Daddy Types: October 2007 Archives

October 2007 Archives

October 31, 2007

The Night Some Kid Wore His Wolf Suit: Etsy/Babble Halloween Costume Contest Winners

Babble was a sponsor of the baby & kid's division of etsy's homemade Halloween costume contest. The winners were announced today, too late for you to steal an idea for your own kid, sorry. The winner's on the left....
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Le Premier Cri, Or Out Of Africa's Cervix

Why why why? I love the French. I love France. I lived and worked there. I set and shot my first movie there. I drive a Citroen, for Pierre's sake. And yet, when something as hippy-dippy ridiculous-sounding as Le...
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Making DJ Lance Rock Costumes Is AWESOME!

Orange fuzzy hats off to DJ Lance Rock Lumpyhead. Very niice. [lumpyhead via jason]...
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Oguro Saburo Is The Hardest-Working Man In The Japanese Jigsaw Puzzle Business

After finding his hina matsuri puzzle dolls yesterday, I wanted to see more of Oguro Saburo's intricately modern work. Be careful what you wish for, the guy is a puzzle-making machine. If the jigsaws and wood planks ever rise...
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Pediatrician On Front Lines: FDA Cold Medicine Ban Doesn't Make Sense

In an op-ed for the Boston Globe, Dr. Darshak Sanghavi, a pediatric cardiologist at UMass Medical School argues that an all-out FDA ban of cough and cold medicines for kids is an unnecessary overreaction that would increase the suffering of...
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The Car Seat Was Grandpa's Idea

An Edmonton, Alberta engineering consultant took his 3-year-old granddaughter flying with him in his Cessna 172. [That's the little one most people learn to fly in.] It crashed, he and his employee died, but the kid survived, after hanging upside...
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For Sale: Baby Crib. Never Price-Checked.

If Ernest Hemingway really did write the short story, "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn." I'm sure he never could have imagined it'd be quoted 10,000 times a day on eBay. Quoted, and occasionally surpassed. This line from the description...
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October 30, 2007

Plush Companion Cube [Non-Weighted]

Some noob with awesome sewing skills posted a picture of this sweet, plush Companion Cube [from the X-Box 360 game Portal] to the papercraft/origami section of rambunctious anime fansite 4chan, where Kotaku picked it up. The result: a foul-mouthed...
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ITSOCUTEMAKEITSTOP! Frying Pan Bunny Is Flipping Little Wooden Burgers

Holy smokes, I just hit a spot in the Gangukan blog archives that's so sweet, I'm gonna have to eat the 5 lb bag of Tootsie Roll products we bought for Trick or Treat just to come down. Hasutani...
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Whoa, The Gangukan Japanese Folk Toy Museum Has A Blog.

Check out all the awesomeness that is captured on the Gangukan's blog. They have papercraft and wood toybuilding workshops for kids, a lot of craft exhibits [eh.] and a whole array of contemporary folk toymaker showcases and posts: Momotaro-palooza: in...
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FYI, Japanese Folk Toys Are Called Kyoudo Gangu

taiguruma by Futabashi Hariko, Shizuoka pref. image via That's 郷土玩具, kyoudo gangu if you're surfing at home. [that Google link will survive the posting process, even if the characters get mangled.] After seeing that beautiful suite of woodblock prints...
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October 29, 2007

DT Headline Roundup: Cookie, CPSC, Gap For Kids By Kids Edition

Some news big and small from around the browser tabs: Safety Chief is Opposing More Money [nyt] CPSC Chairwoman takes break from strangling agency to remind Congress the agency needs not money, authority, or staff, but more strangling. Simplicity Crib...
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I Feel For You

So we're walking out of the burrito restaurant, and "I Feel For You" comes on, and though I find it hilarious and enjoyable, the wife takes a dim view of my teaching the kid to sing, "Chaka Khan Chaka Khan...
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Playmobil Dad Almost Pushes Stroller

A heads up to all those dads who don't feel validated until you've been commoditized in plastic, you may now give yourself a big hug. For the first time, Playmobil has introduced #4408, Dad with Stroller. Specifically, it looks...
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Waiting For The Great Pumpkin

Daddy Types will be typed later today, after we get back from the kid's first field trip. Pumpkin farm....
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One Small Latch For Woman...

DT reader Kristin and a couple of other latch-aware folks caught this report by the Associated Press last week: It was an extra special moment for Discovery commander Pamela Melroy and station commander Peggy Whitson, the first women to simultaneously...
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October 28, 2007

Sweet DIY Slot-Together Cardboard Play Kitchen

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Toy Kitchen 2, originally uploaded by annam42. Very nice. Anna, a craftblogging mom who knows...
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Viva La Revolvolution! Viva La PV445 Wagon At Tokyo!

Not since last Spring, when Colin Powell tinkered amiably under the hood of his 122S for the New York Times, has Volvo challenged the world to ask, "Uh, and you don't make cars this awesome anymore because...why, exactly?" Jalopnik...
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DT Headline Roundup: Adoption, Boys Named Sue, Ramones & Flash Cards Edition

The DT browser tab clearance is on now: NYT Magazine: Looking for Their Children’s Birth Mothers Maggie Jones takes a personal look at the complicated emotional and cultural landscape of open international adoption. Though she and her husband decided to...
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Sweet Vintage Suburban Playthings

There's a reason this eBay auction of a single-room Creative Playthings dollhouse stuffed with original matching Antonio Vitali furniture is already $75: because it's freakin' awesome. Most of it looks to be in excellent condition, even the more played-with...
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October 27, 2007

Boogie Pimps: Wait, So The Bottle Is For Her??

As Eric, who "randomly" came across this video says: "So many issues, I don't even know where to begin." Me either, so I will just compliment Ms. Pimps on her very flattering nursing bra. Boogie Pimps - Somebody To...
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Unaru No Tomo: Awesome Old Old Japanese Toys

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Japanese toy designs k, originally uploaded by peacay. From the always spectacular BibliOdyssey comes Unaru...
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Yo Gabba Gabba! Hoodies: I Swear, I Had NO Idea

Obviously, a brilliant design, though I gotta say, I think it works better as a t-shirt. From the Kidrobot November Releases announcement [kidrobot.com via boingboing, thanks jason] Previously: Winner of the DT DIY Muno Lisa t-shirt...
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October 26, 2007

Sweet Community Playthings Convertible Ready To Hit The Strip

From the same eBay seller--who's donating the proceeds back to the church where these old toys came from--comes this sweet, giant Community Playthings car. You could fit the whole Rat Pack in that thing, and still have room in...
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Community Playthings Phone Will Require Much Explanation

My first thought when I saw this vintage Community Playthings maple phone appear on eBay was, "Yow, better watch that phone cord doesn't wrap around the youngster's little neck." But then I realized, it'll take so much to explain...
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Graffiti Coloring Book

It's one of the things that bugs me most about DC: the graffiti in our neighborhood just plain sucks. No style at all, just one nervous hoodlum's crappy black spraypainted tag on every newspaper box. If I thought it'd...
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Gold Lame Stroller Spotted In NYC!

From Gawker Stalker, a local website in New York City which reports on the local Czech ex-pat scene:Kingston [hello! spellczech! It's Ringsto.] Rossdale, madison ave and 76th st, 11:15am. Being pushed by a nanny. Recognized him by the gold lame...
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We Have A Winner...

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Yo Gabba Gabba Muno Shirt, originally uploaded by super-structure. ...and that winner's dad has a...
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October 25, 2007

CPSC: Apparently, 1mm Bumbo Baby Seats Aren't Meant For Use On Tables

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } bumbo, originally uploaded by dulcesmommy. You know how Bumbo baby seats totally look like untippable...
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Dad Has Five Kids' Names, Gay Wizard, Tattooed On Back

You know, I thought the clincher of the story was the UK factory worker dad who spent a year getting his full back tattoo saying, "I’ve always liked Dumbledore – just not in that way." But then I see...
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Can You Talk About Paying The Nanny Off The Books Without Sounding Like A Total Ass?

Because if I had to go by Mijka Samora's blog post, "The Nanny Arbitrage," I'd have to say no. Samora makes the argument--what used to be called "self-serving rationalization"--that paying a nanny off the books is not only awesome, the...
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October 24, 2007

Wha? They Said "Breast" On Sesame Street??

Yeah, like 30 years ago. That's when Big Bird gets a lesson in breastfeeding from the folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie and her infant son Cody. Of course, Big Bird also has a personality, and Buffy carefully anunciates, "ve-ge-tuh-bles," so...
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Ari & Mario: Warhol's Drag Queen Babysitter Movie

It's like learning a new word; suddenly you hear it everywhere. I'd never given a second's thought to look for kid-related Andy Warhol art, and now it's popping up everywhere. Last week, it was the story of Penelope Palmer,...
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Must. Fondle. Japanese. Plush Breasts

I am like a deer caught in the headlights--the modestly labeled but generously sized, multi-shaded, and extremely tactile-looking headlights--of Japan's plush toy masters. The Funwari Milk-chan collection of plush breast toys includes three sizes: A cup [20cm diam.], B...
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Richard Hutten Designer Slide At Dutch Design Week

The army of designbloggers is making us wait again, this time for photos and reportage from Dutch Design Week. DDW involves all the design schools as well as Dutch firms, so it should be a source of some interesting,...
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I Wanna The Chalkboard World, Muji, And Everthinnisinnit

Holy crap. Muji better have about ten thousand of these chalkboard globes at the SoHo store when it opens November 16th. Otherwise, I will be leading the Great Muji Riot of '07. And they might want to have a...
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Vitra Doesn't Know Where This Kid Rocking Chair Comes From

Who is running the tour schedule Vitra's exhibition, "Kid-Size: The Material World of Childhood"? That is seriously the hardest-working, slightly self-promotingest exhibition in the museum business. As with so many other things in the baby world, it feels momentous...
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October 23, 2007

William Wegman's [And His Dogs'] Alphabet Soup DVD

One day I may figure out the art world appeal that William Wegman holds. But for now, all I can see is an endless array of amusing, pose-y, and ultimately pointless photographs involving his incredibly patient Weimaraners. I stopped wondering...
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Are You Feeling Horny, Dad?

An ad from Canadian Club's Office of TMI [adrants via coudal]...
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Chicco Is The Man: Ballistic Bimmer Blowout Barely Bothers Budapest Baby

So Balazs is blazing along the "Hungarian autobahn" in his BMW E61 M5 Touring--though to be honest, 180kmh is only 80mph 112mph, not very fast for an M5 or an autobahn--when he has a rear tire blowout, which starts...
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Have You Gotten Anything Bronzed Lately And/Or Ever?

This just in, from an email titled "RE: Cool Product," kindershoe.com is a "website that offer [sic] a unique baby shoe bronzing service ideal for baby keepsakes or gifts." Really? Unique? Because frankly, nothing seems less unique or cool than...
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Groovy Plastic Toadstool Table & Chairs

We're looking for a new sofa for DC, so I've been surfing the antique and midcentury store sites in DC. One store, Modernicus, has this kind of cool kids table and chair set from the 1970's. Of course, they...
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October 22, 2007

Gold Mamas & Papas Stroller Now Amortized In 4th Quarter, Too

Ah, the changing of the seasons, and the quarterly amortization of publicity stunt-stroller expenses. A young Czech lad was photographed over the weekend riding in one of the ten Mamas & Papas Ziko Gold strollers rumored to exist. The...
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"So We Had This Idea" And Then We Killed It: The 2001 VW Microbus Video

One of the highlights of the Iconosphere event last week was meeting one of the big new marketing brains at Volkswagen. The first thing I did--after high-fiving him on the company's awesome 40-Germans-in-a-Malibu-beach-house research stunt, Project Moonraker, was to tell...
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RAW Clothing, Awesome Handmade Gifts, By My Modern Life

My Modern Life is an eBay seller in Lincoln Nebraska who first crossed my radar when she posted some vintage toys in insanely great condition by Creative Playthings and Kay Bojesen. As if that wasn't awesome enough, My Modern...
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Where's Gumby, Dammit? Awesome Zinus Travel Pillow Thing

Coming back from Miami, I saw a kid with this crazy green Gumby-looking neck pillow on. It looked like a toy being used as a neck pillow, or some weird hybrid of the two, with that tactile nylon &...
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How To Dress Your Kid Like A Tenenbaum

The kid's been wearing hats outside since she brained herself on our front door a couple of months ago. Keeps the scar out of the sun, which helps it heal. She's been wearing these preppy little bucket hats, but...
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What, No Repair Kit? Simplicity Crib Recall Timing Was Simply PR

On their safety blog, On Safety, Consumer Reports reports consumers are finding that fixing their deadly, recalled Simplicity cribs is not so simple [you still with me?]:The CPSC press release urges consumers who have the crib to call Simplicity for...
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October 21, 2007

Daddy Types' Advertisers Are GRASE

Fact: GRASE is an official category of medications at the FDA. It stands for Generally Recognized As Safe and Effective. Which is such a coincidence, because Daddy Types' advertisers are, too! At least now that the multi-level laptop marketing scheme...
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Cough Medicine, The New Opiates Of The Masses' Children, Ain't Got Nothin' On The Old Opiates

It's funny what three years of parenting will do to your attitudes on drugging children. Last week, I was plotting to promote an underground band of renegade dads, calculating their own doses of contraband decongestants, but in August 2004, when...
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October 20, 2007

Drug Deal: What Infant Medicines Are Included In This Whole FDA Ban Thing?

As DT reader Gromit pointed out yesterday, there's something of an "information void" about what medicines and active ingredients are included in the drug industry's recent voluntary withdrawl of cold & cough medicines for 0-2 year-olds, and what medicines the...
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DT flickrfind: Parisian Dad Watching Tirailleurs Drives A Maclaren!

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } army and papa, originally uploaded by toog. The blue, red & gold kepis on these...
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October 19, 2007

DT Wonkout: FDA Panel Votes To Ban Cold Medicines For Kids 0-6 [Yes, SIX]

Well it was an awkward day for the infant cold medicine-hoarding MBA's in the house, let me tell you. The FDA's joint advisory commitees for non-prescription drugs and pediatric medicine met today to review and vote on a petition to...
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For Sexier-Than-A-Ferrari Minivans Size Matters Less Than Fit

The 2nd generation Honda Fit went on sale in Japan this week; it comes to the US as a 2009 model. And though LA Times car critic, new father of twins and--let's face it: size queen--Dan Neil says the...
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Suh-Weeet. Modern Design Alphabet By Blue Ant Studio

This is so great. Joel created it for his daughter Isabella. Though I could get nitpicky about why G is for Gehry when K is for Konstantin, the truth is, I don't know how to pronounce Grcic, either. And...
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Got A Dadblog? What Is It?

Nothing against the fine folks in the DT sidebar, but I really want to read some new-to-me dadblogs. [And if I keep up the vaccination flamebaiting, I'm sure many other folks will be wanting to read a different dadblog, too.]...
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NYT: Presidential Candidates Don't Give Damn About Child Care, Whatever That Means

In her NY Times column yesterday, Gail Collins points out that except for a content-free photo-op by Hillary Clinton, exactly none of the presidential candidates of either party will talk about child care in the US. Instead, they talk around...
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She's Baaack! ModMom Designs, Builds Owyn Toy Box

See, was that so hard? Kiersten at Mod Mom Furniture is making kid furniture in her garage again, furniture that's even based on her own designs. And it's not bad at all. As before, you can buy with confidence,...
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October 18, 2007

At Least We Can All Agree That Kids Need More Sugar

OK, so my flamethrowing blurb about vaccination didn't exactly have us all singing Kumbaya today. But I think we can all agree with the thoroughly unbiased research organization, Sugar Information, Inc., when they point out that Suzy here "needs...
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Holy Smokes, The Slot-Together Toy Church Of Dr. Caligari

In that Petaluma post this morning, DT reader Cookie [who, AFAIK, is not the pudgy-baby-hating Cookie] suggested that sweet hardwood castle set might come from a German company called Holzkram. It didn't, but just get a load of Holzkram's...
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NYMag: Good News, Bad News On Where The Wild Things Are Movie

New York Magazine says they have read Dave Eggers' and Spike Jonze's script adaptation for Where The Wild Things Are, "…and it is really, really good." Except for Max, of course, whose dad apparently has gone AWOL, which is the...
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Crazy Hippies Pose As Jesusfreaks To Avoid Vaccinating Their Kids

And we'll all get freakin' polio as a result. Thanks a lot. From the AP:Twenty-eight states, including Florida, Massachusetts and New York, allow parents to opt out for medical or religious reasons only. Twenty other states, among them California, Pennsylvania,...
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Some Day My Sweet Hardwood Prince Will Come From Petaluma

Ashley is a Reggio Emilia atelierista by day, and a felt artist by night. She also has a blog with no links. Obviously, she lives in San Francisco. When she was in Petaluma, peddling her wares, she happened to...
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Pottery Barn Kids Kids Names, Fall 2007 Edition

So my wife tells me that while I was gone, she and the kid sat down to read the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue together. Now the kid wants bump beds. [ducduc, Argington, and Nurseryworks, we'll be in touch in 2010...
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WTD: Parent Blog Sks Design Blogger 4 Publicist 3-Way

Babble's looking for a design blogger:...The writer (ideally a parent) should be obsessed with new and beautiful design, and be able to keep readers up to date on the latest design breakthroughs in everything from European strollers to organic baby...
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October 17, 2007

Micralite Toros In The Wild?

Has anyone seen Micralite Toro strollers in stores yet? DT reader Eyelet posted earlier today about trying to try one out in person [in NYC]. I know that Euro-Baby, the US distributor for Micralite flagged the first shipments for...
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Dan Neil: Chrysler's New Minivan Will Make You A DILF

Dan Neil in the LA Times: Out on the savanna, the reproductively desirable male was older (à la Connery), of higher rank and status within the tribe and commanding more of its wealth. A female's innate programming tends to favor...
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Holy Flatpack! Slot-Together Bumpalow School, Circa 1931

Put that in your Dwell prefab and compost it. As early as the 1930's, Milton-Bradley was producing sweet, slot-together wooden doll houses and other play buildings as part of Bumpalow Town. There was also a store, a church, a...
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October 16, 2007

Jessica Seinfeld's "Hide The Vegetables In The Cake" Book Sounds Ridiculous

Since I don't watch Oprah and I didn't read the big NYT article about picky eaters, I have to get my Jessica Seinfeld cookbook news from Gawker. And it sounds completely ridiculous. No one but the housekeeper should have to...
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Playdate At The Mall: Friends With You's Rainbow Valley Playground

When I explained to the kid that I was going to Miami for a couple of days, she drew a blank. Then when I told her it was where the Malfi Playground was, she freaked out. And now I...
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I Shall Call Him Mini Sleepytime Rocker From Nurseryworks

No way! Nurseryworks' signature Sleepytime Rocker and Perch Stool are now available in mini-size. It looks just like the regular Sleepytime, only smaller. See? alright, actual information: it's 19" high and runs $325 [nurseryworks.net via nurseryworks' pr]...
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Where Would You Put A Free Eames Rocker? Contest At Design*Sponge

Suh-weet. Sparkability sure gets around. The newly redesigned Design*Sponge just launched a contest, and the prize is an Eames Rocker, courtesy of Sparkability [which is also a fine DT advertiser, btw]. To enter, just send D*S a photo [or...
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This Just In: A Bear Wearing Underwear

True, a teddy bear who's a big boy and wearing big boy underwear [we call the white ones "classics"] might help the kid along with his potty training. OR it could trigger an all-out underwear revolt when he realizes...
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October 15, 2007

travel day, more later

Sorry for the light posting today; I'm traveling to Miami for Iconosphere 2008, a conference organized by Iconoculture for its clients and partners and other marketing genius types. Stay tuned. Iconosphere2008 [iconoculture.com]...
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I Was Shot By Andy Warhol: The Baby In Warhol's Screen Test

Penelope Palmer, Warhol Screen Test, 1966, image: The Warhol Film Project Andy Warhol's films--particularly his Screen Tests--are some of the greatest and least appreciated of all his work. Between 1964 and 1966, Warhol shot 472 individual tests, each consisting of...
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October 14, 2007

Hello, Awesome Ikea Pull-Toys

You turn your back on that Big Blue Box for a minute, and what do they do? They plop down bins full of interesting painted wood pull toys by Canadian-in-Copenhagen designer Francis Cayouette. Cayouette seems to be one of...
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Book Traps

Recovergirl sets book traps and game traps for her sons, and they apparently always work:you can use book traps to divert your children to different parts of the house. I needed to clean the boy’s room but I knew...
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"Baby On Board": The Vienna Museum Is Alive With The Exhibition Of Strollers

DT reader Scott and family were just in Vienna, where he saw this poster for what will be--let's face it--THE MOST IMPORTANT STROLLER EXHIBITION IN AUSTRIAN HISTORY. The Vienna Museum opens "Baby On Board" next week, which gives a...
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October 13, 2007

In The Nursery Of Good And Evil: Antonio Rubino At The Wolfsoniana

image: wolfsoniana.it Antonio Rubino was a leading comic artist and illustrator in Italy from between the wars until his death in the 1960's. He drew and edited some early Disney magazines [Topolino ring any bells?] and founded the kid's...
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October 12, 2007

ToDo: TokiDoki Signing Party 10/13 At Yoyamart

If you've got some Moofia toys you need signed, or if you've been waiting to get near TokiDoki Simone Legno before you buy, now's your chance. Yoyamart is hosting a Tokidoki party tomorrow night, Saturday, 10/13, from 7-10pm. That's...
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DT Headline Roundup: Mustang Rally, Bud & Cracker Barrel Edition

"You wake up on Sunday morning -- you don't expect to see a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old hooting down the street in a car." Unfortunately, dad was not the one who was awake. On the bright side, they stopped...
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Sugar Skull Onesie* By Babylon Baby. Also Robots. Aieee!

I was just going to post a happy little skull bodysuit story after seeing this in the window of the little gift shop down the street [Wake Up Little Suzie, Cleveland Park, DC], but after visiting their site, I...
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Eames High Chair? Sure, Just Get A Saw...

Eames Hack is part of a DIY-focused charette by a team of industrial design students at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. They modded two iconic Eames chairs with the intent of liberating "these once iconic, elite, forms." And...
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October 11, 2007

DT Currently Hoarding Infant Drops, Overdosing On Dosage Information

So the major drug makers--members of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association--are voluntarily pulling their over-the-counter infant cough & cold medicines from the market rather than be forced by the FDA to pull them [or to put decades-old, grandfathered-in drugs through...
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WHOA. NYT: Makers Pull Infant Cold Medicines

How are new parents supposed to get more than four hours of sleep or travel to Asia with a newborn NOW?? The NY Times just reported that the makers of major infant cold medicines are pulling their products from the...
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I Think I Can Top The Haha Gross-Out Baby Costumes By Specter Studios

At Thingamababy, AJ posted a pretty sick collection of gory and/or freaky infant Halloween costumes from monster mask maker Specter Studios. There are elaborate octopus and bug costumes which wrap around a kid like a gnarly latex receiving blanket....
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Pakistani Publicist Takes Wide Stance On Diaper-Changing Stroller

The BabyDeck is a changing station built into a stroller seat. It folds out like a La-Z-Boy footrest [actually, it folds out like the footrest on a Delta Business Elite seat, which is the opposite direction from a La-Z-Boy.]...
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October 10, 2007

Sliced-Through Predator Plush, This Time As Slovenian Performance Art

Wherever there's video of plush bunnies being extracted from a giant plush predator, I am there. Regine posted about a recent performance/sculpture installation in Ljublana, Slovenia which eerily--and kind of hilariously--echoes Lizette Greco's adorable See-Through Predator video just featured on...
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The Animated Nutshell Library By Maurice Sendak

My mom gave the kid Maurice Sendak's Nutshell Library for Christmas last year, and at some point, it totally clicked with her. Not just because of the stories, but because of the scale. They're a box set of tiny little,...
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Huh? They Hang Babies OVER The Bed In Sweden?

They know from furniture in Sweden, but even with the IKEAfication of the world proceeding apace, it appears they hold back some of the best furniture ideas for the home market. And by "best," I mean "freakin' craziest." Like bassinets...
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Baby Ubuntu: Geek Dad-To-Be Needs An OS For The Kid

Hahay! So BoingBoing, &c's Cory Doctorow and his girlfriend are expecting a girl in late January! Congratulations, good luck. As dt Jay pointed out, Cory announced the big news just as any other guy would: in his weekly podcast. And...
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Little Bobby Tables

I don't get this kid naming joke from the web comic Xkcd at all, but I showed it to some of the guys in IT, and they cracked up. Good enough for me. Also, Cory at boingboing linked to...
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DT Headline Roundup: Einstein, Pumpkins, Chico Edition

News from around the browser tabs: The Washington Post has a nice takedown of the "educational" baby TV racket. Frankly, after soloing for most of last week, I have a newfound sympathy for any parent who decides to use a...
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October 9, 2007

Special Collection Metallic Silver Bugaboo Cameleon. At Neiman Freakin' Marcus.

Neiman Marcus, I wish I knew how to quit you. Here, I just this morning promised everyone I'd stop posting about your 100th anniversary and your nonsensical Christmas catalogue items, and then the Bugaboo publicists drop this in my inbox,...
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JPMA's Statement On The Biggest Crib Recall In History, Annotated

Our Baby Industrial Complex at work. Here's the text of a statement released by the JPMA, with a little extra context:Statement of JPMA Concerning the Simplicity Recall Representatives of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) have met with Simplicity, Inc....
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Vik Muniz Will Make A Chocolate Syrup Portrait Of Your Kid Or Whoever

Now I love me some Vik Muniz, and I love commissioning me some portraits of the kid by artists whose work we love and collect already. So how can I be anything but thrilled at the chance of getting...
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Can We Eat It? Yes, We Can! Digger-Shaped Dinner Set

Seriously, a bulldozer is a hundred times more useful than a knife. Why has no one thought of that before? Despite what you may read at BoingBoing, this construction tool dinner set is not by Tonka, just Tonka-colored. Constructive...
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Barcelonita! Knoll Makes Kid-Sized Barcelona Chair

I guess when Genius Jones commissioned one of the old Long Island City manufacturers of Mies Van Der Rohe's Barcelona Chair to make a 2/3-scale children's version, and it got written up in The New York Times [below], and...
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Saarinen Womb Chair Now Available In Three Sizes: Just Right, Too-Small And Way Too Small

Interesting. Knoll recently introduced two child-sized versions of two of its iconic chairs, including the classic 1948 Womb Chair by Eero Saarinen and--I can't find the other one. [Maya Lin's Stones stools, perhaps?] Lin's around, but Saarinen's been gone...
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October 8, 2007

Diddy? You Bet He Did.

Out with the Brady Twins, in with the Diddy Triplets. So it turns out P. Diddy's newest latest kid was born four months before his last latest kids, but he only found out for sure this summer when the paternity...
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Official Pine Car Freshner Halloween Costume

Not like all those knockoff pine tree car freshener [sic] costumes you've been seeing around town. This may have Martha Stewart's turkey costume beat on both the unlikelihood and creepy hilarity fronts. Little Trees Car Freshner Costume - Infant,...
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Awww, My First Skis: Designed By Someone In New Jersey.

These vintage Creative Playthings skis are perfect--if you're one of those East Coast ski weirdos who thinks 12 inches of manmade ice and gravel counts as a ski surface. Killington? Sugar Mountain?? Gimme a break Buy the skis because...
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Time's Manly Masculine Mating Men Of The Year

Time has a long article on the new generation of fathers. In addition to looking at the changes happening in workplaces and corporate family leave policies, the piece spends an unusual amount of time dwelling on the masculinity of men...
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Portland Port Onesie* From Born Baby

In case you never realized it--and I didn't, because I don't speak Tlingit--Portland means "Land of Ports." Why this Babe [pronounced bay-bee: long a, long e] bodysuit with a marine port-looking graphic on is called PDX, the abbreviation for...
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See-Through Predator Plush

See-through Predator from robertogreco on Vimeo. Bwahaha, medical ethics and bodily integrity implications aside, this is awesome. See-Through Predator is a wolf whose teeth were removed so he wouldn't bite his prey, and whose stomach was replaced with a...
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October 7, 2007

The Machine By Samsonite Toys

Alright, finally. The 1972 Samsonite Toys catalogue is up and running on flickr, though a couple of pages are out of order. Check out all the plasticky goodness. With The Machine here, Samsonite ends its toy section with a...
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Gochi House Blocks At Chigo

Chigo, Gochi, get it? It's a Japanese thing, reversing the syllables. It's also the answer to the question left over from Bubble NY last spring, about which of designer/guru Shinichiro Nakahara's constellation of shops, publishing imprints, and design brands...
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Kid-Sized Exbox Chair By Giles Miller At London Design Festival

Giles Miller and Farm make a lot of things from cardboard. As sightings trickle in from last month's London Design Festival, it appears that a child-sized version of his new Exbox Chair is--or will be--among them. It was shown...
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O Is For Orbit: Space Alphabet, By Zacks & Plasencia

I love these kinds of discoveries. While poking around Dreams of Space, a compendium website of the history of space-related artwork in children's books, Ward Jenkins found this incredible, obscure 1964 children's book, Space Alphabet is by Irene Zacks,...
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October 6, 2007

Design21's Child's Play Competition: Anyone Find Anything Interesting?

This past summer, Design21 Social Design Network sponsored a competition called "Child's Play". The brief: Design an affordable object or a series of objects that a child can play with in which the function is more suggestive than prescriptive and...
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DTbay Roundup: Wood Toys & Indians Edition

Some things that caught my eBay eye. For some reason, they all involve $25, which variously does and does not seem right: Creative Playthings Wooden FireChief Toy Car Red Wood, opening bid $10+14 s/h? Good luck, Goodwill! Auction ends Oct...
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October 5, 2007

Holy Moses, Check Out This Citroen DS T-shirt By Tuss At Chigo

Yeah, basically, I'd go to Japan to buy a Swedish kid's t-shirt with a French car embroidered on it. You gotta problem with that? Rufus shirt - Citroen by tuss, 9,450 yen ($81US, ouch) [chigo.co.jp] Previously: tuss. Citroen. Chigo....
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Eames Elephants On Parade

In the family tradition, professional grandson/filmmaker Eames Demetrios has made A Gathering of Elephants, a stop-action animated short film to commemorate the going on sale of the 1,000-limited edition plywood elephants Vitra made to commemorate the 100th birthday of...
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Turn Samsonite's Zoo Zoo Into Samsonite's Gitmo Gitmo In Too Easy Steps

Still working to get the scans of this 1972 Samsonite Toys catalogue finished. There were sure a lot of roller skate-type products in that first, expanded collection. There was also the People Places series, their entry into the preschool...
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Whoa. George Nakashima Rocker Rocks

George Nakashima made this free-edge arm walnut rocking chair for his niece, Alene. Obviously, it rocks. I wonder if you could rout out a little hole in the arm to hold the bottle... KIDDING! KIDDING! I KID BECAUSE I...
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Toilet Ink

"Jeckida's groundbreaking Toilet Ink [TM], makes it incredibly simple to tattoo your toilet." Their videos are still the best in the entire toilet decorating industry. Toilet Ink videos [toiletink.com] Previously: We're No. 2! We're No. 2! DT reports from the...
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Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, I Pray For One Of The Sultan Of Brunei's Insane Ferrari 456 Wagons That I Can Keep

Venice Speciale. Seven 1995-6 stock Ferrari 456 GTA's leave the factory for Pininfarina and Italtecnica, who transform them into four-door station wagons. Sure, they're called shooting brakes, but please. Do I have to get the Sultan of Brunei himself...
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October 4, 2007

Recycling? Finish Your Self Junior Cardboard Chair & Nomadic Furniture Cardboard Car Seat

This was on BabyGadget a little while ago, the FYS Finish Your Self Junior chair made of recycled cardboard--oh wait, no, it's "100% recyclable"--by David Graas, an Amsterdam designer interested in environmentally sound products, or as he puts it...
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Maitz and Laphoeff Bunkbeds: One Of These Things Is Somewhat Like The Other

First off, let me say that I think that the principles of designing for kids--no sharp corners, integrated safety rails--and the nature of the low-volume, cost-effective manufacturing process, especially CNC routing of sheets of material, are not insignificant. But...
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DT Headline Roundup: Keeping Up Edition

A few quick items to clear out the browser tabs: There's a party in my tummy tuck! Can't quite figure out what the takeaway is on the "Mom Job" post-pregnancy plastic surgery package article in the NYT, but Karen's quote...
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Supercalifreakin' Me Out: Baby Einstein Blocks Recalled For Lead Contamination

I give up. If you need me, I'll be eating Veggie Booty out of a lead bowl, drinking high fructose corn syrup out of a BPA-laced sippy cup, and watching the Hoobs until I've forgotten every multisyllabic word I...
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Idea: Put A Child-Sized Chairry In Your Home Theater!

According to the people who follow such things, 2,000 child-sized Chairry chairs from Pee-Wee's Playhouse were made by Herman Toys in 1988. They're about 32 inches high. Like many a child star--not to mention her show's eponymous host--Chairry seems...
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'Ello, Ven. Wot About London [Kid-Free?] Design Week?

Is it just me, or did London Design Week and the associated events like 100% Design generate almost no kid-related design discoveries? True, a couple of weeks ago, MoCoLoco had a seating roundup with photos of Andrew Millar's Teddy...
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The Daily Show Makes Unbearably Crappy Children's Books By Talentless Political Hacks Slightly Funny

From the Aug. 2006 DT review of political consultant Jeremy Zilber's children's book, Why Mommy Is A Democrat: Zilber's only consolation--though it's one that won't help Why Mommy's sales--is that the "competition," Help, Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed...
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Dude Buys The Only Non-Girly Sling On Etsy.

I remember being completely floored when I was walking down the street in Amsterdam, and right there in the store window was--a male mannequin wearing a grey pinstriped suit with a matching baby sling. Since I was kidfree at the...
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DTQ: At What Age Do You Attain Parenting Nirvana?

And by parenting nirvana, I meant, of course, that your kid could go to the fridge, get you a drink, and bring it back, and the fridge wouldn't be left wide open or dumped all over the floor? The...
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October 3, 2007

The iCandy Pear Will Have Another 200 Configuration Options By November

DT reader Colleen asked about new double stroller coming soon from iCandy, the Pear, almost three days ago; I've had the iCandy site open in my browser since then, and I still haven't seen the animation of all the...
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Adorable Indian Children Dress As British Oppressors, Also That Wuss Gandhi

To celebrate Gandhi's birthday and the UN's International Day of Non-Violence yesterday [yeah, I missed it, too], Indian children were dressed up as the leader of India's independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi, and the pith-helmeted troops of The Raj, and...
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Eyes On The Prize: The Muno Lisa

So what better prize for the unofficial YGG! contest than an unofficial YGG! T-shirt? Basically, it's made with a stencil cut from the iron-on transfer images on the Nick Jr. site. If you make one yourself--possibly because you don't...
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Like-A-Big-Wheel: The Mini-Bike, From Samsonite. Huh Wha?

How awesome is this? A ride-on bike for a one-year-old, with superfat tires so it doesn't tip over? Also, it has a badass set of ape hanger chrome handlebars? Naturally, it's from Samsonite. That's right, they were doing more...
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Momoll Mia! Legno Doll House Furniture

Swiss awesome-maker Momoll has introduced a set of doll house furniture. You could use it with a Momoll slot-together doll house or their plexiglass tower of cool [shown here], or you could just use it to mod up whatever...
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Hand-Painted Restaurant High Chair In Springville, Utah

The kid and I went to Springville, Utah last week, in the Provo metropolitan area [sic, but less and less sic every time I go back]. La Casita #1 is still a reliable source of decent Mexican food, and...
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October 2, 2007

Put'em Together And What Have You Got? Block Study Sponsor Is A Disney Licensee

This just in from the Circle of Life Department: From his research linking Baby Einstein videos [by name] to decreased vocabulary development in toddlers to his earlier findings of a link between toddler TV-watching and ADHD, to his book,...
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TV-Hating Researcher's Block Company-Funded Study: Surprise! Blocks Make Your Kid Smarter

"Lead researcher Dr. Dimitri Christakis works with study blocks. Photo courtesy of Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute" In a recently published study commissioned by a Canadian block company [above foreground], Dr. Dimitri Christakis [above, left] and his colleagues at Seattle...
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Upstate NY Mom Juggles Blow, Job, And Breastfeeding

Today's episode of Saratoga Street is brought to you by the letters, W, T, and F:Schenectady Police have arrested a Saratoga woman in a prostitution bust and they say that woman, Linda Cook, performed sex acts on two men in...
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Free Burma Marching Monks Stencil T-Shirt

I needed to practice making the YGG! contest prize--see those stencils on the left?--so I tested a stencil on one of the kid's American Apparel shirts. It's from the blog Saffron Revolution Worldwide, which was an early, active resource...
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Reading Rainbow Rap, &c.

BoingBoing linked to video of an appearance by Run DMC on a mid-1980's episode of Reading Rainbow. Well, I'll see your book-rapping Run DMC, Xeni, and raise you one circa 1992 hip-hopping Levar Burton, dressed in an apparent homage...
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October 1, 2007

DT Headline Roundup: Cold Medicine, Zimbabwe, Sperm Banking & Photostealin'

Part of me feels like I've gotta clear these browser tabs, but part of me feels everyone can read the NY Times on his own: Slow-mo Infant Cold Medicine Ban Rolls On--Slowly: Instigated by pediatrician activists in February and finally...
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Waiting For The Boardbook: Beckett For Babies

Haha, of course, who else but Samuel Beckett could make sense of the first four months of parenthood? Here's mom/blogger Stephany Aulenback talking about the boardbook she conceived [heh], Beckett for Babies:Beckett's work is bleak yet comic, much like...
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Papa Zao

Should've seen it coming, but I had my eyes closed: K-Fed just got custody of the kids. [via gawker]...
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Are Crafters The New Carnies?

Seems like we missed the Crafty Bastards Craft Fair down in DC yesterday. For a second, I thought I should be bummed, but then I realized there are about 10,000 edgy craft fairs popping up all over the country...
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Bwahahahaha Park Slope Like-A-Bike-Snobs-In-Training

From the parent report at Gowanus Lounge:We were on our way back from a great afternoon in Prospect park and my son was happily gliding downhill on his "Like-a-bike" type bike that happens to be made by another brand...
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Yo Jersey, Don't Let Me Catch You Painting This Creative Playthings Kitchen!

Let's face it: 35-year-old play kitchens are going to be played with. It's usually enough to find one at all, much less one in pristine shape. A three-piece Creative Playthings kitchen--sink, oven, and fridge--just hit the eBay. The stove...
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ElmoSapien: What'd I Tell You? Gotta Watch Out For The Robots

The wholly independent human robot modders of RobotsRule.com have loaded a harmless, hilarious Elmo personality into the RoboSapien, then they chopped up an Elmo hand puppet, and created a fleece RoboSapien bodysuit to complete the transformation. It's all good-natured...
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Crayons That Don't Roll Off The Table

I guess the owner of the Mexican restaurant down the street went to a big restaurant expo recently, because the other night, the kid got a little coloring placemat and a pack of triangular crayons called Crayangles. Frankly, we...
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