Daddy Types: September 2004 Archives

September 2004 Archives

September 30, 2004

Tyvek, The Paper-like Miracle Toy

Tyvek, the stuff of Fedex envelopes and This Old House product placements, seems to be a happily indestructible alternative to paper, which the kid loves to chew on (and turn to mash, and incite a panic when we realize 15%...
[read the full post...]

September 29, 2004

If You Think You're Funny, Check Your Watch

If the kid laughs almost uncontrollably at your slightest sound or facial gesture, don't try and figure out why you're so damn funny. You're not (any funnier than you were yesterday). If it's within an hour of the kid's regular...
[read the full post...]

Daddy, I Can't Get The Toilet Off My Head

That was the gist of the conversation between 18 month-old Katie Chang and her dad, who came home from work when the sitter couldn't get Katie's training toilet off her head. Daddy wisely called 911, and firefighters used wirecutters to...
[read the full post...]

Now You Can Breastfeed, Too

Umm, let me rephrase that. Now you can simulate breastfeeding while giving your baby a bottle. Early on in dadhood, I wanted to post about a breast-like harness for dads I was sure I'd seen before somewhere. It was supposed...
[read the full post...]

The Utah Baby Namer

Oh my heck, I am so sorry I didn't post this sooner. This was the site I would introduce people to "the WorldWide Web, the graphical portion of the Internet" with way back in the day. A lot has changed...
[read the full post...]

September 28, 2004

Infidel and/or Atheist Baby Names

Who knew that in this era of worldwide religiously inspired harmony and human fellowship, where we all just help each other freely as we wait patiently for The Rapture or Nirvana or The Messiah or whatever, that some people actually...
[read the full post...]

The Kid's Five Favorite Yoga Postures,

in the order she learned them: 1) Matsyasana, the Fish 2) Setu Bandhasana, the Bridge 3) Joyful Baby Pose 4) Navasana, the Boat 5) Ardha Merudandasana, the Half Bear* * Note: foot is usually brought to her mouth, a posture...
[read the full post...]

Regression Analysis

The 2/3 Express train annoys most New Yorkers who have to endure it's way-too-loud passing on the subway platform. Yet our kid spent the first seven months of her life either sleeping through it, being startled then uninterested, or just...
[read the full post...]

Dr. Phil is Crazy. Run Far Away.

And take your kid with you. On Slate, Ann Hulbert exposes the ridiculous, contradictory, and divisive "advice" Dr. Phil deals out in his book and on his TV show. Meanwhile, Hulbert turns out to be the author of the interesting-sounding...
[read the full post...]

September 27, 2004

Technically, You are invited to STROLLERCIZE�

Doing deep lunges while pushing the kid around in a stroller may be the best post-pregnancy workout ever, who knows? Get out of the house, bond with the kid, &c, &c. And officially, "partners and husbands" are welcome and can...
[read the full post...]

Central Park Stroller Census

At 4PM, there were 45 strollers in Sheep Meadow in Central Park: 11 Maclarens (including 4 doubles) 18 other models (inluding some doubles) 16 Bugaboo Frogs Strollers accompanied by dads: 3 Strollers accompanied by sitters, nannies, or grandparents: est. 20...
[read the full post...]

So You Want Your Kid To Be A Model

Here at Daddy Types, I've been collecting tips for my little model-in-training (lots of vomiting; cutting lines on the coffee table with baby formula; smiling at the I-bankers-in-training private school boys on the train who are 16 years older than...
[read the full post...]

I Get It. Dan Zanes Does Cool Kids' Music

Or so I was led to believe by just about every commenter on every music -related post I've done. Dan Zanes is a rock & roll musician who's out and proud about his folk music interests. He was in the...
[read the full post...]

What If Daddy Wants a New President, Too?

Two new options from Lowercase Tee for putting political slogans on your kids: The cute but slightly presumptuous imposition of your opinion on your child's ("I wouldn't vote for Bush if I were you") or the wildly one-sided ("Mommy wants...
[read the full post...]

September 26, 2004

Mom's a Bitch: Siberian Boy Raised by Dog

This sounds like fake news. A 7-year old kid in Siberia was abandoned at three months by his mother, then later by his "drunken invalid" father. He was raised by the family's old dog, until the bitch [sic] got in...
[read the full post...]

Brain, Child looks at Dad, Child

I found out about Brain, Child magazine in a comment on Rebel Dad. It looks very thoughtful and well-done, and hats off to anyone who actually launches a magazine successfully these days. The latest issue has a long article on...
[read the full post...]

September 25, 2004

The Home Depot, 40 West 23rd St (betw 5&6) - YES

Downstairs, follow the easy signs. Elevators are on the right (west) wall....
[read the full post...]

NYC Kid-Friendly Restaurants, Vol. 1

Partly because I'm slack, partly because we were traveling, and partly because I was a bit skeptical at first, I didn't start up a list of kid-friendly restaurants. Well, now I have. Though a lot of Daddy Types readers are...
[read the full post...]

September 24, 2004

Thermal Long-sleeve Bodysuit at Baby Gap

We saw this cool thermal bodysuit in the babygap store on Fifth Ave. this afternoon, but they didn't have the right size. Not being a regular Gap shopper or Banana Republican, I was impressed by their point-of-sale technology that could...
[read the full post...]

New Dad in Conn. Berserks on Mother & Son

When I started writing this post, the guy was the prime suspect. Now he's arrested and confessed to killing both his girlfriend and their 4-month old son. In his stroller. The couple met in the Danbury Fair Mall last year,...
[read the full post...]

Bebe Confort Twin Club Looks Great

I stopped a couple pushing one of these on the street last night. (It's a weblog-induced habit that no doubt embarasses some people in my family.) Almost before I could ask what it was, the mother said, "It's not from...
[read the full post...]

September 23, 2004

The Caring Cot: Pampers Wants To Replace You With A Robot

I remember feeling both ingenious and ironic when I installed The Clapper for a string of lights we were using as a lamp in our NYC apartment. Sure enough, it went on and off when I clapped. Unfortunately, it also...
[read the full post...]

Sydney's Playground, aka Tribeca House for Kids

Did you go to Brown? Were you at the City Museum party last night? Is your kid very advanced for his age? If so, be sure to mention it when you go to Sydney's Playground, the 6,000-sf playground-in-a-loft in Tribeca,...
[read the full post...]

Lemony Snicket's perspective on parenting

Does he think that his work will become gentler now that he has a child? "It's almost the opposite, particularly when your child is an infant," he said. "My son has just started to crawl. I'm always assessing the threat...
[read the full post...]

September 22, 2004

Holy crap, What's wrong with this picture??

Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan:"Seaman Robert Howard sat on his tiny baby to shut him up, playing Pok�mon on his Game Boy as the infant suffocated and died beneath him, Howard testified on Monday... "...28-day old son Logan... "'Please tell me...
[read the full post...]

Glow-in-the-Dark Nursery Rugs

Most of LumiLuxe's glow-in-the-dark bath rugs have matching toilet surrounds and lid covers, which are also made out of glow-in-the-dark carpet. There are abstract and floral patterns, a basketball court design for the kids, and the fish/aerial bombs pictured above....
[read the full post...]

SoHo House for Kids (BYOE)

I'm putting this in 'news' because DaddyTypes doesn't have a category for 10-20,000 square foot members-only spa/gym/club/playlands in SoHo for babies and their parents mothers. Citibabes in in the works for a 10,000-sf loft in SoHo; there'll be a gym,...
[read the full post...]

Oh, I Get It; A Wedding Cake Made Out Of Diapers

Actually, I don't get it. Actually, now that I think about it, this is one of the most warped things I can think of. Is this seriously what baby showers are all about? A 3-tier Bloomers Diaper Cake is...
[read the full post...]

September 21, 2004

"Does this outfit make me look pregnant?"

If you've gotten this far, I hope you know how to answer this kind of question: be affirmative and supportive without damaging your credibility, all while helping to steer clear of the overalls. According to a frightening article in New...
[read the full post...]

Wry Baby, The Right Amount of Funny

In New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, when we took the kid to her first dive bar (We were told it was a restaurant and... long story. But it was lunchtime...), the bartender's t-shirt told me he probably knew...
[read the full post...]

Camo Everything, Let God Sort'em Out

We have few hard and fast rules around the house, but No Headbands makes the cut. [Luckily, the kid had so much hair, we didn't need to get into No Taping A Bow On The Kid's Bald Head.] Besides accentuating...
[read the full post...]

September 20, 2004

Bebetel: The Mobile Phone-based Baby Monitor

We don't have a baby monitor; it's not possible to get out of crying earshot in our apartment. So on our last visit to grandma's capacious (i.e., 2-story) house, I called one of our family-plan mobile phones from another (unlimited...
[read the full post...]

Swaddling Demonstration Video

Tech guru/writer/blogger/dad Glenn Fleishman has created a 2-minute video to demonstrate how easy it is to swaddle a kid. The first demo uses The Miracle Blanket, a patent-pending, trademarked, copyright-registered asymmetrical swaddling blanket that I'll post more about later. The...
[read the full post...]

Yow Baby, or If You Fancy A Shag...

We had been debating getting a shag rug--a flokati, the thick, sheepskin-looking kind from Greece--for the living room. [In this case, 'debate' consisted mostly of one 'find one you think is OK and buy it' request from my wife and...
[read the full post...]

The Hurricane-Baby Theory?

Everyone knows the Blackout Baby Theory, and I remember hearing about a very localized Snowstorm Baby Theory when Microsoft's overworked programmers got stuck at home for a few days. But the Hurricane-Baby Theory is on the other end of the...
[read the full post...]

September 19, 2004

Hippies Getting Mixed Signals From VW

I'm confused. First, VW introduces a redesigned Microbus on the 2001 autoshow circuit, charmingly reminiscent of the beater your peacenik, no-shaving-allowed parents probably conceived you in. Finally, you say, a minivan you wouldn't be ashamed to drive (all weirdness...
[read the full post...]

What do you WANT?

Whew. That wasn't so hard. Thanks to some fine advice and suggestions from dads, dads-to-be, and other dad-related people, I am a perfect father with a perfect child. Now I'm ready to get to work on you. What are the...
[read the full post...]

September 17, 2004

Koelstra K73: The First Retro Stroller

Stroller designers can take their cues from many places: furniture (e.g., the chair or cradle on wheels), umbrellas, backpacks, racing bikes (joggers), mountain bikes (e.g., Urban Buggy), camping/outdoor equipment (e.g., Bugaboo), even cars. Especially cars. Just consider those Reebok...
[read the full post...]

Correction: About Losing Socks

At B+4 weeks, I suggested getting a little mesh bag to put all the kids' socks in when you do laundry. "You'll lose them faster" because they're so damn small, I said. Well, I was wrong. You don't lose them...
[read the full post...]

Colibri: Il Grosso Changing Pad Italiano

From Italy, the land where chic, forward-thinking design is no match for plummeting birth rates, persistent gender stereotypes, and men who live with their mothers until they're 50, comes the Colibri, a "special, new, space-saving, and innovative" portable changing pad...
[read the full post...]

September 15, 2004

Why Is Sushi Banned During Pregnancy?

Sushi and alcohol are just the tip of the iceberg. In the last two decades, the lists of things a pregnant woman can't eat or do without putting the fetus "at risk" is a mile long. Not that I didn't...
[read the full post...]

September 14, 2004

Child-Safe Zones: A network solution to losing children

England, a small island country, blanketed with security cameras, saturated with mobile phones. Yet somehow, British parents still lose their kids in public places all the time. Child Safe Zones is a centralized, nationwide network of venues (over 7,000 so...
[read the full post...]

Thinking of Cutting your Dad-ability Short?

And if, during my darker moments I feel at a loss for perspective, I can always recall the sentiments of my wife, uttered once she felt it was time for me to pull myself together, start changing nappies again and...
[read the full post...]

Where all the vintage Stokke Kinderzeats at?

With well-designed furniture--an Eames lounge chair, for example--while you could get a new one ($529 via eamesoffice.com), the older ones, with a bit of wear and a nice patina, are better. They're something worth keeping. Most kid furniture, on the...
[read the full post...]

While UK figures out if courts are unfair to fathers,

The BBC has a decent roundup of the state of the British government's and family court's alleged bias against fathers; the issues are predictable, but at least they're spelled out: visitation rights, automatic custody decisions, child support payments. While...
[read the full post...]

Blue Stokke Xplory now on Ebay [NYC]

A blue Stokke Xplory, "gently used only a few times," with all the accessories, just went up for sale on ebay. Opening bid is $750, with $50 shipping outside NYC. If you're too impatient for the waitlist at Buy Buy...
[read the full post...]

September 13, 2004

In The Beginning was the Bugaboo

While Bugaboo the Company launched in 1999, and Bugaboo the Frog only made it to the US in late 2001, Bugaboo the Concept began over ten years ago. With some help from Bugaboo US' marketing department, Daddy Types put together...
[read the full post...]

Womb Sounds CD

A friend went to help her band member-marrying, tour-missing, C-sectioned, bed-ridden over-taxed friend with her new kid while the dad was on tour. The first thing she did when she got there: turn off this CD of Super-Soothing Womb Sounds....
[read the full post...]

September 12, 2004

Spy Kid is Deep Undercover

George Lazenby, the first Other James Bond (Timothy Dalton's the second) has been doing his part for Crown and Country. The 65-year old Lazenby and his wife Pam "Yes, that Pam Shriver" Shriver had their first kid, George Samuel Lazenby,...
[read the full post...]

If you think the special needs kid story's a slog

just remember: it's nothing compared to actually being a conscientious parent to a special needs kid. That's the takeaway from Lisa Belkin's loooong NY Times Magazine piece today about Thomas Ellenson's first year of kindergarten. While Tom has cerebral palsy,...
[read the full post...]

George of Jungle has Monkey Baby

Hats off to Brendan Fraser, whose wife Afton gave birth to their first second son. As befits someone who played an apeman, the kid has a monchichi-size mop of hair. To ensure that he will run away from boarding school,...
[read the full post...]

September 9, 2004

Painted "Wood" Toycart from Target

The NY Times calls this a wood toy cart; the Target website description is "wood and wood composite," so I'm sure it's safe to gnaw on. And it won't outgas any kind of bonding chemicals, at least not any more...
[read the full post...]

September 7, 2004

Parenting The Hamptons Way

The NY Post hands out some funny awards for Hamptons Summer Inanity. At least one goes to a parent:THE NOTHING GETS BETWEEN ME AND A PARTY AWARD: The unknown person who left a baby in an SUV to attend a...
[read the full post...]

Totshop T-shirt, (Psychotherapy Not Included)

Gee, I don't know why I didn't know about this. I mean, I only get about 500 emails on this topic every day. Wah Baby makes some irreverent baby-sized t-shirts, which are available at Totshop.com for $19 each. Besides Sophocles...
[read the full post...]

When Vegan Parents Go Crazy

How about when Crazy Parents go Vegan? Parents lose it everyday, but for some reason, some of the craziest like to take Veganism down with them. The NY Daily News reports that Coney Island dad Raphael Spindell has spirited his...
[read the full post...]

Weeblock Baby Cup

"Haven't you ever heard of just holding up the diaper??" That bit of advice comes from weatherman/curmudgeon/author/dad Al Roker, who, we learn on this Today Show segment, "is too big for these." "These" are Weeblocks, soft jersey cotton-covered foam cups--as...
[read the full post...]

September 6, 2004

Harper's Magazine: A Child's First Impressions of Death

"Lessons learned from the deaths of poor Frank and little Mary, who had the canker-rash. Originally from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 64, iss. 384, pp. 822-824, May 1882. By William H. Beard." Two quotes: There had been some hills...
[read the full post...]

Lullaby Cover Songs from Punk Rock Baby

I know it's great, and the kids love it and all, but I'm just not into all the folk-y music. And while I support hemp in theory, I'm not ready to limit my kid to Paul Simon's CD series of...
[read the full post...]

Fetopia, home of Cletus the Fetus

I can't believe I haven't posted this before. Fetopia is was not only the home of the original Cletus the Fetus, but of a small, small world of feti, all handmade from sculpey clay and ready for...well, I bought about...
[read the full post...]

The Thula Project: South African Lullaby Compilation

This CD takes its name from "Thula Mntwana," the Zulu version of that mid-night staple of new parents everywhere, "Hush Little Baby." Have you heard it? It goes a little something like this: "Hush little baby don't you cry/ Mama...
[read the full post...]

UrbanBabyWatch: Fetal Nicknames

An incomplete list of nicknames given to the little fetus by expecting moms and dads, culled from the UrbanBaby message boards: Moms: Cookie Pie Face Squirt Rice ("b/c the lady who did my ultrasound said, 'like a piece of rice'")...
[read the full post...]

September 4, 2004

Hee Hee: Pee-Pee Teepee

If you're the type who can't say "urination" or "penis," 1) I don't know what you're doing on this site, and 2) the Pee-Pee Teepee for Sprinkling Wee-Wees is for you. Stop draping a diaper wipe or washcloth over your...
[read the full post...]

Star Trek Baby Names

Any name's fine, as long as it's Jadzia. Also popular: B'elanna, and Seven (of Nine). i.e., all the alien hottie characters. Let me go on record here: any Star Trek name is going to be several circles deeper in taunting...
[read the full post...]

Cult Film Baby Names

Running down the slippery naming slope here. Anyone could name their kid Cooper, but if you want to name him that because you loved BASEketball, The cult film fansite, Mutant Reviewers From Hell, has a baby name list for you....
[read the full post...]

September 3, 2004

Bugaboo By...: Strollers get Murakamified

When I lived in France, I was shopping for a used Citroen Deux Chevaux (only the coolest car in the world). One ad I called about, the lady said, "yes, it's white, with schtroumpf painted on it." "What's that?" "Schtroumpf...
[read the full post...]

LOTR Baby Names

These names are acceptable if your child is born with pointy ears, hairy feet, or an obviously orc-like face. Dwarf-like doesn't cut it because, let's face it, they all come out looking a bit like dwarves. Lord of The Ring...
[read the full post...]

The Cruelty of Kate Spade's MacLaren Stroller

Is this the second limited edition stroller Kate Spade designed for Maclaren? To be honest, I wasn't following stroller fashion too closely before the kid penciled herself into our calendar. But I remember a distant buzz about it among our...
[read the full post...]

Learn to Play the Brazelton Way (with some Disney and McKinsey thrown in)

They say play is a child's work. And just as work could mean anything from alleviating world hunger to hoarding red staplers, play can be a timesink or a richly rewarding developmental experience. (Hint: you want the latter.) Which is...
[read the full post...]

John Lithgow's CD To Stay Awake To

Yes, that John Lithgow. And no, there are no songs from Buckaroo Banzai. I have it on great authority that--ok, fine. Some random commenter on Defective Yeti said, "Mr. Lithgow however never ceases to entertain." Which, if you listen to...
[read the full post...]

September 1, 2004

Old School O.C.: 80's Punk Concert Flyers on Onesies*

Mini Maniacs stands out among the cottage industry sprawl of SoCal parent t-shirt companies. For one thing, they make more than t-shirts, and for another thing, the t-shirts they do make are actually unique. They may bring back troubling memories...
[read the full post...]

Google, Babies, and Evil

While exploring the resilience and deeper meanings of of Google's motto on Ftrain, Paul Ford reveals a handy parenting tip: "If I had a colicky infant daughter, I know I could leave her with Google, and she'd be okay." The...
[read the full post...]

Grrrr, If she's so tired, why won't she go to sleep??

I mean, I've explained the situation to her multiple times. The signs are obvious. She's not having fun playing, in fact, she's just fussy and constandly rubbing her eyes. Yet she can spot a "put you to sleep" gesture a...
[read the full post...]

« August 2004 | Main Index | | October 2004 »