Thingamababy

Video of a male giving birth

AJ — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:08:31 +0000

From Wikipedia: “The male seahorse is equipped with a brood pouch on the ventral, or front-facing, side. When mating, the female seahorse deposits the eggs in the male’s pouch, which the male then internally fertilizes. The male carries the eggs until they emerge, expelling fully-developed, miniature seahorses in the water.” Buy related: Mister Seahorse by Eric [...]

Awesomely insane scientific reviews of children’s space books

AJ — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:52:37 +0000

Take an author with a degree in physics, throw in some NASA experience and an interest in children’s books and what do you get? You get children’s books reviews about space exploration containing madly detailed lists of technical flaws. Marianne Dyson was “one of the first ten women flight controllers, working as a Flight Activities [...]

Youth Invention Deathmatch

AJ — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:30:23 +0000

In the left corner, we have heavyweight sixth grader Matthew Wimpey slugging away with Baby Safe Deluxe, a sanitary cloth that can stick to and cover an entire public restroom changing table surface. You know, sort of like a disposable potty seat cover because you’re a germophobe. In the right corner, we have lightweight 5-year-old kindergartner [...]

Link Roundup #8,733

AJ — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:22:21 +0000

Japanese football team Cerezo Osaka takes on 100 children: It kept me fascinated for five minutes. Fast forward to 14:55 to see the final score. Note that the video controls include a brightness setting (the sun icon). Photo gallery: Easter bunnies will steal your soul. Curious Pages blog — recommended inappropriate books for kids [link via Phil]. Illustration: Goodbye [...]

Tell me the worst babyproof door knob cover

AJ — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:24:54 +0000

My rambunctious almost 2-year-old son learned to climb out of his crib a couple months ago. We put him in a toddler bed, which is great, except he feels no need stay in bed once he’s alone in his room. There is one other small problem. He easily defeats the baby-proof plastic bulb gadget on his [...]

Axe Cop: comic written by a 5-year-old

AJ — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:18:24 +0000

That was episode 1 of Axe Cop, a web comic drawn by a 29-year-old man who has a 5-year-old brother. After playing in a pretend world with Axe Cop and Flute Cop with his younger brother (using a toy axe and a recorder), the illustrator was compelled to draw up the pretend world they created. Axe [...]

A new look on classic children’s books

AJ — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:35:55 +0000

As told by a fictionalized Werner Herzog (a famous German film director): Madeline: Madeline is a little girl at a girls-only French boarding school run by nuns. She develops appendicitis and gets rushed to the hospital, leading to this gem: The girls eagerly enter Madeline’s room, Curious for what medical horrors they might see, But there are no horrors, only [...]

Apraxia: One mom’s story

AJ — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:50:20 +0000

My 23-month-old son’s speech language pathologist is leaning toward diagnosing him with “apraxia of speech.” In short, an apraxic kid can be bright in all respects, but when it comes to speech, his brain has difficulty coordinating mouth and speech movements. I’m in the early stages of learning about apraxia. I asked Michelle Stevens, the coordinator [...]

Bootleg Thomas the Train toys

AJ — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:13:24 +0000

Thomas the Train is a brutal killing machine… in the world of cheap, illegal Chinese imports.This particular model is composed of three trains that break apart and fold into a Voltron-like robot. Look upon Thomas the Transformer as a way to keep the magic alive long after your kid has outgrown Thomas the Train. Japanator.com has a [...]

Nonplussed by the Olympics as an educational tool

AJ — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:56:06 +0000

NPR did a decent job of summarizing how “NBC’s broken Olympic coverage manages to annoy absolutely everyone.” My own take is quite simple. I find the way sports are covered in America to be viscerally grating as TV reporting covers the action at a glacial pace and seems compelled to spend as much time as possible [...]