On being a mommy (or daddy)

I found this article today, thanks to friends sharing it on Facebook.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-smokler/scary-mommy-manifesto_b_1365609.html

I find the content to be so relevant that I want to include it here. First, though, let me tell you that I did not create this manifesto, I merely agree with it. The author is Jill Smokler, and I'm about to go find her book.  

Excerpted from "Confessions of a Scary Mommy: An Honest and Irreverent Look at Motherhood: The Good, The Bad, and the Scary" by Jill Smokler. Published by Gallery Books.

Scary Mommy Manifesto
Please solemnly recite the following before proceeding:

• I shall maintain a sense of humor about all things motherhood, for without it, I recognize that I may end up institutionalized. Or, at the very least, completely miserable.
• I shall not judge the mother in the grocery store who, upon entering, hits the candy aisle and doles out M&Ms to her screaming toddler. It is simply a survival mechanism.
• I shall not compete with the mother who effortlessly bakes from scratch, purees her own baby food, or fashions breathtaking costumes from tissue paper. Motherhood is not a competition. The only ones who lose are the ones who race the fastest.
• I shall shoot the parents of the screaming newborn on the airplane looks of compassion rather than resentment. I am fortunate to be able to ditch the kid upon landing. They, however, are not.
• I shall never ask any woman whether she is, in fact, expecting. Ever.
• I shall not question the mother who is wearing the same yoga pants, flip-flops and t-shirt she wore to school pickup the day before. She has good reason.
• I shall never claim to know everything about any child but my own. (Who still remains a mystery to me.)
• I shall hold the new babies belonging to friends and family, so they may shower and nap, which is all any new mother really wants.
• I shall attempt to not pass down my own messed up body issues to my daughter. She deserves a mother who loves and respects herself; stretch marks, cellulite and all.
• I shall not preach the benefits of breastfeeding or circumcision or home schooling or organic food or co-sleeping or crying it out to a fellow mother who has not asked my opinion. It's none of my damn business.
• I shall try my hardest to never say never, for I just may end up with a loud-mouthed, bikini clad, water gun shooting toddler of my very own.
• I shall remember that no mother is perfect and my children will thrive because, and sometimes even in spite, of me.

Math is hard

I stumbled upon this video today. It's awful, but short.

http://now.msn.com/entertainment/0319-funny-mph-video.aspx

 

It's a little funny, but mostly awful.

Recent Recipe Revelations (or, several recipes we’ve tried recently)

I’ve been tempted to try some more complex recipes, but I often get scared off. Last week, I found a recipe that sounded really tasty! How can you go wrong with chocolate chip buttermilk scones? The blogger/author/recipe-guru who created this recipe works to find and share healthy, family-friendly, low-fat recipes. While I like that idea, the scones I made left me wondering if I had forgotten to include the sugar. They get a solid meh. If it's the only scone I can have, then sure, I'll eat them. But I'm not sure that I'll make them again. I felt like the taste of the whole wheat flour was a bit much. Well, at least I know that I *can* make scones! Now, to try some cranberry almond scones.

Cashew Chicken--It’ll be even better when we remember the cashews! I stumbled on another recipe last week that seemed promising for PoppaGeek and me. It’s Cashew Chicken [quick! go read the recipe. Seriously, I’ll wait.]. We made quite a few adjustments to the recipe. Some of the adjustments were purposeful. (We love green beans and broccoli, so we added that to the mix, but eliminated the edamame and green onion. We did add a small white onion at the beginning of the cooking process.) Some of the adjustments were accidental. (Please don’t ask me about the full can of cashews still sitting on my counter!) As this blogger recommended, we served it with Jasmine rice. Wow. I never want another kind of rice. I want Jasmine rice EVERY.DAY. yum!

Voice-activated Technologies (or, how I’m teaching my daughter to talk to the TV)

It seems like the year has seen many new developments for voice-activated technology. Siri now helps iPhone users to answer questions (such as “What is the meaning of life?”), the Xbox Kinect will respond to voice commands (which I love for Netflix and Hulu), and now there’s a TV that will listen to your voice and obey your commands!

I’m loving this! PoppaGeek and I enjoy watching television shows through Netflix and Hulu on the Xbox. We can now pause a show or movie with the simple command “Xbox. Pause.” while one (or both) of us get up to get more milk for Geeklet. Before, we would often let the program run, because the controller was out of reach or had already gone to sleep. Now, we’re saving battery life on the controller and getting a better, faster response for controlling the show.

The bonus I didn’t expect? Geeklet is now learning to say words like “xbox,” “pause,” and “play,” with an occasional “rewind” thrown in for fun. I just wonder what life will be like for her...she’ll always know what it’s like to talk to the TV, slide your finger across an iPad, and have access to multiple computers at home and at school. One of my favorite stories about my childhood is serving as the remote control at my grandparents’ house. They had one of those “furniture” TVs--you know the type, it sat on a swivel base and as as big is a Smart Car. There was a number pad and an on/off button. When grandpa wanted to change the channel, he said, “go over there an hit 7.” Little Geeklet won’t know what that’s like, but I’m sure she’ll have some similar story about her family.

short-term aggravation for long-term health (or, how I tortured my daughter with eye drops)

Pink eye. It’s the bane of the daycare existence. Or is that lice? I can never remember. At any rate, PoppaGeek and I are slowly learning the rules (unwritten and otherwise) of Daycare. They call me for at least three things: fever, being bitten by another child, and pink eye. We’ve gotten two of those calls in one week. The first day of daycare one week last fall, we got the first call: little Geeklet had been injured at the center. She was ok, but had been bitten by another child. I’m quite sure that it’s relatively normal behavior for this age group (1 to 2 year-olds), and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it would happen eventually. Still...hearing something along the lines of: “it broke the skin but didn’t bleed” it slightly nerve-wracking! The very next day, we got another call: Geeklet needs to be picked up because they suspect pink eye. PoppaGeek (who is actually a superhero) picked her up and got her to the doctor to confirm the diagnosis.

And here comes the hard part. For the next 5 days, we needed to get 2 drops of medicine in her eye *three* times each day. /sigh. We have had some interesting times already in her short two years of life, and after all that, I completely understand the need for baby antibiotics to come with a flavor. Trying to get amoxicillan, augmenten, and other oral antibiotics into a tiny body are difficult, to say the least.

Please know that I am exceedingly happy, thankful, blessed to have a healthy, happy little girl! The good news: she made it through the Great Pink Eye Fiasco of 2011 just fine. :-)

this blog has been phoned in

I just love reading what the Bloggess has to say. She's a mom, a wife, a writer, and an inspiration to many, many people. I mostly read her blog at http://thebloggess.com/. Her perspective on life is usually funny and often off the wall. (Be careful where you click, she also posts a satirical sex column.)

This came across my screen today, and I have to admit that I lol'd.
http://thestir.cafemom.com/toddler/130228/lesson_27_terrible_pets_for

Happy Friday! :D

the Flipped Classroom

I was able to watch a TED talk (a conference where really smart people talk about their creativity and innovations) by Salman Khan, who developed the Khan Academy. This website is a collection of videos (more than 2,600 at the time of this post) that teach concepts: everything from Art History to chemistry and calculus.

I really enjoyed Mr. Khan's idea of the "Flipped Classroom." I think that current technology (and emerging technologies) is allowing us to create, innovate, and accommodate new ideas in teaching and learning. Basically, the flipped classroom means that students view videos or lectures as their homework. Then, when they get to the class, they are able to practice in a "safe" environment. As they have questions, the teacher can help them. Or, partners and groups of students can get together for collaborative learning. Peers can teach each other. Khan mentioned that he wants to "...use technology to humanize the classroom." This sounds counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. By using technology to allow students to work at their own pace, the interaction between student and teacher (or between students) becomes much more valuable. So, instead of looking at the ratio of student to teacher, we can now observe the ratio of student to valuable teacher time.

I don't think this is a brand new topic. Several of my former employers were already building software to help make this happen. Larson Texts, Inc. used a supplemental software to go along with a traditional math textbook. Carnegie Learning, Inc. uses Cognitive Tutor software to allow students to work at their own pace and receive immediate feedback. The software is partnered with a textbook that has both guided examples and additional practice problems.

My next challenge is taking this idea of the flipped classroom to other topics. Sometimes it's easy to see how this approach works with math or science. But, could this same approach work with "soft skills"? Could learners use a flipped classroom to improve communication skills, leadership skills, or even team building? The Khan Academy does have a few less tangible topics, such as currency, finance, and venture capitalist topics, but it's mostly geared toward math, science, or history. So, how does the instruction change when we start talking about interpersonal skills, communication skills, or leadership skills? I expect that I'll spend the next several months trying to answer that very question. More and more, learners (especially those in the workplace) want their learning to happen (1) on their terms, (2) in the moment, and (3) in short snippets.

(1) Learners want to be able to learn in their own environment and in a way that's best for them. (Can you blame them?!) This could mean online learning, self-reflection, independent reading, or discussion forums.

(2) Learns want to be able to learn in the moment, or just-in-time. If I'm developing a video using Adobe Captivate, I want to be able to learn how to add audio to a slide deck in the moment that I need to add that audio.

(3) I don't need the whole course on Adobe Captivate, I  just need the 5 minutes that will show me how to insert the audio.

Any suggestions as I tackle this challenge?!? I'm all ears.