Kids and Buttons

The whole "kids understanding gadgets with buttons" thing is amazing to us. When Alana was 3, she wanted to play with the XBox, so I'd put Oddworld on and walk Stranger (the main character) toward the screen so she could see his face (which she found fascinating), and then give her the controller so she could walk him around. At that point, she didn't really get it. Last night, though, within about 5 mins our 4-year-old daughter and her 3-year-old cousin were playing Wii Sports bowling (and beating us). We stopped into a toystore the other day, and our 18-mo old walked around the store trying to manipulate every toy on the two shelves he could reach to see if it had buttons that produced any novel result. Spending any time at all with little kids (or with me ) makes it clear that a need for novel stimulation is part of the human condition--sensory deprivation can really mess with people if it goes too long. It's no wonder that solitary confinement can be so effective--same deal for timeouts in the corner. I remember seeing details of studies on infant perception that measured how interesting babies found things by how long they looked at them. Very quickly kids get bored and lose interest unless the stimulation changes in some way. See Mom? I did listen to *some* lectures!

Fake Remotes Don't Cut It

After the kids had changed channels mid-program one too many times, we had a brilliant brainstorm. We pulled out old remotes that were still around, and gave them to the kids to play with. Anecdotally, remote controls that don't control anything are not interesting to kids beyond the first day (if they even last that long). And we're not the only ones to discover this...AC's cousins tried to fake their kid out the same way, with the same results. Fake phones are OK--kids can imitate one side of a telephone conversation all day long. Alana often plays "office", imitating Daddy's business calls...which sound pretty inane when I get to listen to them as opposed to participating in them!

Play It Again

We were listening to a kids' program on the radio one day with Alana. When the song ended, she asked us to play the song again. We explained that we couldn't. "Why not?" (with an iPod as the main music source in the car, replaying favorite songs a couple of times is standard practice). We explained that the radio consisted of somebody sitting in a room far away, playing the music they selected, and we just got to listen to whatever they picked. The look she gave us in response made it apparent that this was a thoroughly bizarre concept.

Don't Do That!

Alana was laying in wait outside the bathroom for her cousin Hana, who's about a year younger than she. When Hana came out, Alana shouted "Boo!". Hana looked at her and said, "Alana, don't do that."
Alana said, "Don't do what?"
Hana said, "Don't say 'Boo!' You might scare me!"

Alexander and Music

Alexander at 18 mos, humming twinkle, twinkle tune very clearly. He'll drum on anything we drum on (most kids do, but he's *into* it!) If we leave the basement door open, he makes a beeline downstairs for the drumset. He loves to play with it. Piano and guitar also fascinate him...I'm sure music will be a big part of his life.

"Ba Boo!"

"Ba boo!" is how Alexander says "Peekaboo!" Adorable! Lots of "Uh oh" and "Mm-hmm" (yep) and "Uh-uh" (nope).

He MIGHT give a reasonable hug when it's suggested.

Late Bloomer

Alexander was slower to start speaking than Alana. We weren't too worried about this--developmentally he was doing fine, and she had begun speaking very early (she clearly suffered from EOV--Early Onset Verbosity).

Alexander responded to requests and instructions in such a way that he was clearly understanding us, and he used a variety of hand signals and pointing to make his desires clearly understood (for instance, when I asked him to put things into the paper recycling or into the trash he'd go to the correct receptacle without further prompting).

We mentioned his Delayed Onset Verbosity to some visiting friends and they reassured us that we needn't worry yet... Our friend's brother didn't begin speaking until he was 4. His first word? "I think that you are being thoroughly unjust!" Clearly he had been saving his words for when he needed them!