Daddy Types: September 2007 Archives

September 2007 Archives

September 30, 2007

Go Ahead Lead, Make My Day: The Innov-X Handheld XRF Analyzer

The government's been taken over by a bunch of pantywaists from Gucci Gulch who lobby to slash funding for eveything but their own wallet-lining pork. Corporate fat cats are selling the country out, making toys from who-knows-what in order...
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Jukka Disk Game & Roller Seat From Finland From Kiosk

I was wondering when the next country would turn up on Kiosk, and it has: Finland. A few times each year, the conceptual SoHo retailer scours a country for exceptionally well-designed and iconic stuff from the rare to the...
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Mark X ZiO: Toyota's Entry In The "Small Minivan You Don't Hate" Category

From Winding Road comes news that the Toyota FSC Concept car from 2005 has hit the road in Japan as the Mark X ZiO::Toyota’s clearly trying something different with the ZiO which is some five inches shorter than a...
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September 29, 2007

Thomas The Tank Engine Of The People's Glorious Revolution

Awesome:I hate Thomas. These stories, written from the 1940s by an apparently rather crusty old vicar, seem to me to constantly harp on about how all the little engines should be obedient and "really useful" to the corpulent rich...
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Slightly Puffy-Looking Dad Cops To Buying Age-Inappropriate Toys For 3-yo

Andrew Adam Newman reports on the front page of the NY Times Business section today that some parents are so distracted by the threat of lead-contaminated toys, they forget the old-fashioned dangers--like toys with many small pieces that can...
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September 28, 2007

Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day Of Play Is Tomorrow From Noon Till Three. Seriously.

Did you know it was Go Healthy Month? Yeah, me neither:Go Healthy Month will culminate with Nickelodeon’s 4th annual Worldwide Day of Play on September 29th when the Alliance and Nickelodeon are encouraging kids and families across the country to...
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Reference Library's DT Linkbait

And the answer to Andy's question is yes, I will gladly link to a shamelessly self-promotional photo from his recent trip to the woods. Also, Shehaqua just made our naming shortlist. [update: it's off. someone just told me Shehaqua...
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There Is No Cry, Only Poo: Introducing The Kid To Star Wars

Lead, schmead. It's good to see someone's tackling the real issues of burning importance to new dads these days. Like what order to show the Star Wars movies to your kid: Let's say you're a new father and a movie...
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Backpack! Backtrack! This Week In Poisonous Toy News

So many stories about toxic toys, so little time. Even the NY Times wraps up ten different recall and lead incidents into one story these days. To celebrate the World Vinyl Forum, which was in town this week, a consumer...
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Gawker Hates On Cheese-Snobbing Alternakid

It's hard out there for a kid, yo. When Gawker's Josh mocked Neal Pollack's cheese snobbery by calling Elijah, his little cheese snob-in-training, names, Neal was understandably pissed. I mean, what's the point of offering up an easy target for...
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September 27, 2007

DT eBay Roundup: CP Farm, Swing & Miami Beach Netto

A few things I'm seeing on eBay--and not bidding on, so I don't mind telling you about them. This is how [some of] your eBay news is made, people! CREATIVE PLAYTHINGS 60'S WOOD LEARNING TOYS FARM An early set of...
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DTQ: Has Anyone Ever Been To The Bologna Children's Book Fair?

I just finished a very enticing account in PingMag of the Bologna Children's Book fair, which is held every spring [the 45th installment is coming in 2008.] It's more than a little breathless and boosterish. And as the title...
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Whoa. Acona Biconbi By Bruno Munari

Artist and designer Bruno Munari may be best known for the beautiful children's books he published with Edizioni Corraini [He began making children's books for his son Alberto.] But Munari also created furniture and lighting designs and art. This...
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Is BabyPlus Inventor A Doctor? It Goes Without Saying

It just doesn't stop. Read the highlighted section of the biography of BabyPlus Prenatal Education System inventor Dr. Brent Logan [It's on a page called "The Science of BabyPlus - The Scientific Basis of BabyPlus"]:He also holds a teaching...
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DT Retail Wholesale Scoutabout: Dwell, Offi

What: Sample and overstock sale for Dwell and Dwellbaby When: Oct. 4 to 11, 11-7 each day Where: 76 Greene St [near Spring] How much: 60-80% off retail. Crib sets that were $352-390 will be $60-160. Wow. [via nyt] What:...
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Reggio Emilia Preschools Are New York's New Hotness

When I first heard of them a year or so ago, the sense I got that Reggio Emilia preschools were just the less flashy, less rigid, but equally long-established cousin of Montessori. But according to the NY Times' Graham Bowley,...
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Manhattan Couple Celebrates The Miracle Of Square Footage

How does Joyce Wadler find these people? The NY Times Home section has the renovation fairy tale of the extremely handy drummer Mark Robohm, who gut-renovated his 400-sq ft Chelsea studio for $11,500 while living in it. Now he and...
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September 26, 2007

Copyright Cluster*@&#: Sweet Vintage Noguchi Playground Scans On Flickr

I don't know about you, but all this copyrighted image outrage just wears me out! Let's take a funbreak--and look at these sweet archival images of Isamu Noguchi's various playground designs which archiblogger Andrew Raimist uploaded to flickr. They were...
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Robert Wilson Had A Lot Of Children's Chairs

The artist/playwright/whatever Robert Wilson is apparently moving out to the Hamptons for good, or at least he's emptying out his fabled loft, the site of many a 70's-era SoHo surrealist theater premiere and smokeout. From the look of the...
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September 25, 2007

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Dadblogging Lawyer Copyright-Infringed

When my picture of the kid holding her handknit iPhone was making the rounds this summer, I licensed it a few times for commercial use, and let it go for free a few times. Then one day, I ran across...
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The World's Iconic Brands In A Puzzle--Plus Atypyk

Coke McDonald's Nike Apple Playboy... uh, Pine Tree Air Freshener At first I thought the theme of this puzzle was Junk You Haven't Brought In From The Car. But then I realized that the white circle in the upper...
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As Seen In Cookie Magazine!

Anyone know a good nanny service in Eurobad? TIA Eurobad '74: an exhibition of Europe's worst interiors of 1974. [omodern via dt reader judy]...
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Urchin Rock: The Underwater Baby Photographers Of Britain

I can't quite tell if the underwater baby photographers are riding the trend of Aquababy/water acclimatization classes, or if the desire for a picture of your own kid on the cover of a Nirvana album is so strong, you'll...
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CPSC As Busted And Dangerous As A Simplicity Crib

Remember the 1 million Simplicity and Graco [made by Simplicity] cribs recalled last week because the droprail can come undone and create a deadly gap between the crib and the mattress? It turns out the first child to die from...
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September 24, 2007

A DT Fill In The Blank Contest: My Name Is _! I Like To !

I've been looking for a way to honor the awesomest member so far in the Yo Gabba Gabba! Dance Club ["My name is Nathaniel! I like to dance!"], and John gave me the perfect idea in the My name...
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Richard Bailey's To Be A Dad

The Photography Annual issue of Creative Review was published with six different covers, including this goofy-cool image by British photographer Richard Bailey. Titled To Be A Dad it looks similar to a series of ads he shot for A&E...
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Collar-Up Stroller Mashup: Izod Lacoste X Maclaren

Unfortunately, my Preppy Handbook is in New York, so I'm unable to confirm if the upcoming Izod Lacoste edition Maclaren stroller is all-new, or a reissue of a vintage 80's model. I considered not posting at all, because the...
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Well, I Love Trash [Can Costumes For The Stokke Xplory]

This auction ended a couple of weeks ago, unfortunately, but it deserves a shoutout: eBay seller and master craftyperson nimbus8895 [update: who only now comes out as DT reader and frequent tipster/commenter Melissa] made an Oscar the Grouch Halloween...
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September 23, 2007

My Name Is OJ! I Like To Steal!

IF I downloaded the first few episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba! for the plane, this is how I did it: Bit Torrent. Of course, IF I did it, it'd probably be going since last night, and it still wouldn't be...
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September 22, 2007

Dutch's Daddy Dance Lessons

From the biggest swingin' blogger this side of Baryshnicrotch comes two videos for your and your kid's dancing pleasure: Gene Kelly dancing on a newspaper backstage in Summer Stock, and Feist "1,2,3,4" dancing backstage at a Hanes commercial. and And...
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The Alphabet For Jack, By Standard Motion

Another nice example of artist dads making stuff for their kids: John Setzen created "The Alphabet for Jack" for his and his wife Mindy's son-on-the-way. Setzen's innocently styled drawings are familiar to his fellow Brooklynians from the band posters...
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September 21, 2007

Formwerks Went To The Eames Gallery, And All I Got Was This Lousy--Holy Crap, Dude! Is That A Molded Ply Rocking Horse??

This summer, the Eames Office and Vitra issued a limited-edition, molded plywood elephant based on an early, experimental design that Ray and Charles Eames made for their own kids, but never put into production. [Two were made; the Eames...
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Wow, Undoboy Mega-Blik Installation Video

Sheesh, I sure love the way the vinyl wall decal thing has taken off. But watching this 2-hour installation of a massive Blik decalscape condensed to 1-minute, I just can't imagine not totally screwing this up somehow. [Not that...
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This Week In Deadly Crib News: Bumper Study, 1MM Cribs Recalled

A team of pediatrics researchers from Washington University in St Louis reviewed 20 years of CPSC data and identified at lesat 27 infant deaths caused by crib bumpers. Their findings and recommendations--GET RID OF CRIB BUMPERS, DUH, THEY'RE POINTLESS AND...
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A Joan Crawford Alphabet, By Donald Urquhart

In 2004, London artist Donald Urquhart got a lot of attention for An Alphabet of Bad Luck, Doom and Horror, which filled an entire wall at Maureen Paley gallery with a childlike cataloging of universal woe, some of which...
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The 2008 Fit: Mercedes A-Class, Built By Honda

That settles it. If the 2008 Honda Fit really does look like this, when it hits these shores, I can finally stop trying to figure out how to bring a Mercedes A-Class over on the grey market. My current...
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September 20, 2007

Blue Man Preschool: Bang On A Paint-Covered Drum

Look, I'm the first, second, and third dad to be stoked to learn that two founders of the Blue Man Group have opened a pre-school. And not just because it's inspired by the play-and-creativity-based Reggio Emilia approach to child development,...
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There's A Party In My Wallet: Yo Gabba Gabba Toys Will Drop By Thanksgiving

Yo Gabba Gabba! definitely wants to be invited to the Christmas party in your wallet. Kid Robot, the vinyl toy subsidiary of YGG! production company WildBrain just announced to retailers that Yo Gabba Gabba vinyl and plush dolls will...
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H Is For Han Shot First

StarWars.com blogger Neil Baker made a Star Wars Alphabet for fellow Star Wars bloggers to put on Star Wars t-shirts to wear to the Celebration IV Star Wars anniversary commemoration a few months back. Then he turned his alphabet...
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BabyPlus Inventor Responds: 'I Am Not A Quack. Also, Buy My Book.'

Dr. Brent Logan, PhD., the self-esteemed neurogeneticist/psychologist, is the inventor of the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System, the only prenatal rhythm sequencer-on-a-beltpack endorsed by both 02138 Magazine: The World of Harvard AND famous pregnancy expert Nicole Richie. Logan invented the system...
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September 19, 2007

Bill Amberg Leather X Silver Cross Dazzle Stroller Colabo

Patty's still posting finds and reports from ABC Kids Expo on Baby Chic 101. If she's not the new Stroller Queen yet, she's at least the Stroller Crown Princess. One thing that grabbed my eye: a collaboration between the newly...
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Victoria Staten X EasyWalker Sky Stroller Mashup

And speaking of Victoria Staten, the Staten-on-Safari tent at ABC Kids Expo apparently contained a few new products, the most eye-catching of which is the Staten Edition of the Easy Walker Sky stroller. Easy Walker's a popular Dutch brand [Seriously,...
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Great Expectations: Victoria Staten Baby Carrier

Last week's or whenever's posts about baby stuff you hear about online meeting expectations--or not, or exceeding them--prompted DT reader Adrienne to burn a few minutes of precious naptime sharing this story:After seeing the company featured on your site...
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Gear Of Son Of Crunchgear

Gearblogger extraordinaire [and onetime DT guestblogger] John Biggs posted some highlights of his son Kasper's inventory at Crunchgear. There's a Quinny Buzz, some select Ikea, a few annoying plastic toys, and my favorites: actual obsolete gadgets and Polish-language toys from...
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Tramp Stamped And Pierced And Pregnant? Big Deal!

"Why Some Expectant Moms Are Worried About Tattoos"? Uh, how about because the Wall Street Journal keeps a non-issue alive by joining a five-year-long daisy chain of non-stories in pregnancy magazines and message boards about the non-existent incompatibility between epidurals...
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Adiri Breast-Shaped Bottle, Or Do Co-Sleepers Dream Of Eclectic Teats?

Yes, yes they do. DT reader Eric:So weird. I just had a dream last night that co-sleeping parents (like us) could help transition their kid to their own crib if there was some sort of fake boob in the crib...
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September 18, 2007

Les Savy Fav Frontman Tim Harrington Drives A Bugaboo!

From the silly- and hairy-as-it-sounds Village Voice photo series, "The Back Tattoos of McCarren Pool Park": Don't know why Maclaren Guy's hiding; after all, he's the responsible one with the baby headphones. Must be the drummer, Harrison Haynes. On a...
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Hushamok: A Soloflex For New Parents

Claims of revolutionary functionality. Beautifully designed, A bit expensive but it feels worth it when you pull the trigger. And you'll be hanging your laundry off of it in six months. Yes, the Hushamok is the sleekest new entrant in...
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Jojo The Robot In The Nursery

At what point do we stop thinking it's cute, all the robots in the nurseries, and we start worrying about The Matrix and The Rise Of The Machines? Eh, not yet! Just look at how cute this giant robot...
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Creative Playthings Slow Truck Perfect For Your Little Tank Girl

British toy designer Patrick Rylands created the Slow Truck in 1972. It was made for Creative Playthings by the German company Schuco. There was also a Slow Bus, which looks more like a bright red Slow Winnebago. Both toys...
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"Cuz That's The Z Of The Game": Richard Pryor's ABC's

Richard Pryor improv'ing the ABC's on Sesame Street is brought to you by the letter P and the number 1, P as in prudes, and 1 as in the number of PBS Sprout hosts they've booted so far for...
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Macrametastic Patchwork Wall From 1975

Heath and the BLT Boys are scanning in pages from the 1975 magnum opus, The Complete Encyclopedia of Crafts. It's 24 full-color volumes of fantastic craft projects your parents never got around to finishing for you. This wall of...
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Robots In The Nursery

Artist/illustrator Patrick Lau started with a painting of a robot for his kid's nursery, which began, as his wife Maya put it, "to slightly have a theme." He added giant gears to the walls, and there's a shelf full...
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September 17, 2007

This Rosle Can Opener Is The Most Incredible Can Opener In The World.

The headline really says it all: I open like two cans a year, and so every time is like an all-new revelation of how easy, safe, comfortable, and good-looking this paradigm-changing can opener is. Rosle Can Opener, $35 [williams-sonoma.com]...
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Baby, Remember My Name: The Roddler By Kid Kustoms

I've been surfing the coverage of ABC Kids Expo from the likes of Baby Chic 101 and Babble, and so far, the biggest news seems to be the glitzy debut of The Roddler, Kid Kustoms' pimp-sweet stroller with the...
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Hipposmile Highchair: Ballsout Sinocanadian Stokkeknockoff!

one of these things [L] is a freakin' lot like the other [R] Unbelievable. Peter Opsvik's 1972 design for the Stokke Tripp Trapp has definitely inspired its share of adjustable, modern-style wood high chairs, but the Hipposmile Happy Hippo...
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Lunetta Crib-In-A-Tube By Kotura

The third question you'd have upon seeing Kotura Design's Lunetta convertible crib/toddler bed at K+J would be, "But does the side raise up?" [#2 is "Is that kid in the union? Because the Koelnmesse is a union venue." #1...
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"The Mittens Stay On The Handle": Found PR Poetry At Kind+Jugend

I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing out loud at the inadvertent poetry of the 51-page [PDF] Kind+Jugend News & Innovations roundup. [Seriously, it was driving my wife crazy.] It's a perfect storm of PR hype, application packet formalism,...
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The Icansit High Chair Puts The Swarovski Crystals On Its Skin.

From the folks who brought you Mountain Buggy:Hundreds of glittering Swarovski crystals bring a sparkle of light and colour to a special edition of icansit children's chairs. A supplementary silver seat base completes the classy looks of an eye-catching child's...
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September 16, 2007

Beat Blocks: Insta-Rhythms From Wooden Blocks

Beat Blocks are an extraordinarily simple interface for a midi controller and rhythm sequencer. The grid represents four measures x four percussion outputs. The stripes on each block represent the beats within each measure. You compose instantly and in...
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Paul Rand, Punk. Punk, Paul Rand

The kid's sick, the laptop battery was dead, so when I curled up with her [the kid, that is, not the laptop] for a little Sesame Street Therapy this morning, I grabbed a copy of the Dutch/LES design journal/zine...
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Ausgezeichnet! The Bugaboo Car Seat??

Here's a picture from the just-ended Kind+Jugend expo in Cologne that seems to show some Bugaboo Bee-matching infant carriers. Either that, or Bugaboo and its car seat-selling expo neighbors drove around Cologne at night, stealing wood from construction sites,...
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Stokke, I Shrunk The Sales Reps!

Photos and reports are starting to land in my inbox from the giant Kind+Jugend expo in Cologne, which ends today. Big news ahead, stay tuned. Did someone say "big" and "giant"? Last year Stokke sent the kid this exact...
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September 15, 2007

Qbertisqatsi

I had Godfrey Reggio's classic 1982 movie Koyaanisqatsi playing in the background while I was writing the other day--thank you, Philip Glass--and I looked up to see this scene of a dad playing Q*bert while holding his kid. Of...
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'You Won't Remember This': Jeff Scher's 0-4 Animations

Artist and animator Jeff Scher has a pretty sweet gig. He's, I guess, an animation columnist on the NY Times website, and his short features are part of a series called Sightlines on the Times Select section of the...
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September 14, 2007

The Wheels On The Volvo XC70 Go Round And Round

No sign of a town, though. Stephin Merritt singing in a Volvo XC70 Commercial [visit4info.com via gawker] Previously: Photos d'Espion! La Nouvelle Volvo XC70 If This Volvo's A Rockin'...[and chances are that it is]...
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There's A Story Here, But Because It Happened On Their Property, Disney Owns The Copyight In Perpetuity

The Chronbloggers at The Poop recently posted some tips for making your toddler-equipped trip to Disneyland as entertaining as possible. I have one to add: make sure you're on Main Street for the Pluto Kid-Chasing & Mom Smackdown Parade. Holy...
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A Children's Workshop For [Children] Making Toys

I don't know what we'd do with all the leftover product liability lawyers, but if putting kids to work building their own toys is good for disabled kids in developing countries, why not do it here, too? Solve the...
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Penguin And Rabbit Doing Melbourne Shuffle

Honestly, I have no idea what this is, but it'd probably keep a kid happy for a minute or so. And it's no weirder, really, than posting a plaza full of Reykjavik tots being entertained by a giant Plushie...
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No One Puts Baby In The Stroller: Deborah Kass @ Paul Kamsin

Daddy, 2007, image: paul kamsin gallery The Chelsea gallery crawl may get so crowded, they'll have to declare a No-Bugaboo zone soon. So go early, and make sure to see Deborah Kass's show at Paul Kamsin, "feel good paintings for...
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No Heavy Wonderpetting

The other day as we were walking out of a friend's birthday party, another dad asked me what the Wonderpets' names actually were, because his daughter thought they were something different. I'm like, "I have no idea, but I can...
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Red Roaster Coffee House, Brighton UK - NO

That's a great baby sign. Too bad there's not one on the men's room door. Ladies & Baby changing Red Roaster Brighton, UK [Ulysses68's flickr photos via losu]...
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September 13, 2007

ABCWatch: Scott Bennett's Pacific Crib - Mainstream Modern

I've been watching Westwood Design's new Pacific nursery collection for a long time now, and so I'm bummed to have missed its debut at this year's ABC Kids Expo. The Pacific is quite a bold design move for Westwood,...
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ABC The Pink Bugaboo Bee. Be. The Pink Bugaboo Bee.

We had a plumbing catastrophe the day I was supposed to leave for Las Vegas, and so my weekend was spent making sure it didn't turn into an art, book, bookcase, and carpet catastrophe, too. I've been getting some reports...
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BabyPlus "Prenatal Education System," MC Hammer, Will Get Your Kid Into Harvard

From the current issue of 02138 Magazine [tagline: "The World of Harvard"], a cover feature [also on the cover: "The Harvard 100: The most influential alumni"] on getting your kid into Harvard:...Such grueling competition isn't going away. In fact,...
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Are You Sitting Down? Because The Toy Industry Wants The CPSC To Bend Over

So last week's shock at a toy industry request for the federal government to set new safety testing standards has definitely worn off, even before Consumerist described the proposal as "an over-hyped batch of self-serving hogwash." DT reader Mark quickly...
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So I Named My Son After An Axe Murderer

Every time I start to wonder why my mom stayed with my father when they were so ferociously ill-matched, I look at the photo at the top of this post, of her own dad embracing her as a baby. He...
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September 12, 2007

Playmobil Disaster At Times Square Toys R Us

My rather short-notice trip to the Times Square Toys R Us yesterday was not a total cultural disaster [though I'm glad the kid didn't tag along; the suddenly animated animatronic T-Rex would've freaked her action out, let me tell...
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City of Sound: A Birth, In 13 Places, On One New Dad's Architecture Blog

One of my favorite architecture and urban space bloggers, Dan Hill, of City of Sound, is a new dad [mazeltov, Celia & Dan, hi Ollie!]. [Which means he helped put on the awesome NYC symposium/happening Postopolis! in May just weeks...
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Wait, The Mazda6 Is Actually Coming To The US?

Several guys emailed the sneak preview of the 2008 Mazda6 last week, but I lost it in the queue. Now that the redesigned mid-size wagon's launched at Frankfurt, I'm trying to catch up, even though there are very few...
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CPSC: Can We Fix It? Not Bloody Likely! "Bob Our Small Parts Guy" Debuts On CSPAN

Un. Be. Lievable. What a train wreck. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee which oversees the Consumer Products Safety Commission is holding a hearing on toy safety, toy recalls, and the utter shambles that is the CPSC and the Toy Industrial Complex's...
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Of COURSE It's Not Coming To The US; It's A Sweet Diesel Accord Wagon, Duh

The torture that is the Frankfurt Auto Show is upon us, and Jalopnik's got a whole slew of sweet station wagon-shaped bamboo skewers to jam under our American fingernails. Here's a Honda Accord Touring Concept named to remind Americans...
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New Yorker Confirms What You Know: Colic Is A Form Of Torture

The Sept. 17 issue of The New Yorker has a long, fascinating, informative, but ultimately frustrating article on the vexing mysteries of colic. If your kid has colic, though, please don't use your one precious hour of quiet reading about...
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September 11, 2007

Hey, Nature Boy! Where You Planning On Biodegrading That Diaper?

DT reader Tania was stoked to find some Nature Babycare diapers from Sweden at her local Target recently. Why? Because they're "100% Biodegradable!" Finally!Nature Baby Care claims their disposable diapers are biodegradable as well as their wipes and entire line...
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Flytta, Please: Stainless Steel Changing Table From Ikea Kitchen Cart

On the subject of stainless steel changing tables, DT reader Eric sends along this photo of their nursery, which sports a sweet Ikea Flytta kitchen cart--the bigger, 38 5/8", 3-shelf model, not the 23" wood-topped one. It has lockable...
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Man Tries, Fails To Look Mean In Adorable R2-D2 Beanie

image via mega(k)nits Better to figure out how to scale the various knitting patterns for kid-sized heads. When I asked her how easy it'd be, she said "very easy," and then she said she was going to Europe and...
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Muistipeli Is Finnish For Matching Game

This set of matching cards use rather insanely complex fabric designs from Marimekko. Like Frank Lloyd Wright and his Froebel blocks, these cards are just the kind of thing your kid'll latch onto as the singular inspiration for his...
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September 10, 2007

Drag Racing: Clueless Cross-Dressing GM Car Designers In Full-On Denali

I owe the producers of CBS News an apology. I thought that only lazy, cynical reporters pre-chewing content-free pablum for a aging audience of out-of-touch Boomers made annoyingly obtuse references to the twenty-five-year-old Michael Keaton movie, Mr. Mom. I was...
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Wait, Say Again? What To Get Lil Derrick For His 4th Birthday?

1) Scarface: Widescreen 20th Anniversary Edition DVD, which was issued in 2003, the year he was born. 2) Dead hookers & blow 3) A toy gun with a whistle in the barrel. 4) An appointment for Big Derrick to...
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Spumoni-esque Cradle Alle Genovese

Abandon rational concerns of outrageous, potentially dangerous protruding objects all ye who enter your kid here. This wrought iron [is there such a thing as overwrought iron?] and carved wood cradle by Sacca di Messina was included in the...
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Vintage Plastic: Efebino Stool By Stacy Dukes

In the late 1960's, the Italian manufacturer Artemide, best known for their groovy light fixtures, produced this stackable kid's stool by Stacy Dukes. It's called the Efebino, though there was also a slightly wider, 2x taller version called the...
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Hand Knit Starfleet Baby Blankie Subtler Than Most

It seems I've wandered into the web's Knerdish Knitting Knook. Samantha made a little snuggly/baby washcloth thing with the Starfleet insignia on it for some pregnant Star Trek fan/friends. [with Trek-themed music, but no Starfleet uniforms or Klingon cake...
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Go Figure: Go Home Australian Inflatable "Baby Spa"

Maybe I'm not quite grasping the concept here. Do Australian parents really have so much uncommitted time in their day that they blow up a whole bathtub, fill it with water, empty it, deflate it, and carefully hang it...
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September 9, 2007

Whoa. Knit A Space Invader Baby Snowboarder Hat

This is awesome. On Instructables, Tracy_The_Astonishing shows how to knit this sweet 6-12 mo-sized Space Invader earflap hat in just three easy steps. Granted, one of those steps involves drawing a sheaf of arcane stitch patterns on graph paper,...
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Another Awesome Cart-Turned-Industrial Changing Table

Daddy Types was founded out of my search for an industrial-style changing table, something to match the Bowery commercial stainless steel of our kitchen and the gorgeous enameled steel carts that filled the labs of my wife's building at NASA....
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Wait, Say Agin?? Mutton Bustin'??

"He's lookin' at dad, 'What am I doing in here?' 'Jes hang on,' the dad says." No ride longer than 3 seconds? We need a montage! No helmets in Caddo, OK's Rodeo, and it ain't never harmed them a bit....
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Peder Moos, Peder Moos Cribs Don't Do The Fandango

Master cabinetmaker Peter Moos was known to Swedish historians of Danish 20th century furniture techniques [pdf] for his use of exceedingly fine, even decorative, joinery. But that's about as much as I can turn up on the guy. That,...
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September 8, 2007

Iscrewya: $119 Ikea Crib, Now $311 On eBay

Holy smoked salmon, I thought I'd seen everything. Now I've seen everything PLUS some joker on eBay selling a $119 Ikea Hermelin crib on eBay for $249, plus $62 flatrate shipping. That's a 260% markup on a crib that...
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Wait, Say Again?? Parents Take Kids To Slasher Movies?

Alright, Californian parents, stop talking about the size of your baby's penis and start explaining why the hell you are bringing babies and toddlers to freakin' slashfests. Here's SF Chronicle film reviewer Peter Hartlaub's second post about this mindboggling trend...
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Play Furniture By Kay Bojesen & Magnus Stephenson

Kay Bojesen is probably best known in the kid design world for his teak monkeys and other toy animals for Rosendahl, designed in the early 1950's, when Danish modernism was really kicking in worldwide. But way back in the...
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September 7, 2007

Baobab Paper Chain Family Dress

Cute dress, but does the graphic mean the one wearing it is the little brother? Just sayin'. Baobab Paper Chain Family dress, $AU42 [baobab.com.au via myjnr]...
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Wait, Say Again? Moms Sit Around Comparing The Size Of Their Kids' Penises??

Is this just Californiatalk or did Josh from Cookie's Daddy Underground blog stumble upon something mothers have known about for years--but don't mention in front of their baby daddies? Or when you have a boy, everyone just talks about his...
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Awesome: Day Of The Dead Dishes Set

Here it is, barely after Labor Day, and already, we're talking about El Dia de los Muertos. Skulls hanging from the grocery store ceiling, doily things draped across the food court at the mall. It's not until November, people!...
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Great Expectations: That Space Shuttle Tableware Set

Sometimes the key to being happy about your online purchases is to have ridiculously low expectations to begin with. I kind of figured that Space Shuttle-shaped meal set would be a piece of junk in person, and when saw...
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September 6, 2007

You Sitting Down? Toymakers Request Federal Safety & Testing Standards

I'm not sure I even now how to type these words in this order, so I'll have to cut-n-paste from the NY Times story just out:Acknowledging a growing crisis of public confidence caused by a series of recent recalls, the...
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Great Expectations: The Passchal Rubber Dad Bag

So I've been hearing good feedback from people about the Cinderella follow-up post. [Actually, most were bummed because they wanted the book to be better, but still.] We're so used to buying some things online, but when you start getting...
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Auto-bohnheads: Audi RS6 Avant Vids

So the new Audi RS6 Avant is not coming to the US. But then, neither are the giggly station wagon racing dorks and their little video cameras. The sound you just heard is a thousand BMW M5 drivers sighing...
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It's The Little Differences: Books Once-Blogged Now Actually Reviewed

I hope it's obvious to people when a Daddy Types post is based on hands-on personal experience and when its based on just seeing something online. As a general rule, I discourage companies from inundating DTHQ with product samples or...
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Great Man Of Venzuelan People Wants To Name All The Babies Hugo

Gee, was it really only January when the NY Times wrote about Venezuela's crazy foreign-inspired naming tradition as a sign of populist empowerment after centuries of classist oppression by the ruling elites? And now for no apparent, compelling reason, the...
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September 5, 2007

Baby Time Capsule Will Still Not Outlast Disney's Control Of Pooh-Related Copyrights

What better way could there be to capture the love and joy of your child's birth and preserve it for the far off future, than with a stainless steel time capsule engraved with your child's name and birthdate in...
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Yo Nacho Nacho! Yo Nacho Nacho!

The student is now the master. Hector Jimenez, aka Esqueleto from Nacho Libre, was doing the Dancy Dance Time on Yo Gabba Gabba! this morning. I swear, one of these days, we're gonna wake up and find out Jared...
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No One Needs A Rubber Bracelet With 256Mb Of USB-Accessible Storage

I would need at least a gig. Besides, last time I checked, low capacity USB memory and rubber bracelets from annoying corporate mouthpieces were each selling for like a dollar. Which makes the Mouse House premium $22.50. Nice work...
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We Are Two Wild And Crazy Wagons! Audi RS6 Avant And AMG C63 Debut At Frankfurt

Hello, American Foxes! May we impress you with our bulges? If you mean your bulges "derived from the 'Ur-quattro'" I wanted so bad in high school, then, yes. Sorry, Mercedes. But we can still be friends. pics and press...
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September 4, 2007

Media Frenzy: More Recalls, More Hollow Industry Reassurance

So when I posted two days ago that there were more Mattel recalls coming down the pike, I didn't think I meant today. But there you have it, the AP is reporting Mattel is recalling 675,000 Barbie accessories for lead...
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T-Shirt Seller Faces Existential Crisis T-Shirt

Ever wonder what keeps a t-shirt designer up at night? Ever want to put it on your kid's t-shirt? Next up: the "This is just another heart tattoo t-shirt." t-shirt. Hey, on the bright side, it's organic! "My T-Shirt",...
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Mario Power-Up Cube Mobile

When the Mobile Industrial Complex left him high and dry, new dad Will took matters into his own hands. Now he just watches for the day when his Baby not-Mario can jump up and reach these question cubes; that's...
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YouTube Is The New Birth Announcement! Omedetou!

For families who are spread out across the globe, why NOT use YouTube to share the video of you waiting to hear about your kid's birth [down the hall, around the corner, in the shoe-free zone of the Japanese hospital]?...
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No Cradle Is An Eisland, Except This One

Belgian designer Linde Hermans made the Cradle Eisland in 2002. It was shown around a bit, but never went into production. "The sides are the interface with the ground, by which the cradle can waddle. When the baby grows...
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Uniform Studio: Cool, Simple Clothes For Your Little Star Trek Extra

Martha McQuade is an architect by training, but she's been running Uniform Studio, a one-person clothing design and fabrication outfit in Minneapolis, for at least a year [that's how far back her inspiration/production blog goes, anyway.] Uniform Studio designs...
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September 3, 2007

William Hunter's Anatomia Uteri Humani Gravidi, 1774

William Hunter became one of the most famous anatomists and obstetricians in 18th century Europe. Over the courser of 30-odd years, he worked with the artist Jan van Rymsdyk to produce what's considered one of the greatest achievements in...
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Der Singin' Schlaftsack Mit Der Lyrics Beprintedonit

Great concept: print the lyrics to the lullaby on your kid's sleepsack, so you won't be at a loss for soothing music when you so desperately need it. So far so good: it's got the second through fourth verses....
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Hung Like A Rocking Horse: Belgian Three-Way Ride-On Toy By Romy Di Donato

At the big-in-Belgium Bois+Habitat expo last spring, Romy di Donato won the Design Wood Etudiants category for her design for a transformable birch ply riding toy. Snap the two arcs into the top, and it's a sweet, abstracted rolling...
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Enfant Modernisme: Kazam Evolutionary Table At Balouga

The Parisian kids gallery/shop Balouga is officially launching its first collection of kid desks this weekend at Maison & Objet, the big trade expo. It includes one desk we've seen before: La Foret des Boites by Matali Crasset, a...
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DT Namewatch: Bitch Edition

So we're obviously trying to tune back into the baby naming vibrations blanketing the earth, which emanate from the Harmonic Convergence in Sedona, AZ. Or from the Cosmic Umbilicus Daycare Center in the shopping center behind the Olive Garden, which...
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September 2, 2007

The Japanese Tradition - Sushi: Hilarious Deadpan Videos By Rahmenz

OK, it's more than a bit random, but Japan Culture Lab has put out a series of really funny, deadpan instructional videos called "Nihon no Katachi/The Japanese Tradition," starring the comedy duo Rahmenz. Some aren't subtitled, so unless you...
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Mia Moda's Euro Styling Easy As ABC

So I'm gearing up for a quick trip to the ABC Kids Expo this weekend in Las Vegas. Last year at ABC, I realized that a whole host of the flashy, new stroller brands popping up in the US were...
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September 1, 2007

But He Wins Big In Those Great Extra Innings In The Sky

25-yo Minnesota Twins pitcher Scott Baker and his wife Leean's second son Easton was born Friday before last, five weeks premature. Baker took a few days off, then hustled the clan back to Minneapolis to pitch the second game of...
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CPSC 'Complete Disaster': Bush Administration Sides With Big Everything On Everything

I'm running out of pretend-surprise. The NY Times has a damning article about the Consumer Products Safety Commission, which has been systematically weakened, rendered ineffective, and nearly destroyed by the Bush Administration's appointees, who promised their former employers--manufacturers, corporate...
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