17 Nov
Who Needs Books?
We want to give him a jump start on all the other kids. Reading from books is so last century! We want him building spreadsheets in Excel by his first birthday. 
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haha, reminds me of when we babysat for a friend of mine (who I met while we were both working in consulting) and the hubs thought it would be hilarious if we made some fake PPT charts and posed their baby pondering them - actually turned out really funny (at least if you spend your life making PPT charts . . . )
T1 looks so big! and cute as ever.
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1Maybe its not a spreadsheet - maybe he’s attempting to pen his own novel!
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2Look at how long he’s getting! Such a little lovebug!
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3So adorable!!!
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4He looks so tall (long) in this picture!
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5Interesting set-up you’ve got going on! Perhaps if it wasn’t in front of the books he would have better access to them. Baby steps… right?
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Jenna Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Haha, he actually crawled over to the books and pulled one off the shelf today!
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Bobby and I were actually talking about this the other day, wondering if things like electronic devices like Kindle and Nook would overtake children’s books the way they are slowly overtaking adult books. I know I’ve seen two and three year olds that can work an iphone like champs to get to their favorite cartoons
It’s crazy to think that kids these days will grow up surrounded by all this technology that we didn’t have at that age.
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Cécy Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 6:43 am
It does make you wonder.
I remember hearing parents on TB a few years ago saying proudly that their two years old had a TV and DVD player in his room and could use it on his own. It shocked me.
We were barely allowed to watch TV as kids.
And yet my brother pretty much learned how to read on a computer with this video game we had…
I still love the feel of books thought.
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He looks so big in this picture!! And I love his expressions! Such a cute little guy! If he’s half as smart as he is cute, he’ll be a genius
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8hahaha this is great! I’m sure TH could get him up to speed by then!
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9wow he looks really long. Is he above average height for his age?
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Jenna Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
He is 75%/75% for height and weight so a little bit longer than average but not by much
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Oh, but I see “Goodnight Moon” on your shelf! It was and is one of my girls’ (I have 4) favorite books!
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11cute cute cute!!! T1 is so adorable.
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12That’s what I’m talkin’ about Jenna. I plan on having B type 50 words a minute at least by 5 if not sooner. Handwriting? Psshhhhh..Thing of the past.
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13I know you always say that you don’t know what will set us off - and you’ve hit on one of my topics!! I absolutely understand the jovial tone of your post and this picture. I also know you love to read and that you go to the library.
But it terrifies me that books will become obsolete or hard to procure someday! Yes, a kindle would be so much more convenient for when I travel and for my commute on the subway. But I do believe that my buying paperback books from a brick & mortar store means that I’m contributing to the continued availability of the printed word. That is important to me because I want children and adults who don’t have regular access to computers and Kindles and iPhones to still have access to inexpensive books.
I’ve been told (by annoying people, way too many times) that Bill Gates is giving away computers in Africa and there’s the mini-computer that’s going to run on solar power for kiddos in India… so why am I worried about the cost of the electronic media? I’m talking about the family in the Bronx who wants to read their kid bedtime stories without spending $250 on a digital device or someone who is new to this country and wants to learn the language but can’t afford a computer. Libraries don’t have enough computers to go around, but they (for now) have plenty of great books!
Again - totally understand that your post on T1 not needing books is a J-O-K-E - you have books in the picture! But this set off a knee jerk need to react and pontificate on the joys of paper!!
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Jenna Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 10:15 am
This is actually the topic of one of the ongoing debates of our marriage. I want to have a lot of books, because I think it will show our kids that reading is important to us. TH wants to live the life of a nomad and own nothing. His dream is to throw away all of our books and keep everything on the kindle. This idea gets me very upset so it’s best we don’t talk about it much
The problem with electronics is that they are multifunctional. Soon the kindle will have to give in to the pressure of the iPad and have more bells and whistles, and then the temptation to surf the net will prevent much reading from happening. I know this is true because I am always thinking I dot have time to read. The reason I don’t have time? I’m always on my computer!
There are also problems with the idea of kindles and electronics because they break and malfunction. What the heck do the African school children do when they see the blue screen of death? These types of problems don’t exist with books
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MrsW Reply:
November 19th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
I know what you mean about the temptation! My husband got a promotional last-gen iPod Touch with his recent MacBook purchase, and for about a week I wanted one of my own SO badly. Then I realized that I was sitting on the floor “playing” with the baby with my eyes glued on a blog on the Touch.
And your last paragraph reminds me of something from Animorphs (anyone else ever read these as a kid?). Ax, the hyper-advanced alien, remarks that he finds it amazing that humans invented the computer after the book — after all, books have no loading delay and never crash!
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c.e.l.i.n.a Reply:
November 22nd, 2010 at 12:06 pm
I loved my kindle while I lived in Ethopia. It was amazing to have hundreds of books at my finder tips and not have the weight of books. Especially with all the new luggage ristrictions.
but CHILDRESN books…there is something about the colors, the pictures, them being able to touch the pages and be apart of the reading experince. I can do it for my books and Adams for that matter.
But children’s books. That just seems wrong.
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Bah, I forgot to also say how stinkin’ cute T1 is. I love him all flattened out, laying down. He does look very tall (long?) and so skinny-mini!
I’m due for a picture of him screaming and crying, because its all starting to look too adorable and now I want one again!
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