Littlegeek

Littletree got her netbook this week!

I’m so proud of her managing to save up so much :) She’s been so determined and focused. In the end, I was lucky enough to get a 10% off voucher for a store, so we could get a slightly better model than she’d been looking at. It wasn’t pink (seems pink ones are a bit harder to get), but silver was the second best and definitely a good deal.

It came quicker than expected too; just three days after we ordered it. Here’s Littletree collecting the package at the post office:

And once we got home and opened the box

Littletree unpacked the box so reverently, and checked all the pieces.

We sat together and read the manual while the battery was charging and then went through set-up

The first thing Littletree said was “where’s the Firefox button?” So I showed her how to open Explorer to download Firefox. Then she spent an hour personalising Firefox.

She made her email inbox her homepage, saved a bunch of pink, sparkly personas, and bookmarked all her favourite websites. Then we made her a Skype account and she took her computer to her bedroom, and called me on my computer in the living room. We had a long conversation, pretending that she was travelling in India and calling me to say hi (and I thought it would be at least another ten years before I started having that conversation!).

Then she emailed Purple, and Googled images of “fire ants”, did some Reading Eggs, and set up a network to transfer .avi files from my computer to hers so she can watch her favourite movies (the netbook doesn’t have an optical drive).

My goodness! I’ve created a geek!

I had expected that once Littletree got the computer, she’d be absorbed in it and I wouldn’t see her much for a while, but she’s still doing all the creative, fun stuff she was doing before (reading, drawing, make-believe games, dancing, playing in the garden, doing her “homework book” playing with the neighbourhood kids, riding bike). She does spend a fair bit of time on her computer, but not anywhere near as much time as I spend on mine *blush*.

And a huge thanks to the people who helped her get it :)

Littletree got her pocket money today, the first one in months that hasn’t gone straight into her savings account. She went and treated herself to an ice block at the shop, and then put the rest aside, saying she wants to start saving up for a telescope!