Friday, March 21, 2008

Taking a Break

So, I'm taking a break from writing my paper. This is the longest one, with 3200 words required, which I'm thinking will be about 10 pages. It's nothing compared to some that I used to write in undergrad and grad, and I really don't feel like complaining about it when my friend JJ lost his 43 page master's thesis when his computer crashed! I've been blessed to have grandmas and aunties and daddy take Carson for a few extra hours these last 3 weeks so I could get some work time alone. Otherwise, I'm not sure how I would have done it! Only 2 days, this big paper and some easy response work left. I've got my favorite coffee creamer--coconut!--with some half-caf and am working away. Until this break, of course.

A funny thing that has happened while I've been really busy is that Carson has gotten really into playing on the computer. Our favorite website for him is PBS kids, because it is easy to maneuver around and I am pretty confident the content is safe for him. For a long time, he would sit on our "yaps" and we would look at the games, pictures, songs, etc. Then we ended up going to the Curious George pages a LOT--it has a lot of games on it. He got really comfortable with moving the mouse and clicking on what he wants. So, I started teaching him how to get from one game back to the "games" menu page, and on every page there is a big icon for PBSkids which takes him back to the Main page menu. But I usually was still called to the computer every 2 minutes or so to help--usually because the game was too hard for him (they're mostly preschool level). Here is a little video from about a week and a half ago, when we made a big breakthrough. I left the room and Carson had chosen and clicked on a game by himself. When I walked in, his face lit up and he said "I yike this game! It not too hard! I do it myself!" The big breakthrough was that he was not just clicking, but clicking and dragging. Sheesh. On this particular video, he had trouble at the end and got frustrated.

Since then, the time slots of him working alone have increased. This morning, Carson woke up at 6:27. boo. He was WIDE awake, and Trent and I were NOT. So, we brought him in our room (where the computer is now) and I set him up on the computer with a little lamp on while we dozed 10 feet away. I didn't hear from him again until 6:50! I would have rather kept sleeping longer, but it was a marvelous little snooze button. It's also a little scary thinking my 2 year old is on the computer by himself. What is in store for this generation and technology?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A PBS Kids icon has graced our computer's desktop for a few years now. Just wait until he finds EekoWorld and then tells you to get rid of your lawn mower and buy a push-mower because it's better for the environment!