Mommy also requested that the twins be separated in different classrooms, but that didn't happen either.
They didn't miss much this morning because the first day was just for orientation. They really didn't need that because they already were familiar with the school policies and procedures. Nevertheless, the twins played for a while in the classroom before leaving.
The change back to the morning was okay because mommy regretted the earlier decision anyway. The afternoons are too hot in the summer. Even though the classrooms are air-conditioned, the cooler morning class would be better just in case the infamous Californian rolling blackouts take place. Due to the longer days in summer, the twins have no problem getting up in the morning. We may reconsider the afternoon class again in the winter.
It was a hot day. We took the twins to the pool before dinner. The early evening swim was ideal because the sky was bright enough but we didn't need sun block lotion. The days are longest around this time of year. There is still twilight after 9pm.
Tuesday, July 3, 2001 (3y+10m+27d)
The twins went to school. It was the first day of school for the summer school term.We told the twins last week that this was a new class and their classmates would be different. Joanne responded unhappily about going to school again. She thought mommy told them they were done with school already. However, when we asked them whether they like school, they both said yes and they liked Miss Akila.
It was a hot day. The weather forecast said tomorrow would be even hotter.
Wednesday, July 4, 2001 (3y+10m+28d)
It is Independence Day Holiday, USA's 225th birthday. Daddy took the next two days off from work to make it a five day long weekend.We had lunch with Uncle Ivan, Aunt Tina, Cousin Natalie, Aunt Jun and Aunt Jennifer. We went to the Great Mall afterwards. Mommy and Aunt Tina went shopping. Uncle Ivan, Cousin Natalie, daddy and the twins went to D&B's game room. The twins were in this video arcade when they were 31 months old. At the time, they couldn't bear the noise. They were okay this time and they had fun playing various games. We went swimming in the pool in the late afternoon.
We knew the twins did not enjoy fireworks. We stayed home in the evening. We sent the twins to bed just after dark. They heard the faint explosions of the fireworks at a distance. They cried and trembled in fear. Joanne said she still remembered the fireworks at Disneyland (14 months ago). Both twins hugged me tightly. They didn't let go of me until I'd convinced them the fireworks were very far away and they would stop very soon.
Thursday, July 5, 2001 (3y+10m+29d)
The twins went to school as usual.The twins are very good at their Cantonese. They can express themselves very clearly in long sentences. However, their English grammar is not very good. Instead of saying, "I don't want to eat", they would say, "I not eat". We tried to correct them whenever possible. We are not too worry though because we think it is more important for them to pick up Chinese at this age. When they start to attend kindergarten, they may not want to speak any Chinese at all.
Friday, July 6, 2001 (3y+11m)
The twins are forty-seven month old.
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started on July 10, 2001