A Blurry Week

A blurry week~... I'm not talking about my vision; although I probably would benefit from an eye exam. I'm talking about how fast this week has gone by! This week has gone by so fast, it was like the blur you see when you look at the ground out the car window while the car is speeding down the freeway. Remember doing that as a kid and getting dizzy?

At the beginning of the week, my 15 year old daughter, Kelsie, brought home her baby boy, "Jackson" (the name she selected).

Jackson is a computerized baby that is part of Kelsie's child development class in her high school. Over the course of the semester, each student has a 3 day/2 night time frame to be a single parent to a newborn baby as part of their grade. Each baby is computerized to detect how well it is being cared for. For example, if the head is allowed to flop back, points are taken away. If the baby is not attended to in a certain amount of time when it cries, points are deducted, etc. Kelsie got to select her infant from about 8 different electronic babys. They are very life like and are programed to have all the needs of a real baby. Jackson's cry was so real sounding, it was freaky. He cried when he was hungry, needed a diaper change, needed burped, had a gassy stomach, etc. AND, wouldn't you know, Kelsie's little Jackson, was the baby that was programmed to be colicky; he would have bouts of crying fits that Kelsie had to invest a lot of time to comfort. Each baby has an electronic bracelet that matches the electronic bracelet of the student/parent that is responsible for it. Kelsie was the sole provider for Jackson (no help from myself or her dad). Of course, Kelsie let Jessie and Joe hold the baby and they were in heaven pretending to be "Aunt Jessie" and "Uncle Joe".

The younger kids are thinking this

"real life" baby is pretty cool!

I was so proud of Kelsie as she cared for Jackson, even getting up several times through each night to feed, burp, and change him... LIKE REAL LIFE. This was a neat experience for my teenager. It showed her that being a parent is a HUGE responsibility, but it also showed her that when she's older and married, she looks forward to being a mom to her own baby (flesh and blood).

Kelsie has not received her grade yet from the teacher, but I'm confident, with out a doubt, that she got an A!