The day had come at last! We are liberated from schlepping around giant bags of baby items for every outing. No more bottles, baby food or diapers (even for overnight trips). No more stroller. I wanted to do cartwheels across the floor.
I was pretty excited...that is until we went on our first outing to Davis Farmland carrying our lunches, the boys' swimsuits and towels. Where was I going to put all the stuff? I was so used to throwing it in the basket under the stroller. Yes, I could carry it, but that wouldn't be very much fun for me. I know myself well enough to know I would be rushing the boys past all the farm animals so that I could more quickly get to a table and put down all my things. It's hard to pet a goat while your arms are full.
Then I did the unthinkable. Well, what I had thought of as unthinkable a few weeks earlier. I brought along a stroller simply to hold our things. Except that our stroller was sitting in the back of the Big Giraffe's car, which was parked at his office. That required me to do something even more unthinkable. I rented a stroller. That's right. I paid $5 to rent a stroller that I knew no one would use. I paid money for the sole purpose of toting around our stuff. Brace yourself for the next one: I did it twice! I forgot to take the stroller out of the car before our next Davis Farmland trip.
Today we went to the aquarium, and I again dragged the stroller with me. Yes, it was a lunch bag holder and coat rack on wheels. My triathlon training partner did the same thing. I'm guessing that at some point outings will become less frequent with school, sports and my kids hating me. My older son (OS) already seems to already be working on hating me. Maybe then outings will be rare enough that we'll just go out to lunch when we got the aquarium.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Kids outgrow baby gear before parents do.Labels: Outings and Playgroups, Toys / Clothes / Gear |
You need a great tote bag with long straps that you can wear on your shoulder! BETTER than a stroller - trust me!