The girls performed this for the school talent show.

And now for something completely different....

I'm not a big Veggie Tales fan.  (In fact, I'm a bit of an unfan.)  But I've got to admit that "Silly Songs with Larry" rock.  So, without further ado, the "Song of the Cebu".



(I was looking for an old post on dried mangoes and came across articles on Cebu, which got me to thinking on the poor Cebu of the song.)

In our house, we're all such big fans of the Apple ads that every once in awhile we'll all gather around the computer and watch all the latest as well as a few oldies but goodies.

My girls are also total and complete goofs and love to ham it up for the camera.

About a month ago, we got to talking and somehow came up with the idea of making an Apple-like ad of our own. Only, our ad would be comparing Multiply and MySpace (as opposed to Mac and PC).

We had some time today (and seeing as it was over 80 degrees outside) we decided that doing a project like this in the nice cool basement might be a great idea. So kick back and enjoy our Multiply ad. ;-)

At 8:20 on a Saturday morning I got a call from a fellow mom of a second grader. She was relieved to find that I was already up and rolled quickly into the reason for her call. I knew it must be something important for her to ring me up so early and indeed it was. Her daughter’s brand new Tamagotchi was refusing to eat or play and they couldn’t figure out what to do. Like those at their wit’s end with a colicky baby who refuses all comfort, they turned to those with experience desperate for any advice we could give.

Like the nurse at the other end of a 24 hour doctor’s emergency hot-line, I calmly walked them through describing the symptoms and finding a remedy. (“Is there a tooth or a skull showing?” “Ummmm.” “Is there anything floating over the Tamagotchi’s head.” “Yeah, well there’s this thing that looks like an octopus.” “OK, it’s got a sore tooth. You’ll need to give it some first aid. Here’s what you need to do....”) When we’d finally solved the problem there was a cheer on the other end of the line (from the second grader) and the mom sounded relieved. After a short pause she let me know that the patient was now eating and seemed to be on the road to recovery.

Tamagotchi’s are the latest toy craze that’s blazing like wildfire through homes and schools. In a brilliant play on viral marketing, Tamagotchi’s require regular maintenance throughout the day meaning that leaving a Tama at home while at school could mean the end of your dear pet. So children across the nation are tucking their Tamas into their backpacks and pulling them out during breaks in the school day. In playgrounds and cafeterias, you’ll find huddles of kids bent over their little plastic toys, carefully touching them together and then giggling at the results. And if you’re the one sitting at the lunch table without a Tama, well let’s just say that you’re feeling the pain of neglect as all of your friends cluster together letting their Tamagotchi’s have play-dates. And it doesn’t take long before that Tama-less child is asking, begging, pleading with their parents to get them one too.

The Tama-culture often leads to conversations that might raise a few eyebrows. For example, an ignorant bystander might drop her jaw if she overheard a third grade boy explain to his mom that he’s “going to mate” with a male buddy of his. And that bystander might faint dead away when she hears the mother’s response, “That’s nice dear. Do you think it’ll be today or tomorrow?” All that’s meant, however, is that the two boys’ Tamas are going to hook up and make a couple of baby Tamas. (Kids also refer to this as “getting married” though the relationship lasts at most only a minute or two). Of course, the kids have no concept of the deep political overtones these Tamas have introduced to their conversation, and conservatives may be relieved to know that only male and female pairings of Tamas takes place.

The mom that had called had one last question before hanging up, “What do we do during the school day?” She apparently hadn’t realized how many Tamas visit schools every day. “So far the teacher’s have been quite gracious,” I replied. “As long as the Tamas stay in the backpacks during class time, the kids can pull them out during recess and lunch to feed them and clean up after them.” She seemed glad that she wasn’t going to have to Tama-sit during the week, but then I added, “You know, if the teachers ever change their minds on this, we may be having mom’s groups forming to let the Tamas get together to play.”

The girls attended a dance camp at one of the local high schools last Saturday. It was an all day event (9am - 3pm) in which they played games and learned a dance routine. Not only did they perform their dance routines for the parents when we came to pick them up, but they were also invited to perform during the half time of the Poudre High School vs. Rocky Mountain High School varsity basketball teams.

This was the first time the kids had ever been to a basketball game. Nathan sat with me so I was able to explain the game to him. (He was seriously impressed when I explained that I used to keep the books at the games when I was a teacher in Detroit.) But the girls pretty much had no clue what was going on. So they just enjoyed dancing with the high schoolers, cheering when everyone around them cheered, and doing their routine.

When I had my first child I kept him mostly to myself. Others would offer to hold him but I'd refuse them, not so much because I wanted my little bundle to myself, but because it just seemed that he didn't want to go to anyone else -- for others he would fuss, for me he would settle right down in grand contentment. When my twin girls came along, I more than happily passed them off to others, not only because I was exhausted and needed a break, but because they were just as likely to cry, or not, for others as much as they would for me. They clearly didn't care who held them. Even as infants my kids made clear statements about their preferences and in so doing gave a peek into their personalities.

Lamentably, when others confronted me about my child rearing habits, I didn't have any outside sources to back up my theories about the differences in my children. Now, at last, I've found something that supports my hunches. It's a book called Nurture by Nature : Understand Your Child's Personality Type - And Become a Better Parent by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. The book first helps parents to try to identify their children's personality types (as well as their own) and then describes expected behaviors, attitudes and needs of children by type.

Unfortunately young children can’t take personality tests themselves, so determining your child’s type is done through observation and comparison. My son's profile fits him so well that it seems like the authors had been watching him and had written down things about him that I had thought were unique to him alone. In the same way, the profile for my personality type fit me so well that it even described specific events that had happened to me as a child (such as sitting at the dinner table for hours after the meal because I refused to eat something). For my twin daughters, however, I'm less convinced of their type and have yet to find a profile that fits them as well as the ones for my son or myself. All the same, what I have discovered about the twins so far has already helped me to better encourage and discipline them.

Each personality profile describes not only over all characteristics of a specific type, but also how that personality will be manifested at various points in the child's life from infancy through adolescence. Though I haven't found the infant characteristics very accurate (at least for my kids), the preschool and school-age descriptions have, for the most part, been right on. The authors point out possible problem areas (such as the tantrums that my son threw in preschool), reasons for the problems (difficulties with transitions), and means of avoiding or dealing with the problems that will set the child at ease rather than demanding something of them that doesn’t fit their personality needs (like taking time in advance to prepare the child for upcoming transitions rather than forcing him to deal with them without warning).

My mother's philosophy in raising my sister and myself was fairness. Whatever I got, my sister got exactly the same thing or something comparable. But my sister and I aren't alike. As children we had very different strengths, weaknesses, and needs. Nature by Nurture helps parents to identify the differences in their children and raise them more fairly not by treating them the same, but by treating them more in line with their personality types.

I'd highly recommend the book. In fact, I found several copies online for under $4 dollars (though it looks like the price has since gone up) and bought extra copies to hand out to friends and teachers. I still have to see if it'll get me through the teenage years, but I have high hopes.