Daddy Types: August 2006 Archives

August 2006 Archives

August 31, 2006

UK Child Database: The Worst Form Of Government Intrusion, Including All The Rest

Honestly, I don't know what's more whacked out over there in England: the fact that they're actually serious about starting a single massive database with details on every child in the country, which will be available for use by hundreds...
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Hipster To Parents: Please Curb Your Children

Angry hipster Ryan:Last weekend I was on my way to Riverside Skatepark when I very nearly walked right through a stream of urine being expelled from a toddler. I was walking down the sidewalk staring up at the trees when...
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1 Balloon + 1 LED = 1 Awesome Balloon Lamp

Seriously, my kid's so balloon-crazy, if I told her that with just a single LED, a coin-sized battery, a tiny plastic case, and a balloon, she could have a balloon lamp in her room, her little head would explode...
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'Flat Daddy' Cutouts For National Guard Families

Wow. I-- wow. Soldiers in Maine's National Guard who've been deployed to Iraq keep in regular, almost constant touch with their families through email, satellite phones, and even video conferencing. On top of that, their families receive life-sized photo...
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Almost-Awesome Color Puzzle From Pottery Barn Kids [?]

Wow, now I know who's been bidding against me for the vintage Creative Playthings stuff on eBay. Pottery Barn Kids has launched Learning Toys, a collection of really simple, classic-looking wooden toys designed and color-coded for age-appropriate play. There's a...
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A Is For AIEEEEE! ABC's Of Onomatopoeia Poster

In case you can't tell, I'm really digging on parents who are making stuff for their kids. There's been a spate of flashcards recently, but it goes way back, like to that awesome Hindu gods primer, too, by the...
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What's In Your Hospital Dadbag?

When we went to the hospital Sunday night before the kid was born, I actually brought my laptop--and a speakerphone. See, they had just released all 5,200 designs for the WTC Memorial competition, and I was maybe gonna be interviewing...
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Amy Sedaris Is Snow White On Sesame Street

She's no Grace Slick, and there's enough show business insider dialogue to make me wonder when Griffin Mill is going to show up, but here's Amy Sedaris playing Snow White with seven defecting dwarves on The 'Street. Part one...
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Snakes On A Fisher-Price Plane

Huh, for some reason, the "Unofficial Snakes On A Fisher-Price Plane Little People Action Airport & Fun-Jet Set," which comes almost complete with vintage little people for all the movie characters, plus a few rubber snakes, didn't reach its...
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August 30, 2006

Two Trojans, And They Still Get Pregnant

USC Heisman Trophy winner and new Arizona Cardinals QB Matt Leinart and his former [at least] girlfriend, USC basketball playing Junior Brynn Cameron are reportedly expecting a child in November. Leinart described Cameron as his girlfriend in 2005, but he...
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Sesame Street "Jazzy Spies"

A decade before there was Pointer Sisters pinball, there was "Jazzy Spies." Named after the ten spies who opened their coats to reveal numbers 1-10 at the end, "Jazzy Spies," or "Jazz Numbers," was the trippy animated counting series...
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The Juvenilizing Evolution Of Mickey Mouse

In 1978, Stephen Jay Gould theorized that Walt Disney and his animators gradually discovered what it took evolutionary psychologists decades to prove: that baby-like features and proportions elicit an "automatic surge of disarming tenderness" in adults: The brain grows...
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Dialectics For Kids

In the remarkable new film Half Nelson, Ryan Gosling stars as Dan Dunne, an idealistic history teacher in Brooklyn who might have more luck finishing that children's book on Hegelian dialectics if he wasn't spending all his free time passed...
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Democrats Wish They Controlled The House, Just Like Mommy

The illustrations in Jeremy Zilber's Why Mommy Is A Democrat are an adorable little family of squirrels, but they might as well be fish in a barrel:Democrats make sure we all share our toys, just like Mommy does. Democrats...
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August 29, 2006

Crocs Rock. Not

Yeah, I know, it's pretty gutless to come out against a pervasive shoe trend only after it's reached over-saturation, and only after most of the summer has passed us by. But let me just say now that those Crocs...
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August 28, 2006

My Kid? She's The One Over There, In Complete Regression

Well that did not go well. We're winding up a long weekend with all the kid's cousins, ages 11, 8, 5, 2, 18 mos, and 9 mos., and the kid has been bouncing around like a ping pong ball. It's...
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Children Bilingual The Language Structures Intermix

Also, linguists their children as subjects use. Children's way with words sparks research [physorg.com via robotwisdom]...
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The Horror, The Horror

So we're on vacation with the family, all seven cousins and assorted aunts, uncles and grandparents, and the kid's sleeping on a little blanket nest in the corner of our room. The other morning, around 5, we heard a series...
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August 26, 2006

God The Builder T-Shirt

Your soul's not the only thing you'll be saving; the shirt's marked down to $10, from $13. The fine print on there is Hebrews 3:4, btw. [limited toddler sizes only, at putonfaith.com]...
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Or, I Might Add, Princess Leia

The kid at dinner last night: "Mommy, I want to lick you." Mommy: "No, thank you." Kid [incredulous]: "No! You are not ice cream or a lollipop!" [image of Shatner's roast via bolt]...
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August 25, 2006

Flying, BRB

Great, I raise the threat level of fictional penises minutes before boarding a plane for a weekend with the family. As that dude from DHS said, "Be calm, go about your daily lives, and have fun."...
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The Kid's Never Said Anything About Mickey's Penis

No, not that Mickey. Maurice Sendak's In The Night Kitchen has become one of the kid's favorite books to read on our trips to the library. At first, I was worried that the kid might be traumatized by a story...
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August 24, 2006

Hm. Why I Blog, Sort Of.

The other night, Metrodad, Laid-off Dad and I headed out for some drinks and burgers, our first face-to-face meeting, actually, and it was a lot of fun. It was also interesting to see how our own blogging activities fit differently...
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Whoa, Sweet 18th c. Dutch Chintz Baby Coats

Normally, the only time I would let a mention of chintz slip through is during a public reading of The Preppy Handbook, but I'll make an exception for these sweet, so-sweet-even -Phoebe-frickin- Cates'-store-on-Madison-doesn't-have-them antique baby coats from the Rijksmuseum...
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Instant TV For Your Kid

Damn you, Bloglines. I've been poking around for a couple of months, trying to find a slick way to compile all the video links we use into a single, ready-in-one-click spot, so you can--or I, frankly--can find just the video...
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Handmade Clothes By Little By Jenny: The Heirloom Tomatoes Of The Baby Industrial Complex

From the boardbooks to the toys to the wallpaper borders and animal sounds and beyond, I've always thought it was odd that we surround babies with so much farm-related content. Unless something happened this morning, the biggest environmental problem...
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Improbable Movies From Children's Books, In Increasing Order Of Likely Suckitude

I really hope the list of people haunted by visions of the The Cat in The Hat movie is not confined to Gitmo prisoners. If even a couple of studio executives are on it, we may not have to see...
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Change The Way Your Kid Thinks About Ladybugs With This Puppet

Seriously, can you imagine the psychological imprint this puppet would leave on a kid if you went about your childcaring, diaper-changing, feeding/burping day with it on? And then reading The Grumpy Ladybug to him? Yikes. Folkmanis Ladybug hand puppet,...
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But Wait, Isn't That Just What The Hungry Caterpillar WANTS?

Sycophantic purple dinosaurs not evil enough for you? Prof. Jeffrey Lockwood has an op-ed in the NY Times today about the environmental and moral evils of the Butterfly Industrial Complex. Seems that there's a heated debate brewing between the...
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Barney's Lawyers More Annoying, Entertaining Than Barney

The EFF filed a suit against Barney's lawyers, who have spent almost five knuckleheaded years threatening a guy named Justin Frankel [Dr. Justin Frankel, thank you very much], making dubious claims that his online parody about "The Enemy's" true nature...
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C Is For Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie: Jazz Alphabet Flashcards Videos

The kid's screen media consumption consists of at least 50% YouTube and other online videos. They're usually short, they're under control and on demand, and it means we watch them together. Besides, there's approximately one million better things to watch...
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Out Of, Into, The Mouths Of Babes

The kid getting dressed this morning, to my wife: "When I'm a mommy, I will get a bigger chest."...
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Just Because It's Called Vogue Bambini Doesn't Mean It's For Kids

...Fing’rs, which sells preglued press-on nails, patterned with stars and kitties, to appeal to girls who, she said, “have the latest ‘it’ bags and rhinestone-covered Sidekicks.” Sales of preglued nails for children are up 13 percent this year, Ms. Gonzales...
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August 23, 2006

Mamas & Papaas: All The Skoot Is White & The Fabric's Grey

The connection between UK megababystore Mamas & Papas and Peg Perego go way back; it's an Italian family thing, capisce? M&P sells Pegs in the UK under its own brand umbrella; traditional rigs like the Pliko P3 Pramette are particularly...
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Nice "Good Daddy" Card

Hmm. I just realized I have no category for thoughtful, well-designed paper products and stationery. Is this "You wear 'daddy' well" card from Paper Mama considered gear? Because it does have a picture of a dude with a Bjorn...
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Give The Kid A Cell Phone And We're All DOOMED

A long, rambling article about hovering, hyperattentive parents and the threat they pose to their children--and to civilization as we know it. Overprogramming; lack of unsupervised, self-directed play; parents on cell phone speed-dial from birth to age 30; finagling dubious...
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Sweet Creative Playthings Fire Station Missing All Its Gear

This Playtown fire station from Creative Playthings is so clean, in fact, there's nothing but a bed and one firedude. If you're pretty sure that's the way it came, then you may score yourself a bargain when this auction...
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T-shirt For The Chopsticks-Impaired

The actual translation is, "because I cannot use chopsticks, fire comes out of my face," but it's close enough; this is another obvious candidate for Threadless kid-sizification. "Sticks of Shame" t-shirt by Candace Okumura, $19 [threadless.com via superdumb]...
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Robert Hughes Is Not Austin Powers

Now that both his son and his first wife are dead [suicide, diseases brought on by lifelong coke addiction, respectively], curmudgeonly art critic Robert Hughes decides that "promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time...
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WHO's On Fat?

I know there's a new study out showing babies are getting fatter. And I can understand the whole difference between "should be" vs "is," and how the WHO's newly calculated "optimal" height-weight percentile charts might be more logical than the...
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Nerdbaby Alphabet Flashcards

Alphabet flashcards are the new American Apparel t-shirts, the medium of choice for indie-designed baby stuff. Check out artist Tiffany Ard's nerd baby alphabet cards, for example. Ard has a lyrical, watercolor-y style that no doubt keeps her busy...
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August 22, 2006

What Do You Make Of This? There's A Nurseryworks Sale At Sparkability!

You may want to hold off on determining the nursery color scheme, at least until you take a look through the Nurseryworks cribs, changing table, and storage furniture that Sparkability's selling for 35% off the normal retail prices. [Example: a...
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BRAINS. Creative Playthings Puppets Must Eat BRAINS

Yeah, what if it wasn't to defeat the Ruskies and their Godless, evil science? What if the whole post-war Creative Playthings educational toy thing was actually part of a diabolical plan to fatten up babies' brains--in order to feed...
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August 21, 2006

Dad Makes Modern Alphabet Flashcards

Gregg Chinn made these sweet modernist alphabet cards for his daughter, who's three. Now that he's proved their effectiveness at instilling alphabetical and modernistical knowledge ["B is for Bauhaus," "J is for Jet Age," "M is for (duh) Modern,"...
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Dad Makes Electronics Board For 4-Year-Old

My kid thinks she's four, but if she really were four, I guess I'd be making her one of these here DIY circuit boards, so she could learn what electricity is without putting a battery on her tongue. And no...
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The Ten Cruellest Words In The English Language

"Ford Windstar Monster Van: Bidding for this item has ended" [ebay via jalopnik, thanks to dt reader jj daddy-o]...
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Awesome Playground Backhoe

When we went to visit the grandparents a few weeks back, the city playground in Ivins, Utah had this awesome kid-sized backhoe digger, with dual hand controls which raise, lower and dump the bucket just like [in my best non-union...
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Creative Playthings And The Rise Of Creativity

I wonked out a bit this weekend, surfing around through some academic work on toys and children's books, starting with Bard professor Amy F. Ogata's paper from Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 39 [2005] titled, appropriately/confusingly enough, "Creative Playthings." A reader first...
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The Story Of The Story Of Ferdinand

It appears that one of the hits of the 2005 literary conference season was Prof. Sharon McQueen's "The Story of The Story of Ferdinand: The Creation of a Cultural Icon Through Performance Versions and Variations." While I remember it...
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August 20, 2006

Hey Grandpa, Er, I Mean "Dad"

Rand Richards Cooper has a great essay in the NY Times Magazine about becoming a new father late(r), in his forties:The prospect of life and death in the balance brings a metaphysical dimension to what I began calling “late-onset fatherhood.”...
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August 19, 2006

Teaching The Kid Her NBC's

Honestly, I don't see an educational crisis looming in the US of A. So what if 70% of kids can't pick Iraq out on a map? The 5% whose National Guard parents just shipped out for their third tour...
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Texas 7-Month-Old Ruminates On The Parenting-Capitalist Paradox

New dad Raj publishes his socially and environmentally conscious blog, Green Parenting, from the heart of that notorious hippy enclave, Houston, Texas. Every month, he interviews his daughter, Lila for the blog. Here's an excerpt from the latest:Me:...Why is it...
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August 18, 2006

Daddy Types Advertisers Invite You To Their Exclusive Hamptons Beach House

A warm shoutout to the advertisers consider us all as celebrity parents, at least in the sense of wanting to see us photographed using their products. If you would like to reach Us People In Style, consider advertising on Daddy...
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Thugaboo Is...

"Thugaboo" is Marlon, Shawn, and Keenen Wayans' licensing company, MSK Merchandising LLC's..."...very first children's lifestyle property...It's our goal to create toys, books and videos that kids will love and parents can feel good about buying," remarked Keenen Ivory Wayans....
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Copenhagen Airport: Except For All The Free Strollers, It's Just Like US!

So you want a free stroller but you're not a celebrity? No problem, just fly through Copenhagen, Denmark. The airport provides free strollers for use in the transit areas, so you can shuttle between the giant children's play area and...
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Anonymous Celebrity Parents: Except For All The Free Stuff, They're Just Like Us!

Even when I'm getting stiff-armed at the driveways of publicists' swag-filled beach houses, some aspects of my non-dadblogging life still put celebrities in my path. No so much hanging out, mind you, just running into. If they have kids, we've...
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But Osiffer, It Was The Kid

What, no sippy cup?: "Boyce had an open 30-pack of Budweiser and a cooler in the vehicle when the crash occurred..." Police: Dad accused of DUI said 4-year-old was at wheel [ap/centredaily.com via dt reader edwin]...
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If You're Keeping Score At Home, There Are Now 12 Planets And One Orbit

Magic Beans in Boston just received their first Orbit Baby System, a display model, which is at the store, ready for your test driving pleasure. Magic Beancounter Sheri just posted her first impressions on the store's blog. The verdict: it's...
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August 17, 2006

Unidentified Man Drives Catalogue-Ready Maclaren Easy Traveller

That Mac looks just like in the pictures. [image: x17 via cbb] The Maclaren Easy Traveller is $89 [amazon/babyuniverse, which is currently offering free shipping with "AMZFSHIP" promotion code] previously: Launched: Maclaren Easy Traveller...
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Though Cute, "Friendly Danish Stereotype" Clothing May Complicate Your Transracial Adoption

Danefae makes "simple, non-branded, and handy graphics-based objects of desire for charmed visitors, good-natured residents, and sticky-pawed toddlers. All inspired by friendly Danish stereotypes and placed on a simple range of basic, solid products whose quality won't let you down."...
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"Baby Pinata" Was Taken, So They Went With "Babykeeper"

In an earlier phase of my fatherhood experience, I might have taken issue with Mommysential's decision to market the Babykeeper solely to moms [or more specifically, to "mom(s) on the go... (WHO HAVE) GOTTA GO!"]. Dads' gotta go, too, don't...
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Lundby Modern Dollhouse: Does Everything In Sweden Look Like Ikea?

I remember reading somewhere that Bjork said Iceland's so small, you always stay on speaking terms with your ex'es, because you keep running into each other all the time. [That, or you leave the country, I guess?] Maybe it's...
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BRIO Gets A Little PlaySammy On Us

For their slick, modernist updates on some of their classic toys, Swedish toymaker Brio seems to have dipped its paintbrush into rival Swedish toymaker PlaySam's pot. Check out these sweet new building blocks and this shape sorting box, for example:...
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Chopstick Kids For Kids With Chopsticks

The chopstick solution search continues. DT reader Deanne suggested these rubbery circus people who use chopsticks as stilts. I'd seen them on Daddy*Drama a while back, too, If you order over $100 worth of these Chopstick Kids from Modern...
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Whatchyou Talkin' About, New York Times?

Mr. Drummond teaching gang signs to Willis & Arnold Whaddya know, here we are, 20 years after Diff'rent Strokes, and our culture still has trouble navigating transracial adoption. [Those Drummond kids ended up with pretty long rap sheets, though,...
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Hans Wegner Rocker: 'Wholesale' In Silver Lake

Used to be, the beauty of eBay was that hard-to-price stuff like vintage furniture would end up selling for wholesale. Remember a few weeks back, when I posted some black 1970 Hans Wegner rocker from eBay with a very retail-sounding...
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August 16, 2006

Somewhat Tangential Links II: No More Diaper Sausages!

Do I feel bad that their honey-covered kid was eaten by a Grizzly? Sure. Does that mean I let them off the hook for writing so many damn awful books? No way: The History of the Beloved Children's Book...
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At The Politically Incorrect Alphabet, C Is For Cannibal, Cigarettes, Cripple...

Designer/artist Mark Jones started making his Politically Incorrect Alphabet images after visiting his wife's elementary school classroom and finding the "I is for Indian" picture he remembered from his youth had been replaced. Inspired by the clean, modern lines...
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"My Baby Looks Like..." Series At The Poop

The Poop: the SF Chronicle's new parenting blog. Let's stare a little bit longer into the metaphorical toilet bowl that is SFGate.com, shall we? Not because we want to see how long corn takes to go through the blogging system...
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NEWS FLASH: No One Goes To Metreon, Not Even Movie-Desperate Parents

When DT reader and SF Chronicle reporter Mike Adamick took his 4-mo daughter to Reel Moms at Metreon [an Entertainment Retail Experience that's basically devolved into a lame mall with a multiplex,] he and the other dad in attendance inadvertently...
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Enabling Your Cross-Dressing Child

DT reader Andy writes in about a subject I've taken note of myself lately: little girls' underpants. I was taking the laundry out of the dryer the other day when it suddenly dawned on me that for the foreseeable...
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Lennart Nilsson's A Child Is Born, And That NOVA Episode You Remember

In the mid-1950's, Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson pioneered the use of endoscopy to take pictures inside the human body. Starting in 1965, his unbelievable photos of in utero fetuses and zygotes were published in magazines all over the world, and...
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I Dwell Into The Burning Ring Of Fire

I confess, if you're one of those people who thrill to the sight of fine crib linens, Daddy Types has been letting you down. I could promise you I'll change, that I'll be better, but then I'd only break...
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Evil Flying NCAA Monkeys: You're Not On Kansas' Squad Anymore, Daddy

ESPN.com columnist and DT reader Dan Shanoff [hey, Dan!] forwarded this story which is apparently burning up the bandwidth over there: defensive tackle Eric Butler has filed a Title IX discrimination suit against the NCAA after he was repeatedly denied...
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August 15, 2006

WHA WHA WHA? CNET Bought Urbanbaby??

Where was I when this happened? The deal went down in May, but wasn't announced until their Q2 earnings call the end of July. CNET Buys UrbanBaby.com for City Moms [mediaweek.com] they also bought Chow.com and Chowhound.com, which I did...
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Elmo's World News Tonight

The Wide Elmo's World of Shorts. The Weekly Elmo's World News. Elmo's World According To Garp. It's An Elmo's World After All. OK, I'll stop now: They're not loving Elmo on the West Coast. In the LA Times, Joel...
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Slightly Tangential Links Roundup

Live by the Us Weekly, Die by the Us Weekly: For all the people patterning their family life after Chris Robinson and Kate Hudson: sorry, but you'll need to separate now and fob the kid off on a series...
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Tonight? Tonight? L'Chaim

Maybe it's just me, but even if I was breastfeeding too long, I don't think it'd help to have my rabbi describe my breasts as "an attractive cafeteria rather than a scintillating piece of flesh." Kosher Coupling by Shmuley Boteach:...
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Moms Are From East Hampton, Dads Are From Quogue

"In the luxe and relaxed setting only a beach house can afford, the afternoon will feature celebrities, stylists, editors, and writers perusing the best in Mom & Baby." There are car services for folks coming from Manhattan; children's attendants and...
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It's A Myracle! With A 'Y'

21-year-old Kenyetta Biggs didn't tell her family she was pregnant, then she gets in a wreck on the way to the hospital and ends up giving birth in her car, which is partly submerged in a canal. And yet she...
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'Thank You?' Try 'You're Welcome': Playtex Unwraps The DiaperGenie II

Well that only took two years. If it doesn't stink [and how could it, with a slogan like this: "Proven #1 with #2!"] I think that we daddy types can take full credit for spurring a cleaner design that's...
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August 14, 2006

Frubi Sunglasses: Not In The Eyes! Not In The Eyes!

The Phoenix opthalmologist who invented Frubi sunglasses for babies and kids did so because he was really concerned about the possible risks tiny eyes face from overexposure to sunlight. Apparently, baby lenses are far less resistant to UV and...
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"[Desperately Seeking Susan-era] Madonna-style" Rompers

"Well, you see, honey, you know that old lady, Madonna? "Well, way back when Daddy was a little boy, she would dress up, and wear a lot of necklaces and bracelets and belts, all at the same time. And...
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Recipe For Playdough And/Or Disaster

My mom just sent the kid a brick of homemade Playdoh [or should I say non-trademarked Playdoh-like clay] and a recipe for more. Here it is:Playdough 2 cups, water [with a few drops of food coloring] 2 cups, flour 1...
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Marilyn Neuhart Dolls, Just Like The Girard Old Days

Marilyn Neuhart and her husband John worked with the Eames Office, Alexander Girard, and Herman Miller during the Golden Age of mid-century modernist design. When Girard opened his Textiles & Objects shop [T&O, as they apparently called it] to...
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O Yikes! Diaper Bag Used To Hold Your DJ Vinyl

In a welcome break from the purse and messenger bag paradigms, the O Yikes! slingback diaper bag is cross-strapped backpack, just like the one you bought when you were launching your DJ career back in your Williamsburg days. Now...
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Blood Sugar Cheerios Magik

Sheesh, was it really so long ago that the Cheerio plane needed a place to land, open wiiide?the kid this morning: Daddy, I finished my Cheerios all up and now they're in my tummy and my BLOOD is taking them...
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Sweet Nanna Ditzel High Chair

Meanwhile, crossing that bridge from Malmo to Denmark... Way back in the day, when you couldn't find Nanna Ditzel's classic Trissen toadstool tables and chairs in America with a truffle-hunting pig, I heard rumors some amazing store in the...
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Vaya Con Brio, My Darling: Awesome Brio Grow High Chair

Some posts around here are the "click and buy now!" kind, and some are the "stare and drool, and put off your purchase decision a little while in hopes of more information" kind. This is the latter. Brio, the...
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August 13, 2006

Alexander Girard Wooden Dolls

Extremely prescient designer Alexander Girard once said, "Toys represent a microcosm of man’s world and dreams; they exhibit fantasy, imagination, humour and love. They are an invaluable record and expression of man’s ingenious unsophisticated imagination. [They also decorate my...
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August 12, 2006

Adam Carolla Makes Small Talk About The Twins, The Babies

I guess when a comedian has kids, it takes a while to work out the new material. Is a Scallop an Animal? [nyt]...
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Artist Coloring Books, Some NSFK

The other day in Printed Matter, the always amazing artists' book store/exhibition space in Chelsea, I started wondering about what books artists might have made for kids. Given the thousands of publications on hand, I ended up narrowing the...
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Just Give The Kid The Chopsticks Already

For a couple of months, I'd been planning to ask the Rice Daddies for the best advice on teaching the kid to learn to eat with chopsticks. Then I found out they were using chopsticks from IKEA, or these tricky...
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From Russia With Edge: Boys & Toys Indie Plush Toys

As soon as we walked into the Bubble New York show this week, the kid made a beeline for the Boys & Toys booth, which was an unconventional standout, even among the non-mainstream exhibitors. The black-lined booth had a nylon...
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August 11, 2006

Zid Zid For The Kid Kid

The Bubble New York show popped a couple of days ago, but I still have some spotlights left to shine on some of the standout exhibitors. One definitely goes on Zid Zid, a two-year-old or so label based in the...
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From The Denounce Your Capitalist Roader Parents Dept: TSA Junior Screener Stickers

Or was it the "Ask me about my utter ignorance of historical context for fascism department"? Paul Saffo reports that the SF Intl Airport is handing "Junior Screener" stickers out to the kids. Personally, I'm holding out for a...
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X-Box Free Kid?? That Just Goes Too Far

Sugar, Peanuts, Television, Dairy, even Mercury I can totally see. But I can think of an easy dozen t-shirt slogans I would've released before "X-Box Free Kid." Any suggestions? Also, shouldn't these be in Spanish? Update: best quote from...
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Q: Could Sprout Have Fired A Nicer, Sweeter Mom? A: No, It Could Not.

The New York Observer's Rebecca Dana hangs out in Tompkins Square Park with toddler mom/Girls Club volunteer/one-time anal sex advocate--and ex-Sprout host--Melanie Martinez, who trots out her cheery greetings to the neighborhood homeless dudes. Even Mister Rogers Had a Past...
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Like-A-BMW: BMW KidsBike Has Pedals, Too

Very interesting. Seems the folks in Munich are as susceptible as the rest of the country to popularity of Like-A-Bike-like walking bikes for little kids. But the new Kids' BMW Bike adds a twist--or a crank: you can attach...
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Tente Smiles Casters: Happy Shiny Movable Nursery Furniture

One of the most important decisions you'll ever make in your kid's life is what kind of knobs, drawer pulls, and curtain rod finials you'll put in his room. At least that was the sense I got walking through...
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Shake Shack, Madison Square Park - NO

No restroom at all, of course. The kid made it to Wendy's across the street, which doesn't have a changing table, either....
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August 10, 2006

Eddie Izzard Drives A Barbie Kolcraft With A Pink Parasol

At least that's who/what it looked like yesterday on Broadway. Wild....
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Babies R Ass? Is Screwing Customers The New Company Policy?

While YOUR emails are always rational and compelling, I do get messages from my fair share of cranks. And while I try to read each one with an open mind, I like to think I can spot a Customer From...
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Baby Rock Records: Personally, I Fall Asleep Listening To The Original Radiohead

Baby Rock Records is a new label launching like, tomorrow, which puts out lullaby covers of rock favorites, alt, indie, heavy metal, and otherwise. It's a lot of glockenspiel, vibraphone, and mellotron [for years, nothing, then suddenly mellotrons everywhere....
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The Daily Show: Yeah, Birthpangs!

Daily Show Mideast correspondent Aasif Mandvi:Like the Secretary said, we're going through some "birthpangs" here. And you know how people tend to scream things they don't mean when they're in labor. Nonsense like, "How could you do this to me,"...
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Let My Toppers-To-Go Go, Please

Forgot about this, but unfortunately for the marketing director at Table Toppers, I was just reminded that they had handed out a free sample of their new product, Toppers-To-Go, to the visiting journalist(s) at JPMA. It's exactly this kind of...
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If You're Going To Start Choosing Your Baby Formula By Taste...

DT reader Stephen was the first of many to email in with info I'm sure everyone with a baby registered morning. From CNN: “For those traveling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted...
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Whassa Uppa With Uppa Baby?

Maybe this is more a question for the retailers in the audience: Where'd Uppa Baby come from? I saw they were at JPMA, but I confess, I don't remember seeing them. From what I can gather, it's a US-based,...
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August 9, 2006

Barney Shopping Cart Saves Children's Lives--For A Dollar

How would the shorties of this world get around if it weren't for New Zealand? Think about it: Mountain Buggies, Phil & Ted's, Ents, TV Karts... The TV Kart is the most popular television-equipped, mini-car/grocery cart in New Zealand, and...
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Nothing Against Emo Lesbian MySpace Designers, Mind You

If you made a tremendously important point today and you don't see it on the site, don't worry: I didn't censor you at the whiny behest of a thin-skinned childcare expert. I'm still getting the settings worked out on the...
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Pediatricians: Replace Shopping Carts Of Death Concussion

The American Academy of Pediatricians is calling for new safety regulations and designs for shopping carts because of all the injuries they say occur with the current 70-year-old design. [Nice of you to chime in now, Docs. What took you...
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Not-Ugly Dolls From House Of Ingri

The supercute cast of stuffed vinyl animal characters from the House of Ingri have big, expressive South Park eyes. Even the sad/weary/skeptical-looking ones are huggably cute. Unfortunately, their small parts and non-chew-resistant naugahyde means these toys must carry the...
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Once You Have Mac...The Carbon Fiber & Leather Maclaren

Warning: excessive-praise-for-a-$1,000-stroller alert! Contents may be hazardous to anti-consumerists, easily offended Marxists, and the principled poor. The carbon fiber and black leather Maclaren is out, and it looks awesome. Maclaren introduced the black frame on their Burberry edition, but...
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August 8, 2006

It's Raining Breast Milk During World Breastfeeding Week

In case you didn't notice, it was World Breastfeeding Week last week. And if you go over to Celebrity Baby Blog, right now, it's just bursting with a buxom bevy of breastfeeding-related posts. They really took aim and let...
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If Babies Were Robots, Bjorns Would Be As Light As This Aibo Carrier

When the Sony AIBO was announced, they sold the first 1,000 online. I reserved one--I think they were like two grand? four? whatever, it was some amount I did not want to float on my Amex for very long--and...
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So Many Hello, "Kitty" Jokes, So Little Time

My only comment: I guess it's appropriate that the Japanese department store behind the Paris Hilton edition of Hello Kitty is named after everyone's first STD. Headline: "Mono Comme Ca Kitty Is Paris Hilton (Devil? sp)" [via tmz]...
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Sue It Out: UK Crying Expert Throws Legal Tantrum Over Parents Messageboard

You know what's funny about England? They speak English, but they still have different names for things. They have a best-selling, but controversial cry-it-out baby scheduler like Dr. Ferber, only her name is Gina Ford. And their Urbanbaby, a message...
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Snakes On A Plane On A Onesie

As of this morning, there were 358 Snakes On A Plane-related designs available on kid-related gear, either creepers, kid-sized t-shirts, bibs, etc. FINALLY, the full promise of CafePress comes into view. Snakes On A Plane Baby & Kids Apparel...
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Trunki Suitcase: They're Riding Me Like A Horse

I cannot tell you how depressing it is to see little kids pulling wheelie suitcases around. Their bleak, road warrior future flashes in front of me, as I imagine them 25 years from now, schlepping through O'Hare on their...
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Tuss: It's Swedish For Awesome, Minimalist Baby Clothes

More news from the Bubble. Actually, tuss stands for 'the ultimate simple solution,' an English acronym for a Swedish company. Call it what you want, it works. Tuss was started [say it with me] two years ago in Stockholm...
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More News From The Bubble: Salvor Fauna Printed Matter

One of the biggest booths at Bubble New York was from Salvor, a New York based designer [? collective?] whose silkscreened products have a very sweet, instantly recognizable style. They're all/almost all photography-based images of animals, which are single-color...
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Researcher: Not Me, But Other New Dads Feel Depressed

Researchers at Eastern Virginia Medical School found that becoming a parent increased the incidence of depression for both men and women. 14% of new mothers showed signs of depression, compared to 9-10% of gen pop [Ah, Oz. Gone, but not...
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Fetus Coasters

When I posted a mockup of a skate deck with ultrasound pictures on it, DT reader/skatechick Anna pointed out--rightly--that with every ollie and rail slide, you'd be sanding off your precious child's mug, and that's gotta have psychological implications down...
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August 7, 2006

The Our Children's Gorilla In The Room

I'd seen the slot-together chair by Swedish indie designers Our Children's Gorilla a few months back at Yoya but it didn't have any labels on it, and when I went back, it was gone. And Googling around for "Swedish Gorilla"...
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And She Can Sing, Too

The kid's toilet training is, well, let's just say she's very advanced. The drive back to NYC this morning had many stops, one nap, and no accidents. As she tells me, "You are very impressed." Before we left DC, though,...
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News From Inside The Bubble:

Tami from Ismodern mentioned Bubble New York to me a couple of months back, and I definitely wanted to check it out. It's a--hold on--a cool trade show, as if such a thing were possible. Bubble launched in the Spring...
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Presented Without Comment: The 9/11 Activity Book

Except I'm surprised they went with "for ages 4 and up" instead of "born before September 11th, 2001." 9/11 Families Give Back Fund Activity Book [asphalteden via gawker]...
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August 6, 2006

Animatronic Elmo Birthday Cake For A 2-Year-Old

Dude, it's Elmo's World; we just live in it. Will and his wife Liliana are out-n-proud geeks who live in Fort Worth with their two daughters. On their family website, Will has documented a bunch of his different projects: the...
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August 5, 2006

Who Can Turn The World On With Her Marketably Pink, Sparkly Smile?

Honestly, at what point do we consider Sesame Street right alongside every other company who, under the pretense of early education, uses a television show to sell your kid toys and books and videos and gear? The Times has an...
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Gatekeeper Moms, Gatekeeper Dads

I think this is so true, except I prefer the term, "emperor-for-life":A pattern is established in childbirth and breastfeeding that can be hard to break, observes Greg Allen, author of the blog Daddytypes. The mother becomes the expert first, then...
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Flying Private: Think Of The Children

Mock me if you must, but there was a time when I swore I wasn't going to have kids until I could stop flying commercial. Turns out the IPO gods had a different sequence of events in store for me...
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August 4, 2006

You Mean THIS Sweet Weimar Bauhaus Bassinet??

"Any photos of sweet Bauhaus children's furniture?" I ask with dopey innocence at the end of the previous post. To which modernist design shark Andy replies, "Crafts of the Weimar Bauhaus, 1919-1924. An Early Experiment in Industrial Design has...
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Before I Forget, Here's A Plushie Puffin Entertaining Icelandic Children

I posted this to flickr when we got back from Iceland, but I'd meant to post it here, too. On the country's National Day, everyone showed up in Reykjavik to eat insane amounts of sugar [lollipops and cotton candy,...
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Scientists To Aussie Bums: Put Up AND Shut Up

A recent University of Melbourne study of new dads who work outside the home while their new mom partners do most all the "housework" and baby care, and who, while taking twice as much leisure time as their partners, still...
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Bauhaus Bauspiel Blocks From Naef Are Freakin' Small

Alma Siedhoff-Buscher was the first Bauhaus practitioner to take children's design seriously. Siedhoff-Buscher saw children's design--including toys, furniture, and utensils--as a way out of the textile department, where she'd been confined with all the other women by Walter Gropius....
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Speak To Me, Brotha Elmo

Tavis Smiley, or as he likes to be called, The Charlie Rose for Black Folk, talks to Kevin Clash, the man who spends his waking, working hours living inside Elmo's furry red head. Much mutual "my soul brother"-ing ensues. [Or...
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Awesome Blik + Threadless Mashup Wall Decals

I, for one, welcome our Blik overlords, who seem to be in a constant state of revolution in the contemporary wall decal market they revolutionized. A couple of months ago, they threw a competition with Threadless, the hotornot.com of...
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New Study: Breast Is Best For Getting Divorced

What a long-term study of the emotional maturity and resilience of breastfed children says: by the time they were 10, kids born in 1970 who were breastfed dealt with their parents divorces 5x better than bottle-fed kids. What a new...
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August 3, 2006

We Interrupt This Britney-Free Zone For This Important Announcement From The Newark Bears

Britney Spears arguably the Madonna of this generation has brought the issue of baby safety to the forefront of the American conscious. The Newark Bears know that the Pop Diva's public mishaps are far from intentional. It is her celebrity...
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Walking Wings: Here Come The Reins Again

+ = ? "Walking Wings is a first of its kind product that will revolutionize the way babies learn to walk." Now, I don't want to be a noodge, and I am certainly the first to encourage innovative parent...
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The Baby Roasting In Wal-Mart Parking Lot Google Map

So some woman in Florida accidentally locks her baby in the van in a Wal-Mart parking lot, begs the shopping cart guy for help, he says talk to the manager. Eventually the manager says something along the lines of, "Hey,...
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Read DaddyTypes.doc At Work

Little known fact: One of my early inspirations for Daddy Types was the IBM Selectric II typewriter--aka the typewriter with balls--which ushered in a workplace revolution. With the IBM and the word processors and computers that followed, typing was no...
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"Rhoades is survived by his wife, artist Rachel Khedoori; daughter Rubi, 3..."

He was really just an acquaintance; I was just another fan/groupie/collector, I'm sure. But still, I am really kind of undone to learn that Rhoades died. Jason Rhoades, 41; Artist Combined Humor, Poignancy [latimes]...
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More News From The Coming Apocalypse: The Elmo's World Movie

How do you know if the journalism career isn't working out? When you interview Elmo for TV Guide and he comes off sounding like the sane one. Still, Elmo throws the guy a bone, telling him when the world might...
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Lois Lenski Alphabet Blocks I Cannot Find

The kid's got a thing at the moment for Lois Lenski's book, Policeman Small, and so I toggle between admiration of her clean, simple artwork and annoyance at the guy's apparently non-union job [a 12hour shift with only 30...
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August 2, 2006

There Are Children Starving For Pomegranate Puree In India

The NY Times has discovered fresh and fresh-frozen organic baby food, and it turns out there are now East Coast-West Coast rivalries a-brewing that could dwarf the LA Bo-Baby/Ho-Baby tussle. Brooklyn-based Happy Baby makes fresh-frozen quinoa [it's KIN-wah, I learned...
[read the full post...]

Why Does It Sound Naughty When Ashanti Says It?

Ashanti just got a deal to "write" a children's book. This is not the cover. Gawker's got the details--and the mad Photoshopping skillz. [gawker]...
[read the full post...]

My First Boxer Shorts Are For Sale Online

Before I get your hopes up, I'd better rephrase that. Although they're best known for their theme-y baby towel sets and costumes, Mullins Square also makes diaper covers called My First Boxer Shorts that look like--you guessed it--boxer shorts....
[read the full post...]

Some RSS Feeds Are Getting A Timeout

thanks to everyone who's sent feedback about any problems or gaps they're finding with the site. I'm still trying to get to the root of the comments and search error messages, but one thing I'm finding: if you submit a...
[read the full post...]

C Is For Complete Loser

So I'm listening to the inaugural podcast over Parents.com this morning, and I'm thinking, "Childhood obesity? Eh, maybe I'll skip to the toilet training segment..." just as the pediatrician guest says something about how "the four C's are cola, candy,...
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Does Anyone Know The Dimensions Of A Maxi-Cosi Cabrio?

DT reader Tina's wondering about sticking that badboy in a suitcase. I'm thinking that, unless it's one of those giant, going-home-to-New-Delhi-style mega-suitcases, it's highly unlikely. But our Cabrio is in the storage unit, so there's no way to measure it....
[read the full post...]

August 1, 2006

Sorry, But The Daily Mail Hates Babies!

Seriously, in one week the UK's Daily Mail runs stories called Sorry, but my children bore me to death! AND Sorry, but I HATED Breastfeeding. With a beefy Irish nurse shouting, "Your baby is hungry! These are not for playing...
[read the full post...]

Malaysian Government Lists Up "Undesirable" Names

Malaysia's no melting pot, it's a spice rack. And names are inextricably tied with religious and ethnic identity. So when the National Registration Department wanted to compile a list of "undesirable" baby names, it turned to Confucian, Buddhist, Hindu, and...
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Zaky Pillow Simulates The [Muppet] Mother's Hand

Daddy's hands weren't always gentle Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I done wrong But Mommy's hands were soft as muppet pillows, singin' me a good night song:The Zaky is an ergonomic infant pillow designed by a mom...
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Orange County's Largest Collection Of Star Trek Bears

Congratulations to Marlene McNeill, who won second place in the Orange County Fair, for her collection of Star Trek Bears. According to the display card in the fair's Hall of Collections, most of the bears came from the Star...
[read the full post...]

Love Letters To The Immigrant Nanny, From The Desk Of Helen Kirwan-Taylor:

Helen Kirwan-Taylor is apparently Britain's answer to the NY Times' shop-and-call-it-work columnist Alex Kuczynski, if not exactly their Candace Bushnell [Oh well, everyone needs to dream]. She writes at length about everything from parties to decorating to shopping to remodelling--she...
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Non-Scientists: Whiny Parents Get People Riled Up

Students of journalism in the UK and US have proved that long articles by parents flouting their selfishness and repeatedly calling themselves "brave" for admitting how bored they are with their kids will elicit much heated, indignant response from readers....
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Scientists: Fatherhood Makes You Smarter

Studies of the prefrontal cortex structure of first-time and experienced marmoset parents show that "Fatherhood produces changes in very high-cognitive-level areas" said Yvesgenia Kozorovitskiy of Princeton University. It's important to remember, though, that this information is coming from people...
[read the full post...]

Scientists: Beautiful Parents Have More Daughters

It's not that simple, of course, as lead researcher Dr Satoshi Kanazawa explains: "Beautiful parents have more daughters than ugly parents, because physical attractiveness is heritable and because daughters benefit from attractiveness more than sons." Other recent papers from Dr....
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Flash: Amazon Parents Prefer More Free Money, 7-to-1

Fascinating. When Amazon was running its $30/$99 diaper promotions, where they gave Amazon gift certificates a month or so following a large order of baby products, people placed an average of 5-8 orders/day. [I'm guessing here. Amazon reports what products...
[read the full post...]

"Old Crapper" On eBay

Toilet training turns out to be like diaper changing, only more so: whenever you go out, you become hyper-aware of where the nearest toilets are. But I confess, even with my heightened potty sense, I never would've thought to...
[read the full post...]

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