Amazing Race

Amazing Race: Deaf Contestant & Mom

by oh amanda on February 15, 2009

in Amazing Race,me,sign language,tv

Amazing Race AND Survivor premieres in one week? LOVIN’ IT! We had a yahoo-amazing-race-is-back party with Kristen tonight. It ended up being a put-the-kids-to-bed-and-get-them-up-to-go-the-bathroom-and-then-go-to-bed-again-about-400-times party. But still it was fun. The Pioneer Woman’s favorite salad ever made an appearance. So, that was worth it.

I’m excited about this season of Amazing Race so far. First of all the dating-but-we-are-really-mean-to-each-other couple got eliminated first. Hallelujah.

(do-you-love-when-i-do-this-every-other-sentence-or-what?)

When Phil introduced the couples I was getting excited because almost all of them seemed somewhat normal. (Minus the aforementioned dating couple, of course.) But my team is Mom & Deaf Son—Margie and Luke. Luke is deaf and does not read lips, he only uses sign language. So, he needs his mom to translate for him. He wants to show the world that deaf people are equal to hearing people.

You know I’m a fan of sign language. It all started when I read about Rachel Coleman and her daughter Leah—I know I’ve mentioned her a hundred times in my blog. In a nutshell, Rachel was in a band and realized her daughter Leah was deaf at 14 months old. Rachel says she put down her guitar and picked up sign language. She has produced over 30 quality DVD Sets teaching hearing kids to communicate with deaf kids.

One thing Rachel said that’s always stuck with me is (in the ohamanda paraphrase) that deaf kids can feel very isolated. And if hearing kids only knew three words in sign language: “friend”, “play” and “hello” “name” dang, I can’t remember. But the idea is, deaf kids are just the same as hearing kids. They just want to play. And a little bit of sign language can go a long way for a deaf kid. I just love that!

That’s one of the reasons I picked up the Baby Signing Time dvd’s— because of Rachel and Leah’s story. Not only did I want Lydia to be able to sign “more” and “milk”, I wanted her to know sign language to communicate with others. (I’ve already let Asa watch one of the dvd’s. Is that bad for a four month old?)

So, I say all that to say, I loved seeing Luke on the Amazing Race hoping to show the world that deaf people can do exactly the same as hearing people! And how cool and so beautifully ironic was it that they were first to the Pit Stop by LISTENING for the yodelers? LOVED IT.

So, BESIDES Margie & Luke, who was your pick?

{ 12 comments }

NaBloPttthhhhh

by oh amanda on November 5, 2007

in Amazing Race,baby,blogging,church,family,internet,moms,motherhood,NaBloPoMo,parenting,sleep

I blew it. It’s five days in and I blew it! I didn’t post anything on November 4th! NaBloPoMo started November 1st. All I had to do was post every day this month. I usually post 28 days out of 3o anyway. How hard can this be? The one month where I’m posting every day, I forget FOUR DAYS in? *sigh*

Well, I’ll blame it on Daylight Savings Time. Thanks William Willett for making the last two days STINK. Here’s a little recap. Maybe it will make up for my missing Day Four post.

Sunday I was awoken (woken? waked? woke up?) ONE HOUR early by my little Lydia. “Mommy! Up! Up! Play! Milk!” We went to church and I started my new nursery gig. I was in the four year old class. Within 2 seconds a four year old greeted me with, “Will you be a bear and pretend to get me?” That was pretty much how the rest of the morning went. After lunch and a trip to the used CD store (the used CD store is to my husband what Disney World is to me) Lydia missed her nap. So, for some unknown reason we decided to hop back in the car and go to a craft show—-a lame, old skool craft show. We’re talking toilet paper covers and toll painted cows, folks. (Which is the main reason I haven’t posted my sermon recap!) That night was our neighborhood Bible study. After picking her up from childcare, Lydia went to bed one hour late, which was really TWO HOURS late. Once she was asleep, we ordered a pizza and watched the Amazing Race (that’s a whole ‘nother post! seriously, goth couple from Kentucky?!).

Monday you’d think I’d get to sleep in. NOPE. 7:00am and I hear, “Mommy! Up! Up! Play! Milk!” She was ready for a nap at 10, 12, 2 and 5. But only took one. I saw her first honest to goodness tantrum complete with rolling on the floor and kicking her legs. I resorted to driving her to the farthest shopping mall I could think of just so she’d be strapped into the car seat. *sigh*

So, yeah, NaBloPoMo, you’re lucky you’re even getting Day Five from me.

(But seriously, am I kicked out? Is the NBPM PD going to show up at my bloggy door? Do I get a button that says, “I can’t hang with the good NaBloPoMoers?”)

~and y’all have made my day with the first day of oh ho ho!
if you haven’t already, go check it out!

{ 13 comments }

If I Were A Reality TV Star

by ohamanda on May 8, 2007

in Amazing Race,American Idol,me,meme,tivo,tv

If I was on Survivor, I would fly under the radar. Those silly skinny girls always make it to the end. Just be cute and perky and fun. Boil water, gather fire wood and play hard during the challenges. And I would always always always scope out the top dog and knock him out first. Why do these people insist on saying, “Oh, well, so-and-so said we should do this. Great idea!” If someone tells you what to do, that’s the person you vote off FIRST! Oh, and I would learn to make a fire out of shoe leather before I got there.

If I was on the Amazing Race, I would start running the second I got the call. I’d get some makeup tattooed on. I’d get my hair cut short…or maybe grow it out? Hmmm. I would never pick the “find the tiny marble buried in the 5 story pile of coconuts” roadblock. I would do the bungee jumping. And I would always always YIELD. Oh, and I would hug Phil every time I stepped on the mat.

If I was on American Idol, I’d make Sanjaya look good.

If I was on The Biggest Loser, I would be dead.

I have no idea where this came from…

 (apparently I’ve started an unofficial meme. Mama & Staci copied me. Let me know what you’d do if you were on TV!)

{ 8 comments }

Total Random Randomness

April 23, 2007 Amazing Race

So I haven’t posted in 2 or 3 days. My blog stats have plummeted. It’s cool. I’ve just had a c-razy weekend! (scratching head…) (thinking…) And I’m staring at the computer screen trying to remember what we did! I know it was something fun… Oh! My sil and neice and nephew are in town from [...]

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