While I wander the streets of my small town, most comments I receive are that my baby is exceptionally cute (which is true) or scrawny (not true!). Beyond that, people envy the sling
("I wish they made those when I had kids"**) and Dianthus's stroller and tell me they didn't know I was pregnant (I clearly was).The sling is a Balboa Baby from Target. The Mister and I both use it, and while it seems outrageously priced for a piece of cotton, two pieces of elastic and two plastic rings, I now think it is well worth the purchase price (thank you to my aunt and uncle who purchased it for us). Among other things, it can be used with a child under 8 pounds (unlike the Baby Bjorn, which we have not used yet), it is easy to load the baby in by oneself (a big difference from the Moby Wrap) and the Mister has a system of tucking in crying baby so that Dianthus 
can lie in the pouch contentedly sucking on a pacifier without losing it in frustration.
can lie in the pouch contentedly sucking on a pacifier without losing it in frustration.The stroller is a BOB revolution. BOB is a three wheeler (with air in the tires) off road or jogging stroller. The front wheel pivots and it has an incredible turning radius and handles beautifully. My parents had offered to buy Dianthus a stroller, and it felt like expensive overkill*** when I asked them for BOB (and the extra attachment that allows a small baby to use BOB by clicking in to his car seat), as I don't jog and don't have big plans for trail running. My town, however, is short on sidewalks and those that we do have are very crumbly. Dianthus and I have walked into the grass or gravel to avoid traffic on several occasions already. BOB is fabulous for here. Thanks to Mom and Dad for BOB.
Dianthus is awakening, and I've already written this post in four installments, so you'll have to wait for the next in this series for information on musical plastic, pacifiers, disposable diapers and the other things never planned to own.
*Blogger has a button for this on the dashboard and it makes my brother-in-law and me laugh.
**This makes me laugh, because the idea of strapping a baby to your waist with a cloth over a shoulder is probably as old as cloth. True, they weren't always available at Target, and if one used one in 1970 it would appear very ethnic or hippie, but the idea is not new.
**This makes me laugh, because the idea of strapping a baby to your waist with a cloth over a shoulder is probably as old as cloth. True, they weren't always available at Target, and if one used one in 1970 it would appear very ethnic or hippie, but the idea is not new.
***But given that there are $1000 strollers on the market, it's not so hard to justify $400 for a BOB.
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17 comments:
Yeah, yeah, monetize! For months, I laughed every time I saw that button. I guess I've gotten used to it.
I remember a few years ago, people in NY were talking about "stroller rage", caused, evidently, by giant SUV strollers mowing down pedestrians on the sidewalks. I don't suppose that an SUV sling is anywhere on the horizon. Yet.
The $400 stroller is definitely justified if you sometimes have to go on grass or gravel. The Graco stroller we have is nice overall, but does not handle grass well - and I wish it did, because our neighborhood has more grass than sidewalks. If I ever have another kid, I will probably try to get a secondhand jogging stroller. On the other hand, Annika does not like strollers. This has been the case ever since she started crawling... so we have gotten much less use out of our stroller than I expected.
Thanks for the suggestions...I already ordered a sling. The Bob will take more thought.
TT- BOB is certainly not for everyone. While it does fold, if you are packing it in and out of your car a lot, you'd want something smaller, and if you have good sidewalks where stolling is likely to take place, it is overkill. My friends Distinguished Diplomat in Rome has a BOB (which I believe she also had in D.C.) and commented that it was great for city walking (easy to get over curbs and tracks and such) but a real pain for public transportation. This almost derailed my desire for BOB until the Mister laughed at me, "So how is public transportation a big deal for us and the stroller?"
One of my considerations is that the place I go the MOST (and hope to take Andrew) is really difficult access for a stroller. I'd pretty much have to carry the thing (and the baby) down about 500 vertical feet of steps and steep trail and across two streams and then it's a dirt road for miles. I don't know if there's better access to my favorite spot (go there about 6 times a week), but I may just opt for a cheap stroller and a nice kiddo backpack. I guess I would want a stroller for grocery stores and errands, etc.
You need a front pack until the baby is big enough to put into a backpack (many months). Many people highly recommend the Baby Bjorns; I'll let you know after this weekend.
We have both a bjorn and a sling (on order).
LOVE the picture of the little tyke all curled up. Precious.
I used the Bjorn a lot and felt it was worth the cost. But like many baby products, it has a specific window of time for using. My favorite baby product is a system (there are many to chose from) that allows you to transport baby from car to home or stroller easily. Invaluable convenience, especially if you have a baby that is difficult to get to sleep and use the 'let's drive around the block trick.'
Yes AA, I'm all for the "system". Irene had generously donated the car seat/carrying basket part of the Graco safeseat system, and we bought the extra bar on BOB so that the car seat fits right into it.
You know, technically the Graco carseats expire 6 years after manufacture. They say the plastic ages and is no longer safe in a crash. I don't know how much to worry about an 'expired' car seat (and Irene's is bound to be newer than 6 years)... Any comments on this? Do you buy the aging plastic idea? It's difficult to find a used one to buy that's under the age limit.
I probably wouldn't buy a used one from someone I didn't know (Irene's is a 2008). I'm not so sure about aged plastic, but it is nice to have one compatible with other products (new bases, the BOB, etc.) and I certainly believe that a crash could weaken the seat without having visible cracks. The older they are, the more likely they have been hit hard somewhere along the way . . .
Dianthus is a cute little peanut. I love that picture of him.
Hi,
I just saw your blog because my six year old daughter is listening to the audio book of Rascal. Your post made me really curious what she's getting out of the book. She is young. This is her first listen. I assume that like other audio stories she's heard, we'll be listening to it for the next few months. I wonder if the end of an era theme will seep through. I started reading your other posts because I also have a baby. He is four months, born in late August. I wanted to recommend the baby ktan. I have three kids and wear or wore them a lot. With this baby, I wanted a sling that put the weight on both shoulders, and also, didn't allow for chin on chest business
Just wanted to put in a word for the baby ktan. http://www.babyktan.com/why.html It is wonderful and I wear it and him about six hours a day. When he was in the sling position, I put a folded baby blanket under his chest to pop is head up to avoid chin on chest. Now I carry him tummy to tummy. Love your blog, and good luck.
baby k'tan is an easy wrap because there is no tying.
oh nevermind. i didn't see the year. you don't need a wrap anymore.
Anon,
Thanks for checking in with the blog. I hope parenthood is going well for you and that you check in with more recent posts.
SpSq
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