Stroller Baby??

The irony of our super-fancy stroller and our stroller-hating baby is not lost on us. We've long suspected that the true source of her hatred for the stroller is the boredom and isolation of the bassinet. She tolerated being placed on her back with nothing to look at until she was about three weeks old. After that, no dice. And while it is a blessing in some ways because I do love wearing her close to me and her preference for it has forced me to become fairly adept at baby-wrapping, I would like to be able to take long walks a little more comfortably.

So we've been waiting for her to get big enough to sit in the push chair formation of the stroller. Germans say wait until 6 months. They keep their babies in bassinet strollers (i.e. prams) for 6 months. Unless I was able to lace my breast milk with NyQuil or Jim Beam, this is a non-option for Ms. E. The concern is, apparently, spinal health. I am pro-spinal health, for the record. No question about it. But it is an extreme view of it here, complete with frowning upon bouncie chairs, not selling exer-saucers, and heckling moms who use car seats in their strollers. So, with E at 14 weeks, we did a little critical thinking and - to sum up an extremely boring analysis - decided that it was ok to try her out in the push chair since we can keep it at a 45 deg tilt and facing us as we walk.

I would not say she *liked* it - no smiles or jabbering. But she did not scream and even fell asleep for 20 minutes. Perhaps because it was Mothers Day she swallowed her anger. I am not going to test fate by overdoing it - one must not get cocky over one outing that did not involve being corrected by a native or strongly reprimanded by my infant. But we just might get some use out of this contraption yet.

[during and after stroller walk pics above]