Thursday, March 20, 2014

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

It is the 20th day of 31 in the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers where people are linking their stories about their daily life.  There are so many great stories out there, so many wonderful people!  Go visit!  And while you are at it this afternoon and tomorrow, please visit TKT and vote on some great poems!  I just happen to have one there...and I'll never know how you voted - so just enjoy and vote your heart!  If you go in the morning you can read Linda Baie's first round poem there, too!

My snippet is the continuing adventures of babysitting for my grandson!  Let's hope they are never real adventures, just nice calm, happy days and nights for two weeks!

Before supper, Grandson wanted to see pictures I had taken of him.  He knows I have pictures on my iPhone and on the iPad.  I know that he can more comfortably (or I can more comfortably allow him to) handle the iPad, so that's what we used.
I set up the iPad in front of him.  He sat down and basically took over flipping through pictures and playing short video clips I'd taken of him when he was learning to walk.   In the background he could see his mom and BeeTee (grampie) and hear my voice as he played the videos.  He was able to flip through the pictures quickly, skipping any that didn't interest him, pausing for the ones that had the telltale arrow, meaning it was a video.  I watched him try to start a video with his finger but his hand was resting on the screen, too, so it wouldn't start.  I took his hand and tried to help him keep the rest of the knuckles off the screen so it would play.  Pretty soon, when he came to a video he would use his left hand to hold his right hand, index finger extended to help him aim at the arrow!  So cute!
The iPad is so easy for him to use.  He saw a drawing program and seemed to recognize it as he said, "Draw" and opened the program.  He seemed to have no problem with using it... except for when his finger jabbed at adding features that would cost me money!
A few nights ago, while I was cooking supper, he was watching a cute animation with what appeared to be Russian dialogue.  He didn't mind.  The cartoons were short, and at the end he had seen how I just clicked on another video picture on the side of the screen.  It was so easy.  When my back was turned to the sink for a moment, I heard another video starting.  He hadn't needed to ask me to play another one.  He just took over at the helm.  This is too natural.  It shouldn't be natural.  Why is it?

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Poetry Jam - I know I said I wasn't going to do this.  It is just too much this week, but...
I was just there and I like owls and my grandson is napping... so here it is.

Palindrome Owl lwO emordnilaP

O-w-L
O owl O
owl
Flying through
nights - lighting quietly -
watching prey
silently swooping
hooo-oooh
swooping silently
prey watching,
quietly night lighting,
through flying.
o w l
oOWLo
OWL

13 comments:

  1. I know when my daughter was about that age one thing that would keep her occupied on the plane for hours was to look through 'old' pictures and videos of herself. Lots easier than carrying loads of photo albums!

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  2. Ok first of all, that little baby hand is just too cute for words. Second of all, I love the way you describe your grandson's development and digital understanding. He is a digital native after all! I'm sure my son will be exactly the same.

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  3. I agree...that little hand is just too cute. I am still amazed at how easily these young children can catch on to technology. Your little grandson is a quick learner! And how quickly he learned how to do the video making sure his hand was not on the screen. He is having just as much fun as you on his visit to Grandma's house. Jackie (Thanks for your kind comments yesterday about Nimbus. If you read my post today you will know that she died. I think it interesting that the cat picture you have on your blog looks so much like my other kitty, Star, that died in October..at 23 years...and you said you have a kitty that looks like Nimbus, too.)

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  4. Very clever poem, Donna. I loved the word play at the beginning & the end; and I could really heeaaarrr the owl swooping in the center of the poem! Thanks for taking part again this week, despite how busy you are with your grandson! Smiles.

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  5. Donna, a couple of years ago we were staying with our grandchildren while our son and daughter-in-law went to Las Vegas to celebrate his 40th birthday. We did okay, but we are old fashioned, technologically speaking. We had laptops, but we didn't have iPads or iPhones at that time. When the absentee parents arrived home, the 3-year-old girl threw her arms up in the air and yelled, "Yay, the iPad's back!"

    I love your owl poem. We have a resident owl who sometimes visits us at dinnertime. Happy first day of Spring.

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  6. I love the shape of your poem, Donna! I also like your use of sounds in this piece. I can both see and hear your owl.

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  7. I love this, Donna. Thanks for your lovely comment on my poem about my mother - I hope you do write that poem about your mom and a seagull. Thanks for stopping by.

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  8. Another fun post, Donna. And that owl poem - Owl O - just super ! ! !

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  9. All the grandchildren know just how to maneuver. I recently put a password on my iPhone & IPad & it didn't take long for Ingrid to watch me & memorize the numbers! We look for stories & have found a few good ones. She can follow along with the words now, and the younger one, Imi, loves to listen to the stories. I love all these little snippets, Donna. And thanks for the shout out for my poem. I loved yours-and there are some pretty amazing poems in the whole crew, aren't there? Fun to do. We do have a lot that we like the same, I love owls too. My husband and I used to drive into the country from his mom's (in MO) & watch for them in the evening. I don't think there are any in my neighborhood, but we have hawks! Thanks for all of this today!

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  10. nice....palindromes are not easy...and you pulled it off well...i like the extra O's by the second owls too....and the play in the title...have fun with those grands...

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  11. Marvelous palindrome, Donna... fun to read!

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  12. Love the O owl O excellent sound and image, really creates such a great image and atmosphere. Well done.

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  13. Donna, very clever poem! It is incredible how kids just know technology, like they were born go do it. Does feel weird. Enjoy your two weeks :-)

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