Thingamababy

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 [...]

Baby Photos in Hospitals

AJ — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:26:54 +0000

Here’s something I’m really curious about. When my first child was born, our hospital had a bulletin board near the front desk of its birth center. It was absolutely stuffed with baby photos tacked up by proud parents. Some scenes were photographed in hospital beds, others at home or at a park. When you enter [...]

Your child will live a life 10 years shorther than yours

AJ — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:18:41 +0000

“We, the adults of the last 4 generations, have blessed our children with the destiny of a shorter lifespan than their own parents. Your child will live a life 10 years younger than you because of the landscape of food that we’ve built around them. [...] The statistics of bad health are clear, very clear.” [...]