My family and I took a trip on Southwest Airlines last weekend, and from the perspective of a parent traveling with small children, it was a big let-down. Gone are the egalitarian days when the first person who showed up got to board the airplane first and a family got to pre-board. Actually, gone is any concern for a family traveling at all.
In case you haven't heard, the Johnson & Johnson's Celebrity Hand-Me-Down auction is going on. They're selling "used" baby items from celebrities, all to raise money for charity. There are eight items in the auction, all from celebrity moms except Matt Damon, who is offering a diaper bag.
Here's where the "Celebrity Auction" starts to piss me off.
Casablanca Cribs in Jennifer Lopez's Nursery
Jennifer Lopez has a (typically) ostentatious nursery and published pictures of them in People Magazine. But the crib is actually quite nice if that kind of decor is up your alley.
Audible Launches New Kids Site
Download audio books for your kids and stop putting Spongebob on their iPods.
7 Days of BPA-Free Plastics: CamelBak Water Bottles
Something to check out when you reach post-sippy cup nirvana.
Jessica Alba Gives Tastybaby
Jessica Alba gives baby food as a party favor for her shower. Seriously.
Mariah Carey Has a Hello Kitty Boo-Boo on American Idol
Mariah Carey is obsessed with Helo Kitty apparently. And she wears the same Band-Aids on American Idol that my kids wear.
Big Deal: FLOR Carpet Tiles for Kids On Sale
FLOR has a couple of child themed carpets on sale now.
So we're in Borders this past weekend, my 20 month old was acting up, and in a moment of desperation prudence, we bought her this simple Elmo board book called "Monster Faces." The whole book is just faces of different Sesame Street monsters making faces. You get the idea - hungry face, sad face, angry face, silly face, happy face etc.
It worked and calmed her down, except for the rest of the day (at least while she was with us in the stroller shopping) she wanted to know the names of the monsters. Every single one. Over and over.
And to be honest, after Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar the Grouch and Zoe I was kind of at a loss.
So later that night, I spent a little time looking on the magical internets, and I stumbled on the Muppet Wiki, specifically the Sesame Street Monster Gallery. If you've ever wondered what Elmo's dad's name is (Louie) or what the name of that baby monster is (Baby Natasha), it's definitely worth checking out.
Check out the Sesame Street Monster Gallery, and if you're shopping for a baby check out the super cute Monster Faces board book.
When I read yesterday about Gary Vaynerchuck's idea for "Good People Day 2008", I decided to get over my typically cynical self and contribute to the internet shout-outs. And from my at-home dad's perspective, one person who deserves some much needed credit is illustrator and graphic artist Melinda Beck.
The great thing about children's television network Noggin is they don't air commercials in-between the shows. Instead, they have other kid's related short programming, the most of which centers around the designs and illustrations of Melinda Beck. Melinda drew Noggin's "mascot" Moose A. Moose and his silent avian pal Zee, as well as most all of the other bumpers, network IDs and other interstitial pieces. The designs are playful, colorful and most importantly incredibly imaginative. After having your mind numbed to the design aesthetic of most kid's television, it's refreshing to see something that stands out from the rest.
So thanks Melinda Beck. I can't think of anyone better to give a shout-out to on Good People Day.
Check out Melinda Beck's work at her web site (including her work for Noggin here), or check out the Noggin web site, which is also full of her work.
(And, thanks to Greg from Daddytypes for originally explaining who Melinda was).
So I bought a copy of the People Magazine with the Jennifer Lopez twins in it this week (purely for research for my blogging job, I swear) and while my wife was looking it over, she noticed something. J-Lo named her kids Max and Emme, which also happen to be the names of the boy and girl on PBS' kids' show Dragon Tales.
Which in as of itself is only mildly strange, except now my three year old knows J-Lo's kids' names.
"That's Max and Emme," she tells me whenever she sees the magazine. In fact, she just did it as I was writing this post.
Why am I not entirely comfortable with this?
It's official. My little girl is becoming, well, a girl.
My eldest will be four years old in a few months, and she's brought home from pre-school her very first cool-kid's word. You know, the word or phrase that all the kids say at school to describe almost anything. Usually the word will last a few months to a year, and then eventually there will be something else cool to say.
Well, apparently in room seven, everything is "cute."
"Oh, that little doggy is cute."
"That's so cute."
"Mom! Look at what she's doing! Cute!"
Or sometimes it won't make any sense at all.
"That grilled cheese is cute."
"We're going to the mall? Cute!"
It's not like she says it all the time, but all of a sudden she started saying "cute" way more than she normally would. And when you think about it, there is a host of other words (even words she's allowed to say) that would be way worse, so I have to be happy about that at least.
And when I stop and think about it I realize this is just the tip of the iceberg, and I've got years of cool-kid words ahead of me. And ultimately I know someday I'll look back on this and think of it as, for lack of a better word...
cute.
I don't know why this only occurred to me now and not two years ago, but what does Dora the Explorer really look like? That is to say, what does the person who does the voice of Dora look like?
Once again, hooray for YouTube.
