FaceTime with the Firepants Family

I have a question. Who do you think is better at video conferencing – my nine year old daughter, or my 21 month old bulldog?

If you answered the bulldog, then you are obviously well-acquainted with Wonderbutt,and rightly suspicious that anyone with my genes could be good at anything.

Dimples, the nine-year-old daughter, only has half of my genes. I think that we’ve all wondered at one time or another where the other half came from. Apparently, someone who immediately turns into a complete goofball whenever he is on camera. I’m not sure how this could have happened, but I think she might be related to Will Ferrell.

I am in Boston for a week right now, attending an educational conference at Harvard – which sounds somewhat erudite. But, rest assured, conversing with my family in San Antonio has kept me very grounded.

We arranged for some “Face Time” using the iPads on Monday night. As soon as I called in, we tried to get our bulldog, Wonderbutt, to join in. Cap’n Firepants held the iPad down near Wonderbutt, and I said, “Hi, Bud.”

He tried to go around to the back of the iPad. Then I asked him for a kiss,and he licked the screen up and down before Cap’n Firepants could get it out of his reach. Wonderbutt was very attentive, and completely engaged in the conversation.

Then it was my daughter’s turn.

The last time I attempted to Skype with my daughter, Dimples, she was about 5, and new to the whole concept. She spent the entire time ignoring me and making faces at herself in the monitor, delighted with seeing herself on the screen, and completely uninterested in speaking to the mother who had been absent from her life for three days.

Since then, Dimples has had a bit more practice with video communication with other family members.

We had arranged this particular Face Time call so I could read to her from my Boston hotel room. We have been reading a book together that is quite suspenseful, and didn’t want to wait until I got back to continue the story.

I spent the entire chapter reading out loud while Dimples did everything she could to make me lose my concentration – contorting her face, pulling her hair into goofy looking do’s, and covering up the iPad with her blanket.
Wonderbutt:

Dimples:

Yep, 30 minutes. I tried to be more stubborn than her, and completely ignore her silly shenanigans.

But, I usually read two chapters. So, you can judge who was the most stubborn.

We are supposed to go another round tonight.

I’m going to ask if she can just hand the iPad over to Wonderbutt.

If anyone knows Will Ferrell, can you tell him he has a daughter in San Antonio who likes to do synchronized swimming? I have a feeling there is movie potential here…