It’s Christmas time, and this year for a few days we have the whole gang in – two sons, our DIL, and grandbaby. Hubby still works until midnight tonight, but tomorrow’s he’s actually off. Yay!

Yesterday, uncle and niece got into an argument. She can say “iPhone” (or “ah fone”) and wants to use them. Baby saw uncle’s phone and said, “iPhone.” Uncle answered, “Droid.” Baby pointed and insisted, “iPhone.” Uncle corrected, “Droid.” I wasn’t there, but apparently this “argument” persisted for some time.

Even though her parents won’t let their 16-month daughter touch their iPhones, Grandma is naturally an old softy. When she’s on my lap I let her use mine, both for music and for photos-videos. Although one time while I changed her diapers, I let her hold it. Suddenly I heard that she’d called someone on my contact list. Don’t know who, and very sorry about that as I hung up super-fast. Yes, it’s best if she’s on my lap and I supervise her every little action with that “toy.”

She can take her teensy finger slide it along the volume bar at the bottom of the screen to make it loud and soft. With photos – she loves looking at herself – she slides forward or back to the next shot. She even takes her tiny digit and presses the white triangle one time to get a video to play — over and over and over again.  And when she tires of it, she’ll slide her finger to the next shot. Clever girl.

This morning at the breakfast table, I had music playing on my iPhone, out of her reach, but in front of her high chair. If the screen started to darken (hibernate) she’d let us know immediately with an “ah-ah.” One time, she pointed to the phone and in the air, slid her finger sideways. I then slid the cover shot, which silenced her for a moment, but when she slid her finger again, I realized she wanted a different song.

Son-Brother-Uncle walked into the room and started conversing at one point while everyone else was using their iPhones. “I’ve got a Cyber-Family,” he said, and started to walk out. We put them down. Yikes.

And, YES, just for your information, Grandbaby also plays with colorful toddler toys. She especially likes ones which make music and always make her smile as she dances by wiggling her little butt and sometimes claps.

May each of you have music and dance, fun photos and communication, during this season.