To commemorate this day, our resident daddy blogger, Charles, is recounting his version of “take my daughter to work” day with his baby daughter D in a letter, which he hopes she’ll treasure.
Dear D,
You may not remember the first day that we visited an archaeological site together on April 7, 2013. You, 10 months old; me, still learning how to be a father. Our visit included a long and winding drive into the mountains overlooking the Santa Barbara coastline. As we made our way up the mountainside the road became slightly narrower.
First lesson, daughter: Most archaeological sites worth visiting are never easy to reach. This is part of the journey.
As we made our way towards our final destination I took the time to teach you more.
Second lesson: Be aware of your surroundings.
I point out the poison oak—leaves of three leave them be. (I said this to you in my best Yoda voice.) Remember, daughter, that a good archaeologist will know the hazards of the job. One day remind me to tell you the tales of my encounters with rattlesnakes and coyotes. There are many.
When we reached the end of our journey we came face to face with a part of California history that is unknown to many Californians: the Chumash Painted Cave. Named after the culture that occupied this region of California, the Painted Cave site is a rock art site that includes several beautiful images painted on the surface of the sandstone walls. The colors are vibrant and they catch your attention.
Will you be hooked on sites like this like your daddy? Your mother, who also made the journey, asked me what the art meant. I told her that some believe they are images taken from Chumash cosmology. Others believe that they are the hallucinatory visions of shamans.
When you’re ready, I ask that you give me your interpretation. You speak in an unknown language, but you do it with confidence. I love it and I love that we could share this opportunity. I hope it will be the start of many more to come.
If there is ever a time to start a life of crime, it’s when you have an infant. No one ever suspects the mom and with all the bloated baby gear, we have a million places to conceal contraband. Plus, sleep deprivation makes you do unruly stuff, albeit unintentionally, like cut in line or forget to put on a shirt.
But I’m not the one who has embarked on a whole lotta law-breaking—it’s my 11-month-old, who with her vise-like grip and fascination with anything shiny, has become a serial shoplifter. I can’t take her to the grocery store without her pilfering all sorts of stuff into her stroller (last trip, I found a frozen salmon back there!). From farmer’s market stalls to fancy dress shops, she’s got her paws in all the merch and no matter how much I police it, her rule seems to be if she can reach it, it’s hers. I am constantly doubling back after leaving stores to return the stolen goods. As I apologize, she sits there stone-faced, looking like, well, a cute baby. It’s a great cover.
My older kid—the toddler who is almost three—will happily tell you about any wrongdoing she’s about to do because for her the fun lies in the knowledge that she’s about to do something bad and now has the pleasure of listening to what will happen if (and more often, when) she does. She likes to be talked down and I often feel like the former FBI agent in a bad film noir, constantly negotiating with an unhinged con man. For example, recently in a restaurant I spent the last part of the meal talking the toddler out of turning over a glass of water after she told me she was going to spill it. While this was going on, the baby, unnoticed, lined her sleeves with every silver spoon on the table. I found them later that night, abandoned in her car seat.
But now that she’s starting to walk and spending less time in the carrier and stroller, her gig might be up. Or maybe she’ll just take it to the next level, hiding stuff in her pockets and under her shirt. Maybe she’ll even go Jane’s Addiction style (remember the “Been Caught Stealing” video where Perry Ferrell pretends to be pregnant) or get her wobbly friends into the act, ala The Smith’s “Shoplifters of the World Unite.” If they take over, though, I’m warning you, you won’t be able to find a frozen salmon or a single spoon.
Have a little one with sticky fingers? Treat that baby to a helping of The Smiths to put those wandering hands in sleep mode.
As a first-time parent I had a lot to learn about how important baby proofing is. And by “baby proofing,” what comes to my mind may not be what you’re thinking. For me, tips for baby proofing your life are really ways to protect yourself from your baby’s wrath.
My daughter is just over 10 months old and is seriously on the move: walking, crawling very fast, hitting, climbing, screaming, steamrolling me and, in between, loving me.
And with that, I’ve learned that the following tips go a long way in protecting myself from baby, especially if that baby is a dragon.
And, of course, don’t forget to add these great Rockabye lullaby renditions to your tightly packed shelves—but not so tight that you can’t access them in times of need!
Skinny jeans—at least based on my observations—are the jeans of choice for today’s hipsters. Of course, the youth of today aren’t the first generation to sport these tight fitting jeans.
The history of skinny jean goes all the way back to the 1950s, and over the years, has become the symbol of bad boy rock ’n’ roll. Fashion-forward bands like the Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols and The Ramones all made the jeans part of their uniform.
Almost every decade since has seen an era of the skinny jeans. Even my aunts told me stories of how they would use a pair of pliers to pull up the zippers during the 1970s. And, even today, the skinny jeans have invaded the baby fashion.
My daughter, D, received her first pair of skinny jeans at three months. At first, my wife and I laughed a lot at them. The idea of our little girl wearing the uniform of several generations of rockers was too much. But I have to say that the jeans grew on us.
Recently, she grew out of both pairs of skinny jeans she received as presents. (One dark blue and one dark brown pair, in case you’re curious.) What would the hipsters do? Buy a larger pair?
Perhaps it is simply best to accept the jeans no longer fit, that she’s gone through her skinny jean stage, and it’s time for her to wear looser pants. Just not MC Hammer pants, please, or those hideous Z-Cavaricci–style pants. Not for my rocker.
My dad always told me, “If you don’t have anything good to say don’t say it.” But here I am, with another Worst List. Shows you what I’ve learned! Hope this doesn’t mean that my daughter won’t listen to me…
1. Spikey Things. No-brainer, right? Apparently if something isn’t labeled with an age range on it, some people think it’s fair game. My husband and I are guilty as charged for our own misstep! Take this maraca, for example. We picked it up for our daughter and our friends’ baby. We thought it was so cute, all hand carved and painted, and totally unique. Thing is, we didn’t pay attention to the spikey ears until we took them home. The worst choice…
Thumbs down!
2. Anything White. Not one item of clothing that we were given that was white (or the majority of it was white) is white any longer. Need I mention, why? That includes the pirate bib from my mom that made my other list. If you have to give clothes or accessories, do the parents a favor and go with something patterned or a dark-colored item, so even if it does get stained, you won’t really see it.
Thumbs up!
3. Something You Wouldn’t Want to Live With. I’ll tell you right now that my daughter is horrified by stuffed dogs that have automated flapping ears. They make her scream immediately, followed by an instant waterfall of tears. (Though, strangely, she isn’t bothered by a bear that plays peek-a-boo.) So when my mom brought over another dog with flapping ears, this time playing a Justin Bieber song, my daughter completely lost it. Which leads to my next worst baby present.
Thumbs down!
4. Something You Wouldn’t Want to Listen to More Than Once. Kids tend to like a routine and repetition. If you can’t imagine subjecting yourself to listening to the baby music you’d give your friend over and over again, don’t torture them with it. A sure hit with parents and babies alike? You know the answer to that. Of course, choose bands your friend likes!
Thumbs up!
5. Anything Your Friend Would Feel Guilty About Not Keeping. Sentimentality is a powerful thing, especially when you’re a new mom (or dad) who is like me and feels bad about not keeping or using a gift someone gave my daughter. Thing is, new parents get flooded with gifts for the first year (thanks, everyone, by the way!), and there’s nowhere to put it all. So, be thoughtful—and practical—with your presents and if you’re not going with absolute essentials, try to keep the gift a friendly size.
March Madness kicks off this week, but we’re all about Music Madness, especially since it’s Music in Our Schools Month!
Everyone knows about the importance of music in kids’ lives: Music helps aid brain development, teaches patience and discipline, fosters creativity and expression, and, most importantly, makes for hours of fun. It’s not hard to get babies to rock: numerous studies show they were born to do it. But short of listening to the awesome playlists here, what can you do to inspire your wee one to make some noise? Here are a few things that have worked for me:
1. Make Room to Rock
Clear a space somewhere you can leave instruments and other music-making accoutrements out, all the time, so that the baby can access them whenever the spirit moves them (provided the kid can crawl). We knew with two kids we were never going to use our living room for fancy cocktail parties or adult activities like talking to each other, so it’s a music room. We spend tons of time in there, listening to music, dancing like maniacs, and making our own brain-expanding-but-headache-inducing sound. You don’t need a lot of space, just a lot of tolerance for things strewn about on the floor and an ability to step over a pair of cymbals in your sleep.
2. Use Instruments That Can Get Hurt
There are so many great pint-size instruments out there and my kids love them, but they are just as into banging on a couple coffee cans with chopsticks. You can buy your kids all sorts of cool play instruments, or get cheaper versions of the real deal, or get crafty and make all of them from milk boxes, paper towel rolls, and beans. Plastic recorders, steel harmonicas, and all stripes of percussion shakers are faves.
The only thing my husband wanted on our baby registry was an inexpensive nylon-string acoustic guitar—and along with the diaper service, it’s our most used baby item. (BTW, we didn’t put it on the registry, but I think you should!) As a former band guy, he has a lot of nice guitars and keyboards that he keeps to himself, but this guitar, the piano and one of the side drums from his kit are all up for grabs. And once they see them, the kids love playing the real deal.
3. Make Your Own Music Class
I was so gung-ho to get our first kid grooving that I jumped the gun on music classes, enrolling her at around seven months. I’m sure folks would say it was good for her, but honestly she spent every class trying to eat other kids’ shoes or crying. Since then, in her short two-year existence, we’ve done four different types of classes (a great benefit to L.A.: lots of options for kids’ music classes), but you know which one she liked best? The one I liked best, where the teacher taught them Yellow Submarine and The Smiths songs. So find a class that’s fun for you and odds are the kid will like it, too.
Now she’s almost three and a non-stop singing and dancing machine. Yesterday I caught her wearing a diaper on her head, strumming the big guitar and making up songs. I called her father and whispered: “She’s starting in on the singer-songwriter thing but it looks like it’s going more Andy Kaufman than Aimee Mann.”
With baby #2, I am too busy and too tired to take her to any music class. (Sorry, baby, yet another example of you getting shafted.) But her part-time babysitter, who looks after her and another baby around the same age three days a week, calls their time together “baby band camp” because the three of them just hang out in our music room, banging on drums and shaking maracas for hours on end. She seems just as inclined as her big sister to lay down a beat and get busy with it, so am I short-changing her or allowing her to be self-taught?
The only time there are tears in Baby Band Camp, BTW, is when one of them busts out the triangle—they will fight for it. I don’t understand the allure; maybe it’s more about the cold metal on teething gums or maybe we’ve got the next John Deacons on our hands.
We’re so excited to have Shiri Appleby join us, who you may recognize from the big and small screens. She’s been acting since she was a young child, and now Shiri will soon be welcoming a child of her own! Read on to learn about how she’s been preparing for the arrival of her baby with fiancé, chef Jon Shook.
Bio: I am an actress, a director and a very pregnant woman.
When I’m expecting: End of March 2013
Sex of our baby: We don’t know the sex. We opted for the surprise package. We have lists of names for both boys and girls. We also have a book of names packed in our hospital bag in case we meet our baby and the names we’ve selected don’t fit.
Current nickname: We’ve named our little bundle Baby Shook.
Personality of my baby so far: We have a super active baby, that is until I have someone touch my belly to feel the baby move. That’s when the baby becomes very still. I take it as a sign that we don’t have an actor in there.
Best part of being pregnant: The happy high. I’ve never laughed so much in my life and I’ve loved every second of it.
Most challenging part: None of my clothes fit! I thought I’d be the pregnant woman rocking tight clothes all the time and now that I’m pregnant, I just want to wear anything comfortable, sweatpants included.
Most unusual things I’ve been craving: Blueberry muffins, not that they’re unusual, but I’ve never eaten so many in my life.
5 things I couldn’t live without during this time: Honey Bunches of Oats
Coconut bars my fiancé made me to help prevent stretch marks
Tracy Anderson workouts
sparkling water
naps
What I’ve done to prepare for my baby’s arrival: The room is done, the books have been read, the clothes have been washed, bag is (almost) packed, names are picked…I’ve done everything I can to prepare for a situation that is “unpreparable.”
Diaper bag of choice: Jonathan Adler
Songs on my labor playlist: Van Morrison Pandora Playlist
How pregnancy has affected the work I do: You realize pretty quickly that you’ll only have so much free time after the little one shows up, so you become very selective about what you choose to spend your energy and time on.
Up until pregnancy I would do as much as I could just so I could see what I responded to creatively. Now that I don’t have that option, I’m forced to decide what matters and inspires me before I begin the work—it’s definitely a change I’m enjoying and appreciating.
What I’m looking forward to most: A healthy baby
For more about Shiri, you can follow her on Twitter and Facebook!
And if you’re preparing for your own bundle of joy—or know someone who is—here are some releases to welcome the little one home with some sweet zzzzzs.
We’re so excited to have Shiri Appleby join us, who you may recognize from the big and small screens. She’s been acting since she was a young child, and now Shiri will soon be welcoming a child of her own! Read on to learn about how she’s been preparing for the arrival of her baby with fiancé, chef Jon Shook.
Bio: I am an actress, a director and a very pregnant woman.
When I’m expecting: End of March 2013
Sex of our baby: We don’t know the sex. We opted for the surprise package. We have lists of names for both boys and girls. We also have a book of names packed in our hospital bag in case we meet our baby and the names we’ve selected don’t fit.
Current nickname: We’ve named our little bundle Baby Shook.
Personality of my baby so far: We have a super active baby, that is until I have someone touch my belly to feel the baby move. That’s when the baby becomes very still. I take it as a sign that we don’t have an actor in there.
Best part of being pregnant: The happy high. I’ve never laughed so much in my life and I’ve loved every second of it.
Most challenging part: None of my clothes fit! I thought I’d be the pregnant woman rocking tight clothes all the time and now that I’m pregnant, I just want to wear anything comfortable, sweatpants included.
Most unusual things I’ve been craving: Blueberry muffins, not that they’re unusual, but I’ve never eaten so many in my life.
5 things I couldn’t live without during this time: Honey Bunches of Oats
Coconut bars my fiancé made me to help prevent stretch marks
Tracy Anderson workouts
sparkling water
naps
What I’ve done to prepare for my baby’s arrival: The room is done, the books have been read, the clothes have been washed, bag is (almost) packed, names are picked…I’ve done everything I can to prepare for a situation that is “unpreparable.”
Diaper bag of choice: Jonathan Adler
Songs on my labor playlist: Van Morrison Pandora Playlist
How pregnancy has affected the work I do: You realize pretty quickly that you’ll only have so much free time after the little one shows up, so you become very selective about what you choose to spend your energy and time on.
Up until pregnancy I would do as much as I could just so I could see what I responded to creatively. Now that I don’t have that option, I’m forced to decide what matters and inspires me before I begin the work—it’s definitely a change I’m enjoying and appreciating.
What I’m looking forward to most: A healthy baby
For more about Shiri, you can follow her on Twitter and Facebook!
And if you’re preparing for your own bundle of joy—or know someone who is—here are some releases to welcome the little one home with some sweet zzzzzs.
When that post went up weeks ago, I honestly couldn’t remember the highlights of that year off the top of my head.
But this evening I came across some pretty special things that I can’t believe were sent to me five years ago: two videos my then boyfriend, Charles, made for me when we lived apart for a year on two different continents
Two years later, actually, we were married. And less than two years after that, we became parents to our Little D.
Sure, our love story is a lot more complex than that, but should our daughter ever ask me why I fell for her dad, I’d have to say, “Instead of buying me flowers, he did things like this.”
Do you have a special connection to Blur?
Pass it along to the little ones in your life all the way to beddy-bye time with our upcoming release!
When that post went up weeks ago, I honestly couldn’t remember the highlights of that year off the top of my head.
But this evening I came across some pretty special things that I can’t believe were sent to me five years ago: two videos my then boyfriend, Charles, made for me when we lived apart for a year on two different continents.
Two years later, actually, we were married. And less than two years after that, we became parents to our Little D.
Sure, our love story is a lot more complex than that, but should our daughter ever ask me why I fell for her dad, I’d have to say, “Instead of buying me flowers, he did things like this.”
Do you have a special connection to Blur?
Pass it along to the little ones in your life all the way to beddy-bye time with our upcoming release!
Skinny jeans—at least based on my observations—are the jeans of choice for today’s hipsters. Of course, the youth of today aren’t the first generation to sport these tight fitting jeans.
March Madness kicks off this week, but we’re all about Music Madness, especially since it’s 
With baby #2, 
