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This journal is about raising identical twins.Fiftieth month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Thursday, Sep 6, 2001 (4y+1m)
The twins are 49 months old today.Mommy took the twins to Toys'R'Us. They bought a LEGO table that was on sale. They also bought some new jigsaw puzzles.
The twins went to school in the afternoon.
Friday, Sep 7, 2001 (4y+1m+1d)
The twins went to school as usual.Mommy dropped them off at Grandma Ling's place after school. The twins had been asking for an overnight stay at grandma's for several days now. Mommy took this opportunity for a short break. She decided to pick them up again on Sunday so that daddy and mommy could have more than 36 hours of quiet time.
Mommy fed the twins dinner before leaving. Jasmine changed her mind and wanted to return home with mommy. Mommy told her that she requested the trip and she had to live with her own decision. Jasmine agreed to stay. She seemed to understand responsibility.
Saturday, Sep 8, 2001 (4y+1m+2d)
Mommy and daddy enjoyed a quiet day without the twins. We had lunch with Lillian and William and then we went to watch the movie "American Pie 2". We knew we were in the wrong age group to watch this movie, but we still got a good laugh at the silliness.When we called to check on the twins, we found that they managed to nag grandpa to buy them a toy gun. I always think gun is a symbol of violence. This was the first toy gun they had and I wish it was the last.
Grandma Ling had just finished sewing some curtains for the windows. Joanne put the fabrics over her head and pretended to be the bride. She asked Jasmine to be the bridegroom. When Jasmine wanted to be the bride also, Joanne told her it took a girl and a boy to get married. She also added that Jasmine couldn't be the bride because she was a boy. Actually it was not Joanne's idea. Jasmine had been saying that she was a boy for some time now. In one occasion, Jasmine was running around the house in her underpants after her bath. Daddy told her it was indecent for a girl to run around naked. She told me it was okay because she was a boy. In another occasion, she had an argument with daddy when I corrected her she was not a boy. We were going "Boy! Girl! Boy! Girl!" for a while until Jasmine became very unhappy and disallowed daddy to continue.
Sunday, Sep 9, 2001 (4y+1m+3d)
To those who know computer and UNIX operating system, something special happened today. The UNIX epoch counted one billion seconds. It happened at 01:46:40 UTC today.We picked up the twins from grandma's. Aunt Jun said the twins woke her up early in the morning after grandma went to work in the church. We had enough of our share of early morning wake up calls. That was the reason why we didn't object at all when the twins asked to stay over with grandma. Aunt Jun showed us some pretty pictures by Joanne. Joanne was very good at drawing and coloring. She kept the colors nicely within the line. Jasmine didn't enjoy coloring as much. She sometimes cried when the colors got out of bound. As a general rule in life, we tried to convince her that it was okay to get out of bound once in a while. However, she was quite strict on herself probably due to peer pressure from Joanne.
We picked up Cousin Natalie on our way to the park. The twins and Natalie spent over an hour in the park. Joanne spent most of her time on the swing. When I told her to join Jasmine on the slide because she stayed on the swing for too long, she told me that she played on the swing longer at school and the teachers pushed her without saying as much as I did. I knew it was not true because the playground session at school only last 20 minutes. I didn't argue with her, because it would be silly to argue with a kid who couldn't tell time. When I showed Joanne how to get the swing higher without daddy pushing, she tried. When I showed the same to Jasmine, she refused to try. For the same reason why Jasmine refused to do harder jigsaw puzzles, Jasmine was not intrigued by new challenges. She might want to try after Joanne had some success.
We went to the Elephant Bar for a late lunch. We stopped by Zanybrainy after lunch. Joanne was dozing off before we returned to the car. Jasmine stayed awake until she said goodbye to Cousin Natalie. Since they got up very early this morning, they needed their nap badly. They slept in the car when I went shopping at Costco. They woke up before we reached home.
In the evening, they played with the toys and jigsaw puzzles we bought today. Jasmine took out the Pokemon stickers we bought and transferred them all to her sticker book in less than 30 seconds. Sometimes I wonder if they really enjoy collecting stickers or they treat it as a chore. If latter, I'd rather save my fifty cents in my pocket than sticking them onto the sticker books.
Monday, Sep 10, 2001 (4y+1m+4d)
The twins had asked mommy to take them to the McDonald's PlayPlace near Cousin Natalie's home many times. They reminded mommy that again yesterday when we passed by the restaurant on our way to Cousin Natalie's home. They told mommy that that PlayPlace was a fun place. Mommy said they never played in that PlayPlace before. The twins said they have been there but they were too young to go in at the time. The PlayPlace was designed for three years or above. That again indicated that the twins remembered events happened before they were 3 years old (e.g. they talked about the fireworks in Disneyland that took place when they were 34 months old.)I have been puzzled! I personally don't remember much of my own childhood. The earliest event I recalled was at age 6 just before I entered grade school. However, our twins proved that kids have good memory as early as age 2. In other words, childhood memory between age 2 and age 6 got erased later in life. Probably the overwhelming new knowledge kids picked up in school have some effects on memory of trivial events. I am really curious how this works. If anyone knows a good source of research study, please email me a pointer.
The twins went to school as usual after they played in the McDonald's PlayPlace. They were screaming in joy inside the climbing structure. Of course, they also had half a hamburger there before school.
The twins were asking for food as soon as they came out from school. Looked like the macaroni and cheese were all burnt off at the PlayPlace and the half hamburger didn't last through the afternoon. As predicted after each trip to the playground, the twins took a long afternoon nap.
Tuesday, Sep 11, 2001 (4y+1m+5d)
It was a sad day in the US history. Terrorists launched a coordinated attack on New York City, the Pentagon and other East Coast locations simultaneously. Four commercial airliners were hijacked. Two crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers that collapsed later. One crashed into the Pentagon (US Dept of Defense) and another one crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The last one seemed to miss its intended target or the casualty would have been higher.Uncle Ronnie called us from Hong Kong to tell us about the news. We were still asleep when these horrific events took place.
Joanne came to our room and asked us what we were watching on TV. We explained to her that the bad guys had hurt a lot of people. She asked about the airplane crashing into the building and the explosions and smokes shown on TV. We told her many people died in that crash. She lost interest after a short while. When Jasmine came over later, they took over the TV to watch Pokemon on videotape. Daddy moved downstairs to watch the news in the living room. The twins later came down after they finished Pokemon. Joanne took a glance at the TV and asked "�Y�}��Y�ۤ��G��? (Is it still that movie about burning?)"
The twins wouldn't understand this event might have major impacts on their life in the US. On the lighter side, the way Americans live may change totally from this day on. The people may have to sacrifice some civil liberties in exchange of tighter security to protect ourselves from terrorism. On the pessimistic side, the US may engage in war for years or even start a nuclear war as a result.
Joanne was too innocent to worry. Jasmine wasn't even aware of the whole thing.
Mommy was so focused on the TV news, she forgot to take the twins to the "Kids in Tune" class. They went to school as usual.
Wednesday, Sep 12, 2001 (4y+1m+6d)
Mommy went to the farmers' market with the twins and Melinda's family. Of course, the twins wouldn't miss their rounds of free fruit sampling.The twins went to school as usual in the afternoon. Mommy parked the car under the shade to listen to the news on the radio.
In the evening, Jasmine cried because she said she hurt her finger in school. She had been holding a tight fist all day long. When mommy asked her to open her palm for inspection, she refused. After some persuasion from both mommy and daddy, she eventually opened her palm. She got a small nick on her left index finger. Her palm was sweaty and pale white because the skin has soaked in her own sweat. She refused to let mommy dress the cut with Neosporin. Daddy rolled up a wash cloth and asked her to grip on to it instead of just holding a tight fist for the rest of the night. I thought that at least the cloth would keep her skin dry. I also wrap her fist with a small towel. She liked it a lot.
Thursday, Sep 13, 2001 (4y+1m+7d)
The twins went to school as usual. After school, they spent time working on the Disney's sticker book. They didn't take an afternoon nap.Jasmine finally let daddy put on some Neosporin on the wound on her finger. She got a Blue's Clues bandage too.
Friday, Sep 14, 2001 (4y+1m+8d)
The twins were 1500 days old today.The twin went to school as usual. They rode their bikes to the park after school.
Joanne took pride in doing her own ponytail. She only knew how to twist the rubber band one time. So if the rubber band were too big, her ponytail would fall apart easily. But she wouldn't let mommy fix her hair. She said she would do it for Jasmine too. But of course, Jasmine won't let her.
Saturday, Sep 15, 2001 (4y+1m+9d)
We went to Vasona Park in the morning with Hing and Lucy's family. The twins and Terence had fun playing in the playground and riding the miniature train and carousel. We went out for lunch together. We then spent the afternoon at the Great Mall. We had dinner together before going home.
Sunday, Sep 16, 2001 (4y+1m+10d)
We received a phone call from Echo who was stranded in the US after the terrorist attack on the East Coast. She originally planned to return to Taiwan in the evening of the 11th. She would have been back home if her flight were a day earlier. She decided to stay a bit longer even after the US air traffics resumed because she heard that there were long delays at the airports. We went out for dim sum lunch together. She had not come to the US for the past 5 years, so she saw our twins in person for the first time though we sent her pictures before.On the way to the restaurant, the car passed a building that looked like a shopping mall. Jasmine pointed at it and said it was a mall. Mommy said it was not a mall. Jasmine cried quite emotionally due to mommy's disagreement. It turned out that mommy was wrong. It was a mall.
The twins behaved very well despite their first meeting with Echo. They didn't hesitate to give her a goodbye hug before we left.
We took the twins to Gilroy outlets for a Hello Kitty shopping spree. The Sanrio outlet store there had a 50% off sale on everything in the store. The twins picked their own selections and dropped them into daddy's shopping basket. Mommy filtered though the basket before proceeding to the cash register. Joanne nagged and whined when mommy removed some of her selections. Jasmine was okay with mommy's triage.
The twins demanded daddy to take them to the park with swings. They rode their bikes to the park at least ten blocks away. I picked a route through another park so that we only needed to cross the road once despite the distance. On the way back, Jasmine complained that her legs were tired. However, when we passed the first park again, she wanted to play more. I agreed so that they could get off their bikes to rest a little.
Monday, Sep 17, 2001 (4y+1m+11d)
The twins went to school as usual. After school, the twins managed to get mommy to take them to Target store. They probably didn't buy anything, but they would still enjoy an excursion. Due to the side trip, they didn't take their afternoon nap. During dinner, the twins were extremely slow in eating. Joanne almost dozed off with food still in her mouth. Mommy threatened not to take them to Target again if they failed to finish dinner properly. The twins became active again after dinner. But mommy sent them to bed early.
Tuesday, Sep 18, 2001 (4y+1m+12d)
Due to early bedtime last night, the twins got up before 6:30am. They ran in and out of our room and made mommy very mad. They were sent back to their room. They took out all the toys from their toy chest and spread them all over the floor. Their disturbance deprived us of the sleep we badly needed.They went to school as usual in the afternoon after they went to the "kids in tune" class. Jasmine fell asleep before arriving at school. Joanne later reported that Jasmine fell off the swing during the playground session. Jasmine said she hung on to the chains so she didn't fall to the ground. She blamed the teacher for pushing too hard. When the twins asked daddy to push their swings, they always demanded to swing as high as possible. So obviously it was not the teacher's fault. I suspected that Jasmine fell because she dozed off on the swing. After school, Joanne fell asleep on the way home. Mommy let them take a long afternoon nap. When the twins woke up early in the morning, we could predict that they would not last the whole day.
Wednesday, Sep 19, 2001 (4y+1m+13d)
The twins slept in. They were still in bed when daddy went to work.They went to school as usual in the afternoon. Mommy took them to the park after school. Jasmine had a bowel accident. Apparently she had a minor diarrhea and couldn't have full control. Mommy changed her and used a paper towel as makeshift underpants.
They attended a dance class before returning home. Mommy fell sick with a fever and had diarrhea also. Apparently, the same virus infected both Jasmine and mommy. However, mommy was much sicker than Jasmine was.
Thursday, Sep 20, 2001 (4y+1m+14d)
Mommy was weak and diarrhea continued. Daddy also had a diarrhea so I took off from work to get some rest. The whole family except Joanne was affected by the same stomach flu.The twins went to school as usual. They wanted to go the mall after school. Later in the evening, Jasmine complained about not feeling well. We found that she got a 100°F temperature. She was as playful and happy as Joanne was. We would not have learned about her fever if she didn't complain.
Friday, Sep 21, 2001 (4y+1m+15d)
Daddy recovered and returned to work. Jasmine's fever was gone in the morning. However, mommy decided to let the twins skip school today because the bug might be spread to other kids in school. Anyway, mommy had not recovered from her diarrhea and really needed some rest.Jasmine had recovered from her fever but she still visited the bathroom at least four times in the evening. Joanne sneezed and had a stuffed nose.
When they were still babies, Joanne often stayed close to Jasmine during her sleep. Joanne often had an arm or a leg on top of Jasmine. Recently, there was a role reversal, Jasmine liked to get on Joanne's bed at night. Joanne often came to our room to complain that Jasmine had been disturbing her sleep.
Mommy lost her patience to settle their dispute in the middle of the night. Mommy moved Jasmine and her bedding to our room and placed her on the floor next to our bed. Everyone got a good sleep for the rest of the night.
Saturday, Sep 22, 2001 (4y+1m+16d)
We stayed home most of the day because all of us were still recovering from sickness.Jasmine said she liked to sleep in our room. Joanne complained that she did not want to sleep alone in her room. Mommy suggested that we shuffle our sleeping arrangement. Jasmine would remain on the floor. Joanne would sleep next to daddy. Mommy would sleep in Joanne's bed instead. Mommy liked it because she could escape from daddy's snoring for a night. Joanne thought it was a good idea probably because she had not done that before despite mommy's warning about daddy's thunderous snoring.
In the middle of the night, daddy was waken by a loud thud and crying. I thought Joanne had fallen from our bed to the floor. It turned out that Jasmine walked into the wall of the closet when she returned from the bathroom in the dark. She bumped her right forehead into the corner of the wall. She cried a little and returned to sleep.
In the morning, Joanne told mommy that daddy only snored lightly. Daddy tried to rub it in and asked if she enjoyed daddy's snoring. Joanne nodded with a smile.
Sunday, Sep 23, 2001 (4y+1m+17d)
Everyone recovered. Joanne's stuffy nose had recovered after just one day. We were glad because the fast recovery was a sign that their bodies were strong in fighting illnesses. Mommy said Kendrick had a stuffy nose for a long time and he ended up with a sinus infection. Though the twins were underweight, they were very healthy and resilient otherwise.We had lunch at the Elephant Bar restaurant. The twins were very excited because we got a table right under the life-size elephant head sculpture. The twins stood up to touch the tusks too. The twins didn't eat much. We didn't blame them because their appetite had not fully recovered yet. After lunch, we gave the twins a choice between the park and the Target store. Jasmine chose the store without hesitation, she said they could always play in the playground at school. Mommy took the twins to the toilet when Joanne wanted to poop. Jasmine said she didn't need to. Then less than a few minutes later, Jasmine changed her mind. That made mommy very mad. She told Jasmine she had to hold till we got home. So we cut short the shopping trip and returned home for their afternoon nap.
The twins took a long nap and woke up after 7pm. We went out for dinner. The twins ate quite well compared to the past few days.
Monday, Sep 24, 2001 (4y+1m+18d)
The twins returned to their normal appetite. They went to school as usual. The first school day of the week is always the show-and-tell day. Jasmine showed the elephant masks she cut out from the kids' menu from yesterday. Joanne showed her almost naked Barbie doll in bikini.The area was hit by a strange thunderstorm in the evening. It only lasted about four hours. The news later reported that some 4600 lightning strikes were recorded. The twins were frightened by the thunders. We closed the curtains and turned up the volume of the TV. They still complained about the loud noises from the sky. We assured them there was nothing to worry about.
Tuesday, Sep 25, 2001 (4y+1m+19d)
Despite the storm last night, we have bright sunshine and exceptionally clear blue sky today.We let the twins watch Blue's clues broadcast on Nickelodeon several times last week. Now they asked for Blue's clues almost every morning including weekends. We took the opportunity to ask them to read the clock themselves. At around 10 each morning, they would turn on the TV and punch in the channel number for Nick Jr.
Mommy forgot about the "Kids in Tune" class again this week. She had no regret though because the twins were not singing anyway. She was glad that the class was finally over because it was quite ineffective and a waste of money. The twins often sang the songs they learned from preschool that indicated the "Kids in Tune" class failed to motivate the kids. The twins went to school as usual.
Jasmine got a sore throat. Her appetite was not too good.
Wednesday, Sep 26, 2001 (4y+1m+20d)
The twins went to school as usual. They attended a dance class after school.We dined out because mommy didn't want to rush home to prepare dinner after the dance class. The twins took a nap in the car while mommy came to the office to pick up daddy. The twins didn't eat much because they woke up just before dinner.
Thursday, Sep 27, 2001 (4y+1m+21d)
The twins got up early today. Mommy was mad at the noise they made. She reheated the dinner they didn't eat last night as their breakfast, then she returned to sleep. The twins went to school as usual. The twins took a long afternoon nap before dinner.
Friday, Sep 28, 2001 (4y+1m+22d)
Mommy took the twins to Chuck E. Cheese for an ex-classmate reunion before sending them to school.
Saturday, Sep 29, 2001 (4y+1m+23d)
We had lunch with Lillian and William in Berkeley. On our way to lunch, the twins enjoyed singing along one of their favorite songs that they passionately called "ŪŪ (duk duk)" song. It was a Cantonese pop song by Sammi Cheng that started with some heavy percussion beats, hence the name "duk duk". They loved it so much because the chorus has several phrases of "Hey! Hey! Hey!" in it. The twins loved to yell in joy and laughters along with the chorus. They sometimes requested the song by name in preference over the other songs on the CD from their school.We dropped off the twins at Grandma Ling's after lunch. Daddy and mommy went shopping in San Francisco for mommy's birthday present. Joanne said she likes to attend birthday party because she likes the cake. Before we took off, Joanne reminded us several times not to forget the birthday cake. Mommy asked grandma to let the twins take an afternoon nap.
However, when we came back after several hours, they were still awake. Grandma said they were too hyperactive and refused to sleep. The twins opened the box to inspect the cake as soon as we put it down on the table. They dragged everyone in the house to take a look at the cake. When Aunt Tina, Uncle Ivan and Cousin Natalie arrived, the twins opened the box again to show the cake.
After dinner, the twins sang happy birthday song to mommy. They were eager to help mommy to blow the candles. Mommy cut the cake, but the twins didn't eat much. Joanne only ate part of the cake and left all the fillings and cream toppings untouched.
The twins fell asleep in the car on our way home. We woke them up, showered them and put them in bed. Jasmine had a temper tantrum probably because we interrupted her sleep.
Sunday, Sep 30, 2001 (4y+1m+24d)
We had lunch with Lucy and Hing. On the way to the restaurant, we sang the song "Old McDonald had a farm". After we exhausted all farm animals we knew about, the twins started to suggest the sound of monkeys and owls. So we changed the song to "Old McDonald had a jungle". They later suggested the sound of lions and elephants, so we again changed the song to "Old McDonald had a circus". They really had fun with the song and the creative process beyond the confinement of the original lyrics.We went to a park near the restaurant after lunch. The twins played in the playground. The swings and slide were under the shade of big trees. However, we still sweated in the shade because it was a very hot day. The weather report said we were in an "Indian summer", a short hot period in the middle of autumn before the winter comes. The twins had to run to the drinking fountains several times to get a sip and a dash of water on their faces.
On the way home, the twins fought for a bottle of water. Jasmine got the last sip, Joanne cried a little and lost some of her water through tears (in reference to the Fermens in Dune :-). The twins had some ice cream and popsicles before they took their afternoon nap. Before they went to bed they made daddy promise to show them "Beauty and the Beast" when they wake up.
After they woke up, they asked for the cartoon again. The twins know how to play their favorite DVD's all on their own. However, my copy of "Beauty and the Beast" is on Laser Disc, they are instructed not to handle the much larger discs. As soon as the movie started, Joanne ran away. She said she was scared of the "beast". Jasmine continued watching. Before the beast made his debut, Jasmine suggested that I played "Cinderella" instead so that Joanne could also watch. Even though Jasmine didn't say she was scared, but she probably didn't feel comfortable to watch the scary scenes without Joanne around.
After movie and dinner, the twins took their bath and stayed in the bathtub for over an hour with their tub toys. We had to add hot water twice to the tub to keep them warm. They came out after their palms and fingers were wrinkled like a prune. As they came out of the tub, they asked daddy why we no longer put "pat-pat powder" on them anymore. Joanne said she wanted the fragrance of the "pat-pat" powder to cover the stench of her "pat-pat" hole. Pat-pat is what we called their buttocks. "Pat-pat powder" was a term they just invented today for the baby powder we used on them when they still wore diapers. Ever since we heard on the news about some research studies showed prolong use of talcum powder caused cervix cancer in women, we cut the use of the baby powder. It was around the time the twins were toilet trained. The baby powder retired along with their diapers. I couldn't remember how long ago we stopped using the baby powder. That was why their question surprised me. Again it was a slice of memory we thought they didn't have. I always wonder how far back human baby's memories are.
After the bath, they opened the new gifts that Lucy gave them today. They were two drawing books with baby Tweety bird and baby Sylvester showing how to draw cartoons with step by step instructions. Joanne enjoyed the book especially because she loves drawing. Jasmine liked it too because the book showed how the pictures were put together in several steps. All of a sudden, she realized she could draw too.
The Mystery of Cassy
Joanne had talked about her friend Cassy a lot. However, whenever daddy interrogated further on who Cassy was, Joanne kept her silence. Jasmine sometimes talked about Cassy too, but when daddy asked, she said Cassy was Joanne's friend. Neither mommy nor Jasmine knew who Cassy was. They have never seen her. But once in a while, Joanne drew pictures and leaked some information about this mysterious friend.The information I collected so far:
- The "a" in Cassy pronouns as in "cat" in American accent, so the name rhymes with Patsy.
- Cassy is five years old.
- Cassy has black hair.
- Cassy's hair is at hip length. Once Joanne jokingly said Cassy's hair dragged on the ground to pick up the dusts like a mop.
- Cassy speaks English.
- Cassy does NOT go to the twins' preschool.
This thing about imaginary friend is too spooky for me.
Monday, Oct 1, 2001 (4y+1m+25d)
The twins woke up at 7am in the morning. Mommy sent them back to their room and they played on the floor with their toys. They came to our room later to watch Blue's Clues on Nick Jr. The twins went to school as usual. They took a long afternoon nap before dinner.Today is mid autumn festival (a.k.a. moon festival) in Chinese culture. After dinner, we pulled the twins in a wagon to the park nearby. We lit a paper lantern and some candles at a picnic table. We let the twins play with the lantern but they lost interest after daddy warned them about not to tip over the lantern. They became nervous about the possibility that the lantern may catch on fire. I was glad that they lost interest because they were still too young to handle a lantern. There was one other Chinese family passed us by with two bigger boys carrying lanterns. The twins developed lantern envy and asked daddy why they had bigger and more colorful lanterns.
We shared a moon-cake and some fresh fruits under the bright full moon. We told them that that was how Chinese people appreciate the harvest moon. I didn't tell them the legends about the fairy that flew to the moon, nor the jade rabbit on the moon, nor the lumberjack Wu Gang who hacked down a cinnamon tree on the moon etc. The reason was that I have forgotten all the details of these stories ever since Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. I may need to freshen up on these traditional legends before the next moon festival. We left after all our candles were burnt up and Jasmine complained it was too dark despite the bright moonshine. Anyway, I believed they both enjoyed the wagon ride in the dark if not the gorgeous full moon.
They wanted to watch Sleeping Beauty in our bedroom while daddy and mommy watched the nightly Chinese drama on TV in the family room.
Tuesday, Oct 2, 2001 (4y+1m+26d)
The twins were addicted to Blue's Clues (the show) on Nick Jr. They liked the character for sometime now. Only recently they knew about its show time and watched the show everyday. They also liked Dora on the same channel. On the Dora show, the little fox would go away after the kids said "Swiper! No swiping". The twins would say the same words whenever they wanted mommy to leave their room.The twins went to school as usual.
Wednesday, Oct 3, 2001 (4y+1m+27d)
The twins went to school as usual in the afternoon. They went to the dancing class after school. There were around 19 kids in the class and our twins were the tiniest (not necessarily the youngest though.)Joanne was looking at the on-line photo album. As she clicked through the pages, she pointed to the screen and yelled, "�r!! ���}, �I�ѧA�ݦĩ@? (Aaarh!! Mommy, why were you so ugly?)" Mommy ran to see her own ugly face.
The twins were learning phonics at school. They were able to read some simple words on their own. However, the school did not teach them to write. Their theory is that it is still early. If the kids wanted to write, don't stop them. But we should not force them to write anything now. Despite that, the twins knew how to spell their own name and each other's. They also liked to write their own names on paper. Joanne had been writing her name quite well for a while. However, recently, she sometimes wrote it in reverse, i.e. she wrote "ennaoL" with some letters flipped too. If we hold the paper in front of a mirror, we can read the name. Jasmine likes to write her name in capital letters except the N, i.e. JASMInE. They sometimes asked us how to spell certain words such as daddy, mommy etc. whenever they wanted to write it down.
Recently they liked to write numbers and asked us to call a number so that they could write it down. Joanne had no trouble with the numerals except the 7 that she often flipped it left to right. Jasmine, on the other hand, wrote the 2 and 3 and 7 in their mirror images. We tried to correct them, but Jasmine would withdraw herself whenever we corrected her. She would stop writing when we told her she wrote it wrong.
The twins sometimes fought at night when Jasmine got into Joanne's bed. However, sometimes they liked to sleep on the same bed. In one occasion, when I checked on them at night, I found them both sleeping on Joanne's bed diagonally in a way that Jasmine occupied the middle of the bed. I usually pulled Jasmine back into her own bed. But if they slept in an orderly position, I would just leave them alone.
Thursday, Oct 4, 2001 (4y+1m+28d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Friday, Oct 5, 2001 (4y+1m+29d)
The twins went to school as usual.Per the twins' request, mommy dropped the twins off at Aunt Tina's place after school. They wanted to stay overnight with Cousin Natalie. Aunt Tina didn't object. Because Uncle Ivan was out of town on business trip, she actually welcomed the extra company. Mommy and daddy, of course, liked to take a break.
Saturday, Oct 6, 2001 (4y+2m)
The twins are 50 month old today.
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started on Oct 9, 2001