Tristan's New Toy

As a photographer, I am on my computer A LOT! Editing, posting galleries, answering e-mails, research, workshops, etc. And of course, as Tristan is with me all day, every day he is around my computer a lot. And apparently he wants to be just like Mommy because he loves to grab at it and bash the keys and watch the screen.

So, I had the great idea to get him his own computer! We went to Wal-mart and I found this awesome iPad-like thing for babies 6-months +. Well, Tristan is nearly five months, so I figured close enough. Perfect! Get to the car... realize it is just a case to put around an iPad to protect it so baby can play learning games. I, of course, had two choices: go back to Wal-Mart and buy an $800 iPad OR return the toy. Yeah, that was an easy decision... although I will admit I was tempted for a moment.

Mum went back to return it (Tristan and I stayed in the car because it was too much of a hassle to load him up in the stroller again and all go in) and while she was there she found this other laptop toy.

The package said 4-7 years, but it makes fun sounds and the screen does fun things, so it had Tristan's attention right away. Sure enough, he loves it. And so does Mommy! It is amazing how addictive 4-year-old language and math games are...

Here is a photo of Tristan enjoying his new toy.

You know, I always wanted to be one of those crunchy/yuppy mommies who use cloth diapers, breastfeed exclusively for a year, surround their babies with all natural things, have all kinds of educational and stimulating toys and such, do not let their children watch TV or use computers until they are a certain age, etc...

Yeah, I should have known that was never going to happen. We do use cloth diapers, but I will admit I have been slacking and using the disposables a lot more. Breastfeeding went out the window at two weeks old. All natural, environmentally friendly products are SOOOOO expensive and considering we got pretty much everything second hand... yeah I didn't have much of a say in that. As for educational and stimulating toys, I have been trying my best with that with what I can afford but of course, all the really cool stuff is really expensive. TV and computers? Ha! As I mentioned, I am on my computer constantly so there is no way Tristan wouldn't have some interest in it. And although we rarely watch regular TV, we have movie nights often and Tristan joins us in watching a movie on our 55-inch TV. So yeah, pretty much everything I was determined to do has been thrown out the window... 

I think I am okay with it, though. Some things I wish I was a little more diligent on such as the cloth diapers. Breastfeeding was mostly out of my control and I have come to accept (for the most part) what happened. I still feel a little bit of resentment over not having any control over what we bought, but there was nothing I could have done about that anyway because we couldn't afford all that wonderful organic stuff. And now I am reconsidering the whole computer and technology thing because I have realized that it is a skill he is going to need in this day and age, depriving him of that would probably only hold him back. So, yeah, I'm starting to accept the way things have worked out. 

I am a lot more relaxed than I wanted to be, but that's okay.