Entries from January 2009 ↓

Kind of cool – like being underwater in Alaska without the hypothermia and risk of death.

The ominous dark shadow in the second picture is Jon scraping ice off the windshield so we can go to work. (I am the toasty warm preggo inside.)

I just don’t know if bringing back extinct species is a good idea.

I like woolly mammoths as well as the next person, but honestly, what are you going to do with it? Eat it and feed a small village?

And the Neanderthal? This is an unfortunate case of having too much science to know what to do with.

What are you going to do with a human-ape hybrid, other than lock it in a zoo for observation or dissect it to try to learn more about human evolution, which, friends, will not be appreciated by the human-ape.

The article continues to say that “some might fancy” seeing a car-sized armadillo with a “spikey, club-like tail” wandering around in South America.

If I saw a car-sized animal equipped with spikes and clubs coming my way, I would not fancy anything but an AK-47.

I can see this is a way to help preserve existing species. And don’t get me wrong, bringing back extinct species and making up for some of the earth-desecration we’ve accomplished is a good idea. But, are these the right species? Surely there’s something smaller and less anachronistic to begin with?

Image credit: woolly mammoth and Glyptodon.

I’ve started to get to the point where I can no longer pass the pregnancy off as a fondness for Christmas cookies and beer.

Since I didn’t eat much the first four months, up until last week I hadn’t gained any weight.

But apparently, Baby Beast is making up for lost time, and he’s chowing down.

In fact, this week he has this new thing where he repeatedly punches my stomach if he’s hungry, until I feed him or else become nauseated from lack of food. Today, this resulted in eating something small every hour or so to avoid being pummeled.

Possibly, it is an advanced form of baby-communication, like some prenatal version of Morse Code, and I should be impressed.

Although, judging from his interests thus far, he is probably just spelling out C-H-E-E-S-E-C-A-K-E-N-O-W or something similar. Or, he’s inherited his father’s stellar sense of direction and is giving me detailed instructions on how to get to the nearest Outback Steakhouse.

Actually, Outback sounds pretty good right now.

Mud, Mud, I Love Mud

People tell me I shouldn’t sanitize my child, or their belongings. I should avoid anti-bacterial things because they kill the helpful microbes as well as the evil ones.

I’ve been told to breastfeed as long as possible to pass on nutrients, and to take the baby outside, but not to public places filled with hordes of filthy people, like shopping malls.

I should not bathe him daily, lest his skin become irritated, dry up and fall off.

I figure, in order to satisfy these demands, I’ll just roll him around in a pile of dirt every other day, and let him play with roving packs of wild dogs.

In keeping with this theme, I have selected the perfect toys for our baby, courtesy of ThinkGeek.

Giant Plush Microbes!

Ranging from Ebola to the common cold, gangrene, mono, and my personal favorite, mange.

With any luck, the sheer size of these microbes will intimidate any actual microbes, keeping the baby healthier than one of those run-of-the-mill hapless children without cuddly toxic guardians.

Image credit: ThinkGeek Plush Microbes & dirt

Since I’ve been thinking about whether to use formula or breastfeed like a cow, milk and the lives of cows have suddenly become more interesting.

Here’s a quick video about about How Milk is Made.

The motion-activated brush doesn’t look so bad. Also, apparently, separation from the herd (while being milked) causes anxiety. Oh my god, where is my herd? Nobody told me I needed a herd. #($*&#@*).

Yes, Virginia, there is such thing as an invisibility cloak. Or a Klingon cloaking device. Check this article out.

Thank you, Reddit, for highlighting this article.

Image credit: Lolcats cloaking device

More articles: Discovery & National Geographic

Growing up in the 2010s

Lately, I realized that the internet will be a large part of our child’s life. For one thing, if his father has anything to say about it, he’ll have a domain registered for his name as soon as we settle on it. Not to mention twitter and flickr accounts.

Personal blogs and online video make it possible for records of his life to be available to the public before he can talk. Not just basic info like address, age and names of family members, but his likes, dislikes, moods, music tastes, activities, personal photo collection and (for some) a record of his online purchases.

Is it Safe to Give Your Child an Online Presence?

Are parents concerned about internet privacy regarding their children, when millions of people can view their home videos? And here’s some unfounded paranoia to chew on – do you remember Red Dragon, when the psychopath uses home videos to scope out people’s lives and homes in order to break in and stick mirror glass in the eyes of their corpses?

This doesn’t even take into account your kids’ own posts, when they are old enough for MySpace profiles and Facebook stalkers. I like to believe in the basic goodness of the human race, but I also realize that the Amber Alert stickers in retail windows are not just there for decoration.

The More You Know

What about the things your child can read about? Sure, there are privacy settings for both incoming & outgoing information. But this is the internet. I’m fully expecting our child’s hacking abilities to surpass my husband’s ability to construct blocks at about 13, maybe sooner. In fact, I will probably be offended if he is not this precocious.

But, You Guys Do It

Then there’s the hypocrisy factor. Jon and I work on computers all day and then come home and interact online through Twitter or blogs or World of Warcraft for the next 6 hours. Granted, this will change somewhat when we have a baby. But we still spend a lot of our time online, for our day jobs, web design/consulting, and entertainment, so how fair is it to excessively restrict our son’s time online?

Parents, Any Advice?

What do other parents do about this? If you have a young child, what steps do you take to filter the influx of information, to share with an online community but not risk your family’s safety, and to prevent your child from being completely addicted to the internet?

I’ve heard there are blocks you can set up, and internet usage cards, but it IS the internet. Part of the fun of it is that you can find just about anything if you know how to look.

These issues are legit concerns for us, and for any other parent with computers in the house and a Comcast account. We realize that we might be more tech-oriented than some households, due to our backgrounds and preferences, but going from the numerous photos of children I see on Flickr, blogs, YouTube, etc., we’re not alone.

Parents, how do you handle this?