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This journal is about raising identical twins.Fifty Second Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Big5 encoding.
Tuesday, Nov 6, 2001 (4y+3m)
The twins are 51 month old today. They went to school as usual.Joanne reported that a boy in school gave Jasmine a big hug. Jasmine said his name is Jun-na or something. She was kind of reluctant to talk about this affectionate encounter.
Jasmine reported that Joanne didn't wear her jacket during the playground session. Mommy scolded Joanne for not taking care of herself. She needed to wear warm clothes if she wanted to recover from her cold sooner.
Wednesday, Nov 7, 2001 (4y+3m+1d)
They went to school as usual. They went to ballet class after school.
Thursday, Nov 8, 2001 (4y+3m+2d)
Daddy's brother Ronnie visited from Hong Kong and planned to stay a few days. Mommy picked him up from the airport before the twins went to school. The twins remembered Uncle Ronnie very well and they got along with him really quickly.
Friday, Nov 9, 2001 (4y+3m+3d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Saturday, Nov 10, 2001 (4y+3m+4d)
We picked up breakfast at McDonald's on our way to San Francisco in the morning. When the minivan hit a bump on the road, a full 16 oz. cup of orange juice fell and spilled all over the carpet. We had to stop on the roadside to blot the sticky liquid out of the cracks and gutters and carpets on the van.We continued to San Francisco Mart. They have the semi-annual Furniture Sample Sales event today. Mommy wanted an ottoman for the family room and a kids' sofa for the twins. We managed to find an ottoman we liked, but we failed to get a miniature sofa for the twins. I was glad that we failed because I disagreed with mommy that a toy sofa was useful. I think it just wastes money and precious spaces in the house.
The twins enjoyed the trip too because they got to try different sofas and beds. They particularly enjoyed the kid's furniture such as bunk beds that were decorated with castle motif tents and slides etc. They also enjoyed the number hunting game we designed for them. We read the floor plan and when we decided which suite number we would go to next, we assigned the task of finding the store to the twins. They enthusiastically checked the suite number outside each store and they excitedly announced their finding. The only trouble was that the loser would cry when one twin beat the other in finding the store.
In today's kid's meal from McDonald's, the twins received the Michael Wazowski's toy from the movie Monsters, Inc. Uncle Ronnie used the toy to play hide and seek with the twins, they couldn't stop laughing. The twins called the toy Egg-kael instead of Michael because the one-eyed green monster looks like an egg.
We went to San Francisco Chinatown for lunch before we returned to the shipping dock to pick up our purchase. After lunch, mommy went for a quick shopping trip in Chinatown. Daddy and Uncle Ronnie took the twins to a pet store there. They were very excited to see several puppies, some hamsters, turtles and some beautiful tropical fishes. It was raining when we got back to our car. The shipping dock was jammed with cars for the pickups. Mommy was denied access to the docks unless the furniture was ready to load. Daddy and Uncle Ronnie went to get the merchandise release paperwork while mommy and twins circled around the block. During the circling, the twins wanted to poop. Fortunately, mommy found some plastic bags in the minivan and the twins took care of the business before we loaded the furniture.
Due to the rain, the traffic was very slow within the city. We decided that we would spend some time in the city before going home. We went to the Buena Vista Park on top of the Mascone Convention Center. We knew there was a carousel that the twins would love. Since it was raining, the twins were the only two customers.
After the ride, we checked out the ice skating rink. The twins just saw Disney on Ice couple weeks ago. They were excited when we decided to do some skating. Mommy decided to stay on the rink side. It was the first time the twins were on skates. While daddy and Uncle Ronnie went out to warm up, an instructor at the rink offered to take the twins skating around the rink. Daddy got a few pointers from the instructor while she skated around with Joanne. She later took Jasmine while daddy skated with Joanne. Though the instructor was doing a good job helping the twins get used to skating and keeping the balance, the twins refused to follow a stranger as soon as daddy appeared.
Jasmine gave up after a few rounds. She took off her skates. With mommy's persuasion, she put on her skates again and skated a few more rounds. She took off her skates and returned to the rink at least three times. She was struggling to skate or not probably because Joanne was doing better.
Joanne on the other hand, was hooked She wanted rounds after rounds. She must have done twenty to thirty rounds in total. For a first time skater, that was plenty. Poor daddy had to be in an awkward position to hold her hands in order to let her balance on her own but catch her in case she fell. Skating in such position rounds after rounds really hurt the lower back. But Joanne wanted yet another round before daddy got enough rest. Joanne still wanted more when we decided to leave. She negotiated for two more rounds before she was willing to leave.
We had dinner at a grill just upstairs from the rink. The twins fell asleep in the car on the way home. We took them to their beds. The twins were so tired that mommy changed them and cleaned them up without waking them.
Sunday, Nov 11, 2001 (4y+3m+5d)
Joanne complained about pain in the Achilles' tendon on her right foot. She must have pulled it while skating yesterday. Daddy rubbed some sport ointment on the injured spot.Daddy went out with Uncle Ronnie and Grandma Chui for lunch. Afterwards, we went shopping for gifts to take back to Hong Kong. Mommy took the twins to Grandma Ling. They went shopping in Walnut Creek.
When the twins returned in the evening, Joanne said her foot didn't hurt anymore.
Monday, Nov 12, 2001 (4y+3m+6d)
In the morning, Joanne came to us and complained that Jasmine wouldn't stop talking and she couldn't get back to sleep. Jasmine said the sky was already bright so it was time to get up anyway.The twins went to school as usual. The twins said they didn't have the playground session at school because it rained heavily. Actually I heard from the news that the rain poured so hard this morning that many cars stopped on the road because drivers couldn't see the road in front of them.
Uncle Ronnie will leave early tomorrow morning. I told the twins that by the time they got up, Uncle Ronnie would be gone. The twins wanted Uncle Ronnie to play board games with them before leaving.
Tuesday, Nov 13, 2001 (4y+3m+7d)
Daddy took Uncle Ronnie to the airport early in the morning before going to work.The twins went to school as usual.
Jasmine is often a crybaby. She got many excuses to shed tears. In the morning, when Joanne made the bed for her, she cried because she didn't want Joanne's help. During the day, whenever Joanne snatched her Barbie doll, she cried. Joanne kind of enjoyed tormenting Jasmine. She made Jasmine cry at least three times today.
When Joanne snatched away Jasmine's Barbie doll, she yelled "Barbie is hurt, Barbie is dying". Jasmine chased after her saying, "I'm a doctor, let me save her." Of course Joanne wouldn't release her hostage to the "doctor" so easily.
Wednesday, Nov 14, 2001 (4y+3m+8d)
Jasmine got a runny nose this morning. I told her that it was because she didn't put on enough clothes when she got out of bed in the morning. She argued that Joanne spread the illness to her. Joanne had recovered for almost a week now. But it was silly to argue with a four-year-old, so Joanne was the culprit, case closed.The twins went to school as usual. They went to ballet class after school.
Thursday, Nov 15, 2001 (4y+3m+9d)
When mommy and the twins had lunch at Fresh Choice restaurant, a boy in the restaurant yelled the twins' names. The twins ran to their classmate Junu without even consulting mommy. Mommy and twins joined Junu and his mom at the table. The twins abandoned mommy and sandwiched Junu in the middle. Junu was the boy who hugged Jasmine at school last week.Mommy learned that Junu is Korean and his family has been in the USA for only 5 months. It is amazing because he is already talking to our twins in English. Kids at this age pick up language from school really fast.
Our twins talk to each other in English, but they talk to us in Cantonese. The school is doing a good job in teaching phonics. The twins can read all the syllables, e.g. ot, oz, ab, ep etc. in their homework correctly. We think they can start reading simple books in no time at all. Recalling my own childhood, I don't believe I could read English correctly until the fifth or sixth grade. Even today, I have trouble with some pronunciation because it is very difficult to unlearn something that was taught wrong by the teachers. Just a few days ago, the twins pointed out my bad pronunciation. Since they learned phonics and I didn't, I trusted their judgment. :-(
The twins went to school as usual. They took their afternoon nap in the car after school.
Mommy picked up daddy from work in the evening. Hing and Lucy invited us to dinner at their home. He prepared six big Dungeness crabs. That was more than 10 lb. of crabs to share among five adults. The twins didn't eat much crab though we filled them up with other food. They were busy playing with Terence's toys. Terence could run around on his own and he grabbed things and gave them to the twins. He also liked to hold on to the twins and push them around the house. We could tell that the twins did not enjoy playing with younger kid.
Friday, Nov 16, 2001 (4y+3m+10d)
Daddy's coworkers at work celebrated Diwali at work. It is the festival of lights in Indian culture. The twins' class also celebrated Diwali at school last year. The twins said nothing different happened today.The twins went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and a gathering with their ex-classmates. The twins went to school as usual afterwards.
Mommy joined a health club close to the twins' school. She got to exercise every weekday after dropping the twins at school.
Saturday, Nov 17, 2001 (4y+3m+11d)
We went to Hing and Lucy's place for lunch. Hing prepared us the most delicious udon. It tastes better than those from most Japanese restaurants do.On the way to Lucy's place, Jasmine said she did not want to go there. When we asked why, she refused to talk. We told her that we were going in no matter what, she could wait in the car if she wanted. Of course, it was just our way to force her to make a different decision. In California, it is against the law to leave children under age six unattended in a car. At first she asked us to make sure to lock the car doors so that the bad guys would not kidnap her. Then after some thoughts, she said she would go in if mommy promised not to give Terence big hugs. Obviously, Jasmine was jealous of the hugs mommy gave to Terence two days ago.
In the afternoon, we went to Valleyfair mall. Lucy gave us a Gymboree 30% discount coupon good for all items in store. Mommy bought some items that were already on sales. With additional 30% off, she saved a lot. We then went to the Disney store. The twins went straight to the costume section and pointed us to the costumes they had at home. We purchased some items including a "Beauty and the Beast" computer game.
We went to Outback Steak House for dinner. The wait was over an hour. We sat in our car and read the twins some stories before we got our table. The twins shared an order of Macaroni and Cheese, but they couldn't finish it. Mommy saved the leftover for their breakfast tomorrow.
The twins stayed up all day without an afternoon nap. They have reached the age that the nap is really optional. Mommy still prefers to let them take nap whenever possible because napped babies are happy babies. Tired babies struggle to stay awake and become very fussy and impossible without knowing why.
Sunday, Nov 18, 2001 (4y+3m+12d)
After the twins went to bed, daddy and mommy stayed up watching TV till 2am in the morning. We kept ourselves awake so that we could watch the Leonids meteor shower. The Leonids come every year but the meteor shower peaks in a cycle of 33 years. I will be in my late 70s when we watch the same high level of meteor activity again.We simply pulled two chairs outside of our front door and looked up. The sky was crystal clear tonight. The effort of staying up was well rewarded. The meteors were spectacular. The meteors came down at a rate of 5 or 6 per minute. The brightest one I saw spanned a view angle of over 45° across the sky. Some of them even left smokey-looking trails of light that stayed for about a second. I believed they were ionization of the atmosphere. I thought about waking the twins to watch, but on second thought, they may not find the meteors interesting. Besides 2am is not a time to wake the children. Mommy went to bed after about 15 minutes. Daddy stayed up for another hour or so.
We went to lunch in Foster City with Denis' family. After lunch, we strolled along the lakeshore just across from the restaurant. The twins and Jonathan ran way ahead of the group. I had to chase after them because there was no fence between the boardwalk and the water. The rest of the group walked slowly because Benjamin was on a baby carriage.
We then went to New Park Mall. The twins spent sometimes in Gymboree and the Disney store. Then we went to the toys department at Target. They spent quite a long time there playing with the toys. When we came out from Target, the twins played on the coin-operated rides for a while. Denis said he never let Jonathan ride those machines until today. Looked like our twins set a bad precedence for Jonathan. Baby Benjamin enjoyed some of the rides too.
After we parted with Denis, we had dinner with Elizabeth's family in a new Malaysian restaurant in Milpitas. When we got home, the twins wanted to play with the Disney Beauty and the Beast game on the computer. The twins particularly enjoyed dressing Belle for the dance and choreographing the moves of the dancers.
Monday, Nov 19, 2001 (4y+3m+13d)
The twins went to school as usual.Elizabeth and Stephen dropped off their kids at our home to attend a parent/teacher meeting at their kids' school. Lori and Harrison had a great time playing with our twins. The twins could communicate very well with older kids now so they mixed in easily. When our guests entertained the twins, mommy could prepare dinner with no interruption at all. After Elizabeth and Stephen returned, they stayed for dinner. We watched some TV together after dinner, while the kids returned to their computer games. They left at around 10pm.
In the past few days, Mommy rewarded the twins some sticker stars whenever they brushed their teeth and prepared for bed on their own initiative. They had been doing all that on their own for quite sometime now, but mommy had to issue the command every night. With the stickers as incentive, the twins took care of "business" before they were told to do so. It was kind of special tonight too because the twins told us they would wait for our good night kiss in bed. We usually have to tuck them in every night. Tonight, they went to bed on their own. We got a warm feeling that the twins had "grown up". :-)
Tuesday, Nov 20, 2001 (4y+3m+14d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Wednesday, Nov 21, 2001 (4y+3m+15d)
The twins went to school as usual. The theme at school was of course about thanksgiving. The teachers helped the kids make paper hats of the pilgrims. Their ballet class was cancelled today.
Thursday, Nov 22, 2001 (4y+3m+16d)
It is Thanksgiving today. No school for the kids, no work for daddy.Grandparents and Aunt Jun came to our house in the afternoon. They stayed for thanksgiving dinner. Mommy purchased half a turkey from a Chinese supermarket's hot delicatessen section. The turkey was done just right. It was very tasty and moist. With a $5 rebate coupon from other purchases, it only cost us $11 for the half turkey. It was probably one of the best turkey we had in years. It beat cooking it on our own. The twins had slice after slice. Obviously they liked it too.
Friday, Nov 23, 2001 (4y+3m+17d)
The day after thanksgiving is still a holiday.We picked up Daisy and Sebastian and went to Stanford mall for some after thanksgiving shopping. The day after thanksgiving is the best time for shopping in the US because all stores go on sale.
We showed the twins how to play UNO the card game. They got hooked right away. They were still not too happy about losing. So daddy had to play the cards very "carefully" so that each kid had a chance to win.
Saturday, Nov 24, 2001 (4y+3m+18d)
We went to San Francisco to pick up Winnie and Samantha. We initially planned to have lunch, but Winnie preferred to go to Union Square first. We tried to get a table for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory Restaurant on the top floor of the Macy's department store. The restaurant was so packed with people that the wait was almost 2 hours. So we gave up. We went down to the food court in the cellar to have a quick lunch there. We did some window-shopping and of course we stopped by FAO Schwarz and the Disney's store for the twins. Now that the twins each owned a Barbie, they particularly enjoyed the Barbie Gallery in FAO. Jasmine said she had named her Barbie doll Capariro (Cap-par-ri-ro). I asked how she came up with such a non-Chinese name. She said Mango (her imaginary friend) told her that name.It was a rainy day. The twins were excited to use their Minnie Mouse umbrellas we bought at Disneyland almost two years ago. We each carried a twin in our arms and each twin held the umbrella over our heads. It worked out just fine and many passersby gave us a grin for the clever arrangement.
Sunday, Nov 25, 2001 (4y+3m+19d)
It was a very cold day.Daddy had an appointment with the gardener to talk about pruning the trees in the yard. While daddy was bargaining, Lillian and William came by. They played with the twins before we went to Claire's 3rd birthday party.
Poon and Sharleen hired a multi-talented performer from San Francisco to do magic, juggling, and balloon-animals for the kids. He is a Chinese American who couldn't speak much Chinese. The twins quite enjoyed the magic show, though they didn't like the popping of balloons. But when they saw the dove appeared out of the burst balloons, they were happy again. They got to pat the white doves after the show. This guy was quite creative in making the balloon sculptures. He could make all kinds of sculptures including bicycles and scooters and big spiders. I have never seen another balloon artist like him. I'm impressed. The twins each got several sculptures from him. When he handed a Little Mermaid to Joanne, Joanne gave it to Jasmine. She said Jasmine had Ariel's dress for her Halloween costume, so she should have the Ariel balloon also.
We stayed for quite awhile after all the guests had left. Susan and his son Jessie arrived late. So they decided to stay longer to have a chat too. While the adults were chatting, the twins, Jessie and Claire played with the balloons and other toys.
Aunt Tina came to stay overnight with us because they have sold their house but the new house was not ready for move-in yet.
Monday, Nov 26, 2001 (4y+3m+20d)
The night was cold. In the morning, Joanne came onto our bed. When daddy woke up, she said, "I don't love daddy". I asked why. She said daddy's snoring disturbed her sleep. I told her it was her own fault that she came to sleep in daddy's bed. Jasmine heard that and immediately said, "I love daddy". Well, one out of two ain't bad.The twins went to school as usual.
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2001 (4y+3m+21d)
It was again a very cold day. Joanne got a sore throat. Jasmine was okay.The twins went to school as usual.
Daddy and mommy were talking about the weather forecast for tomorrow. A severe thunderstorm is coming tomorrow evening that is expected to be worse than last week's. The twins overheard our conversation. They told us they were scared of the lightnings. Before bedtime, Joanne refused to go to the toilet because it was next to the window. Jasmine said she could accompany Joanne to the toilet because she knew the lightnings would not come until tomorrow evening.
When we checked on the twins before we went to bed, we found Jasmine in Joanne's bed. It was not sure whether it was Jasmine seeking company or Joanne invited Jasmine to sleep on her bed. In a normal day, the twins would fight about the intrusion. Somehow today, the threat of the lightnings brought them together peacefully. I later found that Jasmine climbed into Joanne's bed without an invitation.
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2001 (4y+3m+22d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to ballet class after school.To daddy, it was a significant day at work today. Daddy's employer was officially changed due to the closure of a corporate acquisition. It is the third employer in eight years without changing job.
The storm came in the late afternoon and evening. It wasn't too bad, light rain in our area but the wind was very forceful. The twins said their hair was wet because of the rain. We didn't remind the twins about the storm so they would be scared like yesterday. Anyway, we didn't hear any thunder.
We set up the Christmas tree after dinner. The twins helped us hang the ornaments on the lower branches. I asked them to sing Christmas songs in front of the tree while I videotaped them. They were good at singing "Jingle Bell" and "O Christmas Tree". For the other music, they substituted with some ballet moves instead.
Thursday, Nov 29, 2001 (4y+3m+23d)
Probably due to the coldness, the rain and storm in the night, the twins slept over 12 hours. Mommy woke them up after 10 am. They weren't too happy because they wanted to sleep more. On the way to school, they had a lengthy complaint to mommy that roughly translated as follows: "Why did you wake me up? I wanted to sleep more. You see? When I don't get enough sleep, I will be too tired for school. Now what should I do? See what you have done?" Looks like our lectures to the twins on going to bed early and getting enough sleep for the next day back-fired on us. Now we could not get them go to bed early, but we also could not get them out of bed early either.The twins went to school as usual. After school, mommy took them to Melinda's house. They had great time playing because Melinda has a large extension to her house that is used as a playroom. Alan's one and a half year old little brother Andrew also participated. When he heard the kids screamed in their play, he screamed the loudest.
The storm has subsided, though the forecast said it would last through the weekend. It was windy, cloudy and gloomy all day.
Daddy officially worked for a new company today, though everyone's seniority is preserved after the corporate take-over. Someone from the North Carolina office came to our campus to give an orientation to the employees. He complained that he was in 81°F weather yesterday and it is cold and gloomy in California today. He must have expected Southern California. Winter is often wet and cold in Northern California.
Friday, Nov 30, 2001 (4y+3m+24d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy got a notice from school that the twins' class was exposed to scarlet fever because one of their classmates had it. We probably cannot do much besides keeping the twins away from other kids until we are sure the twins didn't get infected.
Saturday, Dec 1, 2001 (4y+3m+25d)
Excite@Home, the Internet service provider for AT&T Broadband went dark at zero hour this morning. AT&T broadband was supposed to purchase Excite's network after Excite went bankrupted. Now, they are switching to their own network meaning the deal fell through. I would try to maintain this journal without Internet access from home.The twins were invited to two birthday parties today. Mommy called Quimby's mom to inform her that we could not attend because of the twins' exposure to scarlet fever. We'd rather play it safe because we could not tell if they were affected. Quimby was the twins' ex-classmate.
In the afternoon, we went to Foti's birthday party. Foti is in the same class as the twins. All the kids in the party had equal exposure to scarlet fever from last week. We consulted with Foti's parents. They assured us they wanted us to come to the party. One of the parents in the party works at the school. So we asked her when the exposure occurred. She said the scarlet fever was found on Thursday but the notice was not delivered to parents until Friday. The incubation period of scarlet fever is 2 to 4 days, I guess if the twins do not fall sick by tomorrow, they survived the exposure.
Sunday, Dec 2, 2001 (4y+3m+26d)
The twins woke up early today. They woke mommy, so mommy decided to go to the farmers' market for some fresh grocery. Due to the rain, there weren't many vendors or customers at the market, though mommy got what she shopped for. Mommy made some pancakes and pork chops for brunch.In the afternoon, the twins requested that we take them to the mall. We didn't need to buy anything, but we took them out of the house anyway. On a rainy day, we didn't have many choices other than the shopping mall.
On the way there, the sun came out for a brief moment. The sky in the north was dark with clouds. When the sun shone on the dark clouds, a bright rainbow formed in front of the dark background. Due to the high contrast, the secondary rainbow could be seen very clearly too. The double rainbows formed two huge complete arcs from horizon to horizon across the sky. The twins were extremely excited because this was the first time they saw the real rainbow. Joanne had drawn rainbows in many of her pictures before. She made an observation right away. She said that when she drew the rainbow next time, she would use lighter purple. Jasmine later added that the rainbows were no big deal because she has a pair of rainbow eyeglasses that add rainbow colors to everything she sees. She didn't realize that the bright, unbroken double rainbows in dark sky are not seen everyday.
The twins were tired. Jasmine fell asleep on daddy's shoulder when we left the mall. We had dinner with William and Lillian. Both twins fell asleep on our way home. They woke up briefly when mommy cleaned and changed them. When we put them in bed, they told us they don't want any bedtime music for the night.
Monday, Dec 3, 2001 (4y+3m+27d)
Jasmine woke up first probably she took an extra nap before dinner last night. Joanne was rather mad when Jasmine woke her in the morning. She didn't even want daddy's goodbye kiss when I went to work.They went to school as usual.
Tuesday, Dec 4, 2001 (4y+3m+28d)
Mommy is fallen sick with sore throat and muscle ache. Looks like she got the flu.AT&T broadband brought back our Internet service after Excite@Home's shutdown on Saturday. We were out of Internet for almost 3 days and it felt like ages.
The twins went to school as usual.
Wednesday, Dec 5, 2001 (4y+3m+29d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to ballet class after school.The twins love to play the card game UNO. Joanne doesn't have much patience and she would leave the game if she didn't win all the time. Jasmine likes the game better. She cried and refused to go to bed tonight until daddy played one game with her before bedtime. Currently, we play with all the cards facing up so that we know what card to play to let the twins win.
Thursday, Dec 6, 2001 (4y+3m+30d)
The twins are 52 months old today.
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started on Dec 7, 2001