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This journal is about raising identical twins.Sixty Second month
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Friday, Sep 6, 2002 (5y+1m)
The twins are five year and one month old today.For the past few days, I went to work before the twins woke up, and I returned home after the twins were asleep. I actually had not seen the twins for a few days. I came home late last night. I slept in a little this morning. When I got up, the twins were up already. The twins gave daddy a big hug before I left for work. The twins went to school as usual.
The contractors are doing the plastering. The holes and cracks were taped yesterday. A layer of rough plaster was put on to let dry. This morning, they started to put on the second layer. Texturing material will be put on tomorrow after today's layer dries.
Daddy came home at regular hour tonight. The twins were happy to see daddy.
Saturday, Sep 7, 2002 (5y+1m+1d)
Jasmine came to our bedroom at 4am. She had a leak. Mommy got up to change her and clean up. Apparently, Jasmine was on her way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Due to the remodeling, only the downstairs bathroom was available. Probably she was too scared to go downstairs on her own; she released her load right outside our bedroom on top of my shoes and the carpet around them.The twins were very good at keeping the routine of peeing before getting in bed every night. They usually could hold till the morning. This type of accident was uncommon. Jasmine probably drank extra fluid during dinner last night. When I asked her about that in the morning, she proudly said that she didn't wet the bed, only daddy's shoes.
Daddy had to return to the office to work overtime before the twins woke up. It was a busy day for mommy to deal with 3 teams of contractors. In addition to the contractors for the remodeling. We hired some landscapers to work in the yard. We hired a flooring contractor to refinish the wood deck in our backyard.
Daddy's high school classmate, KwaiLam W. from Tennessee was in Berkeley for business. He paid us a visit in the afternoon. This is his fourth encounter with our twins. He took the BART to the South Bay. Lillian picked him up from the BART station. I took the twins to Lillian's place in the afternoon. Mommy stayed home until the contractors finished their work.
We spent sometime chatting about old times and construction project. He spent the last year on a new home construction. His new house was only one month from completion. We were sharing experience about working with contractors and shopping for materials. We all agreed that even though the material cost were roughly the same, the cost of labor was much cheaper in Tennessee. The land was cheap too. He bought his 200 foot x 100 foot lot for a little over $50,000. We told them that a lot of the same size in some neighborhoods in the Bay Area might cost 20 times at over a million dollars.
We returned to our home after Lillian served us some desserts. We spent more time talking about our own remodeling project. He and Lillian gave us some suggestions on improving on our plan. But since we were already over our budget, we needed to think carefully before adding anything.
We went out for dinner in Milpitas. We chatted about living in different part of the world. KwaiLam had been living in Tennessee for a quarter century now and he had no plan to move. Lillian talked about her experience living in Shanghai. We probably would just stay put in California.
After dinner, Lillian went home on her own. We took KwaiLam to the BART station. He returned to the hotel in Berkeley and he would leave for Tennessee in the morning.
We dropped off the twins at Aunt Tina's place. They were asleep when they arrived. We had to wake them up and force them to pee. We didn't want them to wet the bed.
It was past midnight when we got home. It was a long day for us. More so for mommy because Jasmine woke us up at 4am and the gardening came at 7am this morning.
Sunday, Sep 8, 2002 (5y+1m+2d)
The contractors sanded down the walls and ceiling and sprayed on texturing material. The whole house was covered with white dust. The contractors advised us to take the twins elsewhere. That was the reason why we left the twins with Aunt Tina last night.We went out to lunch with Grandma Chui. She was kind of disappointed that the twins were not with us today.
We returned home in the afternoon. The deck people nailed, sanded and pressure-washed our wood deck yesterday. Today, they came again to buff the surface and apply the wood sealant. The deck changed from dark gray to a more healthy redwood color after the work was completed.
The twins stayed with Aunt Tina all day. Grandma Ling and grandpa joined them too. We joined them for dinner. After dinner, we returned home and bathed the twins. We then took them to Lillian's place. Mommy and the twins stayed overnight with Lillian because the contractors would start to spray-paint the interior walls in the morning.
Monday, Sep 9, 2002 (5y+1m+3d)
The contractors started painting the walls and ceilings with a coat of primer. The twins went to school directly from Lillian's home. Jasmine wetted her car seat. Mommy dropped them off at Sharleen's place after school. Mommy took the seat back home to wash. Mommy and twins stayed overnight at Sharleen's place because of the painting work at home.
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2002 (5y+1m+4d)
The contractors started painting the walls and ceilings. Mommy had to stop their work because the paint color was not right. It turned out that it was Mommy's mistake. She named the wrong color. The contractors decided to resume painting tomorrow. Two buckets of paint were opened and they could not be returned. Those would cost us.The twins went to school as usual. Mommy went with the contractor to shop of floor tiles while the twins were in school.
Mommy and twins stayed at Sharleen's place again tonight. Jasmine leaked right in front of the toilet. Fortunately she didn't wet her host's carpet. I asked mommy to pay attention to Jasmine's health signs. There might be a reason when Jasmine leaked three times within the past week.
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2002 (5y+1m+5d)
The twins went to school as usual. Daddy got a sore toe due to gout. The doctor recommended bed rest and some medication. I took a day of sick leave from work. I spent the day in bed watching the memorial services for the 9/11 anniversary.The twins stayed away from home because of the painting activities. The house was not as dusty as few days ago. However, the odor of paint was very strong. The strong paint odors were from chemical vapor. It would be best for the kids to avoid breathing too much of the vapor. Mommy and twins stayed at Sharleen's place again tonight.
Thursday, Sep 12, 2002 (5y+1m+6d)
The twins went to school as usual.Mommy and twins moved to Lucy's place for overnight stay. They had already bothered Sharleen for three nights. Mommy switched to Lucy to lessen the burden to their hosts.
Daddy joined them for dinner after work. The twins were glad to see daddy.
Friday, Sep 13, 2002 (5y+1m+7d)
The twins went to school as usual.Mommy took the twins and Claire to the "Moon Festival" gathering organized by the twins' school. Since the majority of the students in the "Mandarin Immersion" program were Chinese, the activity was culturally appropriate, though it was a week too early for the Chinese moon festival. We saw another set of identical twin girls at the gathering. They were in first grade; they were also Cantonese.
Daddy and Poon also joined the kids at the park. Sharleen needed to teach a class today, so Mommy took Claire along to baby-sit her. Poon came to the park to pick up Claire after the event.
Traditional Chinese "moon cakes", Fruits and snacks were served at the party. Each child received a paper lantern. After all the lanterns were lit, everyone strolled around the park. Some decided to go for a second round. But we decided to leave because the park was pretty dark at night and the kid-size lanterns were not very bright.
Mommy and twins returned to Lucy's place after the gathering. They stayed overnight at Lucy's place again tonight.
Saturday, Sep 14, 2002 (5y+1m+8d)
The contractors were busy nailing the floor, painting and installing light switches etc. today. Mommy and twins returned home briefly. However, the twins complained about the loud pneumatic noise made by the nailing machine. Mommy dropped off the twins at Aunt Tina's place before lunch. The twins stayed the rest of the day and overnight with their cousin.
Sunday, Sep 15, 2002 (5y+1m+9d)
The contractors were off today. Daddy returned to the office to work overtime.Mommy picked up the twins from Aunt Tina around noon. They returned home for an afternoon nap after lunch. The twins had not slept in their own beds for almost a week now. The house still had strong paint odor. But if the twins stayed in their own room, it was not too bad.
Daddy joined the family for dinner in a restaurant. They went to Lillian's place after dinner. They had dessert and played happily with Lillian. William had returned from his business trip since Thursday. He was busy catching up with work on his computer. It would be a challenge for him when the twins were screaming in the background.
Mommy and twins stayed overnight with Lillian tonight. They moved around among several hosts hoping that they would not become nuisances to one particular host. Our twins behaved so well that they were welcomed everywhere. Sharleen said her Claire ate much more in the presence of our twins. Even eating could be improved by competition. ☺ Lucy said her Terrence hopped in joy when he saw our twins. So while the twins moved around seeking shelter, they were also making a welcomed tour of visits to their hosts.
Monday, Sep 16, 2002 (5y+1m+10d)
The twins went to school as usual.Mommy and the twins stayed overnight at Lillian's place. Mommy got a sore throat. She might be too stressed out by running with the kids away from home for more than a week.
Tuesday, Sep 17, 2002 (5y+1m+11d)
The twins went to school as usual. Tuesday's school has an early schedule. All activities are shifted by almost an hour. Mommy forgot about the early schedule last week. When they arrived at the school, the entrance was empty since everyone was inside the classrooms. They were over 30 minutes late.Mommy asked the twins to remind her of the early school schedule every Tuesday. The twins did their duty very well today. When they arrived at the school today, there was nobody. The twins exclaimed, "Are we late again?!!" No, they were early this time.
Mommy and the twins returned home despite the paint odor at home. They were all fallen sick. Mommy had a sore throat. Both twins had runny noses.
Daddy worked overtime past midnight. I didn't see the twins until the next morning.
Wednesday, Sep 18, 2002 (5y+1m+12d)
Daddy left some muffins on the table in our bedroom. We woke up in the morning with a serious case of ant attack. Despite the late hour work last night, I had to get up early to deal with the ants.The twins went to school as usual.
Daddy worked overtime past midnight again. Everyone was asleep when I came home. Several of my coworkers had flu symptoms. Mommy and the twins are sick at home. I was stressed out by long hour overtime work while surrounded by sick people around me both at home and at work. I wouldn't be surprised if I fell sick within days.
Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 (5y+1m+13d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Friday, Sep 20, 2002 (5y+1m+14d)
The twins went to school as usual.Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Michelle came from Hong Kong to visit Grandma Chui. Uncle Ronnie was here in April, so the twins still remembered him very well. Aunt Michelle came over two years ago. Nevertheless, the twins said they remembered Aunt Michelle.
We dined out. They decided to stay with grandma overnight so that they could spend more time together. Grandma's place is rather small. But since Aunt Elaine was on an outing, the rooms were not too crowded.
Saturday, Sep 21, 2002 (5y+1m+15d)
We had dim sum for lunch. We spent the afternoon shopping at Costco. Mommy stayed home to deal with the contractors.It was the Chinese Moon Festival today. After dinner, we set up some fruits and moon cakes in front of grandma's apartment building facing the full moon. The twins played with the battery-operated lanterns from grandma. They ran around in the courtyard while we sat on the benches to enjoy the full moon.
The twins heard about the story of Chang Ur (the moon fairy) from school. They wanted daddy to show them the fairy. The best I could do was to give them a viewing scope and asked them to look at the shadows on the moon and imagine them as the image of the fairy. The twins didn't have the imagination to see the fairy.
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002 (5y+1m+16d)
We went to the Moon Festival celebration at the local City Park. We originally planned to go yesterday, but we changed the plan due to the tight schedule. We sat on the lawn of the amphitheater to watch some cultural performances. The twins were impatient and demanded to go to the playground.In the evening, we hosted a dinner in a restaurant to celebrate grandma's 80th birthday. We invited some ex-classmates from grandma's senior center English class. We also invited some of her friends and some relatives from San Francisco. One of my cousins from San Francisco is actually older than my mom is. When the twins saw her gray hair, they said her hair was funny. They got acquainted with her immediately despite that they had not seen her since they were one month old. They even invited her to stay overnight. The twins said they could let her sleep in their beds. What a generous offer! I believed the twins felt so familiar with her because her hair looked exactly like great grandma's hair.
We went back to grandma's place to have some fruits before returning home. Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Michelle stayed with grandma again. We brought them the air mattress. The twins helped to set up the "bubble bed".
Monday, Sep 23, 2002 (5y+1m+17d)
The twins went to school as usual.Aunt Elaine dropped off Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Michelle at ValleyFair Mall so they can do some window-shopping.
Daddy started to feel some flu symptoms, with a sore throat, muscle ache and headache. Jasmine had a stuffy nose. She took some medication and went to bed without dinner. Joanne made a lot of noise around her, but Jasmine was not bothered, she slept so soundly that she snored.
Tuesday, Sep 24, 2002 (5y+1m+18d)
The twins got up early in the morning and played in their own room. They came to our room to serve us "lunch". They emptied two full boxes of Kleenex tissues and rolled each tissue up like napkins. They served the rolled up tissues on a plate as "lunch". I guessed the school cafeteria prepared the napkins or the meal in a similar manner. Mommy was quite mad about them wasting the tissue papers. The twins went to school as usual.Daddy's flu symptoms got worse. I got chills occasionally. But since the air conditioning at work was very cold, the chill may not be caused by the flu.
Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Michelle took public transportation to Stanford to kill time. We went to grandma's place for dinner. After dinner, we took Ronnie and Michelle to stay overnight at our home so that they can do some laundry before returning home.
Wednesday, Sep 25, 2002 (5y+1m+19d)
Aunt Elaine came to pick up Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Michelle. They went to Half Moon Bay to see the ocean.The twins went to school as usual.
We dined out again with grandma Chiu to celebrate her birthday on the proper day. She goes by the Chinese lunar calendar for her birthday. Ronnie and Michelle stayed with us again for the night. I asked the twins to say goodbye to their uncle and aunt because they would be gone in the morning.
Thursday, Sep 26, 2002 (5y+1m+20d)
I took Ronnie and Michelle to the airport in the morning. They will stop by Tokyo for a short trip before returning to Hong Kong.The twins went to school ten minutes late today. The contractors worked in our only bathroom today and delayed the twins' wash-up in the morning. When they arrived at school, they couldn't find their classes because everyone was out on a fire drill. The twins finally found their classmates and sneaked into the crowd. Since keeping an accurate headcount of the kids is a major part of a fire drill, the twins might have driven the teachers crazy when the headcount didn't match.
Daddy worked overtime at the office. The twins were in bed when I came home.
Friday, Sep 27, 2002 (5y+1m+21d)
The twins went to school as usual.The new refrigerator was delivered today. One of the contractors will take the old fridge home.
Sharleen dropped off Claire at our place. Claire and Joanne were jumping on bed. They fell down and Claire landed on Joanne's nose. Joanne had a bad case of nosebleed with blood dripping from her nose to her palm then down her elbow etc. It was a mess. Joanne has a weak nose. She has nosebleed quite easily.
The kids played together until Poon came to pick up Claire. Mommy served them udon (Japanese noodle) before they left.
Saturday, Sep 28, 2002 (5y+1m+22d)
Daddy got a gout attack again and stayed in bed most of the day. When the contractors removed the old fridge, they found that it caused water damage to the new wood floor. The wood was not sealed yet, and the water damage made the wood plank buckled. The contractors need to redo part of the floor next week.
Sunday, Sep 29, 2002 (5y+1m+23d)
The twins sang happy birthday song to mommy in Mandarin. I was surprised because I didn't know they learned the song in school. Mommy already picked herself a gift months ago. We went out to lunch and dinner so mommy didn't need to cook today. Mommy took the twins to the mall to kill time. Daddy went to work overtime in the office. Joanne fell asleep during dinner. Jasmine was also very tired on the way home. Mommy said they burned up all their energy at the mall. They went to bed early.
Monday, Sep 30, 2002 (5y+1m+24d)
The twins were up chatting with each other early in the morning. Daddy checked on them before going to work. I asked them why they got up so early. They said the night was long, they could not sleep that long. I asked them not to disturb mommy because she was not awake yet. The twins asked daddy not to tell mommy they were already up playing.They went to school as usual.
Daddy work overtime again. Everyone was asleep when I got home.
Tuesday, Oct 1, 2002 (5y+1m+25d)
Tuesday school is half an hour early. Jasmine was rushing Joanne to get up in the morning. They went to school as usual.Grandma Chui got a phone call from Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Michelle. They were back to Hong Kong after the trip to Tokyo. They said a Typhoon hit Japan when they left.
Daddy work overtime again. Everyone was asleep when I got home.
Jasmine came to our bed in the middle of the night. She said she had a scary dream. She stayed in our bed until the morning. Daddy and mommy got sore back because the bed was too crowded. Jasmine refused to tell what the scary dream was about.
Wednesday, Oct 2, 2002 (5y+1m+26d)
The twins went to school as usual.Daddy work overtime again. Everyone was asleep when I got home.
Joanne came to our bed in the middle of the night. She said she had a scary dream (how they called nightmare.) In my opinion, she was just a copycat. She found out that Jasmine slept in our bed last night and she just wanted to do the same. We were not awake enough to deal with her, so Joanne stayed in our bed until the morning. When I asked Joanne what her scary dream was, she said mommy died in her dream. Wow! That was scary to a kid.
Thursday, Oct 3, 2002 (5y+1m+27d)
The twins went to school as usual.Daddy came home a bit earlier than the past few days. I got to help the twins review their homework before they went to bed. The school asked Jasmine to bring back a report of what she learned in the month of September. Joanne didn't get such report. I went through the learned topics with the twins. Jasmine was very good at reciting the rhymes. (Jack and Jill & Humpty-Dumpty) I showed her how to do dictation on paper and helped on some more difficult words. Joanne had trouble remembering what she learned. Jasmine was eager to whisper the answer on the side. Jasmine also remembered the Mandarin she learned. Joanne simply tried to murmur when we quizzed her.
Friday, Oct 4, 2002 (5y+1m+28d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Saturday, Oct 5, 2002 (5y+1m+29d)
Joanne got a Birthday party invitation from her classmate earlier this week. Though Jasmine was in a different class, the host decided to invite Jasmine also when she learned about Joanne's twin sister. The twins got up earlier in the morning excited about the birthday party. They were disappointed when we told them the party was on the coming Saturday, not today.We had dinner with Lillian and William. They stopped by our house after dinner to see the progress of our remodeling project.
Sunday, Oct 6, 2002 (5y+2m)
The twins are 62 months old today.
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started on Oct 10, 2002