A Trip to the Baby Store

We stopped by Day One, a store and resource center for new parents in Laurel Village. It's been a couple years since I last checked out this kind of establishment, so it was fun to see what has changed in the world of baby gear.

For one, Baby Bjorns are now almost exclusively targeted at men. They had five of them on display, and four put men front and center on the packaging.

Even weirder, every single man had a few days of facial hair. This is either an acknowledgment that it's hard to maintain grooming habits during the early days of parenthood, or it's an attempt to make Baby Bjorn as macho as possible (something I have single-handedly undermined).

I'm not sure the stubble is going to save the masculinity of this roll-neck sweater.

Or anyone using this ridiculous Baby Bjorn add-on.

Some products are just plain disturbing, such as this baby below. It looks like it's staggering into the fifth round of an infant ultimate-fighting tournament. I half-expected him to have tattoo sleeves.

I'm also not sure I'd want to give my child "sensory balls," especially the blue ones.

Hold me closer, Tiny Diner?

This Cuddle Cub says if you hug him, he'll "gently shiver." I think it's pretty clear that Cuddle Cub has some deep-set emotional issues that he's only now coming to grips with.

This is called the Hot Spot Labor Sock.

The less I know about that the better.