Everything's up to date in Kansas City.


Well, I'm sitting in the airport here in KC waiting for my flight home so I thought I'd blog. The convention was by all accounts a success, and it was pretty evident that Andy, Dayv and all the other folks who helped plan it did a lot of work. Thanks guys.

For me, even more than the break out sessions at the convention, it was really great to meet Dads from all over the country who are doing the same thing I am. And although we are all doing the same thing and share certain similarities because of it, it was still a pretty diverse group of guys. I met computer guys and ministers, finance guys and bass players. For me at least that was the best part.

That is of course not counting the burnt ends at Arthur Bryants.

Less than two weeks to the convention.

Goddamn time is flying. Halloween was tonight (which, luckily, we seem to be getting better at each year. As a kid Halloween was my favorite holiday, and now as a parent of a toddler, I'm finding the whole trick-or-treating thing really stressful - remind me to thank my parents) and the weekend after next is the stay at home dad convention in Kansas City. And then by the time I get home from that it will be almost Thanksgiving, which means Christmas.

Anyway, I've found three other Dad bloggers who are going to the convention - Al from KC Home Dad, Greg from Hopeless Cases and Kevin from I'm Not a Slacker. Check out their blogs if you get a chance, and if you're a dad (stay at home or not) who's looking for a break, maybe a trip to KC might do you some good. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone, but mostly I'm looking forward to a mini vacation before the holidays devour me.

Oh, and eating good barbecue.

iPod case for the kids? She's not even in elementary school yet.

TadpoleThe Tadpole is a protective, kid-friendly case that turns an iPod into a "portable entertainment device for your child." The brand new dad in me two years ago probably would have found a way to knock this, but the father of a Dora addicted loving two year old in me now thinks this is pretty cool. The problem with it of course is you have to buy an iPod for your kid, or offer up yours.

But having a case that turns it into a kid-friendly movie player would come in pretty freaking handy on a plane or long car ride.

Check out the Tadpole from iFrogz.com (shipping November 1st). [via TUAW via Sean.]

Going to the SAHD convention.

AthomedadconventionThe flights are booked and the car is rented. I'm going to the 2006 At Home Dad Convention this year in Kansas City, MO with a fellow stay-at-home-dad and good buddy of mine.

We're not really sure what it will be like, but hey. It's a weekend away in a random (to us at least) city with beers, barbecue and a lot of dads who are in the same boat we are. And oh yeah, there will also be some good info.

(Speaking of that, if you can find it, check out the excerpts of Kyle Pruett's keynote address Rebel Dad podcast last November. There was some really interesting stuff in there.)

And if you're a SAHD who's thinking about or is confirmed going, drop me a line.

For all the info and registration information, check out the website: 2006 At Home Dad Convention (11th Annual? Who knew?)

Jack's Big Music Show CD.

Jbms_cdOK. September's almost over and was mid-August the last time I posted. If you still check in on this blog from time to time, thanks. I know I've been neglecting it. (And thanks especially to everyone who's emailed me with stuff to post that I haven't responded to yet - thanks especially to you.)

Now that's out of the way, I kind of feel I have to mention that today the new Jack's Big Music Show CD was released. After finally finding it in a store (my local Borders - seriously, where do people buy CDs these days?) we came home and waited until the modern day mom came home to test it out.

The result? Success. Kind of. My two year old knows almost all of the words to the songs, but was kind of annoyed that there wasn't any video to watch with it. She still danced and sang, but reminded us between each song that it wasn't on the TV and we needed to listen for the next song.

While I definitely recommend it, my only criticism is that while it's got a good mix of music from season one, it could have more of the songs they actually play in the clubhouse (not just the music videos). And where is Cathy? The most frequent clubhouse visitor got stone-cold snubbed.

Get Jack's Big Music Show Season One CD from Amazon.com for $11.97.

Crawling helmet.

Crawling_helmetA few days ago I posted about these rather absurd baby knee pads to protect your child's knees from crawling, and daddy in a strange land was kind enough to point out in the comments that One Step Ahead is selling a helmet too. Actually, they call it a "Bumper Bonnet," but either way it still kind of freaks me out. Just check out the picture.

And what would the TV commercial be like?

[Annoying Friend] Gosh Jan, what are all those unsightly bumps and bruises all over Jimmy's head?

[Jan] Oh - you know Jimmy. He's always crawling into places he shouldn't and smacking his head around. I just don't know what to do!

[Annoying Friend] Sounds like you need the Bumper Bonnet. It's either that, or I report you to Child Protective Services.

[Laughter.]

The Bumper Bonnet is $12.95 from One Step Ahead. [via daddy in a strange land]

If you can't bribe your kid with sugar, what are you left with?

With the new baby and everything, our normal morning routine has drastically changed around the MDD household. In the old days it was just me and the Madame at the breakfast table, enjoying a little oatmeal and applesauce. But now she's two she'd rather starve than have me feed her, and with that newfound independence also comes a someone who wants to pick out what she's having for breakfast.

I'm generally fine with choice, within reason of course. Her breakfast request two weeks ago for "chips" didn't go over so well. But it seems recently she's less and less interested in eating much at all for breakfast, which is definitely not OK.

Which brings me to the question posed in the subject of this post. Having been frustrated by this for a few weeks, the other morning my wife tells me that she's got the perfect solution, and busts out a box of blueberry Pop Tarts. Perfect, I think. Her favorite fruit these days is blueberries, it's totally a finger food she can eat herself, and it's sweet. It's got icing for chrissakes. Sure, it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but it's fortified up the wazoo with vitamins, and with a cup of milk and maybe a banana it's a breakfast I can live with. So we give it to her and after one bite we get the phrase we're hearing all too often these days, "No like it."

"No like it"?? It's a freaking Pop Tart. Did my kid turn French overnight? Is her palette so advanced the mere taste of this processed, mass produced pastry makes her stomach turn? Or, perhaps more likely, is she just two and trying to be difficult because that's what two-year-olds do? Maybe. But shouldn't super-sweet (borderline) junk food cut through all that terrible-twos bullshit?

I guess tomorrow it's a baguette with gruyere.

Jack's Big Music Show merchandise scuttlebut.

Schwartzman_quartetMany of us are big fans of Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin, and I've written about it more than once in this blog. Because of that I get a lot of people leaving comments and contacting me about how much they also love the show, and a lot of them (myself included) are wondering when we might be able to get some merchandise. You know, a puppet or a DVD or something. Well, MDD reader [name removed -ed.] just might have some inside info for us. She posted this the other day in a comment to one of the JBMS posts:

OK, I have good, reliable info for all of you.  #1 - me, my husband, and our 14-month old son are huge fans.  We have all of the episodes TIVO'd and I LOVE Bongo Bird!!!!  #2 - my dad is on the production crew of JBMS and that is how we discovered the show when my son was itty-bitty.  My "source" (dad!) told me that they are striking a deal with one of the big-box giants (I don't know if it's ok for me to say the name of the place...??) and that they will have videos, music, toys, dolls, & the whole marketing caboodle.  I think they are working on the line right now.  My dad has told me that I (meaning you, too) will not be able to find any of the JBMS stuff online or anywhere else until it is available at this store.  Also of interest is that they are shooting new episodes right now - they started a few weeks ago and crank one out every few days or so.  I got to go to the set one day and it was waaaay cool to see Jack, Mary, and Mel "in person."  They were rehearsing and setting up the scenes, but it was still cool.  I can't wait for the new ones to come out.  Hope this helps all of you other JBMS fans!!

"Big box store"? Target maybe? And I wonder when it might be. Christmas '06 would make sense, but who knows how long this stuff takes. Thanks for the info.

Baby Knee Pads

BabykneepadsMDD reader Michelle sent me a link to this article: 11 Foolish Ways We Spoil Our Kids. The article itself is OK (I too am puzzled by the large cloth drapes people put in shopping carts, lest their kids actually touch the cart) but there is one thing that I've never seen before. Baby knee pads.

Where is your baby crawling that he or she needs knee pads? Construction sites? Or maybe it's for kids who crawl so much they are rubbing sores into the skin where their kneecaps will eventually be.

I'm just surprised there aren't any fingerless Baby Crawling Gloves.

Baby Knee Pads are available here for only $27.95 Canadian. Is that a lot?

Damon's a douche.

Damonsucks

  1. Free agent and Red Sox Nation favorite Johnny Damon accepts a contract with the New York Yankees. Red Sox fans everywhere feel betrayed.
  2. Stay-at-home mom from Massachusetts creates "Damon Sucks" bibs (pictured) and sells them on eBay.
  3. Damon's agent Scott Boras has eBay remove the auction and threatens the stay-at-home mom's eBay status unless she stops selling the bibs.
  4. Stay-at-home mom gets lawyers and stands up for herself, garnering a lot of publicity in the process. And she's still allowed to sell her bibs.
  5. "Asked about the dispute at Yankee Stadium this week, Damon said he was unaware of it and referred questions to Boras."
  6. [paraphrase] When the multi-millionaire was asked if he was aware he looked like a complete douche bag all over the AP news wire trying to prevent a stay-at-home mom from making a couple of bucks on eBay selling baby's bibs that criticized him, Damon claimed ignorance, skillfully passing the buck and blaming his agent. [/paraphrase]

Internet baby gear-seller hits nerve with Damon's people [AP via good friend and Yankee fan Dan]
Get a Damon Sucks bib here for $10 at owenandmama.com
Or for some reason you could pay over $89 at eBay

A new addition to the modern day family.

Today I was lucky enough to bring home the most recent member of our family, a new baby girl. After many hours of labor, she was finally born on Wednesday morning. Mom and baby are both doing well, and as for me, well, I can honestly say I totally forgot what it was like to have a newborn in the house. But truth be told she's been a really good baby in the 39 hours since she's been alive - lots of sleeping, eating and more sleeping. And some gas here and there.

Fortunately Madame has been dealing quite nicely with her new sister. She's struck a good balance of healthy interest (especially when "baby crying") and general disinterest after a couple of minutes (newborns are, after all, not particularly interactive). We'll see how it goes in the next few weeks when she'll probably want to take her back to the hospital - but so far so good.

So anyway, that's where I've been the past month, getting ready for this. Now she's arrived hopefully I'll get some more time to check in here. Also, I've got to think of a new name to call her in this blog ("Madame" is taken). Any suggestions?

Dads who blog are the best.

Father's Day has come and gone, and in its wake are plenty of articles in newspapers around the country about dads. But this year it's all about the dad blog articles (some of which even mention this humble blog). All of them take a slightly different perspective and are all worth checking out.

21st-century dads turn to blogs for help [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
I'm offering a "virtual road map to the challenges of modern fatherhood". Kick ass! Plus it's here that Greg from Daddytypes reveals he gets 30K hits/day. Goddamn that's some good traffic.

Hey dude are you there? It's me, daddyblogger. [Austin American Statesman]
The article where I reveal that blogging helps with the isolation I've felt being a stay at home dad. Whahhh.

Rise of the Daddy Blog.
[NY Daily News]
Who says K-Fed and Jack Black don't read dad blogs?
OK. They probably don't. But they're always welcome here.

Happy Father's Day

So since this Sunday is the day for breakfast in bed (which I'm not a fan of by the way), new neckties and dad's favorite dinner, I'd like to give a personal "Happy Father's Day" to two friends of mine Dave and Brian who are celebrating their first, as well as my own dad, the Modern Day Pop Pop.

Have a great weekend.

Family photos and music with the XBOX 360.

Xbox360Father's Day is, as I'm sure you know, right around the corner. And if you've been trying to convince your family that an XBOX 360 would make the perfect father's day gift, I might have some more ammunition for you.

One of the features of the 360 is that it can act as a conduit for other computers in your house, streaming music, photos and, if you have a Windows Media Center PC, movies. As a Mac user I figured this wasn't available to me, until I discovered Connect360. This little genius piece of software lets your 360 recognize your Mac, and stream everything you have in iTunes and iPhoto to your 360. My daughter loves looking at pictures, so now in the late afternoon instead of watching the 3,000th episode of Jack's Big Music Show off of Tivo, I'll start a play-list off of iTunes and a slide show of family photos. And the music player even has a visualizer that might calm down your screaming infant.

You see moms? That new 360 isn't just a time-suck for the dad in your life. It's really a gift for the whole family.

Get the father of your children an XBOX 360 for $350 at Amazon.com.
And if you've got a 360 and a Mac, you absolutely need Connect360 from Nullriver Software.

Also on MDD: Nintendo's Wii - probably the best video game system for families.

Naming is never easy.

Right now the modern day mom and I are going through naming negotiations for the new baby. We (unlike pretty much everyone we've ever met) decided not to find out the sex of the baby, which means that at least one of the fairly thorough name investigations will be completely moot.

As difficult as this is, it's nothing compared to naming your band. I've had to name six in my life, and in the end I was only really happy with a couple of them. The Onion AV Club Blog has just posted it's list of the best  of the worst band names of 2006. There are some that are just stupid like "Figure H8" or "Groovatron", but some, like "Battle of the Saxes" or "Honkeytonk Homeslice", truly venture into douche-chill territory.

Worst Band Names of '06 [The Onion AV Club via kottke.org]

Further evidence of Laurie Berkner world domination.

LauriedevotionSo the other day I was browsing the Top Sellers DVD list on Amazon (looking for Neflix ideas) and I noticed something that stuck out like a sore thumb. Right there, just after 24 - Season Three and right before Syriana Widescreen Edition at number 49 was We are... The Laurie Berkner Band.

Seriously? More people are buying that than Munich, Capote or the first season of Lost? Well, good for the LBB I suppose, but I hope somewhere Moose A. Moose is getting his ass kissed.

Buy We are... The Laurie Berkner Band for $10.99 at Amazon.com

(And yes, before someone comments, I know I've put up a bunch of links to Amazon in this post, all of which will make me a very small commission if someone clicks and buys. And whether I put this disclaimer in or not I still think it's a perfectly OK thing to do. So click and buy away!)

(And no, that's not my kid in the picture.)

Welcome a new SAHD and Halo anyone?

Halokitty_3On a personal note today, I want to congratulate a friend of mine, Dave, who quit his job and is now in his first week of being a stay at home dad. It wasn't an easy decision for any of us, but I have yet to talk to someone who hates it. So congratulations Dave  - it will be as good as I said it would be. I promise.

And I suppose as long as I'm including personal notes today, I should include this too. I don't know if any of you out there are as addicted to playing Halo 2 on-line as much as I am, but my friends and I are pretty sick of playing with the random teenage douche bags that one usually is made to play with on-line. So at the risk of sounding even more nerdy than I already have on this blog (if that's even possible), if anybody reading this is over 25 and feeling the same way, leave your gamertag in the comments or email me at the link above (left). We usually play around 10PM ET on some weeknights and after dinner on Sunday evenings.

Strollometer.

StrollometerHasn't anyone thought of this before? The Strollometer is a new gadget that attaches to your stroller and gives you your trip distance, time and speed. It seems obvious, but I haven't heard of one before. It seems like a good idea for avid jogging stroller dads and moms, but it seems kind of useless for everyone else. Knowing how far it is from the car to the drugstore or from Macy's to Gap Kids isn't going to make you loose weight any quicker.

The Strollometer will apparently be available for $45.95 this September. [via Sean via Gizmodo]

Car seat meets gyroscope.

AisafetyseatAlthough I am (I must admit) a fan of "reality" television shows, American Inventor on ABC isn't something that I've been watching. I'm sure you can pretty much guess the premise of the show - the inventor/contestants try to prove their invention is the best, thereby winning the prize of getting the invention produced and marketed. What I didn't realize was that one of the contestants has a new type of car seat for children (pictured above with his invention). This is what it says on the ABC website:

Spherical Safety Seat - A new kind of infant car seat where the baby sits inside nested spheres instead of the usual seat. In a collision, the spheres spin and automatically position the child's neck and back so that they are perpendicular to the impact force, thus shielding the baby from the destructive force of the impact.

It's a pretty cool idea and according to some fan websites I've read, he's the front-runner in the contest. I guess he's not the first person to play spin-the-baby in a car seat (also be sure to play the Safety Egg demo), but if he does win I'll be very interested to check it out.

Watch the finale of American Inventor tomorrow night at 8/7c on ABC [via my Goddaughter Megan - thanks!]