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This journal is about raising identical twins.Sixty First month
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Tuesday, Aug 6, 2002 (5y)
The twins are five year old today!!! Happy birthday, Joanne and Jasmine!The twins went to school as usual. The twins said the teacher didn't celebrate their birthday. At the other campus, the teachers would at least ask the class to sing the birthday song to the birthday kid.
They went to swim lesson after school. For some reason, Jasmine threw up in the pool. She probably had her lunch too close to the swim lesson and choking by water made her vomit.
Sharleen's Claire and Wendy's Valerie also took the swim lesson right after the twins' session. Mommy left the twins with Sharleen and returned home to supervise the remodeling activities. She picked up the twins in late afternoon and headed directly to the restaurant. Grandma Chui wanted to treat the twins a dinner to celebrate their fifth birthday. The twins were hungry; we had to change the dinner to an earlier time. Aunt Elaine bought them a Jell-O cake for dessert and some coloring books as their presents.
Remodeling entered the second day. More stuff was removed from the house.
Wednesday, Aug 7, 2002 (5y+1d)
The twins went to school as usual. The swim lesson was cancelled because the chlorine level of the pool was insufficient.The contractors wanted us to move the big TV to the garage. We could only watch a small TV in our bedroom. Without the cable outlet in the bedroom, we lost cable TV. The twins lost interest in the TV when Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network were all off-line. The kids' computer was moved to their bedroom and we were disconnected from the Internet too.
Except for the three bedrooms in use, the rest of the house was practically gutted. Carpet, ceiling and wall in most places were torn away to redo the plumbing, wiring and floors.
Mommy kept the kids out of the house during the demolition work. Hing and Lucy invited us to the house for dinner again.
Thursday, Aug 8, 2002 (5y+2d)
The twins went to school as usual. Today is the last day of summer school. We told the twins that they were now big kids because they just graduated from pre-school. The next time they go to school, they will be in kindergarten. No swim lesson today. Matt was busy.The twins spent most of the afternoon in our neighbor's house. Jenny's kids, Stephanie, Josephine and Daniel played "house" with the twins by putting together some shelter in the middle of the living room with large sofa pillows and blankets. All the kids had a great time. I was glad that the kids got along so well because it would be nice to have a nearby place to go when our own house was under construction. They treated us dinner before we returned to our home.
Our house became hazardous with exposed electrical wires, and nails sticking out from the floor. We tried to confine the twins in their own room and our bedroom. The twins were warned about the danger around the house, but they still ran around until we yelled at them.
It was a hot day today; we had to keep the fan on when we went to bed.
Friday, Aug 9, 2002 (5y+3d)
Summer school had ended. Mommy took the twins to Home Depot while the contractors worked on our house. The twins went to their swim lesson in the afternoon. It was a hot day and swimming should be enjoyable.Mommy left the twins with Sharleen after the lesson. They took their afternoon nap with Claire. Claire enjoyed their company too. We went out to dinner with Claire's family in the evening.
Saturday, Aug 10, 2002 (5y+4d)
After the contractors started their day's work, we went out to lunch. Since we couldn't cook for a while, we only bought drinks from the grocery store. The past week was hot; the cold drinks in our fridge were going fast.In the afternoon, daddy took the twins to their swim lesson. The twins had asked daddy to come to their lesson for many times now. This was the first time the lesson was on a Saturday, so it was daddy's first time to see them take the lesson. The twins were excited to show daddy what they could do.
When we arrived at the pool, Claire was just finishing off her lesson. After she was dried off, Poon and she stayed by the poolside to watch the twins. Valerie's lesson was scheduled after the twins'. She and her parents arrived early so that they could also watch the twins take their lesson. After the twins came out of water, we stayed to watch Valerie's lesson too.
The twins had taken quite a number of lessons by now. They were doing everything the teacher asked them to do. On contrary, this was Claire and Valerie's second lesson. They were more reluctant to do what they were asked to do. Sometimes, they just said no to the teacher. They looked to their parents before making every move. Much time of their lessons was spent on coaxing the kids to follow instructions.
We had dinner at Fontana's Italian restaurant. Cindy's sister Ellen came to our house to pick up a vanity cabinet that we removed from the bathroom. We spent some time talking about our project because her boy friend was interested in remodeling his house too.
I played back the videotape on the twins' lesson from the afternoon. I tried to point out to the twins what mistakes they had made. Jasmine's body was bent at the hip level when she swam. As a result, her head dived into the water instead of float along the surface. Jasmine was upset about the criticism. She turned her head away and refused to watch. Joanne was doing a bit better than Jasmine, though she also bent her body. She simply laughed at her own awkward moves.
Sunday, Aug 11, 2002 (5y+5d)
It was a day off for the contractors. It was just 6 days from the start of the remodeling project. Most of the rooms were ripped apart. Though we had the whole house to ourselves today, we had no incentive to stay.We had lunch at IHOP. We then visited some lamp stores, Costco, Home Depot etc. We bought take-out food before returning home. We had a quick dinner in the backyard where the patio furniture was still intact. The twins watched Dumbo when daddy took down the drapery and mommy did some packing.
Monday, Aug 12, 2002 (5y+6d)
Because the summer school had ended, the twins were still asleep when daddy went to work. They went to their swim lesson in the afternoon. Sharleen offered to baby-sit the twins afterward. Mommy felt bad about bothering Sharleen too much. But it was mutual benefit because Claire enjoyed the twins' company, and mommy was freed up to take care of the house after the contractors left for the day.The contractors scraped off all the acoustic ceiling in the living room. We were told that the cottage cheese type ceiling material is out of style and they are hard to maintain. Most modern houses use regular texturing for ceiling, but I hope we don't get too much echoes after the remodeling. They also replaced the wall corner strips to use the round type.
I installed a wireless LAN on the computer. We regained access to the Internet despite the lack of a cable outlet in the kids' room.
Tuesday, Aug 13, 2002 (5y+7d)
The contractors didn't show up. They claimed that they are waiting for parts. But we believed they have accepted another project elsewhere. We heard that most contractors do that to minimize idle time. We just hope that they won't cause too much delay to our project.There were some screw-ups between the supply company and the contractors. Some parts arrived last week, but the contractors didn't pick them up. The supply company returned them back to the manufacturer because they have no space to store them. Now it may take another two weeks to get them back. This type of unforeseen problems is causing delay to the project.
The twins went to swim lesson in the afternoon. Mommy and twins stayed with Sharleen for the rest of the afternoon.
Wednesday, Aug 14, 2002 (5y+8d)
Due to the screw up caused by the contractors, mommy went shopping again, with the twins left with our neighbor Jenny. She was able to find similar parts at a cheaper price with immediate availability.
Thursday, Aug 15, 2002 (5y+9d)
The skylight has arrived. The contractors started cutting a hole in the living room ceiling. We instructed the contractors not to climb on the roof in the afternoon because footprints may damage the asphalt shingles when they were hot under the sun.
Friday, Aug 16, 2002 (5y+10d)
The contractors cut open the roof and installed the skylight in the morning while the roof was still cool.
Saturday, Aug 17, 2002 (5y+11d)
Only the electrician came to work today, the rest of the contractor team went to another project in San Francisco. Daddy and the twins stayed home most of the day. Mommy went to research on some home automation devices recommended by Sharleen. We decided that having a centralized control for all the lights in the house was a fancy feature, but it was not really necessary.We went out for dinner with Grandma Chui and Aunt Elaine. After dinner, we had some fresh fruits at grandma's place. The papaya and Chinese golden melon were so delicious that the twins didn't stop eating until the plate was empty. Aunt Elaine had a children word book with Disney characters. Jasmine read all the words in the book to Aunt Elaine. Joanne on the other hand, didn't volunteer to read as usual. She was better with drawings than words.
Sunday, Aug 18, 2002 (5y+12d)
We went to Monterey Bay Aquarium in the morning. The twins were particularly interested in the sea turtle and hammerhead shark. Then they wanted to touch the starfishes. Joanne got the chance to touch a stingray as it swam to the edge of the pool. They also spent some time playing with toys in the splash zone. We left at around 3pm when the twins started to complain about being tired. They weren't really that tired after all, because they refused to take a nap on the way home.
Monday, Aug 19, 2002 (5y+13d)
Daisy had a swim party at her community pool. It was a cold day but the water was warm. However, it was still too cold to stay in water for too long. Mommy and the twins spent more than half an hour in water. The twins were diving headfirst into the water towards mommy. Joanne said her cheek hurt when her face hit the water. Mommy suggested that they should ask Matt to teach them the proper way to dive into water. Daisy envied mommy because Sebastian spent two seasons taking swim lessons, yet he still didn't want to get in the water.Back at Daisy's house, another guest's two years old toddler rolled down the stairs. Fortunately, he was not hurt. The twins said Sebastian kicked him down the stairs. Boys are wild. Our twins were tame in comparison despite they fought a lot between themselves.
We tried dinner delivery for the first time. It was Chinese home-style cooking delivered to the door everyday. It cost $17 for three dishes and one soup du jour. The portion was quite big that we had left over. The twins said yummy. It was a viable solution before our kitchen remodeling was done.
Tuesday, Aug 20, 2002 (5y+14d)
It was family visit to the dentist office. The twins actually loved to have their teeth cleaned. Especially so for Joanne because her teeth were stained due to improper brushing. Jasmine did much better than Joanne in brushing and her teeth were very clean to start with. The dentist found no cavity in any of our mouths. After the twins were done with their cleaning, they rushed to George at the reception desk. They remembered George quite well now because he gave them many goodies after each visit. They got a big stack of stickers and some sparkling jewelry.They went to lunch with Lillian. She just returned from Hong Kong.
Mommy sent the twins to their naps so that she could take care of business in our remodeling project.
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2002 (5y+15d)
The twins had (most likely) their last swim lesson for the season. The twins said Matt only showed them how to swim underwater, not how to jump into the water. I guess Matt misunderstood their request to learn diving.The twins and Matt all will return to school soon. Actually, kindergarten starts tomorrow for the twins. Mommy took the twins to the school today to return some paperwork and collect more info for tomorrow's first day of school.
Jasmine has been playing a melody on the electronic keyboard and singing aloud along with the music since last night. Joanne was singing along with Jasmine too. Initially I thought she was just playing a song they learned in school. Today, when I asked her what song she was singing, she said she made that up all by herself. The song only have two phrases, it goes
C D E D C - If you want to grow, D E F E - there is no way!We wrote the lyrics and melody on a piece of paper. I asked her what the song meant. She said mommy was 30 years old, and she was only 5. She could never grow fast enough to catch up with her. She asked daddy if I liked the song. I said I loved it because she wrote it by herself. That was very special.Recently, the twins played the games on Disney.com on the Internet. They asked me why Disney's Blast didn't work. I told them we had to pay money to get into Disney's Blast. They asked how we could put money into the computer. I said we have to write a check and send it to Disney by mail. Joanne brought me a piece of paper and asked me to write. I wish I could write money out of a piece of paper! :-)
When we were watching Chinese TV, the program was broadcast in Mandarin with Cantonese on the SAP (Second Audio Program) channel. I switched the TV to the SAP, the twins complained. They said they wanted to listen to Mandarin because they would start learning Mandarin in school tomorrow.
Thursday, Aug 22, 2002 (5y+16d)
It was first day of kindergarten for the twins. We signed them up for an English-Mandarin Two-Way Immersion program (i.e. bilingual teaching) in the local public school. They were excited to learn Mandarin in school. They went to Challenger preschool for the past two years. They could read English words quite well, thanks to Phonics. Since we speak Cantonese at home, Mandarin would be the third language for them. They told us they wanted to learn Japanese too because mommy often watch Japanese drama series on video.The twins were assigned to two different classrooms. They were always assigned to the same class in preschool. This was the first time the twins attend school separately. It was no surprise because daddy asked them if they mind going to different classroom in school last night. They replied it wouldn't matter. They both said they like their teacher. They both said they loved to go to school.
The school cafeteria used an electronic debit system to buy lunch. However, because it was the first day of school, mommy had to give them money to buy lunch. It was the first time the twins spent money on their own.
On the first day of school, mommy already made alliance with another mom outside the classroom. The other mom also had twins, a boy-girl pair. They were also separated in different classrooms. Since neither mom could watch both classroom doors at the same time. They made a pact that each would watch out for each other's half twins when the door swung open. The other mom invited mommy to her home when the twins were in school. They found out that both sets of twins were born around the same time, just off by couple of days.
In the evening, I asked Joanne what she learned in school. She gave her usual response -- a blank look. She either daydreamed in class hence unaware of what was taught, or she got rid of all memory right after class. Jasmine said she sang a Chinese song in school. She also said the TV in Joanne's classroom was broken and Joanne's class had to come to their classroom to watch TV.
Jasmine told daddy that Joanne just took two hamburgers during lunch and she didn't take the fruit and salad. She didn't even take a fork or the napkin. Jasmine took all the good stuffs. Daddy helped Joanne to go through a list of things she should get tomorrow. Because the twins may come out of class at different time, Jasmine may not be able to help Joanne.
The contractors didn't show up today.
Friday, Aug 23, 2002 (5y+17d)
The contractors came to work again. They installed the new bathtub, wired the lights, ran a nature gas pipe etc. There were plenty to do.The twins went to kindergarten for the second time. They bought lunch using their 4-digit PIN number. Joanne had already forgotten her number before she got home. Both twins said they didn't learn any Mandarin today.
Saturday, Aug 24, 2002 (5y+18d)
After the contractors started their workday, we went to lunch with my Cousin Allen's family. They came to the area for a week before the kids start school again next week. We rendezvoused at the restaurant in Daly City. The twins looked forward to meeting their Cousin Amanda and Andric. The twins still remembered them well from our recent trip to Southern California.After lunch, they came to our house. The kids all played in the twins' bedroom. Since we were still remodeling, we spent some time in the backyard. They also remodeled their house sometime ago. They were very interested in checking out our construction. We exchanged some ideas.
In the evening, we all went visit my mom. My mom had not seen Allen for years. In fact, it was her first time to meet his family. We then went out for dinner. We called several Chinese restaurants in the neighborhood. Most of them were busy with wedding banquets. We decided to go all the way to Banana Leaf in Milpitas. The restaurant was crowded as usual. Since we had ten people in our party, we were able to make reservation in advance. Allen's wife is Malaysian, she felt right at home in a Malaysian restaurant. We returned to Grandma Chui's place after dinner. We shared some fresh fruits. The twins were more interested in candies instead. We left at after 11pm. We returned home and they returned to the hotel near SFO airport.
Sunday, Aug 25, 2002 (5y+19d)
We lived in the Bay Area for many years. But we never rode the cable cars in San Francisco like a tourist, mostly because we hate waiting in line. We rendezvoused with Allen's family at the Powell Street station to play tourists today.We rode the cable car to the Fisherman Wharf. Jasmine and Amanda were sitting at the front watching scenery along the way. Joanne buried her head into mommy's armpit. Andric was not very excited either, perhaps because the passengers standing on the edge of the cable car blocked his view. We had lunch and spent several hours at Pier 39.
Andric requested to take a boat ride. Mommy and Aunt Ivy stayed on shore while the rest of us took a water-taxi tour of the fisherman wharf. The boat could hold only 18 passengers plus the caption. The ride was quite bumpy. The waves were throwing the tiny boat up and down. At one point, a wave slammed over the bow and onto the window shield of the boat. On after thought, it was quite a dangerous ride for the kids because small boats can easily capsize under such condition. The kids were giggling as if they were riding roller coasters in the amusement park. Joanne again hid under Uncle Allen's embrace. She probably had motion sickness, but she didn't know how to tell. Jasmine was active and didn't show any sign of distress. After we landed, Andric said he wanted to go again. No one seconded his motion.
We had some snacks before leaving. We took the street trolley car to the Hyde Street cable car terminal. We waited over half an hour in line. It was so windy and cold that we all hung on to our jackets. We were well prepared. We brought along the twins ski jackets to keep them warm.
On the return trip, we all sat inside the cable car cabin. Joanne leaned against Aunt Ivy and fell asleep. We got off the cable car at China town. Joanne continued her nap on daddy shoulder until we arrived at the restaurant. We had a big dinner there. We took the bus and got off at Union Square. The Union Square was just reopened recently after an 18-month renovation. We all wanted to take a new look at the Square. The kids raced each other on the open space.
We said goodbye to Allen's family in the parking garage. Before we reached our car, Joanne said, "I miss him." Actually she meant she missed Amanda, but she often mixed the usage of him and her. Jasmine fell asleep on our way home. Joanne stayed up until we got home.
Monday, Aug 26, 2002 (5y+20d)
The twins returned to school. They said they didn't learn any Mandarin today. When we asked them what they learned, they couldn't tell. They didn't have any homework either. I don't expect public school to be as good as Challenger school, but after three days into the school term, I am not too impressed.The kitchen cabinets were delivered to our house. The contractors have not finished all the wiring and plumbing for the rough inspection. The installation must be postponed until the wall and flooring is finished.
Tuesday, Aug 27, 2002 (5y+21d)
The twins went to school as usual. They said they liked to go to school.The twins were sent to bed early. Daddy worked overtime. I didn't see the kids before they went to bed.
Wednesday, Aug 28, 2002 (5y+22d)
The twins came to our room at 7:30am in the morning. They went to bed early last night; hence they got up early in the morning. We sent them back to their room. They played with each other and the computer until we got up. I guess this was a privilege for having twins. If we had a single child, we would have to get up as soon as the kid got up.The twins went to school as usual.
Only the electrician came to work today. He needed to hurry up for the inspection tomorrow. The kitchen cabinets have arrived. They were all placed in the garage. We were eager to see them, but the contractors said they are not ready to install them yet.
Mommy needed to attend a parents' meeting at the kids' school. She dropped off the twins at Lillian's place. Mommy gave the twins dinner before she left. When mommy returned to pick them up 90 minutes later, they hadn't finished their dinner. Anyway, they had fun playing with William and Lillian. When they said goodbye to William and Lillian, Jasmine said "Goodbye Aunt Lillian and Aunt William" (in Cantonese). The kids still made a lot of mistakes regarding gender when they spoke. Everyone laughed, but Jasmine was so embarrassed that she cried emotionally. She was quite intolerant to mistakes being pointed out or corrected.
Daddy worked overtime. I could see the kids before they went to bed, just because they stayed late with Lillian tonight.
Thursday, Aug 29, 2002 (5y+23d)
The city's building inspector came early in the morning. He passed the rough inspection. He left before the contractor arrived. Our contractor could proceed with covering up all the holes in walls and ceilings. However, the contractor already called off today's work because he thought the inspector might take the whole day.The twins went to school as usual.
Daddy worked overtime again. The twins were asleep when I returned home.
Friday, Aug 30, 2002 (5y+24d)
The twins came to our room in the morning and counted numbers from 1 to 10 in Mandarin. It was evident that they had finally started to learn Mandarin yesterday.Only two contractors came to work today. They had plenty to do, but they only managed to seal several holes on the ceiling.
The twins had no school today. It was a "teacher learning day". I believe it was a day for the teachers to get together to share notes about the new students they got to know in the past week.
Saturday, Aug 31, 2002 (5y+25d)
The contractors continued to cover the walls and ceiling. They tried to finish before the sheet-rock inspection scheduled on Tuesday.We went out to lunch with our neighbor's family. They had helped us baby sit the twins many times. They also offered some garage space for us to store our furniture and boxes during our remodeling. We bought their family a lunch to show our gratitude.
Sunday, Sep 1, 2002 (5y+26d)
Two contractors came to work overtime. They wanted to finish the sheet-rocks in time for inspection on Tuesday. They don't plan to come on Labor Day holiday.Ken's family invited us to dinner. They had their kitchen remodeling done just a few weeks ago. We had been asking for a tour of their new kitchen for some time. They invited two other families with kids and made the occasion a gathering.
Mommy and the twins went to Ken's place first. The two contractors worked really late. I stayed behind until the contractors finished. I went to Ken's house almost 2 hours late. All the kids were served dinner early before I arrived. They returned to their games and plays after their dinner.
Ken was the chef du jour. He prepared lamb steaks for the adults. It was so delicious that we all wished we could have seconds. Ken joked that the cooking he taught to his wife have not improved over the years. It was time he returned to the kitchen occasional for some good cooking. We all joked that we were willing come to the tasting at the last moment notice.
We stayed after dinner to talk about old times. Ken took out some photos from high school days. We realized that those photos were from a quarter century ago. Those were the days. We returned home around midnight.
Monday, Sep 2, 2002 (5y+27d)
It was Labor Day holiday. No school for the twins. No office hour for daddy.We went out to lunch with Hing, Lucy and Terence. We went to Vasona Park after lunch. We first took the mini train ride around the park. Then we let the kids ride the carousel. Then the kids spent some time in the playground. We left at around 4:30pm because we thought the dinner delivery would arrive at 5pm. It turned out that the dinner delivery service was on holiday today.
It was a very hot day. Lillian invited the twins to swim in her pool. The twins and daddy spent about one hour in the pool. Daddy simply asked the twins to repeat the drills Matt taught them. At the end, I also had them dive to the bottom of the pool to touch my toes. They had trouble fighting the buoyancy. I had to give them a push initially to gain the downward momentum. The twins found the toes touching game too weird and they couldn't stop laughing even under water. I worried that they would choke by inhaling water when they laughed controllably, so I stopped the game. Then they wanted to practice diving into the water from the edge of the pool. Initially they were only jumping in feet first. After daddy demonstrated a headfirst dive, they started to really jump away from the edge. However, they still couldn't lift their feet after the jump. They ordered them to come out of water when they started to shiver and their lips turned purple. They came out with reluctance.
We returned home for a shower while mommy went out to get some hamburgers. We all went to bed early after Jasmine read a story to daddy. Joanne did not read at well as Jasmine. She often found something else to do when we asked her to read to us.
Tuesday, Sep 3, 2002 (5y+28d)
The building inspector from the city government came to inspect the sheet-rock installation early in the morning. Everything passed. We didn't set up to do the bathtub test. He returned in the afternoon to pass that test too when he found no leakage.After a 3 days long weekend, daddy returned to busy work schedule. The twins returned to school.
Some kitchen appliances were delivered to our home today. The cook-top and the refrigerator were not delivered yet. The appliance were on the side because the contractor said he wanted to do the plastering and flooring before installing the appliance and cabinets. That means it would take at least another week.
Daddy worked overtime. Everyone was asleep when I got home.
Wednesday, Sep 4, 2002 (5y+29d)
The contractors didn't come to work. They used a flat tire as the excuse. We didn't believe a bit. They must be busy at another job elsewhere.We found out that main part of kitchen hood was missing from yesterday's delivery. The box said "2 of 2" which indicated that the box "1 of 2" is missing. Mommy had to call the store several times to find out what happened. She only got the answering machine and the problem was not resolved before the end of the day. She was really aggravated because the contractors would have another excuse to halt the project. They needed the kitchen hood to set the duct in the ceiling before covering it up. With a big hole in the ceiling they refused to start the plastering and painting because they only want to do it once. Without plastering, the flooring could not start; the cabinet could not be installed. It had a cascading effect. Mommy was really upset unless this missing part was found.
The twins went to school as usual. Daddy worked overtime again. Everyone was asleep when I got home.
Thursday, Sep 5, 2002 (5y+30d)
We called the appliance store again first thing in the morning. Daddy went to the store in person to talk to the person who trace the part for us. In the afternoon, they located the missing part in the warehouse. Mommy needed it so badly that she went to Hayward to pick it up herself.The contractors resumed work today.
The twins went to school as usual. Daddy worked overtime again. The twins called daddy at work in the evening. They didn't know what to say over the phone. But I knew they missed me. Everyone was asleep when I got home.
Friday, Sep 6, 2002 (5y+1m)
The twins are 5 year and 1 month old today.
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started on Sep 9, 2002