High-tech Ben

This week’s photo is brought to you courtesy of Ben himself. While saying goodnight to him, I asked what I should write about in his blog this week. While he didn’t have any suggestions for a subject, Ben did tell me that I should show a picture of him and his juice. So here you go! (He then went on to demand that I take several other photos of him in his crib before I could convince him that I had enough shots for the blog!) Also a quick note, there are new photos and video links at the end of this write up.

The fact that Ben is aware of his blog, and knows enough to tell me to put a photo of him up here made me stop and think about all the technology that he is growing up with and already leaning to use.

I thought it was cool when I was little to play games on the Atari, or later, my Commodore 64 with the big floppy discs. But in both cases I was much older than Ben is now. Already, the little guy has his own iMac, and knows how to pop CD’s in and out, and how to work the mouse to play his games. And instead of Atari, Ben has been known to grab one of the Nintendo Wii controllers and try to join in. Its a long ways from the Space Invaders that my family and I used to play (and still do on those rare occasions that Poppop breaks out the old Atari system!)

But, its not just the big computer. Ben has also developed an interest in Daddy’s iPod Touch. He knows he can touch the screen and use his finger to do things. Recently I downloaded some games for him to play and he has a blast. Some of his favorites are the animal matching game (complete with animal sounds), another game Ben calls Toilet Paper where you toss a ball of paper into a trash can, and a drawing program. I was most impressed with how he worked the drawing program. At first he was happy to just scribble lines on the screen, but then he wanted to change the color he was using. The first few times Daddy did this for him, but yesterday I watched as Ben navigated through the controls of the program and changed the color himself!

Of course, Ben already knows he can play more than games on the iPod. He loves to go onto Facebook with Daddy and browse through our friends photos, especially our friends who have pictures of their pets posted. Ben even knows how to scroll from one photo to the next. And in the true spirit of multimedia, Ben also knows he can play music on their, and often asks Daddy to find and play his favorite, I Like to Move It Move It. Something tells me this iPod is going to end up as Ben’s eventually.

Ben also likes to play his own CD’s, and has already learned how to eject them from the radio and take them in and out of their cases. He knows which button to push to start the music, but before it starts, Ben must turn off the TV, which he can do by himself using the remote. Speaking of the TV, Ben has also already gotten used to having video On-Demand. This might possibly be the best thing ever for parents, as we can pull up episodes of Ben’s favorite kid shows anytime he wants. Its really amazing to see how comfortable he is with all of this technology already. Most of it is stuff I never would have dreamed of when I was little.

And that’s just the high-tech stuff. Ben is also comfortable walking around with my cell phone on his ear, having imaginary conversations. He also is used to talking on the speaker phone to Gram, or scanning his groceries at the supermarket with Mommy. Ben loves the ATM machine and like to help Daddy get money out (i’m sure this will only get worse as he grows older!) He takes photos with the digital camera, and he is used to watching movies in the backseat of Gram’s van.  Its crazy how much technology is a part of Ben’s life, and how much he already understands and uses it! When i think back to how much things have changed since I was his age, I can’t imagine the types of things he will be playing with as he grows up. He is definitely a high-tech kid…and Daddy is proud!

Well Halloween is quickly coming up. Mommy has been sewing like crazy to get everyone’s costumes together. Last weekend, Ben got to wear his costume to a birthday party for his friends Ally and Lexi (he even got to decorate a pumpkin there!). Next week we will post some photos and talk about getting ready to go trick or treating!

As for this week, I got my hands on some more pics of Ben from Aunt Devon and Uncle Rich’s wedding, which you can check out here.

Also posted is a new video where Ben shows off more of his unique dance moves, which you can view here. Enjoy!