if you have access to the Spanish networks Univision or Galavision, pretty much every time you flip over there are some awesome looking women on. one of my faves is Odalis, the hostess of a Candid Camera clone called "Lente Loco" ("Crazy Camera"). check her out!

ooh, ooh... Salma Hayek and Daisy Fuentes

hey, isn't that where erik estrada wandered off to?

yep...

haha!!

Salma alright! She's hot. I don't get to watch Galavision much though. Are the Hispanic soaps a lot steamier?

no actually they are tamer and have simpler story lines. it's just that the babes are much hotter.

so you mean, so and so doesn't get killed in a fire then comes back next season as the evil twin who no one knew about?

There are quite alot of spanish people here in Switzerland, and you can see a spanish girl a mile off! They really are very pretty; but then again all women here seem very pretty to me. Unlike the boring men! �sigh�

My dad watches these soaps on Univision with his pocket English-Spanish dictionary in his hands to keep current. We all rag on him big time for it.

ha-ha!!! He sounds sweet.

He is the best man I've ever known, and that's saying a lot considering I live with a saint!

That's great. I think my kids will say the same of their dad someday. Nothing makes me happier than to see how he is with them, and he is the best story reader ever! At night before they good to bed, I always find myself looking forward to hearing what happens to Ragdoll next!

Is that a line of children's books, Riette? Or does he make up stories about their Ragdoll? Also, I'm curious--what language do you all speak at home?

Ragdoll is a Rasta doll that we bought Isa down in Africa when she was 9 months old - she has since been named 'Ragdoll', and he makes stories up about her. We speak English with each other, he speaks English to the kids, and I speak Afrikaans to them - not a very practical language to learn, but I don't want Mum to have to speak to her grandchildren in a foreign tongue.

my turn..what is a Rasta doll? i mean, what's it made of?

A Rasta doll is a black African ragdoll. Do you get special ragdolls in America? Oh, what a stupid question, sorry! I nearly forgot! American ragdolls are all called 'Barbie'!

(*smiling*) Now in all fairness, we do have Raggedy Ann and Andy! Does your ragdoll have dreadlocks? I think it's cool that your kids will be bilingual--mine have been a bit resistant to it, and Lydia has a speech problem.

Raggedy Ann and Andy! Sweet! Yes, the ragdoll has dreadlocks full of colourful beads. With being bilingual at home Isa has been slower in speaking than most kids - but I've heard that that's normal. Elza started talking at 13 months though; having an elder sister probably helps with that. They now speak English, Afrikaans and Swiss German (God help them!!!) just from hearing the three languages all the time. Which languages do you speak, or try to speak at home? French English? I'd say keep it up, it probably will become natural to them at some point, and I don't think Lydia's speech problem will necessarily prevent her from learning a second or more languages. The fact that she has difficulty mouthing the words won't keep her from learning them in her head, I'm sure. And once the problem is sorted out, she'll have the knowledge in her head to be able to make quick progress.

Eventually I'm sure it will fall into place, it's just so frustrating to comprehend her English, I'm afraid we'll all be in tears if she insists on conversing in French! I resumed teaching French at her school this week, so it's inevitable that we'll be reviewing the units/concepts at home too. Here is a really neat language site: http://www.rivendel.com/~ric/resources/dictionary.html

I KNEW IT!!!! ha-ha! I knew you were a teacher! So, is your husband French?

His mother is French, his dad's American (they met during the war). S. was born in Massachusetts, but moved to France when he was 4. They returned to the US when he was 8. His grammar is deplorable!

How utterly romantic!

When they met, neither could speak a word of the other's language. Can you imagine committing to someone and not even knowing what he was talking about?

Yes, as long as the body language is clear!

love is a universal language! autumn: how old is Lydia? my son is still slow with his speech but just bedcause he can't speak very well doesn't mean he can't teach his sister and she speaks well. he still has speech therapy in school but is down to 15 minutes per week! which i don't completely understand, but....oh, he's 9. think the majority of his problem is discipline--he knows the stuff in his head but doesn't correct himself. and my daughter can hold an adult conversation until she tires of it and wants to play barbie. riette: i love raggedy ann and made a 30" one for my daughter. she loves it because it's her size. barbie is a phenom and probably should be considered for a babe topic. sophia has tons of them. am working on bringing the african american version into her collection. everytime we pick one out she wants either the blonde or brunette. go figure-she's brunette and her friends are blonde! i would love to teach my children a second language but my german is so far out that they'd sound like morons. that's one thing i wish my mother did for us. she speaks fluent german but only to her parents and not to us. so here i am using a translator program to write letters to my grandparents. oh well....

Send 'em to Germany when they finish school, Wolf. When I first came to Switzerland, I had to go to a German language school to learn German, because I soon found out that the Swiss aren't particularly willing to speak English. I'm glad of it now, because they were very strict there, and taught me fluent spoken and written German within 6 months. (The Japanese and Kroatian girls also spoke fluent German in the end, so it really is the course that' was excellent, not me.) There will be similar schools n Germany, and it's not expensive at all either.

Wolf, Lydia's 4 and has been in speech since she was 2. Her therapist tells me she'll probably go thru kindergarten at least (that's not till next fall). As far as the "language of love" goes, I don't buy it. Those two are so dysfunctional/co-dependent it's sickening.

Oh, now I remember!! THOSE two! I was wondering whether they were your parents, remember! ha-ha! If you don't mind my asking, Autumn, because I don't know anything about it: can one really determine whether a child has speaking problems at 2? How did you know? Or even at four? I mean, Elza and Isa both speak well, as far as I'm concerned - but alot of words come out twisted. How does one determine whether they need therapy or not? You've got me worried here, girl!

don't worry yourself about it. every child has a tendancy to twist up words-heck, i even try to say two words at once! a speech problem is like when they can't get their mouths to say what they want them to say. but also when they have trouble associating words with directions like behind, in front, beside....and only someone who's trained in the field can tell you if they have any probs. don't worry about it.

Lydia never babbled or cooed as an infant, and by 18 months still only said one word ("mama") clearly and predictably--the rest was gibberish. When she started getting frustrated at our lack of comprehension at 2 1/2, I took her to the pediatrician and he recommended an evaluation (here it's free, and speech services are free thru the public school system). Things are MUCH better now. If you basically get the gist of what your girls are saying, then I wouldn't worry about it Riette. By the way--right n about the in-laws!! My folks are screwed up in a very healthy, normal way, but that side of the family is teeming with melodrama. He's up there tonight trying not to take sides, as a matter of fact.

Oh, God, I can sympathize. Mine are HERE this weekend, and his mother is suffering away heartily. �choke!� But Chris and I are going to visit friends, and stay the night, and sleep out tomorrow night as well - fleeing our home! Thank you for the reassurance. At least now I'll know what to look out for if I should have another baby. And I hope things will get easier for Lydia soon.

yes, tim's speech therapy was free too. he went through the whole thing-making sure nothing was physically wrong, hearing tests, etc. etc. right now his problem is speaking so you can hear him. likes to mumble everything. and for the longest time he used to call this troll toy of theirs the remote control. i don't know except that it had the word troll in it and he wouldn't think before saying it. actually, i don't think he thinks too much before he says a lot of things he does. but he's trying to make conversation and it's frustrating for everybody when you don't know where he gets some of the stuff he says. he'll say something like did you see that thing over there? while we're going 55 in the car and we're like what are you talking about? what does it look like....all that. and i swear he thinks we can read his mind and know exactly what he wants. sophia is completely the opposite. she knows how to communicate with everyone. she even slows down and comforts tim if he gets frustrated with whatever he's doing. and the funny thing about all that is he taught her to use her language correctly!!

That's sweet of her, and only right since he taught her in the first place! Is it difficult for him in school to communicate with his mates/teachers etc.?

he gets along great with his friends. in fact, the little boy he plays with all the time is a brainiac! i mean, he's always on the honor roll. but my little boy, he's gone from A's and B's to F's this year. and it's only the first semester of 4th grade! he cannot/will not just do his homework and get it over with. he sits there day dreaming about how much he doesn't want to do it and he ends up spending a whole school day at home working on homework. my husband and i have tried everything we can think of short of doing it for him and Tim still doesn't get it. so i'm waiting for it to click in his brain. it's so very frustrating for everybody. the problem, we think, is his reading comprehension. he's clueless about what a written question is asking him (esp. when it includes more than one thing at a time, like a math word problem). i have shown him how to break it down into bite size chunks and he responds well to that, but i also think he responds to me handfeeding him the info he needs to find for himself.

I'm sorry he has such a tough time. Is he good with his hands? The reason why I'm asking is that it is often the case that people who aren't good thinkers in terms of words are excellent mechanical, practical thinkers. I once read an article about this; apparently a man who has done some research into this has set up the first school that caters for ALL types of thinkers, not just 'literary' thinkers. I once knew someone like that as well. He was one of the six children of my grandfather's neigbouri g farmer. He was very shy to talk, though I don't think he had problems talking, but he also could not think in the way that schools expect one to think, so he had to repeat several years. But by the time he was twelve he had built his first tractor from scratch....And the teachers still called him stupid!

wow! tim builds planes with his lego's. he also draws and is pretty good at electronic games. he can do math in his head. and loves to play with smaller children. once, i watched him pull a wagon over and over full of little kids who were just laughing and having a good time. i had a heart to heart with him last night and he said he loves it when we get involved with him and his homework. he just gets bored. he also said it's hard for him to concentrate with other things going on around him. bless his heart. he says he's nervous about missing recess because of something he forgot to do. i can imagine what a worry that is for him.

He sounds very sweet! And being good with his hands is going to be much more useful to him when he grows up than being an academic. Chris studied at Oxford and Cambridge, is hopelessly intelligent, reads quicker than I can page through a book, has perfect musical pitch, and is in such an unpractical profession because of it that the chances of his being able to find a job anywhere he likes are less than slim.

But it's such a cool gig. What Spanish actress got her start on the Mexican soaps? Anyone guess?

salma hayek or jennifer lopez???

Salma Hayek is correct. Jennifer Lopez is probably correct also. I remember being home one day and seeing a Salma Hayek interview and learned this amazing piece of trivia.

oh, yes, i can remember seeing her in the soaps. mmmm mmm good. AFAIK, Jennifer L. has never been in a soap.

She yo' sister or somethin', Ratty?

pictures, people, we need pictures!

no, i've got four sisters already. dont need any more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ha-ha! My brother always says: "With sisters like mine, who needs enemies!"

your brother is a wise and intelligent man... did anyone see the picture of Salma on the cover of Detour? (excuse me, it seems I have now distracted myself...)

oh, just go put up a topic about her in babes....

hell, i'll go do it for you....

OOH, generous!

Go wolfie!