Jamie is 3 years old and she can’t read but can recognize a few words. Since she knows how to use the computer running on Windows, she can do basic stuff like turning on, turning off, opening several application, browsing going to Barbie.com, Disney playhouse and opening Yahoo Messenger. She knows my name on Yahoo Messenger and uses my wife account or whoever’s account is online that time.
Sometimes I am chatting with my wife, or whoever at home, and when she stands up and Jamie goes on the computer, she then sometimes chats with me. And sometimes I have no idea I am chatting with her since she types in the words:
- ok
- opo (respectful yes in Filipino)
- yes
- no
- hu u (chat lingo: who you?)
And sometimes I am already saying some stuff thinking my wife is on the other side, agreeing to what I am saying and it is just Jamie on the other end saying “ok” even if she can’t read anything yet.
Cool! I also started chatting with Kei and Vhi way back when I was still working in ESIL Philippines. Kei already knows how to chat properly but Vhi can’t read words yet. All she (Vhi) types when we chat are:
1. Her name
2. Her sister’s name
3. Her mom’s name
4. My name
5. Her Linux password
And Benj! My daughter is one step ahead of Jamie for now since Vhi knows both Windows and Linux. 😀