Clone of Daddy Types: March 2004 Archives

March 2004 Archives

March 29, 2004

MoMA Gramercy Theater, 127 E 23rd St at 3rd Ave - NO

They barely have a bathroom, much less a changing table. Try the always-empty lounge downstairs. On second thought, what the hell are you doing with a baby at the MoMA theater? The oldtimer regulars there'll tear your head off if...
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LDS Church, 125 Columbus Avenue at 65th St - NO

For a religion which encourages people to have lots of kids, there's a serious shortage of changing tables in the church's mens' rooms. Guess diaper-changin' is work for the womenfolk....
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From the Bone-Chilling "Celebrity Baby Blog"

Gawker dug up the Celebrity Baby Blog this morning, which, even though it has a couple of dad-related things, is more like the Celebrity Pregnancy Blog. Or the "I read People and Us so you don't have to" Blog. Anyway,...
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Drownproofing? Don't.

I was going to post some references for drownproofing classes, teaching babies to swim/float enough not to drown if they fall in a pool. But then I found the American Academy of Pediatrics website, which recommends against teaching kids younger...
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March 27, 2004

Doing Kid Laundry

Some tips arising from doing a lot more laundry all of a sudden: We only heard about Dreft, laundry detergent for babies, like two weeks before the kid came. Apparently, it's the combination of tough-stain remover and skin-coddling that does...
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Whitney Museum, 945 Madison Avenue at 75th St - YES

On the 2nd Floor, in the handicapped restroom stall: YES Also, since strollers aren't allowed in the galleries, there's impromptu stroller parking right outside the elevators on each floor. Who knew?...
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March 26, 2004

Breastfeeding in a Restaurant: A Formula (heh)

I never pegged him for a breast man, but Choire Sicha has just released his patented, formula for calculating when it's OK to breastfeed in a restaurant. Basically, you factor in the type of restaurant, the age of the kid,...
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March 25, 2004

YOW. Calling Social Services! Jersey Girl = Abuse

In the NY Times, Stephen Holden gives Kevin Smith's can-I-be-a-good-dad? "widowed-father-raises-spunky-moppet" movie [can't improve on that acid description] one of the worst reviews I've ever read. If Smith makes another movie this bad, he may end up working at a...
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March 24, 2004

Baby Sheets: Boring isn't the Problem

The NYT has a slideshow of sheets and stuff for cribs that are "not boring." That'd be fine if boring were the problem. More often, the problem is sickening cuteness or schlock. I point to them here only for use...
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Angelika Film Center, 18 W Houston St at Mercer - CLOSE ENOUGH

Not upstairs, anyway. The window benches along the Houston side might do in a pinch. We didn't actually take our 1-month old kid to the movies; Akgelika's just one of the few publicly accessible bathrooms in SoHo....
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DaddyTypes Posterdad, Kevin Smith

The NY Times' BOLDFACE NAMES hit on director Kevin Smith at a junket for his new movie, Jersey Girl. Ever the gentleman, Smith rebuffed the reporter's advances, confessing he left his heart--in New Jersey:He and his wife, JENNIFER SCHWALBACH, were...
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March 22, 2004

Jersey Girl, The Movie for New Dads

Never mind that we drove like hell through New Jersey so that our kid wouldn't be born two weeks early on the Turnpike. DaddyTypes gives a shoutout to Kevin Smith's upcoming Bennifer vehicle/after-school special, Jersey Girl, before we even see...
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March 21, 2004

Four Seasons Hotel, 57 E 57th St - CLOSE ENOUGH

Lobby men's room is in the NE corner: NO, but there's almost enough counter space. In the absence of crowds, a sofa in one of the side lobbies might do. Your call....
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Bergdorf Goodman, Fifth Avenue at 58th St - NO, NO

Men's store, 3rd floor: NO Women's store, 7th floor: NO...
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Time Warner Mall, 10 Columbus Circle - YES, NO

Border's Books on the 2nd floor, behind the cafe: YES Whole Foods Market, basement, through the cafe area: YES Time Warner Mall on the 2nd & 3rd floors: NO Per Se: CLOSE ENOUGH, there are large, high-backed sofas just outside...
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UrbanBaby Message Boards: Wild Mom-on-Mom Action

In today's NY Times fashion reporter Ginia Bellafante discovers the informative, life-affirming women's mudwrestling pit that is UrbanBaby's message boards. Because a request often seeks to justify one approach to child care or lifestyle over another, it can set off...
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March 19, 2004

Diaper Dude, aka Another Camo Diaper Bag

Usually when you buy a diaper bag, you have to choose between cool, hip, and funky; you could never get all three. Until now. At Brooklyn's Urban Monster, you can get the Diaper Dude, "A cool hip funky diaper bag...
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Hand Knit Bottle Cozies? Umm, What do YOU think?

[via Gawker] Seeing these hand knit beer cozies for hipsters made me ask myself, "are there any hip hand knit baby bottle cozies out there?" The answer? Not from where I'm sitting......
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Podee Hands-free Feeding System, aka The Milk Bong

It's the baby bottle equivalent of a retractable cell phone charger cable: a slightly more convenient, significantly gadget-nerdier replacement for standard equipment. And it looks suspiciously like hardware for the beer bong you're gonna bust the kid for 16 years...
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Reebok Deluxe Jogging Stroller, an Extreme Example of Niche Dad Marketing

Yet another non-baby brand that licenses its name to a line of strollers. This time, they're jogging strollers, manufactured by Baby Trend under the Reebook label. They feature big, inflatable multi-terrain tires, a wide rear wheelbase that stays well...
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March 18, 2004

Gucci Store, 685 Fifth Avenue at 54th St - CLOSE ENOUGH

The men's room is on 5, in the SE corner. There's no changing table, but there's a nice wide travertine counter....
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Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway at 66th St - YES

The only changing tables in the 66th & Broadway location are in the 2nd Floor children's/accompanied children restrooms. Which is a better setup than some B&N's, where porn mags fall out when you open the table....
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C is for Cassavetes

Newborn children's vision progresses through several phases as it develops. For the first few months, anyway, a baby can only focus a couple of feet away. Health experts recommend making a lot of close eye contact and giving the kid...
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Boot Camp for New Dads

Boot Camp for New Dads is exactly what it sounds like, a practical, hands-on program where "veteran dads showing rookies the ropes, with babies adding a serious dose of reality." It operates through over 180 locations around the country, primarily...
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March 17, 2004

Infantwear some people may find inappropriate

It's easier than you think to avoid the pink and blue paradigm. Here are some sources for baby clothing that sends a message. Often a message that someone, somewhere, in a mall near you, will find deeply offensive. Dookiewear.com wants...
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Barney's, 660 Madison Avenue at 60th St - NO

restrooms on the 2nd floor between the stores: NO...
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Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Twenty Days with Julian"

"It really does seem as if he has baited me with more questions, references, and observations, than mortal father ought to be expected to endure." In the summer of 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne's wife took the couple's two daughters on an...
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March 16, 2004

Um, Gay Manhattan Dad wants a La-Z-Boy?

Ignore for a moment that PlanetOut's Jeff Bennett calls his husband "Hubby," or that he coos over the weekly, treacly Babycenter.com emails written in the voice of his surrogate fetus(es). His "Who's your daddy?" column archive gives a real-time report...
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Honda Pick-up for "Cool Dads"

Unlike the Element, which is popular with guys who think they're still cool, Honda's new SUT will target "cool dads--young fathers with 9-to-5 jobs and growing families that like to tear it up on the weekends with their ATVs and...
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Wooden Blocks

Melissa and Doug make wooden toys, including the kind of blocks you think you remember your parents playing with. They're smooth-sanded and plain, and they pack neatly into a little wooden crate for storage. (As if. These things are gonna...
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Worst Case Scenario: Parenting & Baby Owner's Manual

I saw the The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance at some hippy gift shop near our house in DC, but it turns out to be pretty good. Well designed, informative, and written...
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Modern Seed: way modern design for kids

Although you'd never know it from most baby/kid stores, kids and good design don't have to be mutually exclusive. And Modern Seed is an online-only shop that proves it. There are classic design toys like House of Cards by Ray...
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Stokke Tripp Trapp, aka the KinderZeat high chair

Is Stokke Tripp Trapp Norwegian for "surprisingly innovative high chair"? A lot of ergonomic consideration went into this thing, which has been filling the eat-in kitchens of Europe since 1972. The chair is adjustable to fit kids from 6 months...
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Babycenter for Dads

It's the chickest of chick sites, what with all the pregnancy going on over there, but Babycenter has a section for dads, written by moms. Let me sum it up for you: do more housework, take off more time, and...
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March 15, 2004

Bugaboo 2004 Limited Edition: Denim

Finally, a solution to the orange Bugaboo gridlock on Lexington Avenue. Bugaboo's limited edition color for 2004 turns out to be not just a color, but a new fabric: denim. The company is launching its denim limited edition with...
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Kelty Diaper Fanny Pack

In addition to its high-tech child carriers, the outdoor gear maker Kelty has jogging strollers and this useful-looking item for hikers, a diaper fanny pack. [But don't look like an ass: use a fanny pack only when hiking.] Like Kelty's...
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Kelty Back Country Child Carrier

A dad got on my M7 bus yesterday as I was toolin' around with the kid in a Baby Bjorn. He had his 13-month-old daughter in a Back Country Child Carrier from Kelty, and he said it pretty much rocked....
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Children's Book Pick: 'Henry Climbs A Mountain'

Hearing Daniel Pinkwater's description of Henry Climbs A Mountain last December, we both had that annoying NPR choked-up moment, where we realized this was a book we really wanted to read to our kid someday. Author/illustrator D.B. Johnson has now...
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March 13, 2004

The Armory Show, Piers 90 & 92, 12th Ave & 52nd St - YES

The large bathrooms near the entrances to the piers: YES [Surprised the hell out of me, but it was our first time out with the kid, so I didn't know what to expect.]...
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NPR, PRC, PRC, NPR

Just caught the end of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, where Scott Simon excitedly blurted out, "We're going to China to pick up our daughter. I-- am the father of Alice Sylvie Simon!" Related: FCC: Families with Children From China, a...
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Chad's Dads

Only three feature films have been made in the impoverished African nation of Chad. Two of them, including Abouna, were made by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. Abouna, or Our Father, tells the story of two young brothers who think they catch a...
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March 10, 2004

Baby Furniture for your SoHo loft

A reader asked Dwell Magazine the tough question, one that haunted us, too, as we awaited our first kid: Whey all de cool, normal baby furniture at? Dwell's answer: cribs, changing tables, and dressers from New York interior designer...
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March 9, 2004

Doctor's Orders: Buy This Book

You want to see how quickly you can get your pediatrician to roll his eyes? Just begin a sentence with, "I read on the Internet that..." If you're going to be researching questions about your children's health online, make sure...
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Eddie Bauer Baby Store

Looks like you can shop for all your Eddie Bauer baby needs in the Eddie Bauer Store at Babies R Us/Amazon. Heads up: the diaper bags are kind of fugly. You'd just be buying them for the somewhat manly brand...
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Eddie Bauer Sport Playard, aka Playpen

There are three Eddie Bauer playpen models on the Cosco corporate site, including one that's a little too Ralph Lauren Home Collection for me. The Sport Playard is the only one with a tent-like sun canopy for parking your...
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Eddie Bauer Travel System

A quick trip to Babies R Us the other night turned into a licensed brand gearfest One of the most prominent non-baby brands in the business is Eddie Bauer, which has licensed baby mega-conglomerate Cosco to produce strollers, car seats,...
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March 8, 2004

Precious Moments Stroller?? PLEASE MAKE IT STOP

You'll know Daddy Types' mission has been accomplished when no father has to push his kid around in something like this heavenly blue Precious Moments stroller, exclusively at Babies R Us online. Of course, if you already got married...
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Helping British lesbians doin' it for themselves

John Gonzalez, an entrepreneur in Bristol, is targeting his new fertility clinic, the Man Not Included New Life Centre, at lesbians and single women, who are an underserved market for sperm. But not why you'd think. Turns out the Human...
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March 3, 2004

Fetus Envy

David Skinner, an irreverent editor at The Weekly Standard, is not pleased with the impossibly false empathy preached by modern "we're pregnant" advice books for fathers-to-be. In a Feb. 2003 essay, he compares the 1958 Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. classic,...
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Hand Jam

It's like toe jam, but in the tiny creases of your kid's hands. And it's appearance is a sign that you worry too much about not making your kid cry when you give her a her little bath. She's gonna...
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African Lullaby CD

African Lullaby is a CD collection of 14 good performances of traditional lullabies. For example, the first track is by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African men's chorus Paul Simon tried to glom onto. (Hey, where there's world music, Paul...
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Brazelton, or Another Book That Doesn't Suck

Use it during week 1 and beyond, when the kid's crying and you don't know why, and you can't make up a single lyric more. Reading Brazelton's book, we figured we were doing ok, and we should expect a little...
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Week 1: So now he's an expert

Never mind trying to explain how I have the capacity to post anything during the first week of my daughter's life. Here are a few things that are working and some things I wish we'd done differently in advance of...
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March 2, 2004

NY Magazine on Gay Parents, or Are Babies The New Messenger Bag?

The ever-sharp service journalists at New York Magazine called the gay parenting trend last November. Frankly a Saturday afternoon trip to The Container Store in Chelsea would tell you about the same thing: that's not just daddy's roommate, it's daddy,...
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Love your handsoap

Unless you're a doctor or Howard Hughes, you're going to be washing your hands more often than you ever imagined possible when you bring a new baby home. So whatever soap you get, you'll be soaking in it. "In dishwashing...
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March 1, 2004

New Fathers Roundtable

The Morning News turns out to be one of the more fecund websites around. Last December they convened a new fathers roundtable from among their stable of virile stud contributors. New Fathers Roundtable Participants:Kevin Guilfoile is a Chicago writer and...
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