2 posts tagged “baby”

Emily volunteered to babysit last night so Karen and I could go out on a date.  I didn't realize how badly we needed one until she asked me when the last time K and I had been out together without Theo and I couldn't tell her.  The date was cool, we ate Burmese food in Rockridge, played pinball in Alameda, and listened to a retired fireman tell gruesome stories while we drank strange fruity concoctions at a cool Tiki bar.  Oh yeah, and we even managed to stop by the late night Oakland taco truck before making it home.

But that's not the best part. 

Theo slept all night.

From 8:00pm to 5:00am.  After a couple sips from a bottle he went back down again until 9am. 

I know it's probably a fluke, but I had to share my excitement. 

I've been making great use of the "Friends and Family" privacy features of Vox for awhile now.  It's great, especially when you've got news and aren't quite ready to share it with the world.  I thought about it a lot and tried to come up with a really nice and meaningful post but it's not working, so whatever.  Something Karen sent me today made me want to blog.  My "family" probably won't get the cultural references so I'm posting to the world.  The post doesn't make any sense without a little background, so here it goes.

We're having a baby.  Karen's 23 weeks pregnant.  It's a boy.  We don't have a name yet, but we're getting close.  He's due January 15, 2007 and we're stoked. 

Moving on....

So today, K sent me a link to this device called the BabyPlus Prenatal Educational System.  It's basically a really expensive crappy plastic speaker mom straps to her belly that plays basic rhythmic sounds which incrementally increase in complexity.  Here are a few examples of the "lessons".

You can hear the gradual increase in complexity.

By lesson 16 your kid should be able to throw-down on the dance floor pretty well.

The reviews I've seen on Amazon are all freaking over-the-top.  I mean, can you believe this?

"I faithfully used the babyplus system when I was pregnant. One time when using it, he started knocking back. Yeap, i actually felt him knock back at it, in rhythm."

"At age three Cary could do a perfect cartwheel. At age 4, she can do back walk-overs and back handsprings...unassisted!!!!"

"Faith was born alert, calm, and hardly cried at all as an infant. She slept through the night right away with only waking to eat. "

To read some of these, the parents make it sounds like the kid will fly out of the womb like Superman, play drums better then Art Blakey, speak Latin fluently, and do your taxes before he even hits preschool.

Could I make one myself?  Yes.  Would Karen use it if I did?  Probably not.  Will I buy one?  Probably yes.

Before I dip into little man's college fund, have any parents out these seen results from prenatal stimulation?