Kirk blAug

Our Halloween celebrations have been heroic this year. It started with Jupiter telling us that he wanted to be Superman for Halloween. Not only did he want to be Superman, but he wanted Tsunami, Chris and I to be Superman as well. So he is going to be Superman with Tsu, and Chris and I will wear our Superman T-shirts as well. We got our pumpkin from Arbor Day Farm, and carved the 'S' from Superman's chest into it. Jupiter keep telling us that he was going to show Superman when he was done, which we thought was strange until he brought out his stuffed Superman. Over the weekend we were in St. Louis getting some things in order before we move there. We stayed with Jupiter's aunt and uncle. Uncle Tom had the terrific idea of making more super hero jack-o-lanterns. We had originally planned on doing a Superman and a Green Lantern with the two orange pumpkins that Tom had already picked up, but while roaming around a pumpkin patch Chris decided that we should get a green pum

Ragu , Pampers , and a bunch of other companies still do not get how they are hurting their sales sales by making marketing assumptions which only moms to be parents. But at least some companies are getting it right. Check out these Tide commercials: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1qW7Po-1KI?feature=player_embedded&w=640&h=360] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M28l-6LUp3w?feature=player_embedded&w=640&h=360] I do have a slight problem with the term "Dad Mom". It still implies that primary caregiver is a position inherently for moms. But it is an improvement over some of the insulting marketing we have seen. I do not use Tide, but it is always good to have the recognition. In the event that I am looking for another brand because the store is out of the selection of All that I usually get or something else happens with the brand I am using, maybe I will consider some Tide. (via The Real Matt Daddy )

Say your kids keep trying to escape from the lovely home that you provide for them. What are some reasonable ways to prevent this from happening? You could provide the sort of home that the kids would be happy to stay in. For example, a home that is large enough for the eight people who live in it. A home where the animal feces are picked up once in a while. A home where the urine smell is kept to a minimum. We cannot all afford a luxurious option such as this though, so let's look at some alternatives. A home in North Platte, NE has their own solution : [The officer] said the child's mother put her 3-year-old and 5-year-old children in the kennel because she says they tried to climb out of the house at night. Now this is certainly an effective solution. It is low maintenance. You do not need to worry about keeping your eye on the kids. You know exactly where they are at all times. As long as you take them out of the trailer house on their leash and walk them a few times a day

According to the Guardian , there are many more at-home dads in the UK than there used to be: There are now 10 times as many stay-at-home dads in the UK than a decade ago, with one in seven fathers (14%) now the main childcare provider, according to research from Aviva. It says about 1.4 million men are now the primary carer in their households. The rise is unsurprising. It seems the more egalitarian we become, the more women are going to be making comparable and better wages than their male spouses. There are also more adoption agencies willing to adopt to gay male couples , which account for at least some of the stay at-home dad count. Related, is the increase of single father households. As culture here and in the UK gets less patriarchal, the difference between primary caregiving moms and dads will continue to even out. We are still a long way away from that, but studies showing improvement are encouraging.

When you have a newborn, you get a lot of baggage to carry around. I mean that literally. You get a diaper bag, and you put stuff in it that the baby needs when you go out. At first the bag was a hassle. We had a big black one with many handy compartments. It did not have a shoulder strap which cost the use of one of my hands while carrying it. It was also a bit of an awkward shape. I carried it around for quite awhile. I got used to it. I learned to enjoy the convenience of having so much stuff with me. Eventually, Chris got me a new diaper bag that was way better. It had a shoulder strap. It had dedicated compartments for bottles, diapers, a changing pad (also a good place to tote my iPad), and smaller items such as straws, bandages, tissues, etc. It also had a built in refillable wipe container. This was a bag I did not mind carrying. It did not take up any of my hands and I could even put my own personal items in it. Fast forward about another year, and I do not need to carry arou

Jupiter loves using the iPad. He loves it for games and learning. I am pretty sure he learned most of his animals and what sounds they make from it. Sure, we take him to the zoo and he loves it, but how often does an animal at the zoo make the sounds associated with them in the few minutes you spend looking at it? Jupiter also likes to color, as most two year olds do. I had noticed that Griffin had teamed up with Crayola to release the iMarker which pairs with the ColorStudio HD and Paint & Create apps for the iPad. I thought this might be something that he would enjoy so I picked one up from Amazon . Luckily, it arrived from the parcel service during nap time. This gave me an hour to play with it first. I was impressed. But the real test would be whether Jupiter liked it. At first he had a bit of a hard time figuring out how the app works. He was easily distracted by all those other apps on the home screen that he already knew how to use. But after a little while, he started to

Occasionally, I come across some silly parenting product or another. However, this one I actually think is useful. I also think it is impractical though. It is a solution for those times when you are out with the baby and you need to use the privy. It happened to me a lot when Jupiter was a baby. I would be out getting groceries or running some errand and nature would call. What do we do in this situation? Well, as a guy, during a stand up situation I could manage a baby in one hand and my equipment in the other. This does not really work for moms or sit down situations for dads though, so sometimes putting them on a blanket on the floor is all you can do. The Babykeeper is meant to hang from the door to keep that child off the dirty floor an on the dirty door instead. Honestly, I would prefer the door, but the keeper seems way to big to fit into my already overflowing diaper bag, and certainly will not earn that space with the limited use it provides. There are solutions that the own