I'm so sorry England for not even mentioning that you got to the quarter finals of World Cup. I love England because I love Beckham and I love Victoria Holt. I long to see the moors described in English novels. Will they beat Portugal tomorrow? I don't know but if Beckham does his famous move they probably will.
Argentina is out. The last Hispanic team!
OK, for tomorrow's games I hope England and Brazil win.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
World Cup Questions
Who do I root for now that the U.S., Mexico, and Spain are all out of the picture?
Do I root for Argentina because they are the only Hispanic team left? (Portugal and Brazil speak Portugese even though they are considered Latin)
Or do I root for Italy since I absolutely love Italy the country and the soccer team already won the "best looking team" hands down with that Dolce and Gabbana ad campaign? See their pictures here - http://tainomangu.blogspot.com/ Love the name of her blog- Real Women Have Curves. You go girl!
Germany is too... They don't come across as very nice and warm, although they are nice to host the World Cup games this year. And Germany is beautiful and clean. I did love visiting there.
Ukraine- the only Ukranian I ever knew was my 6th grade English teacher Ms Filenko and she was a sweetheart. She was nice, but I'm not a big fan of the Ukraine. It's not on my top list of places to visit.
Portugal and Brazil are cool. I would love to visit those places. And I think Brazil really has a good chance of winning. They do have the best players. But I'm not voting for them. That doesn't mean they aren't going to win.
France. Hmm... I love France but the French don't like the U.S. I had to speak Spanish the whole time I was in France in order to be treated nicely. Enough said.
Post your votes for who you are rooting for. I'm sure your reasons have a lot more to do with how well the team plays and not based on their looks and if I like to vacation in their country! Wow! I sound like a man! About the looks I mean.
Do I root for Argentina because they are the only Hispanic team left? (Portugal and Brazil speak Portugese even though they are considered Latin)
Or do I root for Italy since I absolutely love Italy the country and the soccer team already won the "best looking team" hands down with that Dolce and Gabbana ad campaign? See their pictures here - http://tainomangu.blogspot.com/ Love the name of her blog- Real Women Have Curves. You go girl!
Germany is too... They don't come across as very nice and warm, although they are nice to host the World Cup games this year. And Germany is beautiful and clean. I did love visiting there.
Ukraine- the only Ukranian I ever knew was my 6th grade English teacher Ms Filenko and she was a sweetheart. She was nice, but I'm not a big fan of the Ukraine. It's not on my top list of places to visit.
Portugal and Brazil are cool. I would love to visit those places. And I think Brazil really has a good chance of winning. They do have the best players. But I'm not voting for them. That doesn't mean they aren't going to win.
France. Hmm... I love France but the French don't like the U.S. I had to speak Spanish the whole time I was in France in order to be treated nicely. Enough said.
Post your votes for who you are rooting for. I'm sure your reasons have a lot more to do with how well the team plays and not based on their looks and if I like to vacation in their country! Wow! I sound like a man! About the looks I mean.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Nature or Nurture?
You all know the long debate between the two theories. Is it nature or it nurture? I think it's a little bit of both with nature taking the lead. My daughter is just like me and she's only five years old. She is motivated by goal setting and rewards. I found this out very early on.
She is very very smart but she was also very challenging when it came to potty training. We had a really hard time getting her to want to use the potty and she was fast approaching her third birthday. I was pregnant and I did not want to have a toddler and a newborn in diapers. However I also subscribe to the belief that potty training should not be a stressful experience. I believe that it affects a child's psyche if they are spanked while potty training.
Finally I read somewhere that setting a goal with a reward was one of the ways to encourage children to go to the potty. I had already tried the Prudence video and the book. So I told her that as soon as she went potty every day we would have a party. I also made her a poster so she could visualize her goal. I put stickers on it, a picture of Chuck E Cheese off the internet, pictures of her potty here at home and the one at the sitters, and panties. It was hilarious but it worked!
When she finally got to her goal I would give her a Chuck E Cheese Party. A potty party! I kid you not. The very next day after I hung that poster next to her bed she started going to the potty and she met her goal. She was potty trained two months before she turned 3 and she had a Chuck E Cheese party a month later.
We got her potty trained during the day but she still wore a pull up at night. We went through that for almost a year and then I tried the same approach. I made a poster with little boxes with numbers in each box that made a circle and in the center was a picture of her with her cousin at Chuck E Cheese. Once again, it worked. She stopped wearing her pull up at night and every night that she woke up with dry panties she got a sticker. She had a Princess party at Chuck E Cheese.
So now we are at a different phase in our life. We believe in co-sleeping. We've been sharing a bed with her and now with Seth. We also kept unconventional bed time hours and they go to sleep a lot later than most kids. Now that we're getting ready for her to go to school I'm working on getting her to bed earlier and in her bed. I put up a calendar and I'm giving her a star for every night that she sleeps in her bed. When she reaches 10 stars we're going to Chuck E Cheese. No party, just a visit. When she reaches 20 stars we're going to the Aquarium downtown, her favorite place. She's on night #9 tonight.
It's amazing! She is a goal setter and she visualizes her goals at such a young age. We have so many similarities in our personalities. She's loud and I'm loud. You could say it's nurture, but she was already like this at 2.5 so I think it's more nature. What's interesting is that I don't know who in my family is most like me. My parents weren't goal setters. Is it something I was born with? Is it in my DNA and did I pass it on to my daughter? Interesting questions to ask. I'm not sure I have the answers.
She is very very smart but she was also very challenging when it came to potty training. We had a really hard time getting her to want to use the potty and she was fast approaching her third birthday. I was pregnant and I did not want to have a toddler and a newborn in diapers. However I also subscribe to the belief that potty training should not be a stressful experience. I believe that it affects a child's psyche if they are spanked while potty training.
Finally I read somewhere that setting a goal with a reward was one of the ways to encourage children to go to the potty. I had already tried the Prudence video and the book. So I told her that as soon as she went potty every day we would have a party. I also made her a poster so she could visualize her goal. I put stickers on it, a picture of Chuck E Cheese off the internet, pictures of her potty here at home and the one at the sitters, and panties. It was hilarious but it worked!
When she finally got to her goal I would give her a Chuck E Cheese Party. A potty party! I kid you not. The very next day after I hung that poster next to her bed she started going to the potty and she met her goal. She was potty trained two months before she turned 3 and she had a Chuck E Cheese party a month later.
We got her potty trained during the day but she still wore a pull up at night. We went through that for almost a year and then I tried the same approach. I made a poster with little boxes with numbers in each box that made a circle and in the center was a picture of her with her cousin at Chuck E Cheese. Once again, it worked. She stopped wearing her pull up at night and every night that she woke up with dry panties she got a sticker. She had a Princess party at Chuck E Cheese.
So now we are at a different phase in our life. We believe in co-sleeping. We've been sharing a bed with her and now with Seth. We also kept unconventional bed time hours and they go to sleep a lot later than most kids. Now that we're getting ready for her to go to school I'm working on getting her to bed earlier and in her bed. I put up a calendar and I'm giving her a star for every night that she sleeps in her bed. When she reaches 10 stars we're going to Chuck E Cheese. No party, just a visit. When she reaches 20 stars we're going to the Aquarium downtown, her favorite place. She's on night #9 tonight.
It's amazing! She is a goal setter and she visualizes her goals at such a young age. We have so many similarities in our personalities. She's loud and I'm loud. You could say it's nurture, but she was already like this at 2.5 so I think it's more nature. What's interesting is that I don't know who in my family is most like me. My parents weren't goal setters. Is it something I was born with? Is it in my DNA and did I pass it on to my daughter? Interesting questions to ask. I'm not sure I have the answers.
Good Book & Poetry Event
I bought a new book that I really like. "Girls Night In" by Meg Cabot, Jen Weiner, Sophie Kinsella. The first story had me cracking up today over lunch. It's a collection of short stories. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez has a story in the collection.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373250746/sr=8-2/qid=1151534700/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-2275391-0033736?ie=UTF8
Anyway, I haven't been up to much lately. I haven't really felt the urge to write anything significant either. I found an old poem I wrote a few years ago. I may post it.
There's a local poetry event going on called "The Word Around Town" that I want to go to but I couldn't go yesterday. Maybe I'll go Friday or Saturday. Here's the event link above.
I have to take Miranda to Chuck E Cheese too so maybe I'll take her Saturday. Oh yeah! I need to tell you about her and why she's going to Chuck E Cheese. I'll write about that later.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
My Two Cents About World Cup
Okay before any World Cup fanatics message me (like I have hundreds of messages) now that the US Team has lost I'm going to have to root for the Mexican team. Of course I haven't watched any of the games since most of them are playing at odd times I think, so I'm going to have to watch at least some of the Mexico vs. Argentina game today. It would seem only natural that I would want for Mexico to win since I am Mexican-American. So GO MEXICO!
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