When the Kids Get Really Fun

Yesterday Sadie helped me setup computers on the second desk in the office.  She was able to hold ends of cords for me, under the desk, so I could reach them more easily from the back of the desk and plug them in.  She was fascinated by the whole exercise.  I love that she can really help now!

Later in the day, I told the DOS 486 out of their bedroom and she got to use a screwdriver to help remove the cover so I could see what ailed it.  The immediate thing was the fan and heat sink, such as they are on a 486, had fallen off the CPU.  That would explain the sounds it had been making.  One of the legs is broken, but it’ll stay on if handled gently.  If I had some heat transfer gunk, I’d use that to help it stay better.

I also found the CMOS battery floating around loose inside the case, and the place where it goes so damaged, or whatever happened to it, the battery couldn’t possibly stay there short of, say, replacing the motherboard.  Weird.  We’re used to fixing the settings every time the machine is turned on, so no big deal; it’s just a keybanger and DOS games box.

I thought letting her use the screwdriver, a task that needs a bit of work, would be cool because the day before she fell in love with a tool a friend gave me years ago as a gift.  It’s a small hammer, all metal.  The handle unscrews, and there’s a phillips screwdriver!  Then end of that unscrews and there’s another, smaller phillips screwdriver.  But wait, there’s more!  The end of that screws off completely, and out falls a very small flat screwdriver.  And, can you stand it, the end of that unscrews to reveal a final screwdriver, a tiny flat one for fixing your glasses.  Sadie thought this was THE coolest thing ever.  Smart kid.  It tends to be out and about, or in a handy drawer, and at least as far as hammering needs, get quite a bit of use.  I used it again yesterday to bang in a couple nails from which to hang a big power strip/surge protector by the new desk.  A heavy power cord with three outlets is strung across the ceiling from the power/surge strip that hangs out of reach on the side of a bookcase, ending near ceiling level by the side window.  The big strip hooks to that, as does the air conditioner.  By hanging those up, they are convenient and out of ready reach of the little ones.  Plus it’s immediately adjacent to the shelf above the desk, where I have a UPS for each of the two computers, and speakers for the one that got them.  It’s Frankenstein’s office.

Anyway, what I set out to say was how much fun it is, having a kid getting to the point of able to do stuff like work with tools, and able to understand more complex explanations.  Not to mention her appreciation of music.  I was testing out the new computer with good speakers, playing selected songs, while she sat on my lap and bopped along to them.  She was singing along, a few words behind so she could repeat the words, since she didn’t know them.  Then I foiled her by playing Jesu, but she caught on to doo-ing along to the tune without words.

Of course, they also get “fun” when they learn to do stuff like count.

They were getting pre-bedtime spice dropes from me last night.  I gave Sadie two.  She said, “no, three!” I gave her a third one.  Then Valerie counted to three when I was fishing out three for her.  Seems like just yesterday Sadie first got the concept of two, which she never stopped enthusing about, and now Valerie has already passed two.

What I didn’t know was that, earlier in the day, Sadie had looked at a plate with three crackers and two pieces of summer sausage and announced “five.” Apparently she has blossomed math-wise.

Now we just need to get Valerie past the point where she’ll try to do crazy things like put a lithium battery in her mouth…

Posted by on 09/02 at 11:04 AM

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