modern day dad

Fifteenth month developments.

My Madame turned 15 months last week, and the older she gets it seems like the fewer big milestones there are for her. She's walking everywhere now, can understand almost everything I say to her, and has developed a real personality completely independent of my wife and I. Eventually I'm going to have to stop measuring her developments in months, but for now I'll try to keep it up.

• Walking. She was walking last month, but now she's really a pro. Up and down hills, uneven surfaces, rocks, you name it - she's walking on it. She's finally got the hang of shoes as well, which is a good thing. Because when we first put them on her we didn't think she'd ever wear them. As it turns out the shoes we were putting her in were a little too small, so we skipped right to size five and we haven't looked back since.
• Eating. We turned a corner the other day at lunch time. She was being kind of finicky with her yogurt (which she normally loves) so I decided to let her take the spoon herself. Now she insists on feeding herself, which is good and everything but it definitely slows things down. So now thanks to a moment of simple (but brilliant nonetheless) insight from modern day mom, we rock two spoons, one for Madame and one for me. Between the two we're having much more success.
• Kisses. No matter what I do, I can't get her to give me a kiss on the cheek. She's great at hugging. If you ask usually she'll give you a squeeze and a pat on the arm, but no kissing yet. She's never been a very cuddly kid so I guess it makes sense, but it's kind of funny how that one thing she just won't do.

NYC recap.

I still feel like I'm recovering from our long weekend in New York. Here's a quick roundup:

• Weather. Sucked. It rained every day and was cold. But I didn't go there for the weather.
• Travel. Traveling without a toddler is really great, and Jet Blue is now officially my favorite airline. Live television, leather seats with extra room and they don't skimp on the drinks or snacks. I'm not sure I'd be able to put Madame on mute until she's older (like their ad suggests), but I'm willing to try.
• Shopping. Great. We didn't do much shopping, but we did hit the places we can't get to that regularly, including picking up a few sweet gifts at Bombalulu's.
• Friends. The best. My modern day godson is a beautiful, almost perfect baby whom I rarely let go of. It's amazing how much I forgot what a small infant was like.
• Food. We had some of the best meals while we were in NYC, and while the wood burning grill in the Gramercy Tavern is still a personal favorite, the best meal we had was at this crazy Asian restaurant in the meat packing district called Spice Market. From the outside it looks like an ugly building, but inside it feels like you walked right into a kung-fu movie. Combine the tavern scene in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with some sort of shadowy, red-lit Asian club and you kind of get the idea. And the food was outstanding.

Vegas costume ideas. The good and bad.

Here in Las Vegas everything is about the dichotomy. The winning and losing. The hit or stay. The Elvis and Liberace (well, maybe there's not so much dichotomy there). This year we've decided Madame is going to be a duck (it's her favorite animal and the quacking is about the only sound she will make on cue), but what if we were looking for some advice around town? Just like always, we'd have to separate the bad from the good.

On the losing side we've got this costume ideas for kids page from the LV Review Journal. They suggest that instead of dressing your kids up in boring witch or vampire costumes, dress them up like Vegas icons. Sure, there's always Elvis, but why not a showgirl or high roller/trophy wife? The trophy wife thing is outright creepy, and the slot player (pictured) is just too messed up for me to come up with a comment.

On the winning side, one of the modern-day-great-aunts tipped me to a cool article from the makeup artists at Cirque du Soleil about creating a character with your kid for Halloween (OK. I know they're technically Canadian, but they've got like five shows here now so I think they count). They suggest doing some creative research - thinking about what the character will be like (happy or scary etc.) and then they give some tips on how to create it. For instance, here's some advice for making a scary character:

When it comes to selecting scary colors Eleni suggests white, red and black: "Start with a foundation of white, or sculpt the face by making artificial hollows with dark shadows under the cheekbones, around the eyes and under the nose. That can look really freaky on kids, because it ages them. By the way, you don't need expensive professional stage makeup to carry this off. The Halloween makeup you find in stores is good enough. But make sure you really blend the colors well, especially around the eyes."

And if you should happen to need a good supply of fake blood to complete your look, Isabelle Fink has a recipe for you: A mixture of corn syrup and red food dye. "And if you want it to really gross out the neighbors," she adds, "put in a little Vaseline to get that lumpy, clumpy look!"

HOMETOWN FAVORITES: Halloween, Vegas-Style [Las Vegas Review Journal]

Halloween tips from Cirque du Soleil experts [CirqueduSoleil.com via Mary Ellen - thanks!] Subscription required, or use the Bug Me Not Firefox plug in.

An autumn vacation.

I haven't written anything this week, and it think I'll take a few more days off. Modern day mom and I are leaving soon for a long weekend to New York City to visit friends and meet my new modern day god-son. We're not taking the Madame, and although we'll miss her, we're really looking forward to going on a trip with just the two of us. If there are any recent must-see things in NYC you can recommend, drop me an email or leave a comment.

I'll be back next week with lots of stuff to write about into the holiday season.

Visitors from around the world.

OK. I know this is pretty weblog-insidey (much like my previous post) but this is pretty cool. Last night I found this service that will map any web site's last 20 visitors on a Google map for free. You just put a piece of code on your website template, and in an hour it will start to show you where people are coming from. And for a small donation, they'll give you more than 20. Here's the link to the Modern Day Dad visitor map.

Check out Gvisit.com [via Smelly Monkeys podcast. Thanks boys!]

Tagging, but not nearly as cool as graffiti.

I guess I'm not paying attention enough, because dad blogger thDad tagged me, and apparently I'm it.

Here's the fifth sentence of my 23rd post.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that things aren’t so simple for everyone.

A pretty obvious realization in any context, but it was after all only my 23rd post. I hope I'm getting better at this blogging thing.

Since my OCD prevents me from being the killjoy that stops this weblog chain letter, now it's my job to tag someone else. Ideashak, Digital Dad, and More Diapers,  I'd like to see the fifth sentence of your 35th post (if it's a picture, re-post the picture).

Good deal on games.

Normally I don't shill for Amazon so blatantly, but this is a pretty good deal. Right now they've got a two for one sale on all Hasbro, Milton Bradley or Parker Brothers games, with free shipping. It might be a good time to stock up on the classics you remember playing when you were a kid like Sorry! Or get your kid a new-school classic like Disney Princess Monopoly Jr., where you:

"Choose your favorite princess and dash around the gameboard to buy homes for as many Disney friends as you can! Then when other players land on your spaces, they must pay you to visit."

Princesses, capitalism and paying for friends. So many mixed messages in one game!

Check out the 2 for 1 sale on games at Amazon.com  Offer expires 10-15-05.

NOTE: I just tried this and it's pretty confusing. What you have to do is go to purchase the more expensive item, then click the "second one for free" link in the "Special Offer" paragraph on that page. Then get the coupon code for the cheaper item on that page and follow the step by step instructions

If that doesn't work (it didn't for me), then make sure you get the coupon code for the cheaper of the two items, put both items in your cart and use the coupon code when you check out. It should work then.

Jack the Cuddly Dog.

Looking for an alternative to those Baby Einstein videos? This morning Madame and I watched Jack the Cuddly Dog, a home-brewed kid's DVD from self-proclaimed "baby dudes" Max Reynal and Doug Morrione. Similar to Baby Einstein, it's a very mellow, soothing show, with colors and shapes and classical music. But unlike Baby Einstein, the baby dudes are going for something a little more organic. The music is played on a real piano; a lot of the video shows real footage of animals, flowers, parks and beaches; and throughout the whole thing a hand drawn Jack the Cuddly Dog pops up to wave hello.

The video says for ages 6 months to 2 years, but for my daughter (almost 15 months now) it was way too mellow. She did enjoy the shape animations and the video of the animals (she's a big fan of ducks) but the DVD seems really geared towards infants. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that if watching someone else play with toys while synth-Mozart plays in the background calmed her down eight months ago, this video would too. And personally, I'd rather listen to a real piano.

Jack the Cuddly Dog [website]

Another "I'm old" moment.

So last night the modern day mom and I went to see Green Day at the local arena.  I was never the biggest fans of the whole "pop punk" thing, but friends of ours had offered last minute tickets so we figured it would be fun. We were right, the show was great and it was a good time (and not just because we got a babysitter and were out on a "school night"). As expected there were lots of young kids there, but the fact that I was closer in age to the parents chaperoning their pre-teens didn't make me feel old, it was the slow songs.

You know that moment in a big arena-rock concert where the band plays the slow ballad and everyone holds up their lit cigarette lighters? The kids today don't do that anymore. Now everyone holds up their lit-up cellphones. Cellphones. Goddamn I'm old.

Get whatever stroller you want.

Where was this guy two weeks ago?

Can I have the stroller I want? Can I? Can I? [Salon.com - (you'll need to look at a short ad first) via P.R. Nelson]

And if you've made your choice, shop for strollers and other products from Bugaboo at Amazon.com