More College Friends

A little over a week ago, my college friends Adam and Jen from Albuquerque were in town and came over for lunch, playtime, and a nap. Their son Joshua was born about 5 weeks after Aiden and Reid. Luckily, our boys were all on a very similar schedule so it worked out perfectly. It was very fun to meet him for the first time.

Joshua is a walking pro. I think he contributed some positive peer pressure because Aiden wanted to practice walking non-stop after supper that evening.

Joshua's cute hair was one of the things I was most looking forward to seeing in person. I love how it sticks up in the back.
Joshua has a fire truck similar to our airplane so he knew how to ride it. He's a little bit taller than our two, so I may wait until their legs can reach the ground before I show them how to climb on their cruisers.
The boys were pretty good about sharing their toys, but there was mostly a lot of parallel play going on. Not much direct interaction.
Joshua must have recognized a good grandma, and brought a book over for my mom to read.
Joshua likes to lift heavy things. Reid's starting to get into that, but we haven't seen a lot of that around here.
Jen, Joshua, and Adam.
Before naptime, we lined the boys up on the couch together. Left to right: Reid, Joshua, and Aiden.
So far, so good.
Uh oh. Joshua was saying "Did you know my uncle played football at Iowa State?"
"Let me show you a few moves."
Waaaaaahhhhh! (In all fairness, Joshua barely touched Aiden. Aiden was pretty out of sorts with teething issues during their visit. I also think he thought I was leaving him, because I could hardly be more than a couple of feet away without him crying. This started Joshua crying too. Reid just observed in his Joe Coolness.)
Me and Adam. I can't believe I've known my college friends for 15 years now. I used to joke that I hope we all end up in the same nursing home someday. I still hope that happens.

Modeling with a Quadratic Function

Here's an activity that can be done with the TI-Nspire CX or any other model of Nspire. (CX is the color version of the Nspire. This can also been done on the classroom set of non-color Nspires that we have, although they are the oldest model with the failed keypad layout which was later replaced. For $10 for each calcultor, I could get the new keypad layout. Sigh, I need a money tree.)

Start by importing a photo into the calculator. TI has several stock photos which can be used. In this case, we want to model the parabolic path of the basketball and see if we can come up with an equation to represent that path. Then we could answer questions about how high it travels. How far it travels. Where it would hit the ground if the basketball hoop were not there. Etc.
Overlay the xy-coordinate plane.
Create a point which is then moved overtop of the different shots of the basketball. You can then capture the coordinates of each point which are stored in a list. I collected 11 points.
The list.
Here's a graph of the captured points plus the equation which represents the path of the basketball throughout the entire shot.
Pretty good model. (Note: Two tick marks represent 1 meter.)
Makes you want to take Algebra all over again!

When I Win the Lottery

This past week, I attended a three-day workshop in Colorado Springs put on by Texas Instruments. When a few of us attended one in 2005, we nick-named it "Calculator Camp". Our students (and coworkers and friends and family and, well, everyone) thought it was the nerdiest thing they had ever heard. Attending TI workshops is one of my favorite things to do. This year did not disappoint, as we were introduced to the brand new TI-Nspire CX:

Pretty darn amazing. Right?!

A little history:
(Bear with me. Your reward is at the end of this post.)

The TI-83's were introduced in 1996, the year I started college. I was using a TI-85 (introduced in 1993), and didn't even know about the TI-83's until I started teaching. Which meant I was learning how to use it just a few days before the students. In 2004, the TI-84 Plus was introduced, but it was pretty much the same as the 83. A few more bells and whistles but the two models are so interchangeable that I still have students using both types.

The original TI-Nspire came out in 2007:

I attended calculator camp the next summer and was amazed at all the neat things it could do. There were three of us from my department who attended the workshop. Unfortunately, there are about 15 teachers in my department. My excitement was quickly stomped on, as none of the other teachers wanted to make the leap to learn how to teach exclusively with the new calculator. We bought a classroom set for the department to share, and I've done my best to use them when I can, but until we have the students buy the new calculators, I'm stuck. And I have to tell you, it's been one of the most frustrating things for me to experience. I even told them (in a nice way) that they were keeping me from teaching the way I want to teach. Crickets chirping. (I put my campaign on hold the following year, because I knew I was pregnant. Last year was all about surviving the first year of mamahood, among other things.) I do understand where they are coming from. It's much easier to "stand and deliver" lectures. And not have to change your notes or handouts or worksheets. But the students get bored and would thrive in a more interactive environment. When you get a glimpse at the way you want to teach, it's so hard to swallow. But I have to tow the line, or my students won't learn what they need to learn about using our current calculators.

So, here's my plan.
I'm going to try to integrate the use of the classroom set of Npires that we do own as often as I can. Even just quick 10-15 minute activities. The students have always love using them, even when it's just for a short amount of time.

I'm searching high and low for grants to apply for. They're so hard to get right now, but I'm going to give it a shot. For about $2000, I can get a Navigator system which would allow me to network the classroom set of original, non-color TI-Nspires that we do own.

Then I could send files and activities to the students. Send quick polls, quizzes, take screen shots, transfer data back and forth. Without the system, I have to connect each calculator to my computer individually. Yesterday, when I went to school, I grabbed the calculators so I could update the operating system on each one. It took me 3.5 hours! With the Navigator system, it would take less than a minute. This is what's stopped me from using the Nspires more than I have. It just takes too long to download activities onto one calculator at a time. If I didn't have a family, I would seriously consider using my own money to buy this system. But that's not fair to Eric and the boys. (Maybe I'll just withdraw $20 a day to keep under the radar until I have enough money. Don't tell Eric.)

The next part of my plan is to try to convince my department that we need to update our technology. Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to try to find activities and programs that will demonstrate the TI-Nspire's use in all of their classes. Keep your fingers crossed for me. (I'll be posting one of those activities in my next post.)

For those of you who were disappointed to see pictures of calculators instead of the boys, here's your reward for making it through this post.

Aiden hanging out on the stairs. He likes to take those little stuffed tigers and throw them over the edge.

Reid blowing a kiss. The boys started doing this when we returned from our trip to Ohio. The funny thing is, I don't know where they learned how to do that. Maybe it was on the Baby Einstein DVD's? Always keeping us on our toes. (Post edit: I vaguely remember doing this when we were saying goodbye to Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Shane. Maybe that's where they remember it from.)

Thanks for letting me vent. I am extremely thankful for everything I do have and these two are good reminders. It could be much worse. A couple of the teachers in my workshop didn't even have SmartBoards!

15 Months Old!

Here's a little update on life with our favorite 15-month olds.

(Post edit: Remembered a couple of things I wanted to mention. The boys have both been getting their one-year-old molars. I think Reid is working on his 12th tooth. Aiden's closer to 10. It's pretty risky giving them Orajel, because they both like to chomp down on my finger as soon as I get near. Over the past month it's been really neat to see how much they understand. Instead of pointing to an object, sometimes I only refer to it by name and their actions show they know exactly what I'm talking about.)

I took the boys to the grocery store last week. Usually I hit the store after the boys are in bed when either Eric is home or one of my parents comes over to watch The Bachelorette or baseball. You can guess who watches what. Sometimes I resent that when I have a chance for some me time, I have to go buy groceries. Bleh. On this particular evening we were done with supper early, so away we went. The boys did a great job. I forgot about those carts that look like cars that the boys could sit in. However, I still would have had to figure out how to carry them to that cart and I'm not sure they have buckles and straps. I pulled the shopping cart while pushing the stroller and it worked pretty well. A few customers complimented me on how well behaved they were. I explained that they don't get out much (Maybe less than 5 times to the grocery store, ever?), so they were enjoying checking everything out. I was also on a mission to get through as quickly as possible, which meant they enjoyed speeding through the aisles.

The boys were great help. Here they're sending a text picture to Daddy asking him if he needed any Dr. Pepper.

Bath time is still quite fun. Lots of splashing and moving around. (Orange muffin.)
Reid studying a duck that my mom gave them. The legs on the duck spin around after you wind it up. It's currently one of Reid's favorite bath toys, as movement and physical stunts have always been so funny to him.
Time for another check-up. The doctor said everything looks great and they're right on track. Although he did try to give them knuckles ("Pound it!"), and they didn't know what that meant. We were quick to point out that they can high five, which was an acceptable substitute.

Aiden was 31 1/4" tall (55th percentile) and weighed 21 lbs 7 oz (15th percentile). Reid was 32 1/4" tall (80th percentile) and weighed 23 lbs 7 oz (35th percentile). Two pounds doesn't seem like a big difference, but Reid feels SO heavy compared to Aiden. When I'm carrying both of them at the same time, I always carry Reid in my stronger, right arm.

Aiden used this rare opportunity to check out his belly button. Bee bo!
They also enjoyed walking around the exam room while Eric filled out paper work. Our clinic just moved to a new location. It was nice to have a little more space in the exam room, waiting room, etc.

Aiden.
Reid getting weighed. He sat in the scale instead of lying down this time. He was a little confused why Eric had his hands up (to keep Reid from falling off), but wouldn't actually pick Reid up.
Today I took the boys on a little errand to school. I stopped by my classroom to grab a few things. The boys loved crawling around the classroom and didn't stop exploring the entire time. It brought back some good memories of when David and I would get to go visit my dad's school when we were growing up. When I was really little, one of my favorite parts was getting to eat tator tots from the cafeteria. We never had them at home, so I didn't even know you could get them anywhere but school. David and I also enjoyed shooting hoops in the big gym or running through the empty halls. Every so often there was a set of 3-4 steps in the hallway. A nightmare for anyone in a wheel chair, but super fun for us to run and fly off of. As a frequent pusher of a stroller, I'm very thankful for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Aiden checking out my textbooks.
After a while, Reid decided to explore via walking instead of crawling. He can walk for a super long time now.

This was a photo my mom sent me on Thursday when I was at calculator camp. The boys were playing behind the couch, so my mom went to check on them. They were just content hanging out in the corner. It really is rare for them to play apart from each other.
Now, for some non cell phone photos.

Reid at 15 months.

Aiden at 15 months. You'll notice Reid in the background getting ready to stand up. When he wants to walk he'll get his balance while squatting down, then he'll suddenly pop up into standing position, take a second to regain his balance, and then he's off.
Aiden working on walking with Eric. Aiden's progress has soared the last couple of weeks. He's definitely an official walker too.
Both boys wanted to walk to Eric at the same time.
Reid. His last few steps involved leaping into Eric's arms with excitement.

Aiden. (Orange muffin.)
These next two photos capture one of my favorite things about being a mama right now. It's so neat when the boys walk over to me and grab my legs and then look up with the hugest smiles. Melts my heart every time.

Aiden.

Reid.
Aiden. (Orange muffin and concentration tongue.)
Reid.
Another favorite hangout spot. Under the kitchen counter overhang.
Last night, I let the boys check out the bottom door shelf to buy myself some time to finish getting supper ready. They loved the chance to explore something usually off limits.


Last week, I mentioned to Eric that the boys' hair was getting a little shaggy. He hinted that maybe the best time to cut their hair would be today. When he was off flying. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so this morning I gave the boys their buzz cuts. Here's the setup I used this time. It worked pretty well, although I did miss a few spots because of some major squirming going on.

Before. A little unsure about what mama was up to.
After. Can you tell how much fun they had?
Reid cried a litte bit toward the end. Nothing a little thumb sucking can't fix.
Aiden was a little frustrated with me too, but he quickly got over it.
I can't believe they're 15 months old. Holy cow!