First impressions of the iPad in Australia

B had to travel to the US for work a few weeks ago, and brought back an iPad.

Yes, an iPad. To go with our family iMac desktop, our work MacBook Pros, our iPhones and our iPod Touch. We are officially an Apple Geek Family.

My first impression of the iPad was that it is a giant iPhone. A big shiny screen with the single home button, and a few buttons and holes tidily hidden around the edges. I haven't fiddled around with it a lot so I can't comment on its technical specifications or setup. This post is about what I've seen of the iPad in action in our family's hands.

The operation is just like the iPhone- slide the menu to find the apps, touch to open. But, as lots of people have asked me, what does it do? Or, more specifically, what does it do that the rest of our Apple stable doesn't?

I have to say, not a lot- but what it does, it does really nicely. In true Apple style, the whole setup has that "wow" quality factor. The screen is crisp and sharp, and videos from iTunes look great. It's a bit too big for the resolution of a lot of You Tube clips, on the other hand.

The thing about the iPad is that it fills a gap I didn't know I had. For me, it replaces the iPhone and MacBook for on-the-couch surfing. Websites are heaps easier to read and use than on the iPhone screen (especially when entering text is required), but it isn't as clunky as having a laptop perched on your lap, despite having a screen nearly as big as a standard laptop. It is genuinely like a computer-in-a-book. Which brings me to my other favourite feature, iBooks. And Kindle. And Stanza. I am an eBook convert- they are really easy to read in any of these programs on the iPad (admittedly we are running the iPhone version of Stanza so it doesn't expand as well as the other two.)

Big Bro has been the biggest user of the iPad. As B posted on Facebook, "the iPad is a $600 toy for a 3 year old." Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, the controls are so intuitive that Big Bro has no trouble navigating. In fact, Little Bro, at the tender age of 18 months, can already scroll between photos (shhh, don't tell the American Academy of Pediatrics!) Big Bro uses the iPad for videos (dropping his tv use to almost zero)- we have held on to our US iTunes
account so we can access shows like Caillou, Super Why and Dinosaur Train which haven't made it to Australian iTunes. (And it's no coincidence that "pbskids-dot-org" is the first web address Big Bro knows...)

Big Bro also enjoys children's ipad software like Jack and the Beanstalk (which looks great on the big screen), The Cat in the Hat, and Drawing Pad, as well as his old iPod Touch favourites like Super Why, Toddler Teasers and Dora's Rainbow Ride.

I wasn't convinced that our family needed an iPad before we got one, but now we have it, I'm hooked. It will be released in Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland on May 28th, ready to fill a gap you didn't know you had.

This shirt says it all

I bought this t-shirt for Big Bro a few months ago, from the super-cool kids shop, Moppit (also on sale here). It was a bit big, so he's only now grown into it, and it is very appropriate! "Why? Why? Why?" (and the other interrogatives) can keep us going for hours!

Today's conversation in the car was a doozy: it began with "what happens if you don't eat?" and moved on to "but what if there's no shop to buy food from?" at which point I though it would be a good introduction to poverty and hunger and the rest. We worked through people having no money to buy toys because they needed to buy food, and people not being able to buy food at all. All flowing smoothly, until the next question: "So how do you lift up a couch?" Should he be a journalist one day, he would have an... interesting... interview style.

Big Bro is getting into hypotheticals too- the other day we were discussing how, if there was a fire inside, we would go outside. Next question: "but what if there's a fire inside, and lightning outside? Where would you go then?"* Geoffrey Robertson, eat your heart out!

*On an aside, we've been devouring Flash, Crash, Rumble and Roll, full of information about electricity and the relative safety of different places from lightning zaps.

Tangy Anglo-Asian Lamb Salad

When planning my mothers' day cookup, a friend recommended Nigella's Anglo Asian Lamb Salad (I seem to be on a Nigella roll at the moment!). Although I went with slow cooked lamb for the menu, this recipe sounded great and I was keen to give it a go. It was really good! As you'll see, I substituted a few local flavours.

lamb fillet (I had about 200g/person)

garlic oil

Dressing

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon quince jelly (in place of Nigella's red currant jelly)

1 tea spoon soy sauce

chilli or chilli sauce to taste (I used peri peri)

1 spring onion, sliced

Salad

salad leaves (I used our abundant rocket with some sliced radishes)

pomegranate seeds (completely optional! I happened to have them and they went well.)

3 tablespoons mint leaves, chopped

Fry the lamb in the oil over medium heat until cooked to your liking (a little bit on the rare side is better)- Nigella says 5 minutes on one side, then 2 1/2 minutes the other side. Leave the lamb to rest, and whisk together the dressing ingredients. Slice the lamb into thin slices, and marinate them in the dressing. Arrange the salad leaves on the plates, put the lamb on top. Garnish with the rest of the dressing, the pomegranate and the mint.

The Wiggly Circus hits St Kilda!

Back in my unemcumbered child-free days, I (unfortunately, in retrospect) didn't go to a lot of concerts- Jewell in the Yarra Valley and U2 in Denver (unforgettable!) are the only two that I can remember off the top of my head. For the past year I've been keen to take Big Bro to something, though fate had thwarted me: two Play School concerts sold out before I heard about them, and after missing two pre-sales I managed to secure Wiggles tickets for last December, which ended up being when we were in Sweden. So when I heard about the latest Wiggles concert, I was keen to try again. Yet again I had no success at the pre-sale (hint: it's hard to work out that to get access to the My Ticketmaster Wiggles presale you need to nominate "children's events" as an interest). Finally, in between two meetings at work I was able to log on and get some tickets. So come hell or high water, I was going to use them! And it was with a sigh of relief that I applauded the opening number, pleased that I had FINALLY made it to a pre-school concert!!

The concert theme was (obviously) the circus, with a bit of ballet thrown in, and plenty of the favourites: Fruit Salad, Hot Potato, and Twinkle Twinkle with stars provided by a disco ball and mobile phones in the audience, which Big Bro said was one of his favourite things (of course he held the phone!) His very favourite thing was apparently when they unstacked two crash mats... I would never have guessed! And his main observations during the concert was the lighting: look, purple lights! Look, the ceiling is blue! That being said, the thrill on his face when the each Wiggle walked on the stage was great to see.

Little Bro (18 months) also enjoyed the concert much more than I expected. He responded to a lot of the theatrical waving, and especially liked the non-human Wiggles (Dorothy, Wags and Henry). He even bopped around a few times, unlike Big Bro who is resolutely NOT a dancer. The eighty minute show went really well, and we even made it through the foyer without shelling out for any of the abundant merchandise!

The concert was at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda, right next to Luna Park and around the corner from Ackland Street. The last time I had been on Ackland Street was the day Big Bro was due (but didn't come) so I- and the boys- enjoyed the indulgence of a pre-show cake at Monarch and a Grill'd burger after. Add in two seamless tram trips and clear, sunny weather and it was a wonderful- and thrilling- morning out.

On the way home Big Bro asked, "can we see the Wiggles again?" Definitely!

Malapropism

Whoever thinks that you can switch off your brain while parenting needs to spend a day at my house. Mental agility, swiftness of thought and an ear for the cryptic are definite prerequisites for the job.

Big Bro was eating an orange tonight. "Where are the bicycle men?"

After a quick check out the window, I asked what he meant.

"You know, the things in fruit that make you healthy."

I quickly replayed conversations we'd had over the past few weeks.

"Ah, you mean the vitamins."

Gardening with the tiny tots

I decided I really needed to plant this year's broad beans. Surely I could do it with Little Bro in tow?

We managed to dig the bed, once Little Bro had found a shovel to his liking.

I managed to make a furrow while he was busy picking flowers for me to put in my hair.

I opened the seed packet. Big Bro wanted to put some in the furrow. No problemo. Little Bro wanted to put some in the furrow. He drops his first seed. That's ok. He places his second seed carefully in the hole. Well done!

Now it's time to cover the seeds. Yes, Little Bro, that means we say bye bye to your seed. Yes, you can't see your seed any more. You know, it really isn't that sad that YOUR seed has been buried and is, technically, no longer YOURS.

It really isn't that sad, unless you are 18 months old. Then it is a tragedy.

Like a girl...

Big Bro evidently has some confusion about the difference between boys and girls. Recently we've had lots of comments along the lines of:
- I'm going to write my name like a girl.
- I'll start school when I'm a girl.
- how old will I be when I'm a girl?

As far as I can make out, it seems that he equates "girl" with "older". No idea why! Oh, for a little window into his mind...