Computing

Her dad customized an old laptop for her, and now Abby loves to spend some of her quiet time playing on her very own little computer.

She plays  puzzle games where she has to move the countries to their appropriate locations, word games that test how quickly she can spell, math games that she complains are far too simple, and there's even a simple word processor where she can pluck out some short stories.

The Frog Pond

by Abby Fisher

Once upon a time we went on a hike. We found a pond. There were lots of frogs in it. We caught a lot of them. They jumped up in our hands and tickled. We put them in a Starbucks cup and mommy laughed. We brought two home. We put them in our plants in the backyard. They went into the creek and found a place to live. Hopefully one day they will have more frogs and we will have lots of frogs in our creek. The end.

She's learned how to take the laptop out and put it away, how to connect the mouse, how to plug it in when it needs charging, and how to log in with her very own user name and password. The program her dad installed on it effectively prevents her from ever accessing anything that could harm the computer. And best of all, she has no access to the internet whatsoever.

And I'm learning to give her a head's up if I'm going to need her to do something while she's busy computing.

"I can't right this second Mommy," she'll reply. "I'm working right now. Like Daddy."