A three year old and miscellany.
Jul. 25th, 2012 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
planet_x_oneC has a daughter. A cheerful little 3 year old, so cute and full of energy that's surprisingly endless. Very endearing. Playing with a kid is tiring but full of delight. Were we all this way once? Running around, laughing and almost but not really knowing how to use the bathroom? Throwing tantrums and rolling on the carpet? She can use an iPad without much guidance; it's an amazing sight when you consider the history of the personal computer.
We had PET computers in junior high. Behold the technical wonder:
That section to the left of the keyboard is a cassette recorder. It was before floppy disks. Computer class usually went something like this: pick out an interesting sounding game on a cassette and put it in the player, then wait thirty minutes for it to load. When it was done, start it up: SYNTAX ERROR ON LINE 20032. Sucks to you PET computer. After that there was only one thing to do: write your own program. I don't believe much computer science is necessary to understand the typical student-made example:
10 PRINT "FUCK YOU";
20 GOTO 10;
The tablet was predicted in sci-fi long before it appeared in reality. It's interesting to note how bulky the art directors on the original star trek imagined it:
Some confusion happens with the few non-digital iPad features like the volume toggle. She'll accidentally turn down the volume and not know how to fix it. Her first response is mild annoyance and a request for "Mommy." Sometimes she'll be looking at me, but will still say it, but mostly she calls me by name. When she gets tired of playing a game or interacting, she'll lie on the floor with a pillow and watch "Bob the Builder" or "Dora the Explorer" with the iPad screen two inches from her face.
I'll look at C and think in wonder, you made this little person. It actually grew inside your body. C didn't marry the father but has an amicable arraignment with him: he gets custody 2 or 3 weekends a month. During those times we drive to a midway point to exchange her. Unfortunately he is an insufferable blowhard, and speaks for what feels like an hour on his parenting observations. And all of us, especially his girlfriend, looking thoroughly bored. Sometimes I imagine an anvil falling on his head. Not that he seems a bad sort, although he was a bastard and didn't appear in C's life until her daughter was a few months old, and started demanding custody. So he got a little bit of it and also ended up having to pay a large chunk of child support.
All this would be a little more bearable but he's a vegetarian and has her on a diet of the same I think. So I take great pride in watching her eat-up tasty omnivorous food. I do all the cooking, which has become a pleasant hobby. And she seems to love it; she's probably starved for complete proteins. He gave us a list of dreadful sounding recipes like tofu casserole. I've had some very good vegetarian, and vegan food, but all this stuff sounded like what they'd feed you at a prison camp.
We had PET computers in junior high. Behold the technical wonder:
That section to the left of the keyboard is a cassette recorder. It was before floppy disks. Computer class usually went something like this: pick out an interesting sounding game on a cassette and put it in the player, then wait thirty minutes for it to load. When it was done, start it up: SYNTAX ERROR ON LINE 20032. Sucks to you PET computer. After that there was only one thing to do: write your own program. I don't believe much computer science is necessary to understand the typical student-made example:
10 PRINT "FUCK YOU";
20 GOTO 10;
The tablet was predicted in sci-fi long before it appeared in reality. It's interesting to note how bulky the art directors on the original star trek imagined it:
Some confusion happens with the few non-digital iPad features like the volume toggle. She'll accidentally turn down the volume and not know how to fix it. Her first response is mild annoyance and a request for "Mommy." Sometimes she'll be looking at me, but will still say it, but mostly she calls me by name. When she gets tired of playing a game or interacting, she'll lie on the floor with a pillow and watch "Bob the Builder" or "Dora the Explorer" with the iPad screen two inches from her face.
I'll look at C and think in wonder, you made this little person. It actually grew inside your body. C didn't marry the father but has an amicable arraignment with him: he gets custody 2 or 3 weekends a month. During those times we drive to a midway point to exchange her. Unfortunately he is an insufferable blowhard, and speaks for what feels like an hour on his parenting observations. And all of us, especially his girlfriend, looking thoroughly bored. Sometimes I imagine an anvil falling on his head. Not that he seems a bad sort, although he was a bastard and didn't appear in C's life until her daughter was a few months old, and started demanding custody. So he got a little bit of it and also ended up having to pay a large chunk of child support.
All this would be a little more bearable but he's a vegetarian and has her on a diet of the same I think. So I take great pride in watching her eat-up tasty omnivorous food. I do all the cooking, which has become a pleasant hobby. And she seems to love it; she's probably starved for complete proteins. He gave us a list of dreadful sounding recipes like tofu casserole. I've had some very good vegetarian, and vegan food, but all this stuff sounded like what they'd feed you at a prison camp.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-25 10:16 pm (UTC)The 3-yr-old bit reminded me of this:
no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 06:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 05:52 am (UTC)That bit is funny, but there have been some mishaps with potty training. Or is that potty weaning. Something about being a three year old child makes you very upset to use the bathroom normally. Today I went to a supermarket and bought "pull-ups" — it was a very domestic moment.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 07:01 pm (UTC)