Dragon Naturally Speaking

dear intrepid readers,

So I got a new toy at work. It's pretty interesting, it's Dragon NaturallySpeaking, speech recognition software for the PC. So the idea is that if I'm sitting at my desk, and I'm trying to compose an e-mail, I can simply speak into my software and it types for me. Unfortunately the reason I need Dragon NaturallySpeaking to type is that my writing tends to be a little convoluted and not necessarily the easy to understand or straight forward ( and it takes me forever to write these things because I way over think it). So, these possible potential hopeful solution is that I can speak into the software and then my writing is easier to understand and makes more sense and ends up not being so dense. It definitely makes typing fun! I had to try Captains log start eight (i.e. StarDate) 286 -- three but unfortunately the software doesn't seem to recognize StarDate so it doesn't end up being as cool as I'd hoped.

the other cool thing you can do with it is a dictate keyboard keys to press and it will type for you, so for example alt tab or control F or things like that can be run with my voice. But I would really like to do is have it jump directly to a location on a webpage after I say text, right now they are are a few more steps than just that so all work on streamlining it. In any case, I definitely remember as a child seeing the captain of the Battlestar Galactica and Capt. Jean-Luc Picard speaking into their typing computers and thinking wow the future is going to be so cool. It's here and it kind of is.

Interpretive Seuss

Per request of a certain grandmother, here are reading videos. First, Isaac. About halfway through the video, John comes home, and Isaac starts singing the book, for those who aren't incredibly interested in watching 10 minutes of interpretive Dr. Seuss. He does get very expressive in just about everything he does.





Danielle was jealous of Isaac being the center of attention, so here are a few videos of her. Reading a book, and singing "The Family is of God," the song we learned in Primary (and therefore was the most demanded song for our evening family scripture-song-and-prayer) in March. And of her and Isaac singing a song from one of our scripture movies--Isaac liked it a lot, so we had to learn it. (The following three videos are relatively short... 30 to 90 seconds, approximation. And Danielle's been dressing herself in her favorite clothes, and doesn't care what matches or coordinates.)










Jeremiah loves books. I find him reading to himself more than the other kids do. He's quite expressive. I know that a huge part of enjoying him reading is simply to listen to him keep talking, instead of just a few words as needed.




Earlier today (unrelated) Jeremiah found a can of soda and wanted me to open it for him. We don't usually have soda around, and I was pretending I didn't know what he wanted, so he used the words he knew the best he could, and ended up asking me something like "Pull... Go down... Drink soda! Yay!" with the biggest grin, so excited. If I could have gotten that on video... So sweet and pure.

Summer.

I feel like summer is here already. Jeremiah has 4 more weeks of school, but it is now in the triple digits, and there isn't a time to open up the apartment and cool it off and air it out with a nice breeze. I was seriously tempted to meander through the sprinklers after we dropped Jeremiah off at school, but as I was on the brink of deciding to, they turned off. The A/C is on all day and all night. We'll be getting fans and a few years supply worth of popsicles. And our swimsuits on as soon as it's safe to. I'm not even tempted to bake goodies any more. Really, to use the oven at all. We'll be having crockpot baked potatoes tonight, to see how they compare to oven and microwave baked potatoes. Mostly, just...blech.

Family Roles

So, I think it's pretty basic. I'm the mom, John's the dad, Isaac's the big brother and comic relief, Jeremiah's the younger brother with tons of hugs and cuddles, Danielle's the little miss the little sister.

Danielle likes to insist on role switching. I love you... No I love YOU. You're so cute...No, YOU'RE so cute. It's your bedtime...No, it's YOUR bedtime.

It's pretty fun, and actually very cute. I know she's figuring out her boundaries, so I'm happy to let her explore.

Today, she said, "I'm the mom." I took her role and said, "No, I'm the mom," which I suppose is true. She replied, "No, I'm the mom. You're the little princess." Ah, she does have her role pinned down.

Hockey Games

Today was the last day of the boys' hockey class. Jeremiah was on the ice for almost 40 minutes of the hour, which is the longest he's lasted, and which I think is a great personal best for him. He was pushing his chair around (they have the kids who are learning to skate--in full hockey gear--push plastic chairs to learn, which works quickly and marvelously), and the last 10 minutes he was really moving! It was fun to watch him succeed. Previously, he was making little marching steps and moving a few feet per minute. He loved his hockey gear. He just looked right at home all wrapped up in the uniform...it was huge on him.

Isaac. He LOVES hockey. He has so much fun. Every time I saw him, he had a huge grin. Whether it was falling or speeding away with his chair or trying to go fast without a chair, he just has a huge grin on his face. Most of the kids can at least adequately skate without a chair play games. Today when they were playing tag on the ice, a boy was getting closer to Isaac. So Isaac was trying to get away, but the other boy was faster. Isaac tried dodging him, tried turning and wiggling out of the way. It looked like the kid was going to get him... Isaac fell down on the ice and started rolling! It was hilarious. He did three complete rolls before the kid caught him. The whole parent-audience was cracking up and clapping. He just has so much fun. I think we'll be signing him up for more hockey. :)

Paintings

Danielle has been drawing lately. She announces what she's drawing as she goes. "Mommy a number! A number! That number is white. It is a seven. Mommy, it's five. Mommy it's six, it's six, mommy!" She makes shapes, mostly circles but today she attempted a triangle that ended up a curvy trapezoid. She draws our family--small circles and lines of various sizes. Daddy is the biggest, she is the smallest. She adds ears and eyes and mouths and legs. I don't ask her to, she just does it by herself. I think it's pretty amazing. We've been painting with "real watercolors" lately. Danielle's paintings went from scribbles and dots one day to deliberate items on her paper the next.

Isaac is in a funny stage with his art. Sometimes he'll paint or draw insects or people, but mostly he likes to explore with the media. He likes to squish the brushes, twirl them on his paper, paint in all one color then another on top of it to see how it works and mixes. It's fascinating. And very good that I don't have a project or purpose in mind as he creates.

Jeremiah doesn't like to paint as much. He's more a sculpture kind of guy. His paintings tend to be monochrome and hasty. However, he identifies the paintings each of them have done over the past few weeks, always correctly. I can't always tell the difference and need to look at the names. But give him playdoh and he's set for the next ... week, perhaps.

When John comes back with our camera, I can post images of their artwork. Which may well be more fascinating to me than to others. :)

Poetry

Off of Christine's suggestion, I wrote my dear husband a cheesily romantic poem, as he's off in China this week. I'm sure it will cheer him. She recommended choosing four words at random, and incorporating them into my poem... She also suggested using "quart" and "dispatch," which has several meanings to choose from. Here are four of my lines... I'm amused and pleased with my resulting poetry, but not willing to post the entire thing.

"Overflowing quarts of intangibility"

"The quest completed, the dispatch sent"

"Granulated by sweetness"

"Colored as the purest deepest paint"


My suggestion would be to take the same concept and play with it, frame your beautiful poetry for your beloved and hang it over the toilet.

Oh, gee. That would be really funny.

I need to buy a frame.