Pushing My Buttons
Can you take this call for me? I'm learning how to walk right this moment.
It so happens that SFBaby already has her very own LeapFrog Baby Tad cell phone. (SFMom originally spotted this toy at Targét a few months ago, but SFDad forbade her to buy it on moral grounds. However, a friend gave us the phone as a Christmas gift a month or two later, so SFDad eventually caved in.)
SFBaby’s own phone is kind of cute (it has buttons with blinky lights and it’s kinda-sorta bilingual), but it apparently does not compare to the allure of daddy’s cell phone. Once we gave the phone to her, it was impossible to pry it from her hands.
“No problem. I’ll just let her play with it for a while,” I thought. I mean, what was the worst thing that could happen?
A few minutes later, after being dropped on the wooden floor a few times, SFBaby figured out how to open the flip. She was definitely seduced into a trance by the glowing LCD screen and the colorful backlight keypad.
This was no biggie, or so I convinced myself. I’d just turn off the phone and give it back to her so she wouldn’t get into any trouble, right?
This worked for about two minutes. Lo and behold, when we looked down a little bit later, we noticed that she had figured out how to hold down the power button and turn it on. (SFBaby: 1. SFDad: 0.)
While she was getting good at raising the bar, we still weren’t about to be outwitted by an 11-month-old. SFMom suggested that we simply lock the phone. I mean, the baby couldn’t possibly press “Select” and “*”, right?
We gave the phone back to the baby, and we then proceeded to have a discussion about how one of SFMom’s friends had accidentally called her 27 times in a row (presumably when the friend’s phone was in her purse and getting jostled around).
The next thing we knew, we looked down and saw that SFBaby had unlocked the phone and there was a “calling” legend on the screen. Oops.(SFBaby: 2. SFDad: 0.)
SFDad quickly intervened and found that SFBaby had somehow phoned the first two people in his address book. (If Aardvark and Adonis are reading this, please excuse the drunk dial! We also wonder if you heard our somewhat-topical conversation about our other friend accidentally dialing SFMom.)
Since it was clear that SFBaby was still intent on raising her game, SFDad pulled out all of the stops. Or, more accurately, he pulled out the battery and gave the phone back. (SFBaby: 2. SFDad: 1.)
This seemed to last. The only problem was that it was now her bedtime and SFDad needed his phone back. Trying to remove the phone caused a horrible wail and a big fuss. (We tried to give her own baby phone back to her in exchange, but she pushed it away.)
Luckily, the fuss was short-lived and she then went off quietly to bed.
All I can say is that at least SFBaby does not have her own Baby BlackBerry.
Tags: baby, cell phone, sfbaby versus sfdad, tarjay
oho! THE CELLPHONE. Katie now has more “phones” than we do (we are now instituting a policy of free phone giveaways, even without a 3-year contract), but her true passion is for remote controls. The same day that she sucked the life out of our living room remote (literally), she figured out how to turn on the bedroom stereo to listen to her favorite Connie Kaldor tracks.
One baby book that I foolishly read stated that you should NEVER EVER give a baby the cellphone or the remote control to play with. The argument is that these are adult toys, and you do not want your child messing with these devices in other people’s homes. I wonder if there is a parent out there who has been able to keep them away from their children.
SFBaby, please call Grandma and Pa. We would love to hear you sing and growl. Oh yeah! Really wait until mom and dad can pay for it.