"I Love Technology"

I'm sure Caleb would agree with Kip.  How did we get through life before all of the gadgets and whatzits, we always ponder.  Cell phones, digital cameras, and home printers that act as scanners, copiers, and faxes--these are only some of the most basic technological advances over the past few decades.  Then there are gadgets that are way beyond me (including the high-tech I-phones, ha ha).  One of my favorite "toys" is the Flip video camera, which is dummy-proof for gals like me and easily pops into the USB plug on our computer.  Uploading to computer and internet?  Easy.  I can't even imagine all the headache our parents' generation went through to document our infancies and childhoods.  My father falls into the whatever percentage of the 1970s new parent population who slaved hours upon hours splcing, editing those 6-inch reel silent films (I have no idea what the actual name is--I'm sure Dad will send me an e-mail when he reads this so he can correct my naivete towards dinosaur electronics).  He was even obsessed enough (might I be related to him?) to take numerous still pictures of magnetic ABC letter movie titles ("Sarah, age 7 months" and so forth), some with the letters magically "moving" across the screen.  These, of course, then needed to be spliced in order to appear at the apprpriate times in the films.

(Due to technology--ha ha--, I cannot upload one of the videos my dad took.  Instead, please accept the scanned photo on the left--color, don't worry--taken in the same era as the 1970s videos.  Yes, this is Sarah Katherine McCoy, age 10 weeks, on the same couch that graces our living room today:)

Over three decades later, things have changed, thank goodness.  I simply press the red button on the Flip, record my subject (okay, I admit the "subject" for the majority of the times is Caleb, but sometimes Summit or another person get a few seconds of attention), and then press another button to instantly replay (with picture AND sound) what happened just moments ago.  Take a look at some footage of Caleb trying to jump in his new jumper-bumper, captured about an hour ago:

After filming, Caleb was able to participate in an activity that I, as an infant or even child, was never able to do: instantly watch myself on film while sitting in the exact same place.  We didn't need to move to the living room to view the VCR.  We didn't even need to turn on the computer to upload the data.  Caleb has grown to love being filmed; in fact, he often becomes distracted the moment he hears the "blooop" the Flip's on and record buttons make.  I wonder if part of that enjoyment comes with knowing what almost always takes place afterwards.  He's obsessed (might he be related to me?) with watching the "replay" mode.  I'd like to speculate that it's himself he enjoys, but I might be giving the 7.5 month old too much credit--does he even recognize himself in the mirror yet alone on the screen?  Maybe it's just the movement and flashiness on the 1" x 1.25" screen that catches his eye, but regardless--he knows he gets to see something when we turn the camera towards him.  View the evidence, gathered moments after the previous video's shooting, that this makes him excited:

I became intrigued enough to blog about Caleb's "love" for technology because it dawned on me that this is his reality.  Someone films you, and you can see it simultaneously during or immediately following the action.  Isn't that crazy to think about?  What would we have thought as children to do something and then to see ourselves doing it, with no real time lapse?  For today's children, it's not a privilidge, as I see it (knowing what it used to be like "back then"), but rather an expectation or even a no-brainer.  It will be fascinating to grow with Caleb and learn of his perception of the world and its "advances"--or rather its "realities".

One last thought, that is a photo rather than words.  Fill in your own blanks as you view my uploaded digital shot of an unnamed 7-week old, taken in a mystery year, on an unclaimed couch: