I’m checking my email! March 5, 2008

“I’m checking my email,” announced Gatito, holding his travel aquadoodle like a laptop in the bath.

“Oh?” I asked. “What does it say?”

Cheerfully: “25!”
Then sadly: “Mommy Daddy put my green ‘puter away.”

Damn. We got that thing for Christmas and then realized he was too young for it and we didn’t want him to spend a ton of time banging around on it. We put it away, but apparently, two months later, he’s still thinking about it. He sounded so piteous.

I haven’t spent much time with the computer, so I actually don’t really know how to do even the most basic things with it. But this evening, I got it out for Gatito. It didn’t really matter that I didn’t know how to use it (I could barely open it!) because Gatito was not about to let me get my mitts on it anyway. Somehow, he managed to open the music application, Tam Tam and start making music. It was fascinating to watch him learn which buttons to push to start the music, and which to stop. I’ll tell you it didn’t take long, and I learned by watching him, not the other way around. (Though he did let me show him how to use the touchpad: “This is a mouse?” he asked.)

I don’t want Gatito to become a screenhead, and I do think two is too young for a kid to have his own green ‘puter (and, frankly, one of those $20 laptop toys would probably have been more appropriate), but it was still really cool to watch. I love technology, and I love knowing that he’s going to keep me on my toes, staying up-to-date on the latest trends as he grows up.

You can try? March 4, 2008

A injured his back* shoveling snow on Saturday. We usually blow on boo boos here (don’t know how that started), and when A tells Gatito he can’t pick him up because his back hurts, Gatito says, “I want to blow on it!” When A lets him (he blows through his nose– it’s hilarious), he then says, “You can pick me up now?” If only it worked like that…

It became apparent to me this weekend how little of the physical parenting I normally do. I took Gatito to the nature center on Sunday. It was packed for a special event and we had to park a few blocks away and I had to carry him because we had to walk down a narrow, busy street. He didn’t want to walk much once there, either. I’d set him down, pleading exhaustion, and he’d say, “You can try? You can try to pick me up?” Who could resist that? The result was that by the end of the day, my right arm was hurting from shoulder to wrist. It was not helped by the fact that the phlebotomist blew a vein in that arm on Saturday with my latest beta.** I knew it hurt at the time and for a couple of hours after, but I didn’t really realize what had happened until I showered on Sunday morning and saw the four inches of purple/green bruising. Yikes.

* An x-ray revealed that one side of his lowest vertebrae is fused to his pelvis (and has been since birth). Apparently, it’s shocking that he hasn’t had back problems to date and this may be the beginning of them. When he consulted Dr. Google, though, the only references he could find were instances in dinosaurs and ewes. Huh. (Since I already have back problems, I am starting to wonder if we aren’t getting too old to have another child. UGH.)

** Saturday’s beta was 18 and the OB is making me repeat it again this week. Why? WHY?! Come on, don’t you think that’s being overly cautious?