The Amazing Race in Ecuador!

For Amazing Race fans (not saying who that may be, although some of you out there actually know me!), the reality TV show has finally made it to Ecuador. I missed most of the episode, but there may be a bit left in Ecuador next week.

Walking, walking, ... GONE!

The baby is starting to walk. It won't be long now. He can take up to six or seven baby steps himself before he decides to get down and crawl, but he lets go a bit more every day. He loves crawling up the stairs, too, and has recently began doing so upright. And he recognizes things. "Where's the music?" and he points to the stereo mounted on the wall. "Where's mommy?" and he points to me. "Where's ñaño (brother)?" and we get an earful of gibberish, hand gestures included. makes you really wonder what it is that he is saying.

Can you guess where I'm from?

I just took a quiz called What American Accent Do You Have? Of course, they were able to nail it on the head. I was really happy to see the question: Do you think bag sounds like vague? questions, since we Minnesotans get a lot of grief for our alleged mispronunciation of all words like tag, bag, and flag (to the point where I've had Californians ask me to spell the word because they cannot for the life of themselves understand where I've just put my paper and pens).

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The South
The West
The Northeast
North Central
Philadelphia
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Kind of fun!

Just took this one, too.

You are 79% Minnesotan

You are urban Minnesotan, or at least from the suburbs, and you know your stuff pretty well! Great job!

How Minnesotan are you?
Make Your Own Quiz

I suppose I got the speed limits wrong, maybe some of the highways, too.

It worked!

Wow, the experiment worked. I am going to be trying to put up videos and everything. This should be fun!!! Now I just have to update the photos and also my sidebar! I've been reluctant because it took me so long to figure out and then I tried changing it and it didn't work well. Let's try again!

Edit: Notice my new voice mail widget! I don't know how it works yet, so if you do, please send me a voice mail!

Testing what I've Learned

I've been involved in some online workshops about using technology (blogs, internet, wikis, etc.) in the classroom, and I've come across so many great ideas. Over the next few days, I'll be experimenting with them and posting them somewhere so I don't forget! Here is the first experiment: a photo cube! how cool is that?

Cool Slideshows

At work and liking it

I have to admit - I like to be at work. I am there now (and have been since early this morning), dreaming away my time on the internet, reading inspiring articles about teaching, catching up on what's new in the field, preparing classes and workshops, etc. etc. But I love the time I get here. Since I've had kids, I've been divided. Half of me wanting to go home, and half of me wanting to stay, just 15 more minutes, so I can get that "me" time.

On another note, my favorite author once said that having children turns your brain to porridge. Boy do I agree. In class I find that my lucid moments are further and further between as I try to think of such difficult words and phrases such as "I appreciate the observation you made", "perceptive", and - oh, what's that word - practice. Seriously. I can NOT think of words. I just go blank on the silliest thing. My mind stops working and, although I know exactly what I want to say, nothing comes out in the form of language. I can do the gestures, I can mimic my idea, but I can't get the simplest words out. So, what am I going to do about it? I'd appreciate comments. In the meantime I will start a word journal, copying down other people's thoughts and expressions until I somehow get over the bump. I blame it on the kids and hope that once they are a bit bigger my mind will become my own. But I don't know if that's fair. Can it really be their fault?

Can it be true?

I think we've done it - I think we conquered potty training. I can't claim victory yet - at night we are still in diapers. But during the day, we are accident free. I am soooooo psyched. I feel like this is bigger for me than it is for that cute little three-year-old. And it happened just like the books say. When he was ready. He was ready, and ta-da. There has been no going back.

Going now to do a little happy-dance.