Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Baby Technology

What I'm Reading: Dismissed With Prejudice, by J.A. Jance

I'm now in Colorado Springs, where the ground has white stuff on it. The news said tomorrow the HIGH is supposed to be in the low teens. But, since I'm here meeting and visiting my new grandson, we're not outdoors, although I think we'll have to brave the elements soon and do some basic food shopping.

It's been a LONG time since I dealt with an infant. I went 'solo' for a while this morning while my son drove my daughter-in-law to the car dealership to have a funny noise checked out. Since my most recent experience with a 4-week-old was over 3 decades ago, I was amazed to see all the bells and whistles the industry has come up with.

I had swings for my twins—you put them in a seat and turned a crank. I think it played music. It would run almost long enough for us to eat dinner without holding a baby in one hand. Now there's a swing that requires a pilot's license to operate. It's electronic, with choices of tunes, and it took someone showing me how to get the baby out of the secret locking mechanism.

The 'baby bouncer' seat is a far cry from the vinyl-padded plastic "tray" we carried our son around in. This one has a 'vibrate' feature. Imagine a tiny baby getting the benefits of a cheap motel 'magic fingers' bed—and you don't need to feed it any quarters.

Diapers—with pictures on them, Velcro-type tabs, elastic. I used cloth (white) with safety pins to hold them on. Of course, none of this new technology changes the baby side of things. He still eats, sleeps, poops and cries. I wonder if he knows how good he has it, compared to his dad, who somehow managed to survive.

4 comments:

Lara Dien said...

He's still cute (even 4 weeks later) and you still don't look like a grandma (it isn't just the baby accessories that have changed). Enjoy the snow --

Lorena

Dara Edmondson said...

He's so sweet! It sounds like things have improved since I had my last one 14 years ago. But I think handling them is like riding a bike - just takes a minute to get your bearings, then you're off and running. Enjoy the time with him - they change so fast, he'll probably look like a whole new person next time you see him.

Macy O'Neal said...

Adorable. He's amazing. Congrats again. I hope you are having a great time getting to know him.

Terry Odell said...

Thanks, all. The resemblance to my son is amazing. He even refers to him as 'Mini-Me'.

And given the distance between us, it'll be some time before I see him again, so yes, the changes will be remarkable.

Have to admit, it's kind of cool seeing my son changing diapers and getting peed on for a change. Payback.