This web site is made possible by the advertisement on these banners.
This journal is about raising identical twins.Fifty Eighth Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Unicode encoding. Some web browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer 5) can display the text without any user intervention if the fonts are available. Some web browsers (e.g. Netscape) will display the Chinese text only if you switch Character Set under the View menu to Big5 traditional Chinese.
Monday, May 6, 2002 (4y+9m)
The twins are 4 and 3/4-year-old today.They went to school as usual. We had a meeting with the remodeling company today. The twin behaved well in the waiting room while we talked to the contractor.
Tuesday, May 7, 2002 (4y+9m+1d)
They went to school as usual. They went to gymnastics class after school.
Wednesday, May 8, 2002 (4y+9m+2d)
They went to school as usual. Mommy had to cut short their school because she had an appointment at the new house for duct cleaning.
Thursday, May 9, 2002 (4y+9m+3d)
They went to school as usual. Mommy hired some maids to clean the new house before we move in this weekend. Mommy praised the twins for being nice while she was busy cleaning the place. The twins replied that they fought (i.e. they were not nice.)Mommy talked to the twins about our move this Saturday. Initially they wanted to follow us, but we finally convinced them to stay with Aunt Tina during the move. We had to use Aunt Tina's new car as an attraction.
Friday, May 10, 2002 (4y+9m+4d)
They went to school as usual.After dinner, mommy dropped off the twins at Aunt Tina's to stay overnight. The mover will come in the morning tomorrow.
Saturday, May 11, 2002 (4y+9m+5d)
Today is the big day to move. We got the house since April 1. We took our time to get the house ready. We had the roof replaced, two bedrooms re-carpeted, the chimney swept, the air duct and everything cleaned. We wanted to start the kitchen remodeling too, but the project got many delays and we could not afford to pay two mortgages forever. We sold our old house and are waiting for the escrow to close. We expected the deal be completed by June.The move started at 9am and the movers left a bit after 2pm. Aunt Tina and family delivered our twins back to us in the afternoon. The twins were excited to help daddy reassemble their beds. Jasmine operated a screwdriver; Joanne operated a wrench. They fought to do the other's task, but both didn't finish their own. The twins asked if they could stack up their bed to make it a bunk bed because Alan had one. It is tempting, but we still think they are too young to sleep on a bunk bed.
Lillian dropped by to visit us too. We went out for dinner together. It is mother's day tomorrow, we anticipated the restaurants would be full today too. We ended up picking a fast food type restaurant because we failed to make a reservation at the last minute.
Sunday, May 12, 2002 (4y+9m+6d)
It is mother's day. We went to dinner at Hungry Hunter steak house. We stopped by the restaurant to leave our name before we went back to the old house to do some cleanup. We waited over an hour for table because we had no prior reservation. We got much work done at the old house. So the waiting time was not wasted.
Monday, May 13, 2002 (4y+9m+7d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Tuesday, May 14, 2002 (4y+9m+8d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to gymnastic class after school.
Wednesday, May 15, 2002 (4y+9m+9d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Thursday, May 16, 2002 (4y+9m+10d)
We got a power outage during the night, power didn't return until 10am. I called PG&E and they said a transformer needed to be replaced as soon as there was day light. The outage lasted almost 12 hours.The twins went to school as usual. Mommy starts to complain about the long commute to the twins' school everyday. The current school term would end in mid June. So she will need to continue that for a few more weeks.
Friday, May 17, 2002 (4y+9m+11d)
There was a book fair at daddy's workplace. The twins came to buy some children's books. Mommy also stocked up on the inventory for birthday gifts. Given the twins' popularity, we often need to shop for presents when they are invited to birthday party.
Saturday, May 18, 2002 (4y+9m+12d)
We had another power outage this morning. It was out a few hours. I called PG&E, they said a fuse was blown.Uncle Ronnie came from Hong Kong to pay Grandma Chui a visit. Daddy picked him up at the airport in the morning and went to grandma's place directly. We went out for a quick lunch. Mommy and twins stayed home most of the day except a short errand in the afternoon. It was a cold day. The weather forecast predicted a storm in couple of days.
We dined out in the evening. The restaurant we picked was closed for private banquet. We had teppan-yaki instead elsewhere. The twins hated the sounds the chef made by hitting his cooking tools on the cooking surface. They had their palms over the ears until the chef had left. There was another family sitting next to us. Their daughters (around 10 years old) looked identical despite different choice of clothes. I asked Jasmine to go ask them if they were twins. But Jasmine was shy and refused to go.
Uncle Ronnie stayed with us for the night. Uncle Ronnie bought couple of cartoons on video CD for the twins. The twins had fun jumping on the airbed we set up for Uncle Ronnie.
Sunday, May 19, 2002 (4y+9m+13d)
A storm came in today.Uncle Ronnie helped daddy at the old house to finish the repair work before the close of escrow next week. The twins followed mommy to grocery shopping. We had a hot pot dinner at home. It had been years since last dinner at home with all of daddy's family. Such family re-union doesn't take place often when Uncle Ronnie lives so far away.
Uncle Ronnie moved to grandma's place for the night. He planned to follow Aunt Elaine to Sacramento early next morning.
Monday, May 20, 2002 (4y+9m+14d)
We got another power outage in the morning. It has been three outages within a week. I complained to PG&E and they said they tried their best to restore power. But they were unable tell me why it happened so often this week. The twins complained about the disabled TV. When we told them about the power outage, they accepted the situation quite nicely. They have dealt with many dead battery situations with their toys; they know what out of electricity means.The twins went to school as usual.
Tuesday, May 21, 2002 (4y+9m+15d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to gym class after school.
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 (4y+9m+16d)
Daddy gave Uncle Ronnie a ride to the airport in the morning. He used an airline staff ticket for the trip home. He was off-loaded because the flight was overbooked. He returned to grandma's place by taking public transportation.The twins went to school as usual.
Thursday, May 23, 2002 (4y+9m+17d)
Uncle Ronnie tried to go home again and was off-loaded again.The twins went to school as usual.
Mommy was working in the kitchen. The twins were making a lot of loud thumping sound. Mommy went upstairs and found the twins jumping from a 3 feet tall dresser into Uncle Ronnie's air mattress. They said it was soft for landing and they had great fun. Mommy let out the air from the mattress to stop the dangerous game.
Friday, May 24, 2002 (4y+9m+18d)
Uncle Ronnie tried to go home again and was off-loaded again.The twins went to school as usual.
Mommy bought a swinging bench and a patio umbrella from Costco after school. The Costco employees helped her to load the parts into the minivan. When she got home, she unloaded the van on her own while the twins were taking a nap. She wanted to buy a set of patio table and chairs too. We went to Costco to pick up the furniture after daddy got off from work. We had dinner at McDonald's. The twins enjoyed their Winnie the Pooh toys from the Happy Meal pack. They also enjoyed the Dipping Dots ice cream after dinner.
When we got home, we spent the rest of the evening assembling the swing, the table and umbrella etc.
Saturday, May 25, 2002 (4y+9m+19d)
Daddy's car broke down in the morning, the clutch hydraulic failed. When the car failed to shift in gear, it could not move.We went to the title company to sign the papers for selling our old home. The escrow officer found our twins cute and she gave them a stack of stickers. We had lunch nearby in the afternoon.
Uncle Ronnie tried to go home again and was off-loaded again. Due to the sparse bus schedule in weekend, daddy picked up Uncle Ronnie at the train station. The twins were excited when I told them we were going to the train station. They didn't see the real train, but they climbed on board a light-rail train at the station instead.
We invited Rachel, Claire, Terence and their families to our place for barbecue. Rachel's family came early, but they left early too after dinner. Terence and family left after dark because Hing worked overtime to beat a deadline and Lucy needed to leave early. Claire and family stayed late to chat. They left when the kids started to complain about being tired.
Sunday, May 26, 2002 (4y+9m+20d)
Uncle Ronnie tried to go home again. After stranded here for 4 days, Uncle Ronnie changed his flight plan to take a different route. He was able to secure a seat in the flight that stopped over at Tokyo. After being off-loaded from 4 flights, he finally got home. His co-workers must cover his shifts of work when his return schedule was all messed up. I hope his boss would not get mad at him for missing duty.Mommy's family visited. It was Grandma Ling's first time to our new home. We had barbecue again because the grill was already set up from yesterday. The twins played with Cousin Natalie with their water pistols, the bubbles, Hula hoops, jump rope etc. They also used the swinging bench like a regular swing.
Monday, May 27, 2002 (4y+9m+21d)
It was Memorial Day holiday. Daddy didn't go to work. The twins didn't go to school.We took the twins to see the Spiderman movie . The twins said they liked to see Spiderman swinging around like Tarzan, but they were scared of the Green Goblin. On after thought, we should have taken the PG-13 rating more seriously. The movie was too violent for young kids. We tried to cover their eyes whenever violence was shown. I believed they did fine because they sat on our lap throughout the movie.
We went shopping after the movie. The twins took a nap before dinner. I spent the evening fixing a toilet refill valve at home. The twins were hyperactive. They chased each other around the house screaming and laughing.
Tuesday, May 28, 2002 (4y+9m+22d)
Daddy took the car to the auto shop, the hydraulic system leaked due to old age. It was replaced costing almost $500.The twins went to school as usual. No more gym classes after school for the twins until mommy sign them up again. Since summer is coming soon, mommy would probably sign them up for swimming lessons instead of gym class.
Mommy found Joanne with high fever at 103°F. Joanne was eating and playing normally except complaining of sore throat. Come to think of it, she had the sore throat since yesterday. When I held her on my lap yesterday during the movie, I felt that she was quite warm. Since I usually have cold skin myself, I didn't pay attention. She might have the fever since yesterday, but given her hyperactive mood, we did noticed.
Mommy let Joanne take two naps in the afternoon. After dinner, she wanted to watch Peter Pan again before going to bed. Near the end of the movie, her eyes were almost closed. When the movie ended, she asked why it finished so soon. I suspected she blanked out during the second half of the movie.
After dinner, Jasmine helped mommy make a batch of cookies. She got cookie dough stuck on her palms instead of on the cookie sheet. After she washed her hands several times, we got less than ten cookies left in the batch. Most of the dough went down the drain. I hope the plumbing would not clog up! We managed to save a few cookies when mommy asked Jasmine to use a scoop to separate the dough instead of using her hands. After we had a couple of cookies each, Jasmine wanted more. Mommy made another batch without getting Jasmine involved. This time the yield was much higher.
Wednesday, May 29, 2002 (4y+9m+23d)
When daddy went to work in the morning, Joanne's temperature was still 100°F. We let the twins sleep in because if Jasmine woke up early, she would disturb Joanne too. Joanne's temperature returned to 98°F in the late morning when she woke up.It was a very hot day outside (at 83°F). The forecast said it would be even hotter in the next two days. Mommy decided to let the twins skip school today because she wanted Joanne to get more rest at home to recover from her illness. It wouldn't be good for Joanne to take a trip to drop off Jasmine at school.
Joanne returned to normal and she ate double what Jasmine ate at dinner. We yet to verify Joanne's height after this fever. Based on mommy's observation, though without scientific evidence, the twins always reacted to a bodily change with a slight fever or discomfort. For instance, when they were at teething age, we usually found a new tooth after each slight fever or cold. They usually had a fever or discomfort before they grew taller. I guess it is called growing pain.
Thursday, May 30, 2002 (4y+9m+24d)
A Hungarian friend told me that they celebrate a name each day. It is Johanna's day today in Hungary. Though not exactly the same, it is closest to Joanne's name.The twins returned to school as usual.
Joanne's fever came back at 100°F after school. She also had a runny nose today. Mommy let her take as much naps as she wanted.
Friday, May 31, 2002 (4y+9m+25d)
Joanne's fever was gone in the morning. We still need to observe if there is a pattern over time. Jasmine went to school as usual. Joanne didn't go to school.
Saturday, Jun 1, 2002 (4y+9m+26d)
We went to Terence's two-year-old birthday party around lunchtime. The twins were getting more gifts from Lucy than we gave to Terence.We let the twins take a nap in the afternoon before we went to CW's BBQ party. Pow's and Ken's family and Lillian and William were invited too. There were five families including the host and us. There were six boys and four girls from four families among five in the party. The eldest was Ken's son Stephen at 12. The youngest was Pow's son Rylan at only 4 months old. The party split into 4 groups, men, women, boys and girls. The adults sat around and chatted in two groups while the boys played video games and the four girls enjoyed other activities.
Ken raised one of the interesting topics. He observed from his son's school that all the school newspaper's editors were girls. The boys were indulged in sports and video games instead of intellectual activities. He was curious to see the sociological impact in the next generation. Pow pointed out that his son was into chess playing, however, he was not a norm among his peers.
The twins blended in without requesting any of our attention. Jasmine had fallen asleep on a sofa when we left the party.
Jasmine had a 100°F fever when we put her in bed. We let her have some Tynanol before she slept. Joanne was fine. It was hard to prevent Jasmine from catching Joanne's germs because they were so close.
Sunday, Jun 2, 2002 (4y+9m+27d)
Joanne woke up with a fever at 102.7°F again in the morning. Jasmine's fever was gone, but both twins had a runny nose. We stayed home all day to let the twins rest.Joanne's fever was gone in the afternoon. When mommy was out running some errands in the afternoon, the twins wanted to ride their bicycles to the park, but I decided to only let them ride on the driveway in front of the house.
From past experience, the kids' doctors always waited for a few days before seeing the kids for fever. So we have not taken them to the doctor yet. It was a bit different this time; Joanne's fever concerned us. She had three fevers within a week. Each fever only lasted a few hours and between fevers her temperature went below 97°F sometimes. Her temperature was normally at 98.6°F before she got sick last week. The fluctuation between high and low temperature was out of ordinary.
Monday, Jun 3, 2002 (4y+9m+28d)
Both twins had no fever in the morning. We have contacted the doctor office already. The doctor said Joanne's fevers were not big problems. Joanne didn't need to see the doctor. We need to concern only if the fever is continuous for more than 5 days.Mommy let the twins skip school again. We monitored the twins' temperature regularly all day. The fever was gone.
I tried to lecture the twins that they need to go to school to stay smart. Jasmine said she didn't need school. Mommy can just get her the homework and she could do them by herself. She said she did not need the teachers to teach her because she knew how to do the papers.
Mommy set up the air mattress so that Joanne and Joanne can take their nap separately in the afternoon. They usually played a long time in the room if they were sent to bed together. They got longer nap when they sleep in separate room. Joanne liked the air mattress so much that she requested to sleep on that in the night too. Jasmine wanted to sleep with mommy. Jasmine and daddy switched bed and Joanne took the air mattress in another room. Mommy didn't get a good sleep because Jasmine's coughing kept her up all night.
Tuesday, Jun 4, 2002 (4y+9m+29d)
The twins still had congestion. I tried to help them to blow their noses, nothing came out. They Apparently the runny nose made them cough occasionally. Mommy let them skip school again.Mommy noticed that many kids in the twins' class were also skipping class recently. She discussed this observation with another mom from school. It turned out that it is not only due to sickness. The kids were bored because the teachers had stopped teaching new material. The school term is close to the end and the teachers only reviewed old teaching material with the kids. Many kids don't find school interesting anymore. That explained why Jasmine said yesterday that she didn't need school.
Jasmine wanted to sleep with mommy again, but mommy refused because of Jasmine's coughing. Joanne still wanted to sleep in a different room and she requested daddy to join her on the air mattress.
Wednesday, Jun 5, 2002 (4y+9m+30d)
The twins still had stuffy noses. They returned to school because they were mostly recovered.Jasmine and mommy continued to sleep in separate rooms. Joanne still wanted daddy to sleep on her air mattress. I told her that she and Jasmine should sleep in the same room. She said she didn't want to because Jasmine always disrupted her sleep.
Thursday, Jun 6, 2002 (4y+10m)
The twins are 58 month old today.
Previous Next Site map Book List
Visitor Count
Search this site!
started on Jun 7, 2002