Scott Hanselman

A Day in the Z - Mischief and Mayhem 1

August 15, 2006 Comment on this post [12] Posted in Movies | Musings | Parenting | Z
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ZmischiefthumbWARNING: This post has nothing technical going on. Maybe a little because of the MP4 compressed video, but that's a stretch at best. If you don't have young kids, or perhaps you hate pets and/or small children, ignore this post.

My good friend Eli told me after the birth of his lovely young daughter:

Kids go through three phases, Plant, Pet, Person. My daughter (A month old at this point) is currently a Plant. We feed her, she water us, and she sits for long periods. Z is now in the Pet stage. He'll follow you anywhere and smiles when he sees you.

God help us when they become People. Because with People come Opinions.

Z is eight and a half months old and he's unstoppable. He's a biscuit away from walking and he roams the house ruling with an iron, if slightly moist, fist. This is an obnoxiously long video with no audio of my pride and joy roaming the house.

A few notes and disclaimers. The kitchen is being remodelled so that's why we have no countertops. Z is in the "decoy drawer" that I've setup for him that includes old remote controls and random safe stuff for him to 'discover.'

This video is an MP4. If you have trouble viewing it, try Quicktime, a newer Windows Media Player, or the amazing-give-it-to-your-famly VLC Player.

File Attachment: ZMischief.mp4 (5882 KB)

We'll be back in tech tommorow.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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August 15, 2006 10:55
404 Child Gone Missing
This child has found the garage door opener and is bumpin in the HanselMobile. The internet tubes are full.

But seriously, 404 on the video link. Even tried it in wfetch just to make sure it wasn't operator error.
August 15, 2006 11:01
Looks like the MIME TYPE isn't configured for video/mp4. I'm on it...
August 15, 2006 11:52
Glad you're on it. I have a 15 year old child/plant and I'm waiting to see what's in store for me 8 months from now ;)
August 15, 2006 11:53
Make that 15 day old...
August 15, 2006 12:53
That is a genious idea, a decoy drawer full of safe but intersting things for him to discover. When my next comes along I will try that technique.
August 15, 2006 17:55
My daughter is 18 mos. and we have used the "decoy pattern" on numerous things with her, esp. if we see her eyeing something we really don't want her to get into - we use some social engineering on her: "Oh, look at this remote control (which has no batteries), it is so much cooler than that other thing you are thinking of playing with."

Nice to see that you, as a hardcore geek, have a Dyson; you should really get the one with the ball, it is a joy to use (if you are into that kind of thing).

August 15, 2006 20:25
As always there are differing opinions. Z is learning that remote control == toy. Don't get upset when you cannot find your actual remote control. He's always been allowed to play with them.
August 15, 2006 21:10
John Walker: Funniest typo of the year :-))

Scott: Decoy drawer. Brilliant.

cheers,
dave
August 16, 2006 18:11
Immensely cute! My son Henry is at the same stage (he's a month or so older) but with the crucial difference that, given the opportunity to climb the stairs, he will. Enjoy it while you can (you're lucky in that those stairs have walls on both sides -- our stairs just have a banister on one side with no good place to fasten a baby gate).
August 16, 2006 20:34
More Z! More Z!

Is this the Eli I know? If so, tell him hi.
August 16, 2006 21:46
We have a decoy drawer too... it works great for our wobbler. Heard "wobbler" on Hanselminutes or maybe Scott's blog - not sure. Keep up Hanselminutes - they're great!
August 20, 2006 10:33
Our 16 month old daughter has every piece of second-user gadgetry we have in our household. She has 2 laptops, a cellphone, 2 gameboys, a casio keyboard, a digital camera. When we tried showing her a leapster she was like 'wait a minute, this thing doesn't even have a usb socket!?'.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.