Several months ago, I got the bright idea to finally introduce Miss Sugar to the great form of entertainment called, "computer games"! My girl took to this like a duck to water. We log on to Noggin.com a few times a week, and she gets busy saving the world matching, sorting, and counting. It is great.
Well, to be honest...it is only sort of great! You see, I have a little secret....an ugly secret. OH wait....it isn't a secret, but it really is UGLY! I have talked about it before. I HAVE DIAL-UP! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkk YES...Dial-up. The slowness is STILL killing us! Do you have any idea how long it takes "Dora's Mermaid Adventure" game to load when you are on dial-up? I am sad to say that I know.......40 minutes! How on earth can you expect a 2 and a half year old to wait 40 minutes for ANYTHING? Luckily, I am blessed with a fairly patient little Sugar, but I have to say it tests her greatly. Understanding, that we just need to walk away, and come back later to check the progress is difficult for her. She'd rather sit and wait, and watch that little loading icon slowly gain more color. She wasn't succesful in waiting the 40 minutes for Dora, but the 15 it takes for the "Diego pyramid" game to load....yeah...she watched the loading icon THE.WHOLE.TIME! Seriously.....
Despite the horrible waiting time, Sugar is always eager to play her games. It is mama that just about dies of impatience when it takes ALL.FREAKIN.DAY.TO.LOAD! However, I have EXCELLENT NEWS! As of later today, we SHOULD (crossing fingers) be all hooked up with Satellite Internet. WOO HOOOOOO!!!!!! Can I hear some cheers for that? I am so over the top excited. Not only for Sugar Bear's games, but for loading pictures, and visiting blogs....and for not having my phone occupied when I am online. YES! We are totally moving on up! Gotta love technology.
You know....often I am reminded of how different it is to be raising a child in this day and age, with all the computers, cell phones, gadgets and gizmos. I have a little story that illustrates this perfectly.
The other day, Sugar Bear and I were sitting in our truck at a red light. This particular red light is quite lengthy. You know....the one where it seems like it just turns red everytime you come to it, and it always takes forever to change. We almost always have plenty of time to discuss such things as, what she did at preschool that day, the weather, what's for dinner, and so on. Lately, however, we have been discussing the purpose of a traffic light. We have established what the different colors mean, and what mama needs to do when those lights are present. Sugar finds much interest in this concept. Usually, as we approach the light, she hollers out if I need to GO, SLOW DOWN, or STOP! She is becoming quite the backseat driver.
Anyhow....back to the other day. As we sat at the light, the following conversation occurred:
Mama: "Be sure to tell mama when we can GO, okay?"
Sugar: "Okay, mama!" "Don't GO!"
Mama: "I'm not going. I'm waiting for you to tell me when it is safe to GO!"
Sugar: "Don't GO, okay mama?"
Mama: "Don't worry, Sug....I'm not GOING!"
Sugar: "That's good! You wait!"
Mama: "okay....I'm waiting."
(we wait.....and wait...and wait....)
Sugar: "Ummm...mama?"
Mama: "Yes Sugar."
Sugar: "It's still loading!"
Mama: (laughing her hiney off) "Why yes baby! It certainly is still loading!"
Sugar: (interrupting) "GO GO GOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Mama: (Still laughing, notices the green light, and proceeds to GO!) "Whew...so glad that light finally got done loading!"
Sugar: "yeah!"
Tee Hee....surely only a child of the computer age would equate "waiting" with "loading"!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Living In The Computer Age
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14 Live It or Love It:
lol! that is fantastic.
you know what i play with my 8yo ? she started this 'do you remember how to get there?' and i could tell she wanted me not to, so i would fake-panic and say 'no' and she would say 'calm down' and guide me the rest of the way to borders/starbucks. cars can be fun!
Hee hee. Miss M is a back seat driver too.
At traffic lights she sits and goes, 'Come oooonnnn lights. Come onnn.' I think she gets that from her daddy...
Pop over later sweetie. I have an award for you.
Hee hee I can see why you laughed, that's hilarious. :) I love being let in on how their little brains are operating and equating and linking things up in there... what a GREAT age. Does SB use a mouse and do the game herself yet or do you do the actual physical stuff for her? If she does it herself how'd you teach her that?
Welcome to modern-day technology!!!
Speaking of stories, many years ago, I was with my dad and younger sister inside an antique shop. *my sister was born in 1984* She came across a record, picked it up, and said, "What the heck is this??"
OMG!
If it makes you feel any better, Corey, I don't own a cell phone. Three kids. And no cell phone!
LOL!
LOL!!! That is too funny!
We're big into the games at pbskids.org around here. And every time a game is loading, Maya chats or sings "loading...loading..." Yeah, these kids are definitely growing up in a different age than we did!
Oh that's great! My girls do that too, with wanting to know about the traffic signals - lately I've been explaining the rules about 'blinking' red and yellow lights, so now every time we come up to a light, Hannah asks me if it's blinking. Um - do you see it blinking? No? Well, then I guess you answered your own question, silly girl...
Congrats on the high-speed internet! But be careful, it's addicting... :)
LOL, so cute. Bug is a total back seat driver too. We had to have a little talk about speed limits the other day. He kept wanting me to pass everyone, like we were in a race. It is amazing to me how quickly kids pick up the computer. Bug mastered the mouse in one day, and he is left handed! He was having issues with a game on Nick jr. and called me to help, I went in and started moving the mouse. He said "MOM, you don't use that on this game.. you use this key(space bar) and the arrows" He had figured it out on his own. Sad when your four year old is out smarting you. Congrats on the high speed!
I'm sorry you didn't get your new internet today. After reading this - it makes me even madder after our conversation this morning. uuughhhhh!!!
Oh yeah - I love the "loading" instead of "waiting." So cute - we will have to scrapbook that!
That is priceless. Perfect description, too!
Noggin rules!
I'm cracking up over the traffic light "loading!"
Dialup??? They still offer that? Just kidding! You are not going to know what to do with yourself when you go high speed!
Oh, dial-up! I remember those days. I hope you got your satellite hooked up.
After reading this story, I see why you got that award. My head didn't fall off, but it certainly made me laugh.
I catch myself using computer terminology in real life, too. The other day I was going to throw something away, and I caught myself thinking, "I need to delete this."
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