Thursday, January 29, 2009
He's on the move!
Well, Benjamin started crawling a few days ago, and now he's starting to understand he has access to anywhere he wants to go... Just like we had feared, he seems to have a radar for everything he shouldn't be near: outlets, dishes, cabinets, cleaning supplies, cords, you name it, he's in it..
Some pictures of January below, I'll post videos of the crawling when I get them uploaded.
Some pictures of January below, I'll post videos of the crawling when I get them uploaded.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The wait is finally over (at least for today..)
--BORING ALERT--
You've been warned.. This post is pretty nerdy, sappy, blah blah blah. Now, if you still feel the urge, read on :)
One of my fondest childhood memories was playing Sierra games - especially with my father. It began when my father brought home our first personal computer, the PC jr. I don't remember how old I was, but I do remember shortly after seeing King's Quest I for the first time.
I looked forward to playing Sierra games more than little else. Sitting down at the computer and playing them took me to places I never had dreamed, and with their "cutting edge" technology, I felt as if I were there with the characters in those lands. Being able to experience those adventures with my father made it all the more special to me. Some kids play ball with their dads, some kids go hunting. My father/son moments, at least for me, centered on the time we sat together playing. As I grew older, I could play more and more independently, but my father still managed to connect with me, as while I would get frustrated seeing no solution to whatever puzzle was in front of me during the game, my father would play late at night so that he could help me the next day. I remember finding his saved games one night - what a guilty pleasure that was! No more frustrations! I could cheat my way through! Then came the hint lines, BBS calls, it was a quick decline from the days of enjoying the game without help :)
Cheesy yes, nerdy yes, but, we all have our memories, and I wouldn't change those for anything.
So, as soon as I could get Emily near a mouse, I have tried to introduce her to those games. Mind you, the original Sierra games involved text inputs, so instead of "clicking" on stuff, you'd have to type what you wanted to do. Obviously, Emily being three years old was going to hinder that a bit, but as time has gone on, I've tried various other games (as Sierra evolved, they went to the point and click style) to try to spark her interest. I hadn't had much luck... Until last night.
It was after her bed time, but her door was open, and I had just downloaded the latest remake version of King's Quest I. I installed it and was playing the intro when I saw Emily behind me at the door. She asked me what I was doing, and I told her. She walked over, and immediately asked to play for a minute.
Now, I'm sure I'm projecting a lot into her reaction that probably wasn't there, but I swear I saw the same look in her eyes I remember feeling when I sat down with the original King's Quest when I was a kid. However, instead of living the dream then, I told her to go to bed and we'd try in the morning.
This morning, I got up, ran, showered, then asked her if she remembered playing the game last night. As soon as I reminded her, she asked me if we could go play. An hour and a half later, she had knocked the troll off the bridge after finding the carrot, enticing the goat, and taking the goat to the bridge. She had found the bowl, filled it with stew, given it to the woodcutter's wife, and taken the fiddle... the list goes on and on, and to be honest, I didn't help her all that much. We learned early how to save (ooooh I remember those days, forgetting to do that..), and by the end, she was interacting with everything on screen, including saving, all by herself.
Now, this may pass.. She may never want to play the game again. But for now, this morning, I got to experience a little of what my father got to when I was a kid. What a wonderful, wonderful morning.
You've been warned.. This post is pretty nerdy, sappy, blah blah blah. Now, if you still feel the urge, read on :)
One of my fondest childhood memories was playing Sierra games - especially with my father. It began when my father brought home our first personal computer, the PC jr. I don't remember how old I was, but I do remember shortly after seeing King's Quest I for the first time.
I looked forward to playing Sierra games more than little else. Sitting down at the computer and playing them took me to places I never had dreamed, and with their "cutting edge" technology, I felt as if I were there with the characters in those lands. Being able to experience those adventures with my father made it all the more special to me. Some kids play ball with their dads, some kids go hunting. My father/son moments, at least for me, centered on the time we sat together playing. As I grew older, I could play more and more independently, but my father still managed to connect with me, as while I would get frustrated seeing no solution to whatever puzzle was in front of me during the game, my father would play late at night so that he could help me the next day. I remember finding his saved games one night - what a guilty pleasure that was! No more frustrations! I could cheat my way through! Then came the hint lines, BBS calls, it was a quick decline from the days of enjoying the game without help :)
Cheesy yes, nerdy yes, but, we all have our memories, and I wouldn't change those for anything.
So, as soon as I could get Emily near a mouse, I have tried to introduce her to those games. Mind you, the original Sierra games involved text inputs, so instead of "clicking" on stuff, you'd have to type what you wanted to do. Obviously, Emily being three years old was going to hinder that a bit, but as time has gone on, I've tried various other games (as Sierra evolved, they went to the point and click style) to try to spark her interest. I hadn't had much luck... Until last night.
It was after her bed time, but her door was open, and I had just downloaded the latest remake version of King's Quest I. I installed it and was playing the intro when I saw Emily behind me at the door. She asked me what I was doing, and I told her. She walked over, and immediately asked to play for a minute.
Now, I'm sure I'm projecting a lot into her reaction that probably wasn't there, but I swear I saw the same look in her eyes I remember feeling when I sat down with the original King's Quest when I was a kid. However, instead of living the dream then, I told her to go to bed and we'd try in the morning.
This morning, I got up, ran, showered, then asked her if she remembered playing the game last night. As soon as I reminded her, she asked me if we could go play. An hour and a half later, she had knocked the troll off the bridge after finding the carrot, enticing the goat, and taking the goat to the bridge. She had found the bowl, filled it with stew, given it to the woodcutter's wife, and taken the fiddle... the list goes on and on, and to be honest, I didn't help her all that much. We learned early how to save (ooooh I remember those days, forgetting to do that..), and by the end, she was interacting with everything on screen, including saving, all by herself.
Now, this may pass.. She may never want to play the game again. But for now, this morning, I got to experience a little of what my father got to when I was a kid. What a wonderful, wonderful morning.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Lately...
We've all been pretty busy on day to day activities lately. Leslie is busy at school, getting ready to submit her papers after being selected teacher of the year at McKinley. I've been doing lots of basketball games, and the new semester began last week. Emily has been taking care of Benjamin, and Benjamin has been trying to fight through a cold.
I keep watching Benjamin every time he rolls over into the "crawl position," as he rocks back and forth a few times, and almost takes that first crawl. Right now, he just ends up flat on his stomach, then tries to roll his way over to whatever item he wants to try to swallow.
What's most interesting to me right now is the difference between Emily when she was this age. When Emily began moving around and crawling, I don't think she ever found a wire, plug, or much of anything other than her toys. Benjamin, however, already has some sensor in his brain to find anything and everything that could cause great deals of 1.pain or 2.destruction... It should be quite interesting when he becomes mobile :)
Emily's been very interested in my stories lately. Since I'm not nearly as good as Leslie when it comes to good stories, the only thing I've been able to do is recount all my Sierra games from my youth, but insert her names instead of the main characters in the games. It seems to be working pretty well, and for anybody out there who knows Sierra games, I'm on King's Quest IV right now, and Princess Emily is hiding in the Ogre's closet waiting for him to fall asleep so she can get the hen that lays the golden eggs.
--Oh, and for those that didn't know already, the "Bath time" post a few down -- That's Emily when she was Benjamin's age, and Benjamin now in the bathtub. Most people I've talked to thought it was only Benjamin, pretty close resemblance, huh?
I keep watching Benjamin every time he rolls over into the "crawl position," as he rocks back and forth a few times, and almost takes that first crawl. Right now, he just ends up flat on his stomach, then tries to roll his way over to whatever item he wants to try to swallow.
What's most interesting to me right now is the difference between Emily when she was this age. When Emily began moving around and crawling, I don't think she ever found a wire, plug, or much of anything other than her toys. Benjamin, however, already has some sensor in his brain to find anything and everything that could cause great deals of 1.pain or 2.destruction... It should be quite interesting when he becomes mobile :)
Emily's been very interested in my stories lately. Since I'm not nearly as good as Leslie when it comes to good stories, the only thing I've been able to do is recount all my Sierra games from my youth, but insert her names instead of the main characters in the games. It seems to be working pretty well, and for anybody out there who knows Sierra games, I'm on King's Quest IV right now, and Princess Emily is hiding in the Ogre's closet waiting for him to fall asleep so she can get the hen that lays the golden eggs.
--Oh, and for those that didn't know already, the "Bath time" post a few down -- That's Emily when she was Benjamin's age, and Benjamin now in the bathtub. Most people I've talked to thought it was only Benjamin, pretty close resemblance, huh?
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Not even going to try
To catch you up at this point.. Part of the problem has been dreading trying to recap all the stuff that's been going on! So, we start fresh :)
Skate night was Tuesday night at Skateland (now Star Skate, apparently.. not so sure I like the new name), and Emily had a lot of fun skating. We've got some video I'll post soon.
We're still waiting for Benjamin to take that first crawl. Right now if you position him just right, he'll turn himself around, and move his body into the crawl stance, and then start rocking back and forth. From the look of one of his legs trapped underneath him, it looks like he may take after Emily and do the crawl/scoot that she did (one leg crawls, the other just keeps up behind... hard to explain - funny to see :)
Class starts next week for me. I ended up with an A last semester (whew), not looking forward to this one since it's part deux.
Skate night was Tuesday night at Skateland (now Star Skate, apparently.. not so sure I like the new name), and Emily had a lot of fun skating. We've got some video I'll post soon.
We're still waiting for Benjamin to take that first crawl. Right now if you position him just right, he'll turn himself around, and move his body into the crawl stance, and then start rocking back and forth. From the look of one of his legs trapped underneath him, it looks like he may take after Emily and do the crawl/scoot that she did (one leg crawls, the other just keeps up behind... hard to explain - funny to see :)
Class starts next week for me. I ended up with an A last semester (whew), not looking forward to this one since it's part deux.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
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