Daddy Types: July 2005 Archives

July 2005 Archives

July 31, 2005

This B2C E-Commerce Portal Will Have A Critical Mass Of Compelling Content

WelcomeMrBaby.com, the retailer with the [insert regional name here] Nania car seat/stroller, was new to me, so I surfed around a bit to see what else they had. Two things jumped out at me: 1) The site seems to have...
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Nanii/Nania Car Seat/Stroller/High Chair [Check All That Apply]

Jaywalking across a busy Tokyo street turns out to be the easiest part of finding out who makes this stroller/car seat. We were out for a Sunday stroll (in like 110 degree, 100% humidity blazing sunlight, thanks) when I spotted...
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July 30, 2005

Made Love: The Bruce Lee Bodysuit Is Just The Tip Of The Awesome Clothing Iceberg

Che who? Who cares? Get your kid this awesome Bruce Lee tank Onesie. (I mean "a Bruce Lee-like bodysuit." Sorry, counsellor.] This tiny-seeming Spanish company called Made Love has some of the coolest-looking baby clothes I've ever seen, anywhere. A...
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Childish Clothing: Celebrity Baby Dog Chases Own Tail

So Blink 182's Mark Hoppus gets snapped with his kid at some charity event, pictures hit all the wire services, gossip magazines, and blogs, and I wonder what the kid's shirt says...and the trap has been sprung. The shirt turns...
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Honey, I Scalded The Kids In My 'Drug-Induced Stupor'

Sheesh. Two kids, ages 3 and 1, died after apparently being submerged in a scalding, overflowing bathtub in Yonkers. The mother's charged with negligence and the baby daddy of the youngest one is on the hook for manslaughter. Police say...
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"I was like, 'Yo, look, a baby.' "

A Brooklyn woman on a 4AM cigarette run found an abandoned baby hanging in a gift bag on a fence. She took it to her neighbor's house to feed it, but was all bummed when the ambulance got there too...
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July 29, 2005

Not That There's Anything Wrong With Reading Details Magazine

So the latest issue of Details has a headline--conveniently placed on the cover right next to David Beckham's crotch--"Is Your New Baby Making You Gay?" Does anybody know what this article actually says? I'd look it up myself, but I'm...
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Damn You, Jason Kottke

Gettin' my hopes up like that... previously: Gucci baby carrier...
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What's It Gonna Take To Get You Into One Of These Arm Toys Today?

AJ at Thingamababy found The Arm Toy while doing what he calls "some errant web research." [I think that means he's trying to make his own Borg costume, but hey, we're the winners here, so it's cool with me.] The...
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July 28, 2005

Baby Gap Bedding: ZZZZZZZ

Now your kid can have the same sweater as everyone else and the same sheets as everyone else. And it's not particularly cheap, either. I'll stick with our cotton jersey sheets from Buy Buy Baby's BBB Basics. babyGap Bedding Collections...
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Safety Gates For A Loft?

The hilarious, loft-dwelling Metrodad writes with a question: "We're searching the net for a cool-looking baby gate. We need a wide one (at least 8' feet) to divide our loft and keep the kiddie safely self-contained. Unfortunately, Messrs. Eames, Van...
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What The--?? Dad Does Six Months For Kissing Zerberting Baby's Belly??

Damn. Is there just one brain cell to share among all the drugstore photo developers, police, and district attorneys in Raleigh (my home town), NC? Because otherwise, I can't explain it. A father was released from jail after six months,...
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July 27, 2005

Eating: Babies In Japan

Every baby under the age of one in Japan is as fat as a sumo wrestler. They ride around, inert, and sprawled in their tiny strollers like drunks on a frathouse sofa. I can't figure it out. Here are three...
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My First... Homemade Board Book

The aggressively generic and idealized images of board books kind of bugs me sometimes. Where are all the counting books that show what's really in the kid's world? three bags of Terra Chips, four dry cleaners on the way to...
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An Early Review of the Mercedes Miniv-, er, R-Class

DT reader JJ points to one of the first behind-the-wheel reviews of the new Mercedes "grand sports tourer" (the phrase will always have quotes around it, I fear.) at The Truth About Cars. Even though it does a lot of...
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eBay Alert: Vintage Eames-like Stroller

Thank eagle-eyed DT reader Darren for spotting this very unusual vintage stroller for sale on eBay. It's from a company called Hedstrom, which used to make carriages, tricycles, and playground equipment from 1915 until the mid 1980's. According to the...
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July 26, 2005

Muji Eating Smocks

A lot can happen in a year, it seems. Last summer when we were here, the baby and kid-related stuff at Muji was pretty sparse and unremarkable. But this year it's out of control. This here weblog is destined to...
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A Bunch Of Wagons & Minivans You Can't Buy

Jalopnik has the buzz on so many cross-overs, sport wagons, and even--yow--cool minivans you can't buy now, I advise you not to click through if you're in the market; it'll only bum you out. There's the 2006 Audi Allroad wagon,...
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What's Worse Than A Gymboree Junkie? A Broke Gymboree Junkie.

This is a pathetic, sad story I just can't figure out. A woman spends all her time and all her money and then runs up another $50K in credit card debt shopping for kids' clothes--at Gymboree. Personally, I'd have to...
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July 25, 2005

Funny Pages & Not-So-Funny Pages

Wow, a fascinating article about how father-son relationships play out in the work of cartoonists and graphic novelists.Now in his mid-50s and happily married, Brian Walker has replicated the lifestyle enjoyed by his father [Mort, creator of "Beetle Bailey, Hi...
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Put Your Dad Blog Links Here

I've been working on an updated design for the site, adding some more categories, etc., but so far the only functionality the new design has is as an excuse for my not updating the dad blogroll in the sidebar. If...
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July 24, 2005

Squid-Eating Whale Puppet

When I used to make the kid's handle-mouthed bear rattle from Muji "eat" her hapless plush animal finger puppets, I worried a little that maybe it was too scary. Maybe I should be protecting her from the harsh realities of...
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BoBos In Purgatory, or "What's That Guy In First Class Typing About?"

Based on this feeble "Flying with kids? Ack!" Dave Barry impression, NYT conservative columnist David Brooks should stick to spinning his musings from the checkout line at Whole Foods into all-encompassing social theories: It is an iron rule of plane...
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Quick notes from Japan

It's been harder to post here than I suspected, but believe me, the material's piling up. Here are some bullet points: the kid's been eating very little and drinking 2-2.5x normal the first week, anyway. We've been going through almost...
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July 22, 2005

I Stand Corrected. RFID Prevents Babynapping in NC Hospital

It seems like just yesterday when I was questioning the efficacy of RFID-embedded pajamas to prevent what the technology solution providers were calling an "epidemic" of child kidnappings by "convicted sex offenders." Well, color ME embarassed. Turns out just last...
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The Best Five Bucks We Spent On Our International Flight

The kid did pretty well on the flight to Japan. [Not as well as last year this time, when she was five months old, and slept 11 of the 14 hour flight in her chair, but still, she was nowhere...
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July 21, 2005

What Do You Make Of This? There's A Sale of Quinny's! {At Sears]

Canadian Greg, who apparently lives in the stroller department at Sears Canada, writes: I happened upon the Quinny Buzz (again) and Zapp at Sears in St. Catharines, Ontario. Again, nothing on their website, but selling for $449.99 and $199.99 respectively....
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July 20, 2005

Baby Overboard! The Boat Crib

The organic, fair-trade-loving British hippies at Smile Child offer baby clothes and other products with such a boatload of crunchy goodwill, they had to find a boat to put it in. Thus, the boat crib. The crescent-shaped boat crib is...
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July 19, 2005

The Tribeca: Sexy? or Subaru + Urban = Suburban?

Tribeca conjures up all sorts of romantic images: young families in winter (that's when the banks hand out their bonuses) fleeing low-ceilinged oppression on the Upper East Side, with friendly, accented nannies pushing the Bugaboos over restored cobblestone streets. Or,...
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July 17, 2005

This Cardboard Cradle Will Rock Your Crunchy World.

This cool reinforced cardboard rocking cradle was invented by R. Kenan, who founded a company, Green Lullaby, to produce and distribute it. It knocks together in three minutes, is as flame retardant as any furniture, and meets all the EU's...
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Wow. R. M. Schindler Child's Chair

One of my favorite pieces of architecture anywhere is the 1922 bare-bones house Rudolph Schindler built for himself and another couple on Kings Road in West Hollywood. It's made from the raw-est of materials--concrete slab floors and walls (which...
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We've Replaced The Diapers He Usually Buys With Kirkland Crystals

We went to Costco for the hot dogs, but we stayed for the Kirkland baby wipes, the giant tubs of Enfamil, and the cases of Pampers. Oh, and the steaks. Can't forget the steaks. Well, we still use the wipes...
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July 16, 2005

Track Nerds' Children With RFID Pajamas

A designer, "Lauren Scott of California," has announced a licensing deal with SmartWear Technologies, Inc. to embed the company's nerd-tastic RFID tags in childrens' pajamas. Target has supposedly already placed an order. When used with a network of $500 (+/-)...
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Should You Read The Nanny's Blog?

The nanny's pursuing her PhD in late Victorian lit, and no one saw this melodrama coming? Helaine Olen writes in Sunday's NYT about the increasing discomfort she felt as she read her nanny's blog. Mostly, it was of the self-pitying,...
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Mountain Buggy Recall Buried By Collapsed Building Publicity

The other stroller company guys must be pissed, wondering why a building couldn't collapse on them? The New York Times did a little digging, so to speak, to see if Mountain Buggy's previously underappreciated Rubble Deflection System will lead to...
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LA Rag: Jag Wag Lags

A wagon? From Jaguar? Who even knew? In the LA Times, Dan Neil says he loves the Jaguar X-Type SportWagon for it's body, not for it's money: "Try as I might, I can't help liking this car. Buying one is...
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July 15, 2005

Wake Up, Neo

"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is notwithout a sense of irony. -Morpheus So this is how it starts. In a Slovakian hospital, where all the newborn children listen to Mozart...
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Irony Alive, Well On Upper West Side

The collapse left a storefront-size hole in the block, like the gap of a missing tooth. The scaffolding out front was bent and broken. A massive ventilation unit leaned uneasily atop the pile. Neighbors kept saying how as many as...
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The Real UWS Miracle: The Nanny's Been With The Family For 7 Years

So not only does nanny Brunilda Tirado, shield her charge from falling Upper West Side grocery stores, she's been with the family for three kids and seven years? Wow. Seconds before the crash, Tirado had been scratching lottery tickets at...
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NYC Building Collapses on Mountain Buggy, Baby

When I heard a 7-month-old baby had been pulled from the debris of a building collapse yesterday on upper Broadway, I (and my wife, who went to Columbia for grad school) shuddered. Then, um, I wondered what kind of stroller...
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July 14, 2005

Working Baby Names Into Your Rap??

Is it the Upper West Side? The organized Jewish dating scene? The kids these days? Whatever it is, I don't think I ever steered the conversation towards baby names on the first date, much less before. Still, it's at least...
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China Stares At Looming Girl Shortage

Just found this article from the NYT, dated January 31, 2005, about the baby steps China's government is taking to alleviate a demographic crisis caused, inadvertently, by the longstanding one-child policy: a severe shortage of girls. In Fujian province for...
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NYT: Umm, Thank Your Grandma

The NY Times reports on the increasing [?] phenomenon of grandparents "getting more involved" in their grandchildren's lives than was the norm in previous generations. And by "getting involved," they mean, "writing big checks" for things like tuitions, camp, houses......
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July 13, 2005

Sweeeet Minimalist Alphabet Blocks from Stitch

Damn, it's 11:45, and I've got a ton of stuff to do, but I can't NOT post about these awesome-looking minimalist alphabet blocks I just found at Stich, a Chicago contemporary design store. They're designed by Jon Stevenson, and they...
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Plush Ninjas from Ninjatown

Although they're rumoured to have mystical powers, these ninjas are not bred for their skills in magic. They're handsewn in limited editions by a Chicago artist named Shawn Smith. His project, Shawnimals, makes collectible art plush and vinyl toys intended...
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And When I Say 'Eco-friendly Diapers'...

While the fragrant, green scent of biodegradable diapers is still fresh in the air, I thought I'd dig up an article I came across last year about the real environmental impact of "eco-friendly" diapers. Those are diapers which try to...
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Can You Wait For Biodegradable Diapers?

It's good to be the go-to guy for something, I guess. That's what I told myself when DT readers Eric and dad-to-be-any-friggin-minute-now Chris sent near-simultaneous tips about The Nature Nappy, a biodegradable disposable diaper which its inventor promises will break...
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July 12, 2005

Hooters of Manhattan, 211 West 56th Street - NO*

There's only a changing table in the women's restroom. To their credit, the hostesses offered to take the kid and change her diaper for me....
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One Dad's Stroller Mod: The Quinny Freestyle 2x4

Awesome. Ricky, a DT reader and dad of two, just posted a link to his homebrewed double stroller, which he crafted from two of Wal-Mart.com's closeout Quinny Freestyle 4's. I don't know what the JPMA says about this, and it'll...
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July 11, 2005

Report From 'Heath Ledger''s Buy Buy Baby Registry

I guess if I were Heath Ledger or Michelle Williams, I probably wouldn't use an alias to create my baby registry, either. But I probably would check with my publicist to see if Bugaboo just happened to drop off a...
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Madonna Don't Preach, Kabbalah Ghostwriter Does

Whether you were refusing to buy the pedantically anti-materialist new children's book Lotsa de Casha on principle because it was written by Madonna, or you were a lifelong fan wondering how your idol could crank out such moralizing claptrap, you...
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Meanwhile, The Kid's Apparently Going For Best Actress

She knows she's not supposed to play with the toilet paper, so now what she does is pretend to sniffle, then she'll reel off a bunch of TP, give her nose a cursory wipe, and proceed with the shredding she...
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"Because Daughters Are...Angels With Attitude"

Congratulations to Angels With Attitude February Overall Winner Zoe [l] and 19-35 Months Winner Alli Beth [r], who most successfully represent "a total package 'glitz' child" without falling back on photos which are "extremely or overly retouched." They will...
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July 10, 2005

Bennifer Having A Girl. I Hear.

I wanted to let you know that Celebrity Babies says that the NY Post says that In Touch magazine says that someone overheard Ben Affleck telling someone what he'd told his mother: "My mom wants to know what we're going...
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Sure, But Does Hooters Like Babies? The Kid-Free Dining Concept

While discussing the kid-nonfriendliness of Las Vegas casinos [which sounds pretty obvious as I type it now], DT reader/Canadian [or at least Canada restaurant expert] Kirk writes: "There are restaurants in Canada that are also going this way. They do...
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Baby-related Party Conversations From This Week's NY Times

"And I was like, "'you can easily spend $200?' HAH! We got this Maxi Cosi car seat from Europe. ebay Germany. "Huh? Nah, but you don't need to speak it; all the buttons are in the same place. Anyway,...
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Dog Disguises for Kid-Threatening Breeds

Are you fed up with all the angry, frightened stares from other parents when you take your kid and your doberman to the park? Don't feel it's right that you get fined for taking your so-called 'dangerous' breed dog outside,...
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July 9, 2005

Blue with the blue again

And you may find yourself one quiet morning, faced with an unfamiliar sight. And you may find all your VentAire bottles, in every color, washed and ready to be reassembled, all at the same time. And you may find...
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July 8, 2005

"Underground Kids' Music Circles"

Slate has a roundup of interesting-sounding music for (and in some cases, by) kids that promises not to drive parents crazy. It includes They Might Be Giants' new ABC cd [of course]; an upbeat kids' electronica collection; the Portland-based Captain...
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Whatever Happens In Las Vegas, The Stroller Stays In The Car

DT reader Chris has this annoying report. Sounds like that whole, "Las Vegas is your family-friendly vacation destination!" schtick has gone the way of Sigfried and Roy's career:Just came from a trip to Las Vegas with the family. Found out...
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July 7, 2005

Baby Daddy^5

Nathan Leet sounds like a real catch; he's got five kids with five different women, at least two of whom he left while they were pregnant. His current girlfriend is also pregnant. After he took a two-month vacation, he fell...
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Finally Found The Sex Pistols Onesie, er, Romper

Lucky Lil Devil has it (in black only) for $18. They also have "Kid Vicious" and two Ramones designs available as well. [luckylildevil.com] Previously: other punk baby clothes posts on daddytypes...
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Breastfeed Or The Terrorists Will Have Won

Reading this, I would say the answer is 'maybe, but we really don't know. But it sure pisses off the retailers, doesn't it?' Is black-market baby formula financing terror? [csmonitor.com via DT reader Erich]...
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On Raising Your Daughters In NYC

An admittedly incomplete list of skills New York City girls need to learn and by what age: hail a cab: 3 swipe a metrocard: 10 duck under the subway turnstile: 2 duck when there are five people in a taxi:...
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July 6, 2005

Sweet Clear Potty: See Results Instantly!

If all they did was introduce me to this awesome clear potty from Babywunder, I'd be grateful to the Elimination Communication for helping me keep up with the hottest trends in both parenting and modern interior design [Everything in Lucite!]....
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I Know That Face! Elimination Communication

And all this time, I had it backwards. The Fulani tribe of Mali has a saying: "You're lucky if you've got someone who will shit on you." Lucky, perhaps, but not as well-versed as you should be in the art...
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Diaper Champ Knocked Out In Three Rounds

He coulda been a contenda'. I just threw out our Diaper Champ, which lasted almost exactly three months, ten months less than the Diaper Genie, in fact. We liked the easy disposal method. The kid loved it; she'd play with...
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July 5, 2005

Excellent News From FatherWorld Magazine

So while everyone's staring at the nipple, it turns out Fathers Direct has uncovered some very promising findings about dads being more involved with raising their kids. The findings were published in FatherWorld, a magazine-format roundup of research and projects...
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Tshirthell Baby T-Shirt Contest

T-Shirt Hell is sponsoring a T-Shirt Whore contest, where customers send in pictures wearing the merch. There's a "Future Whores" category for kids. While most are just truck stop funny, "Are you my daddy?" is a classic (although an uncomfortable-hence-unpopular...
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Why Men Have Nipples. Seriously.

After an exhaustive assessment of fathers' childrearing involvement in cultures around the world, the British charity Fathers Direct recently made a startling discovery: men's nipples are there, not only for twisting in pool fights, but for sucking by a crying...
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Circumcision Reduces HIV Risk, But Conservatives Now Face Quandary

According to the most extensive and rigorous studies of the connection between circumcision and HIV transmission (the results are as-yet unpublished, but they've been widely discussed in the HIV prevention community, apparently), circumcision reduces a man's likelihood of infection from...
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Male Postnatal Depression? Some British Bird Says Buck Up

When it comes to psychiatry-hating, the Times of London's India Knight apparently hails from the Stiff Upper Lip faction, not the Tom Cruise one. But that doesn't make her dismissal of the idea of male post-natal depression any less stinging....
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July 3, 2005

Old Man Ganked My Whip, Yo

This isn't news to anyone here, but it's interesting reading nonetheless. Turns out the Gen Y and Gen Whatever Ad Agencies Call 18-24 Year-Olds Now are Gen Poor, and so they're not rushing out to buy the Honda Elements and...
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July 1, 2005

Van Halen's 'Somebody Get Me A Doctor' Covered By A 3-Year-Old

Ezra Lux is three years old and performs under the name Rock Jack. For info on his CD, his drummer dad, and a couple of sample tracks, check this WFMU post. Meanwhile, here's Rock Jack's cover of Van Halen's "Somebody...
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Industrial Designers Awards: More Than Rectal Thermometers, Much More

Very interesting. Here are some other kid-related winners from the Business Week-sponsored Industrial Design Excellence Awards: Gerber SippySnacker, "a reinvention of the iconic sippy cup that, for the first time, combines a spill-proof cup and snack holder." Note: also named...
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Two-Time Award-Winning Rectal Thermometer!

In news that turned the rectal thermometer design industry on its head, Smartdesign won a silver medal in the Business Week Industrial Design Excellence Awards this week for their innovative, orifice-optimized Vicks Rectal Thermometer. And if that weren't enough,...
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The Mercedes R-Class: Because minivans make you sad

I don't know what's more surprising in the "docufilms" Mercedes produced to introduce the new R-Class GST (Grand Sports Tourer): seeing skater/shill Tony Hawk talk about what kind of car he'd be ("not a clunky SUV"), or hearing the...
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Two Doors or Two Kids: Can't Have Both?

I can't figure out how he did it with backseats that small (a VW Beetle and BMW 325), but DT reader John managed to conceive two kids, and now he's got himself a dilemma: "We have a Graco Snug Ride...
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Pretty Depressed, Pissed Baby

Apparently fed up with being criticized as a misguided pill-popping mess by the sideshow freak formerly known as Tom Cruise, Brooke Shields speaks out forcefully in the NY Times:While Mr. Cruise says that Mr. Lauer and I do not "understand...
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