Such a little con artist

| December 11, 2012

But such a cute one, is the problem.  Sam is not so different from any other 3 year old in that she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants.  She will beg, whine, plead, cry, you name it.  She rarely whines and cries unless she is really tired, which is good.  Those tactics don’t really work all that well anyway.  We get mad or annoyed and are less likely to give her what she wants.  I know some parents tend to give in to the tantrums because it is easier than dealing with it, but Mark and I refuse to negotiate with terrorists (as he likes to tell her).  A few of her latest gimmicks are more likely to lead to us caving in.  I hate to have her think that just by doing something she is guaranteed to get what she wants, but it is hard to refuse her sometimes.  Usually, if she asks for something and you say no, you get an, “Oh…pleeeease!” that is so hard to describe in words.  But it is the most forlorn little Oh Please that you can imagine.  And is hard to resist.  Her second tactic is IMPOSSIBLE to refuse because it is so super cute.  I have no clue where she got the idea to say or do this, but when she really, really wants something and you say no, she smiles a cute little smile and says, “Maybe a hug and a kiss would help” then proceeds to lay a huge kiss and hug on you.  How do you say no to that?  You don’t, that’s how.  When I am really serious about saying no, I have had to resort to actually sort of running away from her so she can’t hug and kiss me!  How crazy is that?  I had no idea I was raising such a little con, but she really figured out what works…and she works it!

Our Computer Wiz!

| December 7, 2012

Kids today seem to have no trouble whatsoever using technology, which is a good thing.  I still remember my brother getting his very first computer, a TRS-80, which was sold at Radio Shack stores.  His next computer, which seemed like a huge improvement, was a Commodore VIC-20.  Both of these came out while I was in grade school, and when you look back, couldn’t do much of anything.  High school was the first time I ever really touched a computer and even then, we only had a computer class once or twice a week, and not even for the full school year!  Our big accomplishment was writing a program that could display our name over and over again so that it would fill the whole screen.  Whoo hoo!  I still clearly remember when Windows came out and we didn’t have to use a computer with clunky old DOS anymore.  Technology was so non-existent, and now, it is everywhere and just a fact of life.  Getting my first cell phone was a very big deal at the time, and I never would have imagined that someday I would have an iPhone, or any smartphone, for that matter.

It took all of us such a long time to adjust to technology and how it has invaded our lives but for kids like Sam, it is just second nature.  It is just the way things are done.  She plays on my iPhone and on the iPad so easily.  Mark jokes that she does things on the iPad that even we can’t figure out how to do.  With the advent of Windows 8 and touchscreen technology not just for tablets and phones, but also for personal computers, I guess eventually doing things the “old school” way, using a mouse, will seem outdated.  But for now, I think it is really important to show Sam how to use one.  She really wants to navigate the computer by herself (she loves typing and filling the screen with letters….ha ha….what a throwback to my old programming skills!) Another favorite thing of hers is to watch the home movies we have stored on our PC.  She always wants to pick the one she wants to watch, and I have been telling her that she can’t, because she doesn’t know how to use the mouse. So for the longest time, she would just point to the thumbnail of the movie she wanted to watch and I’d click and start the movie.

Our good friend, Teresa Pask, always sends Samantha the Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar, which is an online version of the classic type where you open the little windows and doors to expose a new picture.  If you have never seen Jacquie Lawson’s cards or calendars, you are really missing out!  They are works of art!  But anyway, every day you click on one numbered ornament in the scene that corresponds with the day of the month (this year’s scene is shown below), and either a new animated movie appears, or an interactive game starts. As the days go on, the movies and animations you previously clicked add to the overall scene by appearing as background animations or images in the windows.

I think it is hard to say what Sam likes more — the little movies (which are amazing) or the games, like the one here, where you decorate a Christmas tree.  The tree is the same tree that was in last year’s version of the calendar so Sam was very familiar with what it does. In this particular game, you drag and drop the ornaments onto the tree, and click on the types of garland and lights you want.  Last year, Sam would show me what she wanted me to put on the tree and I would decorate it. This year, she was very insistent she wanted to do it herself.  After explaining to her a million times that she does not know how to use the mouse, and that she won’t let me teach her so she is never going to learn (she is an impatient learner, like me), she asked me to “learn her” how. So I did.  Teach her, that is.  After a few fumbles, she really figured it out!  I am so proud of her.  The entire tree below she decorated completely on her own! She even got the star right on the top of the tree.  The ornaments that are lumped on top of one another were done by design, not accident.  Sam likes her ornaments to hug (even on our real tree she keeps rearranging them). The hardest part for her was being able to coordinate the mouse pointer on the screen with her hand movements on the mouse.  Once she mastered that though, the rest was easy.  It is a pretty big accomplishment for a 3 year old, I think. In order to decorate the tree, she has to navigate the mouse to the ornament, click on it, hold down the mouse button until she is on the tree, then let go.  I am so proud of my little girl and her computer skills and so thankful to our good friend, Teresa, for sending her such a fun, and as it turns out, educational, gift!

Santa

| December 7, 2012

Today we took Sam to see Santa Claus.  She has seen him sitting in many different malls lately, but she seemed to like the setup at the Court at the King of Prussia Mall best so that is where we went.  We had a long talk about how Santa is magic which is why he can be in so many places at once. After all, how would all the kids around the world get to see him if he couldn’t do that?  A few days before we went, my mom asked Sam what toys she was going to ask Santa for.  She told my mom that she wasn’t going to ask for any toys because her room is so full of toys, that if she got any more, there would be no room to walk!  So my mom asked, how about some movies then? and Sam said, “No! The cabinet is all full of CDs!”  It would be nice to think that she was so non-materialistic, however, if you talk to her on any other given day, she will give you a list of the million things she is going to ask Santa for.  By the time we got there and she actually talked to Santa, she had settled on the few things that she always says she wants:  more doctor stuff, a game, and a purple toy for Zephyr.  Lately, she has been saying that she thinks Muffin would like a purple toy too, but I keep explaining to her that Muffin is in heaven now.  Why she has Muffin on her mind so much, I have no idea, but I think it’s sweet that she sort of remembers him.  She still won’t ever really talk to Santa, but if I ask her questions, she will respond. I had to say things like, “Do you want more doctor stuff?” so she would reply with a quiet little “yes”.

Sam had made these snowmen crafts at home this week and she asked me if she could bring them to show Santa. I told her she could and she couldn’t wait to show them off.  Santa loved her handiwork!

After we visited with Santa we had to stick around a bit to watch the tree move.  On each hour and half hour, all the toys move.  Her favorites seem to be the jack in the boxes and the drumming bears, although she liked the toy soldiers and the horses too.  We shopped around the mall for a while and during a break to sit on a bench she asked me if her presents were at her house yet. I told her no, Santa had to go back to the North Pole to make them now.  So, her next question was, “Santa is at the North Pole now?”  Well, of course he is Sam!  He has to fly back and forth super quick to make sure the elves know what to make then come back here to talk to all the little kids.