Yeah, there is an App for that! Is there?!

The girls are glued to the i-devices every chance they get.

When daddy travels, they get the devices back.. think of it as a grown up girls pacifier of sorts. Something to keep them from creating new issues for mom who has way too much to juggle!

Issue is, when daddy comes back, they don't even bother to look up from their screens.

Sometimes we have to call their names a dozen times from the kitchen to just get a response or acknowledgement!

What if there was an app that you could run from your iPhone and have that as the master device and every other idevice designated as a slave device? 

When the kids are "engrossed" and have literally gone inside the screen, we send an interrupt which will stop everything they are doing and broadcast the parents via video to their screen so we can scream at them live?!

When the little one was pitched with this idea, her response?

"if you do that, I will press the home button, cancel out that app and do something else which does not involve the ipad!"

My response ?

"Great! then the app worked! now that you are out of the iPad you WILL hear me call your name and most likely show up to the kitchen!"

Daddy 1: LO  0 

These moments where my logic wins over are few and far between these days.. today I am savoring this till it lasts.

Someone should make an app like that, if there isn't already one. If you know of such an app, do let me know!

The new hook

The kids are now hooked to "Cut the Rope"..

It is amazing how they pick up this game step by step.

It is pretty tricky and one has to have a good intuition for predicting trajectories to play this..

Currently restricted to 15 minutes maximum play time per day on weekdays and 30 minutes on weekends..

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Too much Lollu (mischief?) . . .

The kids have now discovered email.

Jr. always had an email account. Now that the little one has an email account they are way too into communicating by email.

This has led to some ridiculousness in the house with the ipad (with keyboard) being taken over by the kids to check email every 5 minutes!

Apparently the keyboard is easier for email typing than the swipe on screen keyboard.

There are also some funny conversations like this one..

Jr. : Why did you spill your food on the carpet?

LO : I will let you know by email!!!

Me and San : WTH !!!

This takes the cake..

Jr. from Computer room : I have sent you an email ! have you received it yet?

LO from living room (literally 6 feet away) : I am checking it right now. I will send you a reply soon..

Or this one :

LO : Daddy, I have no new emails. Can you send me one please?! (she is sitting 5 feet away!)
On the bright side the house is quieter with the kids on the computer but at this rate their social skills will take a nosedive in record time.

It is also truly amazing to watch a girl who has just turned 6 figure out email, use the features, ask inquisitive questions which would give some valuable feedback to email providers and get totally engrossed in it to the point that she checks email every 10 minutes!

Tomorrows technologists in action !

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Black Friday..

We went shopping yesterday. All day!

Either looking at what was there or actually buying things that were part of the plan.

We spent a lot of time with the four of us not throwing tantrums, all smiling and happy, eating out, checking out things to the point where it was our best day in a long long time that we can remember.

Daddy got an iPad, to replace lugging the laptop and power cord around office and for future travel. To complement it, we now have a futuristic keyboard that opens out like a Nissan Z from below the iPad. Way cool and nerdy!

The kids got some clothes and the boots they have been bugging us for the last six months..

Mommy got herself a hair clip for 3 bucks but was content with it! So we will leave it at that.

We as a family, are thankful for black friday!

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Sharing

Came home yesterday to find the kids watching videos in different rooms. A closer look revealed that they were watching the "same" program. Arthur which plays on PBS was being watched through Youtube on a laptop in the living room and an ipad in the family room.

Why this madness I asked the kids.

"She doesn't want to share!" came the reply in unison from two different rooms.

"But you are watching the same episode! Couldn't you put the ipad on the table and watch?" said an exasperated daddy and the response was

"she smells" from one kid and "she keeps tilting the ipad towards her" said the other one..

whatever be the reasons, have successfully raised two kids who will not be carpooling when they reach driving age.

Not happy with this.

Have to do something to teach them to share, not waste electricity and more importantly teach them to tolerate each other.

The iPad will have to disappear for a few days!

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