Computers and Kids, or should I say Human Sponges?

I have a friend who made a comment on her Facebook about her daughter, who is Vinny's age, using the mom's laptop to watch videos on youtube and whatnot. Apparently, a lot of my friends let their children on their computers. Personally... I do not really let him be on my computer. I allow Vinny to sit with me and I show him pictures and play him music and stuff like that, but really, I do not think that at 4 years old he needs to be on my computer. Computers are very expensive, and my files are very important, and even if I am watching him, with just a few clicks, he has the potential to delete months worth of lesson plans or whatnot. While I do have most of this backed up, I just prefer not to deal with it. One time when he was sitting on my lap while I was on the computer he somehow managed to turn my screen completely sideways with just a few clicks. It took me almost an hour to fix it. Yeah, I don't have time to deal with that kind of stuff. I do occasionally let him get on the old desktop to look at pictures, but really, that is such a piece of junk, if it refused to turn on tomorrow I would not be surprised or sad.

However, Vinny sure does suck in a lot from just watching us. It has to be that, I guess. Today, I took him shopping to pick out toys with his birthday money, and of course he finds this toy laptop. He must be my son, because it was on clearance for $20. At Christmas. I was considering getting him this toy and it was $40 at the cheapest place then, so this was actually a pretty cool deal. He totally loves it. He has been on it for HOURS. It has a mini l.e.d screen, but a full keyboard and a little mini mouse (like the regular kind- not the laptop kind) and everything. It has a bunch of different learning modes and games, which he somehow has completely figured out how to maneuver already. It is sort of a trip watching him. He actually uses the mouse correctly. My laptop doesn't have a real mouse, it has the touch pad thingy, so I don't know how he figured that one out so quickly.All I can think is that kids are quick learners and has learned from watching Daddy on his laptop?  I don't know...

Kids sure are sponges though, that is for sure. I somehow just assumed that Vinny pays very little attention to my various online activities, but that must not be true. He somehow knows that people (including me) sell stuff online (I guess from watching me sell stuff on eBay?), because at one point today, he was playing a letter game and he kept pressing the "X" button to bring up this "X-ray" picture of a skeleton, and he tells me, "Mommy, I am selling skeletons." I ask him, "What do you mean- you are 'selling skeletons'?" He replies, "I am selling skeletons online and making lots of money." Oh boy....

Do you think he knows about my blog?