Clone of Daddy Types: April 2004 Archives

April 2004 Archives

April 30, 2004

Parenting & The Paradox of Choice

In an article for Slate, Swarthmore psych professor Barry Schwartz applies the key principles of his book, The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, to the challenges of parenting. The executive summary: Parents who relentlessly pursue "only the best"...
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The White Noise Album

Grandma's Fussbuster is the latest CD from the VonCannon Family Singers. [1] It contains six 9-minute tracks scientifically designed to soothe a fussy baby. As lead singer/pediatric nurse/mom Lisa VonCannon says, "The clinical explanation for all this has something...
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April 29, 2004

LOLOL Nippaz With Attitude

Where to start? NWA: Nippaz With Attitude is the UK source for some of the coolest designs around for baby t-shirts, Onesie�-like creepers*, skull caps, and bibs. NWA has heavy metal-inspired designs that somehow don't look like trailer trash,...
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Nest: A High Chair for a Shagpad

I saw this in Dwell Magazine a while back, but resisted posting it, partly because I couldn't find it for sale anywhere. Then I saw it at Cool Hunting, a site by Josh Rubin, who puts the cool in colleague...
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French Stroller for Dads: Be careful what you wish for

What do the French do better than anyone else? (If you're about to answer, "Run away," click. right. here.) No, the answer is, they design and market strollers to dads better. Or at least they try to. Check out bebeconfort's...
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Ask yourself, do you want a Bugaboo because...

...it's "The Range Rover of strollers"? ...it's "The Hummer of strollers"? ...it's "the Mercedes of infant and toddler transportation"? ...it's "like driving a BMW, if you know what I mean"? ...it's that stroller from Sex and The City? ...Julianne Moore...
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April 28, 2004

"Wild Babies"

Harper's Magazine has been publishing selections from its archives online. Last week, they posted an essay on childrearing among American Indians which made the then-bold assertion that "the baby born to-day in the shadow and smoke of savage life...
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When your kid throws up

Blast, so to speak, from the past: In 2000, Jonathan Kronstadt gave some counterintuitive advice in Salon about what to do if when your kid pukes. DON'T move him, DON'T stand still. No, like "some kind of deranged hockey goalie,"...
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LEGOLAND Kidspotter: track your kid with WiFi

Legoland has introduced Kidspotter, a WiFi-based tracking system that lets parents locate their children anywhere within the park. How it works: parents send a text message to the Kidspotter system, which returns the coordinates of their kid's transmitter wristbands. [via...
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April 27, 2004

Clothing Seen on The Street

Some clothes encounters worth noting: Rebel Dad's "Men who change diapers change the world" t-shirt scores so big at the march in DC over the weekend, he put them up for sale. Meanwhile, in the park, Laid-off Dad deftly, hilariously,...
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'Huge Stroller' Rant

Go figure. Not only are some people not thrilled for you and your new baby, they're downright pissed. At you. You, and the SUV-like stroller you just drove over their foot:Their parent-drivers plow through crowds and mow down unfortunate bystanders...
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April 26, 2004

Baby-friendly Movie Theaters

The NY Times reports that mid-day movies where parents can bring their babies are a hit. Almost no matter what the movie is. Pluses: lowered volume, slightly raised lights, changing tables with wipes provided, matinee prices, actually seeing a movie...
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Pastis, 9 9th Avenue - NO

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Loew's IMAX Lincoln Square, 1998 Broadway at 68th St - YES

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Amtrak, Metroliner - NO, Acela - YES

Changing a diaper on the train is an unnecessarily awkward exercise....
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Pregnancy Changes Everything

And if you don't believe that, see Kill Bill vol. 2....
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April 25, 2004

Privacy and terms of use

It's actually July 25, 2004, but since this is the first time--because of the t-shirt thing--that I'm receiving people's personal information, I thought I'd better make a quick statement about how Daddy Types collects, uses or shares such data. I...
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Pimp Daddies

Three's a trend: fathers are pimpin' their kids to movies, TV, fame in general. This is nothing new; Francis Ford Coppola put his weeks-old daughter Sofia in the baptism/murder scene of The Godfather, for example. But between reality TV and...
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Teaching Optimism

Optimism can be learned, and it can be taught. Here is an excerpt from The Optimistic Child: A Proven Program to Safeguard Children Against Depression and Build Lifelong Resilience, by Martin E. P. Seligman:Optimistic children explain good events to themselves...
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Desperate Advice from a New Mom in Tribeca

A couple of months before the kid was born, I took my gym bag to a lunch meeting in Tribeca. I wanted to check out the new Equinox there because--well, maybe mid-afternoon is when the stars work out. Actually, it's...
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April 24, 2004

Test Driving Baby Wipes

Not being big users of baby wipes before having a baby, we had little/no idea which kind to get. So we bought some travelpacks of various brands: Pampers, Huggies, crunchy-organic ones from Whole Foods, some French ones. Sample them all,...
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Bugaboo, Official Stroller of the NY Art World

We went to see some contemporary art galleries in Chelsea in New York today, and the place was freakin' with Bugaboos. The massive Willem deKooning show at Gagosian Gallery was ground zero: ten, literally, ten Bugaboos and only one or...
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Chelsea Arts Building, 526 W 26th St - NO

the doors on some men's rooms --like on the 8th floor, for example--are too narrow to bring a stroller in, even....
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That Art Mall, 529 West 20th St - NO

not in the lobby bathroom, not upstairs....
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Empire Diner, 210 10th Avenue at 22nd St - NO

they barely have a bathroom anyway....
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Gagosian Gallery, 555 W 24th St at 11th Avenue - CLOSE ENOUGH

No changing table, no restroom, but if you buy something, I'm sure they'll let you change the kid on Larry's desk....
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Organic Toys for Earth Day

[Post delayed a couple of days due to wild Earth Day revelry] A friend gave the kid this eco-friendly stuffed puppy, handmade in Vermont from unbleached, undyed, organic cotton by a company called Peace Toys. They're the original manufacturer of...
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April 23, 2004

Planet Kids, 247 E 86th St at 2nd Ave - NO ??!!

WTF? It's a baby store! We had to go to the Barnes & Noble across the street. Bathrooms on the second floor, left corner....
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Peking Duck House, 28 Mott St - NO

barely a bathroom at all. I had to out to a car to change the kid....
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Packing Tip: Take Some Pants

We were out shopping today with the kid, and she had a righteous blowout. The whole outfit and the blanket was knocked out of commission. The diaper bag had only a Onesie� in it, no pants, socks, anything; and it...
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Barnes & Noble, 240 E 86th St at 2nd Ave - YES

When we had a blowout at Planet Kids, we had to deal with it across the street at B&N. Restrooms are on the second floor, east corner....
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Someone invite you to be on reality TV recently?

If so, maybe you should slap them around the head and neck. A UK-based production company is looking for a few "UN-Manly men" [emphasis theirs] for an upcoming reality TV show. Possible qualifications:We want to hear about any guy you'd...
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Gawker Stalker: The Daddy Edition

Today's Gawker Stalker sports two celebrity dad sightings: John Leguizamo playing with his kids in Tompkins Square Park, and Paul Bettany stuffing his kid's face at Balthazar....
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April 22, 2004

The Agony and Ecstasy of Adoption

It's hard to listen to NPR anchor Scott Simon's at-once misty-and clear-eyed story of picking up his adopted daughter in China without thinking of the far different, gutwrenching experiences of the guys at fullerbranter.com (formerly homokiddosfo). Set aside for a...
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Enya: Music to Torture a Pregnant Woman By

Ben talks about singing Enya non-stop to his pregnant wife when they found out they were having a girl. Obviously he survived the adventure, but what are the longterm effects on the kid? Think of the children......
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Week 8: Don't Hate My Sleeping Child

If there's anything X-Men 2 taught us, it's that it can be hard for parents to accept their mutant children. Even if her mutant power is sleeping through the night. Maybe it's just a phase, we thought. Or is it...
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Are you that Trixie from the New York Times?

People on this Internet just can NOT keep a secret. Thanks to her dad, Trixie's poo will become as famous as Mr Hanky. Buy a talking Mr Hanky plush toy, no doubt made with care (by a child in China)....
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April 21, 2004

Kids Naming Kids

From McSweeney's: Baby Names for an Expected Sister Suggested by Nathaniel Watson, Age Six Early on, in the interest of drumming up ideas and goodwill among cousins, and avoiding children's-eye-level trends ("Well, there are 10 Isabelle's in my class."), we...
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Putting the PHAT in Phather

Retired NJ Net Jayson Williams isn't relying on the criminal justice system to fill all his spare time. The NYPost reports that Williams and his wife Tanya just had a second child. Little Whizdom J. Williams joins her sister, Tryumph,...
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Eurotrash Carseat: Maxi-Cosi Cabrio

Once we decided on a Bugaboo stroller (or, technically, once grandpa said he wanted to buy us a stroller, any stroller), we figured we should get a car seat that would fit on it. For the US, that meant...
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Feature-heavy Bottle: The Playtex Ventaire

We started our kid on bottles pretty early, one feeding a day (or in the middle of the night, so I could do it: MAJOR POINTS, guys.). The first bottles were from the Avent breastpump kit, and they're fine. A...
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The Relevance of Falling Toast

You know how, when it falls, toast always lands buttered side down? It's the same with diapers. ADVICE: Swap out the old diaper for the new one; make sure you get the new one under there, of course. Then, before...
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April 20, 2004

Punch-Drunk Love

Some UrbanBaby Mom: "Aww, thanks. [UB] is like having lots of sisters." Nice enough, except we'd just watched Punch-Drunk Love again, starring Adam Sandler as a novelty plunger salesman with seven neurotic sisters who buys enough lowfat pudding to earn...
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UrbanBabyWatch: Diapers

Wherein Daddy Types reads UrbanBaby's message boards, so you don't have to. Long story short: LEARN HOW TO CHANGE DIAPERS, THEN CHANGE THEM EVERY CHANCE YOU GET. Bitter UB Mom: "My husband lives at work. Sometimes i think he would...
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April 16, 2004

Evian Baby Bottle Adapter

My mother-in-law brought this back from the grocery store in France last summer. It's called a Bib'Evian, and it's an adapter so you can put a regular nipple on a bottle of Evian. It works on other water bottles,...
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April 15, 2004

Prenatal Baby Pictures

In the last month or two of pregnancy, a baby's pretty much taken shape. If you get an ultrasound, it doesn't look like as much like an alien as it did at the 20 week mark (when they usually do...
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April 14, 2004

NYMag's Parenting Porn

First, if New York Magazine's cover story on needless therapy for babies was actually intended to enlighten over-aggressive, over-scheduled Manhattan parents about the pitfalls of over-programming your child, it would'nt be so freaking long. Who has time to read all...
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April 13, 2004

Baby Blues, Daddy Depression?

The National Health Service in the UK will roll out an anonymous helpline for fathers dealing with Post-Natal Depression (PND); the service has the so-upbeat-it's-disheartening title, "Fathers Matter." Although some psychiatrists--and at least one cranky farmer--dismiss the idea of PND,...
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UrbanBabyWatch: Bugaboos, v1

Look for a more extensive post someday on the bitchy class warfare that boils over whenever someone mentions the $700 Bugaboo Frog stroller on Urban Baby's message boards. It'll help you become a more enlightened Bugaboo owner (if you so...
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April 12, 2004

UrbanBabyWatch: Annoying

UB1: When he follows me around with the baby saying, "Let's see what mommy's doing." He even followed me into the bathroom! UB2: Mine does that, too. UB3: That is SO CUTE! UB2: No, it's not. IT'S ANNOYING....
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The Baby Whisperer

On the well-behaved baby front, a doctor-in-Westchester friend recommended very highly Tracy Hogg�s Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. Through anecdotes and rapid-read bullet points backed by her own and other research, Hogg explains: how to introduce structure to a newborn's...
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How to Get Your Kid to Sleep

On his own weblog, writer/uber-blogger/dad Mark Frauenfelder says:I was trying to think about what book has had the greatest effect on my life. I thought about books I'd read in college that seemed to carry a lot of philosophical weight...
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BMW X3: a (non-)SUV for Soccer Dads

Are all auto critics stay-at-home dads? Or as Dan Erwin puts it in the BMW Car Club magazine, not only "stay-at-home soccer dads," but "househusbands"? Eh. Although his giddy-in-my-head writing style makes me think he may not actually interact with...
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Techno Difficulties

According to the NY Post, Maclaren Techno XT strollers have a problem: the wheels fall off, and it pitches your kid into the street. [Q: Does this mean the brake failure of the 2002 model's finally solved?] "We're victims of...
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April 11, 2004

Exotic Euro Strollers

So while I'm rummaging around online for tall-guy strollers, I found the Mini-Star line of 3-wheel/jogger strollers, manufactured by a German company called Hauck. Turns out Hauck, in addition to making run-of-the-mill baby gear and furniture and Disney/Pooh-licensed stuff, also...
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The Nursing Father

According to Unhindered Living, a Christian hippy lifestyle site, men are able to produce milk and breastfeed their children. How do we know this? The Bible tells us so--The Bible and Ananova. Whatever the truth, I'm sure there are...
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I'COO Pico 4 Stroller

Well, if you were unsure about I'COO's alternative positioning before seeing the Pico, maybe this product description will help clear things up:Its provocative looks and thought-through design make Pico ideal for unusual people in unusual situations. But its compactness, plus...
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I'COO Photon ACW Stroller

The Photon Stroller is from Hauck's I'COO line, which seems to be the company's slightly more urban design-y, less gearheaded brand. It has a large shopping bag under the handles, which extend to a range of heights, and another large...
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Asahi Scirocco 4 Stroller

The German-made Asahi Scirocco 4 is the line's second tier stroller, the 5-series to the Typhoon's 7-series, the M-class to the Typhoon's G-class, the 6-piece McNugget to the Typhoon's 20-piece--whatever, you get the picture. It comes with adjustable handle heights,...
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Asahi Typhoon 4 Stroller

Asahi Typhoon 4, aka "THE DADDY OF ALL PUSHCHAIRS," aka the German Bugaboo-killer. Asahi is the performance line of strollers from Germany's mega-baby-corp, Hauck....
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Strollers for Tall Guys

One of the best pieces of advice I got for buying a stroller was to make sure it fit me. Most strollers, it seems, are designed with a mom as the primary user. If you're taller than the average woman's...
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April 10, 2004

Meanwhile, Minivan Rules in Gay Hollywood

So while the straight LA dad's coming out of the closet for loving a station wagon, this gay "soccer daddy or mommy or whatever you want to call me" in Beverly Hills traded in his Mercedes SL--first, for a Range...
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LA Dad Admits Loving a Station Wagon, Wins Pulitzer

LA Times auto critic Larry Neil just won a Pulitzer for columns such as this one, where he comes to terms with the fact that the car which gives him the deepest, most meaningful fit is a station wagon. A...
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April 9, 2004

Dateline, ALBANY-- Some Dads Stay Home

[via Rebel Dad] The Albany Times-Union's reports extensively, if generally, on the issues facing primary caregiver dads. Rebel makes the good point that the issue might more accurately be framed in terms of equal parenting, or as he puts it,...
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April 8, 2004

Egyptian and Soap Opera Baby Naming Trends

Shahd (pure honey) became popular on the back of the Ramadan 2002 soap Amira fi Abdin, which featured a character of the same name. Bawabat Al-Halawani, a soap first shown on Egyptian TV in the late 1990s, introduced the...
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Other Dad Blogs: Trixie Telemetry

I've been surfing for dad weblogs lately. Before I could post a one, I got a heads up on the single most mindboggling baby blog by any parent, The Trixie Update. Programmer/new dad Ben MacNeil created the site in part...
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April 6, 2004

No TV, and Eat Your Vegetables

Research out yesterday reveals that: excessive TV viewing before a kid is 3 years old contributes to ADD, and the tastes a kid is exposed to in the first 3-5 months (as well as the last couple of months of...
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April 4, 2004

Russell Banks has Issues

When my weeks-old daughter completely loses it, and I try to calm her down with the shh's and the bounces and the butchered lyrics, I'm reminded of Ian Holm's character in The Sweet Hereafter. Atom Egoyan's film, which he...
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April 2, 2004

More Improvised Lullaby Lyrics

I found that, at 3AM, my memory for lyrics is about as useless as my ability to rhyme up some improvised replacements. Fortunately, over at Defective Yeti, Matthew has better luck; or not, if you ask his kid. DY's mid-night...
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Baby Bjorn Babysitter 1-2-3

A couple of friends swear by this lightweight bouncing chair from Baby Bjorn. The springlike shape means a kid can bounce himself silly with every little squirm. It's definitely the best-looking seat I've seen; it'll let you hold off...
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UBWatch: Noise

Whether a wife or a (Mass. residents only) husband, your partner thinks you make too much noise. You're annoying, and it's waking up the kid. Here are your loudest offenses, according to the posters on UrbanBaby: -- "dropping stuff" --...
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UBWatch: Sex

Advice on sex, from the message boards of UrbanBabyWatch: -- About 6-8 weeks after the kid is born, a market can develop, wherein you trade nighttime feedings and help around the house for sex. But don't get confused; it is...
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Introducing UrbanBabyWatch

Urban Baby's message boards contain some very useful pieces of advice for dads. But they're like leaves, floating along on a giant river of estrogen. Woe to the man who tries to keep up with the flood of over...
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Strollers for Walk-ups

If there's more than one flight of stairs between you and the outside world--whether in a house, an apartment building, or a subway station--you'll need to face facts: stroller size matters. And stroller weight matters even more; 13 lbs seems...
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April 1, 2004

Bobby Brown's Paternity Problems

So Bobby Brown's in jail? That's not news, you say. True, but now he's been jailed for failing to pay $63,500 in child support to the woman with whom he fathered two children. Brown, who was released from jail in...
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WTC Memorial Designed During Paternity Leave

According to an interview in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, architect Michael Arad was on paternity leave when he found out he was a finalist in the competition for designing the World Trade Center Memorial. His and his wife's first son,...
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Sign Language for Babies

We just received this great-looking book from some forward-thinking friends. Turns out sign language for hearing babies is quite a cottage industry. [Kindersigns is just one of many programs online.] The basic concept: babies as young as 6-7 months...
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