Sunday morning.
Up at 6am (I know, I have it easy), cooked breakfast for the family, turned on the stereo and  tidied the house while boogying around to entertain Mathilde and get her off my case. Took her outside to play an exciting game of Push Your Bike Like A Shopping Trolley Around The Pool A Million Times - and came back in, searching her little eyes for any signs of a nice long nap time approaching. Alas not looking tired in the least, I sat her on the couch and let her enjoy her obsession of the moment, a well worn DVD of BBC’s In The Night Garden. I sat down besides her and starred blankly at the screen, not quite fully grasping the action. Fifteen minutes later I emerged from my reverie in a trans-like state only to find my 18 month old chatting away to some imaginary correspondent on my blackberry! It was the way she was talking though, I observed her for a good 5 minutes walking around “multitasking” and chatting very seriously about something I’d have given anything to understand. She was mimicking my expressions, questioning, waiting quietly for the dialogue to bounce back her way, giggling, and sounding surprised (did I detect a little hypocrisy in the giggle??)… ah where is that video camera when you need it?!
I’d bought her a plastic dial phone on wheels a few months ago, complete with ladybird stickers and a big old fashioned handset – she hadn’t the faintest idea what to do with it – I gave her an old Nokia that had been soaked once too often, and she gave me a disapproving look as she chucked it into the nearby waste basket; well what was she to do with a phone that doesn’t even light up when she presses the buttons? Give her a blackberry, even a toy one from the local Chinese shop and she’s a happy bunny! She’s even mastered the typing with 2 thumbs technique which I’m far from having acquired…
Just goes to show. Give them 18 months and they’ve outwitted your 30 years of hard earned experience. I rest my case and am going to bed for my morning nap. She can run the household.