Cargo Baby

So far, Van hates strollers.

He may humor me and pretend to be happy for ten minutes or so max. But then inevitably by the time I'm far enough from home to obliterate the option of leaving the stroller behind, he gets bored of pretending.

But for those of you who only know him from deceivingly quiet pictures, let me tell you__he is not a quiet baby. He burps loudly, he poops loudly, he spits up loudly, he eats loudly, and he will always tell you how he is feeling.

That means when he's happy, he talks constantly making faces as he talks that make you sure he knows exactly what his little sounds mean.

But it also means that when he's unhappy, he doesn't make a soft whimper of protest. Oh no, he screams. He cries so loudly that the walk back home with the dissatisfied stroller rider is pretty miserable for baby and mommy alike.

This dislike for strollers has existed since he came out of his sleepy phase after only a week or two of life. As a result I have tried every baby carrier from the Bjorn to the Ergo to every kind of sling. He immediately showed preference for the sling and so I borrowed a couple of slings from friends and he has experienced New York City (and every other place he's been so far) in his Mama's arms.

Boing. The store in our neighborhood that discourages stroller use and teaches Baby Wearing classes

In Boston with Mimi and Poppie Risser in front of the USS Constitution

In front of FAO Schwartz (he's decided to always take visiting grandparents to the toy store)

In Virginia at his buddy Zane's soccer game

Well he's finally too big to be hanging on one of my shoulders for long distances and long amounts of time and so I've been experimenting with more "baby wearing" options.

I borrowed this Moby wrap (that is hidden completely under my sweatshirt) from a friend

A moby wrap is actually just a piece of fabric about 15 feet long that you use to tether your child to your body. They sell for a pretty penny so I thought I'd just make one. But I didn't have enough fabric lying around so the other night after looking at all the kinds of Mei Tei carriers (for sale for lots of money all over the internet), I made one.

Here it is sans baby

Here it is occupied by Van (ps. He loves it!)

These carriers obviously take far less than 15 feet of fabric. In fact, I used odds and ends I'd been hanging onto for a long time. Including a little piece of fabric my mom made a few things out of when I was a little girl, one of her old maternity dresses, and a pair of GK's old Patagonia pants (I wonder if the lifetime warranty is still valid).

So this is the way we'll be tromping around the city for the next month or two while I try to build up his stroller tolerance.