Nate's iPod

Nate has an ipod touch. Last fall my mom asked me what I thought of her and my dad getting Nate an ipod for Christmas. At first I thought it was a very expensive, breakable gift for a 5 year old, but Nate loves music so much, and he's constantly asking to borrow our phones to play a game, and I thought it might be good for increasing his fine motor skills. So they bought him one, and this was probably Nate's favorite Christmas gift. Not so much at first because he didn't know what it was, but this is probably the only Christmas gift he's played with every single day ... except when he loses it for weeks at a time.

The ipod has helped Nate move on from his 4 year obsession with trains. Now, he's really into music. He has about 40 songs--some from my and Blake's itunes, and some we have purchased just for him. He also searches itunes for his favorite songs and listens to snippets of them. This has been a little bit tricky because he loves country music, and there are lots of country songs that are not appropriate for 5 year olds. He's learned a few words that he should not say.

But he has learned so much about music and artists, and I think he could be a radio DJ tomorrow! As soon as he hears a song come on the radio, he states the song and artist. One night he and Georgia were playing Ring Around the Rosies in my room, and Nate starts singing "5-1-5-0, somebody call the po-po!" What! Nate, where did you hear that?" "It's a new country son, mama." I texted Nicole and asked if she had ever heard this before, and she was just a shocked as me. Thankfully the next day we heard the song on the radio. He was right! And it's a pretty catchy song!

Nate likes taking his iPod everywhere he goes. So far it's been banned from PT because he doesn't pay attention to anything but his music. His PT was initially pretty charmed when he brought his music and said, "Are you ready to ROCK OUT?" People see Nate walking around with his face in his iPod and say he looks like a little teenager.

Besides listening to music, Nate uses his iPod to practice spelling things. This is not something we anticipated or even encouraged. He just likes to do it. So one thing he's done is set up "Playlists" in his music. Every time he hears a song or sees a music video, he either reads the name of the artist or asks us who is singing it (if he doesn't already know) and then he types their name into a playlist. He's made 64 of these, from Big and Rich to John Mayer to Lady Gaga to Newsboys to The Beatles to Fifty Cent. (There are no songs in these playlists, just the names.) I really just discovered this tonight. I didn't know that's why he was asking us how to spell all these names. I don't even know how to set up a playlist!

Nate also has an email address--natepayne5 at gmail . com, and sometimes Pop emails him and he writes back. But we often forget his password and can't check it.

The other thing I learned about Nate's iPod today is that he writes in the "notes" section throughout the day. Kind of like his journal. Today we went mattress shopping and then drove to Berea to visit Mindy and her babies. Here are Nate's notes--each one is one sentence. They start on the ride to Berea.

We went shopping the other day!
Don't say no there!
Half way there!
Be nice there!
We're here all ready here!
We're playing now!
We're having fun!
We went to 2 places!
It's wild here!
Musics on!
I like this music video!
We're still here!
Only say yes here!
I like it here
Be quiet here cause the baby are asleep here!
It's fun here!
I like them!
I like to come here!
I like everything here!
There talkin a lot here!
There talkin here so don't say to be quiet here!
There still talkin here!
We're almost going!
We're going now
The radios on with country music!
That was in our state!
I like all country music videos
That was a long trip!
I had a good day!
We're almost here!
Were in our nieborhoode!
Were here!

What a fun little glimpse into the mind of a 5 year old. :)