Keeping up with Babies and their Techie learning

Have you noticed that the days seem to be so much shorter these days? Or is it just that my little terrors are just growing up so fast?

Barely a month past my last post, and my kids have learned so much in that time - my baby girl can now sing along to almost all the songs in her baby CD and use my iphone with great dexterity, while my little boy has become so keen on different cars and their makes.

Today, every ride in the car is a learning/teaching trip, with the two babies trying to outdo one another in raising my hair and stress level to the very top! I am not sure if the concept of "behaving" is too difficult to grasp for the babies of this generation - or my little ones are just exceptionally intelligent and naughty.

Sometimes I fear that I am missing on moments - and that's from someone who never gets out of the house without one form of camera to snap pictures with. The growth spurt is just so fast, and I pray, and wish that I have captured as much representation as I can on digital data.

Today, both my babies can use touchscreen phones and navigate YouTube seamlessly, the only thing limiting them is their inability to write and spell words. Baby girl would come up to me and say, "Mommy hello kitty please" or "Barbie" - simple instructions to search for those baby friendly videos she loves to watch. When before she was satisfied with Dora's adventures, now she wants to learn and see baby cooking videos and styling tips. And my son? He used to sleep the day away, but now he's in a constant tug of war with ate to see who will get the chance to use mom's iphone (of course, so far he's always losing out).

Funny but when previous generations had wooden toys and baby bears to entertain the kids, the generation now is just into visual and advanced stuff. I better learn more and ASAP about this internet parental control - or there just may be more things to raise my hair on end by next post.

"dias"

Just a while ago, my daughter learned her first Spanish word. After numerous instances of watching Dora and her Explorer adventures, she has finally learned how to say "morning" in Spanish. My daughter and son both love watching Dora, as well as listening to the many songs that is included with the show.

I think one of the best investments my husband and I has ever made was to buy a Dora video. Based on my observations, the music, the colors and the cute characters are slowly helping them build their perception of the world, as well as their vocabulary. Of course, we are very careful in exposing them to too much video. I have read up a lot of material that says that videos and related media are not truly beneficial to shaping a child's growth and learning. Though I am not such an expert, what I do is listen to my inner voice.

I am a firm believer of shaping someone based on the characteristics and traits that person show, and it is no different with my children. As early as now, both of them display streaks of individualism and show traits that are completely different from one another. They often clash, because they are still so young and so near in age, but in good moments, you can already see the close bonding and love these two babies have for one another.

I try to be careful and give them proper care and space to grow their individual strengths. My husband and I mix discipline and gentle care to remind them when they are doing something wrong or hurting one another. And not leaving everything to Dora, we explain bits and pieces of the story to them.

When the song says "share, share, share", I explain to them that this means that they should share their toys with one another and not be mad when one happens to borrow the other's favorite toy. Of course, the reality is far from perfect. More often I would her my daughter say no than give her toy to Nan, but they are getting there.

I am excited to see what next Spanish word K will say. After all it is not everyday that I hear her speak words in three languages - umaga, morning and dias.