Preschool Holiday Party

The girls had their preschool holiday party, and was it ever a crazy scene. Hundreds of children running around juiced up on sugar and holiday cheer.

The girls had a good time. This is the first year they really "get" the whole holiday scene. Other than some crying when they first got up on stage (see video clips, below), the girls enjoyed running around, watching the older kids perform, and eating lots and lots of sugar.

The party ended late for the girls -- about 8:00 pm. I thought they'd fall asleep on the way home, but they were a bundle of energy after their pizza and cookies. They got home and kept on partying until about 11 pm, two hours past their bedtime.

It was a quiet Saturday morning in the Lim household!

Here are some video clips from the girls' holiday party.

** WARNING: Unless you are: 1) A Grandparent; or 2) A family member of one of the kids in the video; these videos are pretty dull. Nothing exciting happens in them, so you may want to skip them unless you are in one of the above categories.

Caroline Caroling

In the spirit of the holidays, here is Caroline in her movie debut, singing her version of "Jingle Bells".

Note: Listen closely to the background for the review of her singing from her sister.

Santa Claus, Part II

As you'll recall, last year, we took this photo of the girls with Santa Claus:

Who is this guy, and why are we sitting on this lap?

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We figured this year, we had a better shot of getting the girls to take a decent photo with the guy in the big red suit. After all, we reasoned, they are a year older.

To increase our chances, we started a subtle PR campaign aimed at enhancing Santa's image in our girls' eyes. For the weeks leading up to our visit to the mall, we:

• Showed the girls T.V. shows and movies with Santa in them.
• Sang "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" (See previous post)
• Asked them what they wanted Santa to bring them for Christmas.

The brainwashing seemed to be working. In the week leading up to our mall visit, the girls walked around confidently proclaiming, "I want to take a picture with Santa!"

When the big day arrived, we dressed the girls up in their best Christmas dresses and took them over to our local mall.

Ultimately, this is the photo we ended up with:

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Here are some things you may or may not have noticed about this photo:

• Terri and I are in the photo. This is because Santa absolutely refused to let the girls sit on his lap. You heard me. He refused. You'll notice this is an older, more authentic Santa than from the previous year. This Santa, being older and wiser, had no hesitancy in having his helper state, "If there's a chance the girls will kick him, they can't sit on Santa's lap." So Terri and I ended up sitting next to Santa, and holding onto our girls.
• Katherine is still crying this year, but at least this year she wasn't trying to leap out of the photograph.
• Caroline looks at this photo and is proud of stating, "I'm not crying." However, what you can't see in the photo is Caroline fearfully digging her nails into Daddy's chest and arm, causing them to bleed.
• Notice the forced smile on Santa's face. It seems to be saying, "They don't pay me enough for this gig. And with this guy sitting on my right hip, I can't reach my flask."

I can't wait to see what next year's photo will look like!

Tough Crowd.

You will notice I haven't been posting as many photos recently. That's because I've made the family photo archives more easily accessible. Just look on the right hand column of this site, and you will see direct links to the most recent photos of our family, as well as a link to the entire photo and video archive site. The archives have a minimal password protection so that only friends and family will be able to look at the site: Just login as "guest" and type in the name of the town David was born and raised in (all lower case). Pretty easy, huh?

On to today's entry:

The girls continue to be my toughest critics. I've been battling a cold for the past week, and lost my voice the past few days. So my voice has cracked and croaked whenever I've tried to talk, much less sing.

With that background, the following exchange took place in the car earlier this week:

Caroline: Daddy?

Daddy: Yes, Caroline?

Caroline: Sing "Santa Claus" (Short for "Santa Claus is Coming to Town")

Daddy: Okay. (Cough, cough.)

Daddy: Oh, you better not pout (cough), you better not cry (croak), you better not . . .

Caroline & Katherine: Daddy!

Daddy: Yes?

Katherine: Turn on the radio.

I Hate Caillou

Okay, "hate" is a strong word. Let's just say Caillou bugs the heck out of me right now.

"Caillou" for those who don't know is a cartoon show about a four year-old kid on PBS. Here he is:

I think he's French-Canadian. I'm pretty sure he's Canadian, and with a name like "Caillou" I just assume he's got some French heritage in there.

Anyway, Caillou is the new favorite show for the girls, having recently supplanted "Sesame Street."

What annoys me most about Caillou is that the kid rarely throw a temper tantrum. And the kid always listens to his parents after they tell him something once.

An example:

Caillou: I want to play with my car!

Mommy: It's time for bed now Caillou. Why don't we put your car on your table, and it will be there when you wake up.

Caillou: Okay, Mommy!

In our house, this same scenario would play out this way:

Caroline: I want to play with my car!

Daddy: It's time for bed now Caroline. Why don't we put your car on your table, and it will be there when you wake up.

Caroline: No! I want my car! Go away, Daddy!

Now before one of you with no child or a degree in child behavioral development points out to me that the point of "Caillou" is to model correct behavior in children, let me say: I know, I know.

But it still doesn't mean I have to like the agreeable little you-know-what.

Tough Love Works . . . Sometimes

Just when you think you can't do anything right as a father and that your kids have totally gained control of the household, things like the last two nights happen.

The scene: I am putting Caroline to bed. Caroline gets in bed, but then plays with her book, plays with her stuffed animals, or sits up to look around the room.

Both nights, after about five minutes of this, I've looked at her with my most serious expression, and with my sternest voice I've said, "Enough. Caroline, lay down, go to sleep." I then kiss her and tell her one more time, "Good night. Time for bed."

Both nights, Caroline has rolled over and fallen asleep without a protest or a wimper.

I am, like, the best Dad ever.

(Or at least until tomorrow night when she keeps me up until midnight.)

We've Turned a Corner

A few weeks ago we took the girls to eat at our local mall.

As we sat down to eat our "Food Court" food, another couple with a single toddler about the same age as the girls sat down next to us.

The parents dutifully set out a booster chair which they had brought with them, along with a plastic bowl, plastic fork, and cloth bib. They then wiped down the table with antiseptic wipes.

Our girls looked over at the family of three with interest. They were eating with plastic forks you get with your food, out of paper plates we grabbed from the food line, on a table we had half-heartedly wiped down with a dry napkin. As the girls watched the little boy eat, their shirts were stained with teriyaki sauce since they weren't wearing a bib.

I think we've overcome our phobia of keeping our girls "super clean". We've turned a corner as parents -- good or bad, we've turned a corner!

We have fun in our house

Lest I forget in years to come, this age is a FUN age with the girls. We have fun in our house every single day. Here are some examples to help me remember the fun things we did when they were two years old:

Hugging each other just because.

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Mugging for the camera!

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Caroline giving her baby a ride on her shoulders,

the way Daddy gives her a ride on his shoulders.

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Built "Ford" Tough

Last week the girls were playing their new favorite game, "Hide 'N Go Seek". Katherine had run into their bedroom, while Caroline stayed out in the family room with me, counting.

Unfortunately, the girls are not yet entirely clear on the concept of "Hide 'N Go Seek", because as soon as Caroline stopped counting and started to run into the bedroom, Katherine immediately left her hiding place and ran out towards the family room.

Caroline turned the corner to the hallway leading to the bedroom just as Katherine turned the same corner coming from the opposite direction. Both were running at full speed.

The result was a spectacular collision that sent both girls falling backwards onto our hardwood floor.

Now, I'll admit that as a father of twins, I've become pretty good at not overreacting to falls. With twins, someone is always falling, and you can't be there to catch them all the time.

But this fall got me up pretty quick. First, it sounded loud. Second, both girls literally fell backwards onto their backs from the force of the collision.

Naturally, both girls were crying hysterically.

I picked both girls up, kissed them, consoled them, and got them their "owie" ice packs.

I watched them closely to make sure they weren't more seriously hurt.

Then, about one minute later, I took the photo below. I'll let you decide if they were badly hurt from their collision.

Ready to start playing again.

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All Aboard!

Every day when I take the girls to school, we see the local commuter train pass us by. The girls get very excited, and every day they ask me, "Daddy, go on train?"

So this weekend, we took the girls to the Zoo to ride the train. They had a blast.

Riding on the Little Puffer Steam Train.

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Katherine and Mom on the train!

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Caroline consulting her map just before the train ride.

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We also went to see the bears. Katherine is going through a faze where she does not like to get too close to see the animals, which explains this "back up!" look on her face in this photo.

Too close to the animals for Katherine's comfort.

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I also got this cool shot of some grizzly bears:

Grizzly Bears.

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Just Wait

So today we were at our weekly Target outing waiting in the checkout line to pay for some things.

Katherine was getting antsy about the wait, so she starting jumping around. She tripped, and fell on her stomach. Luckily, she is so good at falling she wasn't hurt.

However, she fell right in front of a young lady wearing a HUGE engagement ring. The young lady looked down at Katherine (who smiled up at her), then looked over at me with a contemptuous look that suggested, "Can't you control your child?"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I considered a little jumping and falling pretty darned good behavior in the checkout line! I had to bite my tongue to tell the young lady, "Call me in five years when you have a child, and I'll dare you to give me the same look you just gave me!"

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Some photos of the girls:

Caroline predicted good things for the Bruins this week against Washington, when she chose this hat to wear to school on Friday. I swear I didn't pick it out for her! UCLA prevailed, 44-31.

Go Bruins!

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We had our first storm of the season, signaling the end of summer. The girls were trying on their new jackets from grandma:

Ready for Fall weather.

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Overheard in the car on the way home from daycare.

I was distracted listening to a program on the radio when the girls were trying to get my attention:

Katherine: Daddy?

Caroline: Daddy?

Katherine: Daddy?

Caroline: Daddy?

Katherine: DADDYYYY!

Caroline: DADYYYYYYYYY!!!!

Still no response from Dad.

Caroline: DAVID!

That got my attention!

Favorite phrases this week.

Caroline: "I funny!"

(Any time she does something that she thinks is very, very funny -- which is just about anything that makes her laugh.)

Katherine: "My Daddy!"

(Part of a game we play. My response is, "My daughter!" She then repeats "My Daddy!" We will keep this game going for quite a while. I am hoarding all this love and attention towards the day when she makes me drop her off at the mall a block away so her friends won't see me.)

Good times at the Lim House.

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Same good times as above, but this time Caroline is looking at the camera (sort of).

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And they're off!

This afternoon I took the girls down to the horse racing track.

Now, I know that normally the above sentence might cause some of you to place a call to Child Protective Services to report me, but before you do that, let me explain

A co-worker of mine recently invested in a horse named "GoinWest". Today he was running his third race ever at Bay Meadows, so he invited a number of us to come cheer him on. I thought it would be a great opportunity to let the girls see live horses close up.

I was half right.

Caroline had a great time. She climbed up on the fence rails and looked at all the horses, exclaiming, "Oh! Pretty horse!"

Katherine just cried. I think she was overwhelmed by the large size of an actual horse (as opposed to her stuffed animal horse, which is much smaller, and much more manageable!).

This photo sort of tells it all:

Checkin' Out the Horses Before the Race

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Still, we had a great time. Our gracious host brought us into the "owners lounge" where there were free drinks including . . . free cups of ice! The girls were in heaven, since they love to play with ice.

They also got their first smell of cigarette smoke up close and personal, and I'm glad to say they proclaimed it, "Stinky!"

As for the race itself, it was bittersweet.

Goinwest finished third, which was a great finish for him.

However, the race he ran in was called a "claiming race" which in summary means someone else had a chance to buy him before the race. And someone did buy him! Bought him right away from my co-worker after his great race. I don't pretend to know a lot about horse racing (this was only my third time ever to a horse racing track), so the concept of a "claiming race" is not entirely clear to me, but if you want to know more, you can click here.

Here are some more shots of my friend's "pretty horse", as Caroline called him!

Goinwest before the race

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Getting ready to race!

(Before we knew someone else bought him!)

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Time for College Football

College football season is my favorite sports season of the year. And by "College football season" I really mean, UCLA Football Season!

Two weekends ago we went to the "Stanford Fan Fest" to check out the new Stanford Stadium. We also were hoping to score some free goodies and free food for the girls (feeding twins is expensive, you know!)

Being a UCLA fan, I couldn't go to the "Stanford Fan Fest" without decking the girls out in their best UCLA gear. Terri talked me out of wearing my UCLA shirt, claiming, "The football players will KILL you!"

Turns out she may have been right. While taking the first photo below, I had the audacity to ask a Stanford football player alum to take a photo for us. He looked at the girls' t-shirts, then said, "Not until they take off those shirts." He wasn't smiling when he said it, but he took the photo anyway.

Dressed for the Bruins at the Stanford Fan Fest.

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By the way, Stanford's home opener on September 1 is against -- The UCLA Bruins.

Go Bruins!

Here is another photo from the Fan Fest, plus a photo of the girls wearing their Dodger hats. Katherine always insists on wearing her hat in "rally mode" for some reason . . .

UCLA will be running back their touchdowns that way --->.

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Go Dodger Blue!

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Shhh! Babies sleeping!

For their second birthday, the girls received a gift of baby dolls from their aunt, along with matching strollers.

The girls love their dolls. They push them around the house. They pretend to put them to sleep. They even feed them dinner.

Their favorite new toys.

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Mmmmmm!.

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This past weekend, I fell asleep on the couch in the afternoon, and the girls left me one of their babies to keep me company (I didn't even wake up when they put the baby on me!). They then walked around the house quietly, whispering to Terri, "Mommy . . . Shhhh! Daddy and baby sleeping!"

Shhh! Daddy and Baby sleeping!

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The Anti-Linus

God looks after little children and foolish fathers.

Last night Caroline spit up while going to sleep. Nothing major, but enough that she got a little bit on her blanket.

This evening, Daddy remembered that he needed to wash Caroline's blanket, and dutifully placed it in the washing machine.

However, Daddy forgot to look at the clock, because he started the load of laundry after 7:00 pm, meaning the blanket was not available come bedtime.

Mommy placed a different blanket into Caroline's bed, and we prayed that Caroline might not notice her blanket was missing.

So at bedtime, the lights are out, Caroline has her milk, her stuffed monkey, and an entirely different blanket in her bed.

Here's what happened:

Caroline lays down. Daddy sits on the edge of the bed, barely breathing.

Caroline starts to drink her milk.

Caroline sits up.

She looks at monkey.

She looks around the bed.

She lifts up her pillow and looks under the pillow.

She leans over and looks over the edge of her bed.

Caroline: Daddy?

Daddy: Yes, Caroline?

Caroline: Blanket?

Daddy: I don't know where your blanket is. (Note: Daddy is so scared, he's lying to his daughter!)

Caroline: Daddy?

Daddy: Yes, Caroline?

Caroline: Blanket. (a little more forcefully this time).

Daddy: Okay. Here's the truth. It's in the wash. Daddy is cleaning it. It will be back tomorrow. Here's a nice blanket Mommy got for you. Isn't it nice?

Caroline stares at Daddy for an eternity (actually about five seconds).

Caroline picks up the replacement blanket. Caroline rubs her face in the new blanket.

Caroline: Nice!

Caroline lays down and falls asleep.

Daddy sneaks outside and drinks a beer.

What we talk about on the way to school.

Conversation between Katherine and Daddy on the way to and from daycare every single day:

• Katherine: Daddy?
• Daddy: Yes, Katherine?
• Katherine: Bus (pointing to a truck on the freeway).
• Daddy: That's not a bus, it's a truck.
• Katherine: Truck.
• Daddy: Yes, very good Katherine.
• (pause for about . . . 1 second)
• Katherine: Daddy?
• Daddy: Yes, Katherine?
• Katherine: Bus. (pointing to another truck on the freeway)

Conversation between Caroline and Daddy on the way to and from daycare every single day.

• Caroline: Daddy?
• Daddy: Yes, Caroline?
• Caroline: "E-I-E-I-O"?
• Daddy: You want me to sing "E-I-E-I-O"?
• Caroline: Yes.
• Daddy: (singing) Old MacDonald had a farm . . .
• Caroline: Daddy!
• Daddy: Yes, Caroline?
• Caroline: Shhh!
• Daddy: Oh, sorry!
• (silence . . . for about 1 second)
• Caroline: Daddy?
• Daddy: Yes, Caroline?
• Caroline: "E-I-E-I-O"?

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As promised, here are some photos from our vacation to San Diego last week:

Caroline & Mommy.

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Caroline at a water park.

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Katherine driving a boat.

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Mission Beach, San Diego.

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Summer Vacation

Just got back from a weeklong vacation in San Diego with the extended family -- my sisters, parents, and all of the girls' cousins. Photos to follow sometime this week, but for now, here are the highlights:

• We went to the San Diego Zoo, and the girls' favorite animal to view was a California Raccoon. You heard me, a friggin' RACCOON. If you've followed this site, you will recognize the irony of this situation.
• Katherine threw up on the plane ride home. Like any good parent, I deftly caught the vomit in my hands, conveniently forgetting about the handy barf bags tucked into the seat pocket in front of me.
• We flew back home early this morning. The girls passed out this evening around 5:30 pm. Vacations are exhausting!

Old MacDonald, Ghetto-Style

Katherine has gone urban on us. Having sung "Old MacDonald" for the last few months, she has changed the refrain over the last few days.

Old Version: "E-I-E-I-O!"

New Version: "E-I-E-I - HO!"

Unclear why she made that change, but she says the "HO!" with a bit too much enthusiasm for my comfort!

Can a career as the next Salt 'N Pepa be far behind?

Relaxing Summer Weekends

In honor of the first official summer weekend, we took the girls to their first swimming lesson at the local park.

Here are the girls in their new swimsuits:

Ready to learn to swim.

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No photos at the pool. Too many safety issues / crying / screaming around the pool. Maybe next week.

This weekend we also had a moon rise early in the evening, giving the girls a chance to "talk" to the moon. It's something they've been doing for the past few weeks. Whenever they see the moon, they'll cry out, "Hi, Moon!" I'm not even sure where they learned what the moon is.

Here is the moon from our living room, plus the girls sharing a laughing moment on the reclining chair:

The moon over the Lim House.
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Katherine & Caroline enjoying a laughing moment together.
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Happy Father's Day

Since it would extremely egocentric to write about myself on Father's Day, today I'll take a moment to digress from telling you about the life and times of Katherine and Caroline, and take this opportunity to say "Happy Father's Day" to their grandfather ("Yeh-Yeh" in Chinese), and my Father, Harry Lim.

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa!

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Anyone who would like to see some photos of Yeh-Yeh before he was "Yeh-Yeh" (in fact before he was a Father!), and was a jet-setting man about town, we collected some photos for his birthday celebration earlier this year. I've posted a few on our family website.

So to see Yeh-Yeh when he looked like this:

Click HERE.
(When prompted, userid = "guest", password = "montebello".)

Random Twin Comic Strip

Today's post comes courtesy of Josh, the blogger at The Comics Curmudgeon. If you have not bookmarked this blog site, I highly recommend it. It is always good for a chuckle.

I thought of what I might write to add to the comic strip and comments below, but I really have nothing to add. I just thought it was funny.

ComicToday’s Hi and Lois takes on the tough issue of twin-on-twin violence. I have to say that I’m actually a little creeped out by the way Ditto is slowly and deliberately rolling up the sleeve on his punchin’ arm, while Dot stands a few feet away, cringing in terror, but not fleeing. Fortunately, mom is on the case, making sure that Ditto merely humiliates and degrades his sister verbally.

Baaaaaad Monkey!

Since the girls have been old enough to climb into normal sized chairs, we have been pretty consistent in enforcing the "sit down" rule. That is: No standing, jumping, or otherwise playing on chairs.

We enforce this rule with two phrases: "Sit down, please", and "Sit down . . . on your butt!"

The second phrase is often used because the girls like to squat in their chairs pretending to sit, but will then use the opportunity to spring in the air like a jumping jack. (Of course in their minds, Mommy or Daddy will always be there to catch them before they crash to the ground!)

So tonight before bed we were reading their favorite books before bedtime, and for the thousandth time, we read their Curious George book, which has this photo on the last page:

Upon seeing this photo, my girls, for the first time, cried out: "Monkey! Sit down . . . on your butt!"

At least I know they've been listening to me all this time.

No Raccoons, Part II

Katherine's fear of raccoons is growing, and we haven't even seen one in over two weeks.

Tonight, I left the shade to one window in the girls' room open, and the window slightly open due to the fact that it is a very warm night.

Katherine absolutely refused to lay down in her bed until I shut the window and lowered the shades. All she kept repeating was, "No raccoots. No raccoots."

I'm wondering if I should buy a stuffed animal raccoon, or if that would just be flinging fuel on the fire.

Tomorrow we learn to do the "Hustle"

Thanks to me, when Katherine holds the "Little People" construction worker, shown here:

she now starts to sing the song "YMCA" by the Village People. She even does the hand spell-out.


Is it child abuse to expose my kids to 70's disco-pop?

Feel free to sing along with us:

YMCA - By The Village People

Daddy's Disco Partner.

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Pet's Welcome -- Kids, Not So Much.

Yesterday I picked the girls up from daycare a little early, and remembered that we needed to buy more cat food for our cat, Tabby.

I thought the girls would have a good time coming to PetSmart with me and seeing the birds, fishes, etc. After all, what kid doesn't like looking at pets in a pet store?

Unfortunately, I forgot about PetSmart's motto, "Pet's Welcome".

As we were waiting in line to buy the cat food, with me holding a 20-pound bag of "Meow Mix", a woman walked up behind us with a very large dog.

The girls screamed bloody murder.

They tried to climb up my leg as if their lives depended on it. And in their minds, their lives probably did depend on it.

What was most amusing was the reaction of the other customers, most of them carrying/walking their pets (mostly dogs) with them.

They looked annoyed, as if my girls had some nerve screaming over their dogs!

Kids not welcome.

Drama Queens

Not even two years old yet, and already the girls are budding drama stars.

Here's how it all went down at the Lim Household tonight.

Mommy is taking a shower, and Daddy is watching the NBA playoffs with the girls.

Suddenly, Caroline screams out. Daddy looks down, and Katherine is biting Caroline's finger (We've had a full-on biting epidemic in the past week -- hopefully it will be a short-lived phase).

After Daddy gets Katherine to unhinge her jaw off Caroline's finger, Daddy checks the finger (no blood, just tiny bite marks, thank goodness).

Daddy gives a stern talking to Katherine that goes something like this: "Katherine, no biting! No! Daddy is very disappointed in you! Daddy does not like biting. No biting your sister."

Katherine just looks at me. No crying. No laughing. Just looks me in the eye and takes her lecture calmly.

At my request, Katherine gives a lukewarm hug and kiss to her sister at my request. Caroline, still crying bloody murder, take the opportunity to repeat my lecture through her sobs, "No! No bite! NO!"

I get Caroline an "ow-y" ice pack for her finger. Katherine follows us into the kitchen, and asks for some ice to play with, too.

I tell Katherine, "No ice for you. No biting your sister. No ice."

Katherine just looks up at me, then walks to the cabinet where her school lunch bags are kept.

She grabs all four lunch bags in the cabinet, heads to the door leading to our garage, looks over at me, and states, "Bye-bye, Daddy!"

JEEZ!! -- I thought I had until at least five years old for the "I'm running away from home" bit!!!

(Unfortunately for Katherine, the bluff of running away from home works better if you are actually able to unlock and open a door.)

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The dramatics was not confined to Katherine, however.

Twenty minutes after the biting incident, Caroline, Katherine and I are all sitting on the couch once more, drinking milk from our sippy cups.

(Okay, I'm drinking water, but you get the idea).

Caroline hasn't cried for over 15 minutes.

Until . . . .

Mommy comes out of the bedroom from her shower.

Suddenly, Caroline is screaming "Owwwwwiiieeeee!" at the top of her lungs, holding up her injured finger for Mommy to see.

I tell Caronline, "Oh, you're just faking so Mommy will pick you up."

Caroline, from the safe cradle of Mommy's arm, shoots me a look that I swear says, "Quiet, you. It was because you were watching the stupid TV that I got bit on the finger in the first place!"

About 20 minutes later, Mommy is busy getting things ready for bed, and Caroline decides she wants some more attention.

She runs up to Mommy holding up her finger, screaming, "Owwwwwwieee!"

This time, however, Mommy is onto the scam.

"Caroline, you're holding up the wrong finger. You got bit on your right finger. That's your left finger."

At that point Caroline at least had the dignity to put her hand down and walk away!

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Here are some photos of our girls from earlier in the day, before all the drama. We got this playhouse free from another family whose kids have outgrown it:

Katherine in the new playhouse.

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Caroline checking out the windows.

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No Raccoons Served Here

We have a new bedtime ritual in the Lim household.

Ever since we moved back into our house following our remodel over a year ago, a family of three raccoons moved back in with us. They come almost every night to our back patio door and feed off any scraps of food which our cat Tabby has left in her bowl.

Thanks to our free nightly buffet, the raccoons are now pretty good-sized.

Caroline and Katherine never really paid much attention to them -- until about a month ago.

About four weeks ago the girls were suddenly VERY aware of our nightly visitors, and VERY scared of them.

I can't say I blame them. The raccoons standing on their hind legs are taller than the girls are.

The site of a raccoon coming to our back patio door (and triggering our motion sensor lights) will send both girls scrambling up our legs and into our arms no matter where we are in the house.

So now, before the girls go to bed, they take us by the hand, and lead us around to both the patio door and the side door. They look out the doors, peer into the darkness, then turn to us and very solemnly state:

"No raccoots."

The kitchen is closed.

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If the raccoons just happen to actually be at the doors when the girls do their rounds, well . . . let's just say bedtime is postponed for a little bit!

The Scoop on Poop * Pea Juice & Vienna Sausages * Two Plus Two Equals Trouble! * Contest of the Day.

Today I'm hitting four different subjects. Why? One, because I've been behind on posting updates on the girls. But more importantly, because the girls have fallen asleep early, giving me more time on the computer!

THE SCOOP ON POOP

Tonight I am the proudest Dad in the world.

After only TWO days of potty training, Katherine took her first poop into her toilet.

That's right -- TWO days of training, and my girl has got the hang of it.

The secret that Mom learned was to read the girls a book as they sat on their thrones.

After all, who doesn't like a good read to help move things along?

Caroline & Katherine discovering the comfiest seats in the house.

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PEA JUICE AND VIENNA SAUSAGES

Just a short four weeks ago, we had perfect eaters. Caroline and Katherine would happily eat just about anything you put in front of them. At the very least, they were open to trying things.

Then in just the past four weeks, the girls, Katherine especially, have become very picky eaters.

Katherine learned to say, "Don't want!" very forcefully, and uses those two words to great effect during mealtimes.

Two items the girls like right now, however, are two items I never really thought about giving the girls.

First, the girls love to drink the juice from a can of peas. Yep, you heard right, the friggin' juice from a can of peas.

Second, the girls love Vienna sausages, or as my friend calls them: chemical sausages.

Two months ago I would have been opposed to giving my girls tightly compressed pork, chicken, and beef fillings. But that was when the girls were still happily eating baked chicken breasts, or ground turkey over rice. Nowadays, when I'm worried about the girls having had zero protein for the last two days, if they want Vienna sausages, then by golly, they get Vienna sausages!

Mmmm . . . chemically compressed meat!

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TWO PLUS TWO EQUALS TROUBLE!

Question: What do you get when you have twins nearing the age of 2?

Answer: Two very harried and harrassed parents!

The girls have officially entered what is commonly known as "The Terrible Twos."

Some common vocabulary heard around the Lim household from Katherine and Caroline nowadays:

• "Don't want!"
• "Mine!"
• "Noooooooooooooo!" (Usually followed by full face-down body-flop onto the floor)

Some common vocabulary heard around the Lim household from Mom and Dad nowadays:

• Stop pulling your sister's hair!
• Don't stand on that chair!
• No hitting / biting / kicking your sister!
• Don't throw that cup / plate / fork / chair / chainsaw!
• (Just kidding about the chainsaw. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention!)
• Get up off the store floor!
• Put that diaper back on!

Yet for all their shennanigans, the girls are still a lot of fun, especially when they look like this:

Having fun inbetween temper tantrums!

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CONTEST OF THE DAY

In an effort to generate more comments to this blog site, I'm initiating a "Contest of the Day".

You see, I know you are all out there, because I have a counter attached to this site, and so I know that a good number of people come to this site throughout the day. Sure, I'm no Sarah and the Goon Squad, but there are a fairly decent number of regular visitors to this site, and I know who you are! Based just on the comments from this site, if I didn't have a counter logging the number of visitors, I would have long ago abandoned this site as one lonely father's empty musings on the internet.

So here is the contest. I will post a photo with a question. You answer the question right, you get a prize. Simple enough, no?

So here's the photo, and the person who answers the accompanying question correctly gets something out of our garage (i.e., a tube of bathroom caulk) or kitchen pantry (probably not a can of peas, we need the juice):

Question: Something has scared Caroline at the Union Street Fair. What scared her?

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Belated Easter Egg Hunting Photos

I figure any event less than a month ago is still fair game for a blog post, so here are some belated Easter Egg hunting photos of the girls.

The girls LOVED looking for Easter Eggs this year. We took them to a local nursery where they hunted for eggs among the plants. However, we forgot our camera, so we don't have any photos.

On Easter Saturday, we took the girls to our Church for an Easter Egg hunt in the parking lot. The girls had a great time. They actually "got it" this year, scooping up eggs and placing them in their basket. Caroline got bored after putting about six eggs in her bucket, and proceeded to stop and try to open each egg. Katherine, on the other hand, really raked in the loot, and didn't stop until her bucket was full!

And "yes", we were too cheap to spring for an Easter basket for Caroline, so she is carrying her Halloween bucket with spiders on it . . .

Caroline with egg and bucket.

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Katherine having a great time with Mommy.

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After the Easter Egg hunt, we took the girls to the local playground and took these action shots:

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You can tell I'm going fast because the wind is blowing my hair back . . .

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