I never realized how much I depended on my stroller until I didn't have one.
My husband and I recently got home from a trip to visit family in Canada only to discover, to our horror, that the airline had not sent our stroller back to Oakland.
If you are anything like me, there is a certain item for baby that you feel you would completely die without. Pacifier? Exersaucer? Playmat? Socks? For me, this item is the stroller.
I thought life would end. The stroller is what got me through the day up until this point. What was I supposed to do now? Sit at home all day and become completely depressed? Become a shut-in? Knit myself into oblivion? Goo goo and gaa gaa until my brain turned to mush?
I love my five-month old-more than life itself, but I do not like the prospect of trying to carry him around in stores and not be able to take him for walks. I have already developed body builder sized arm muscles from carrying him around in the house. I never knew this until looking at recent pictures taken of me holding him in sleeveless tops. Seriously, if you saw just my arms, you would think I were a sexy, hairless man.
Baby Joseph had decided that he didn't like being carried facing me early on. Something about having his face buried in my chest screamed 'mealtime' to him, resulting in him constantly bashing his head into my collar bone; unpleasant for both of us and fruitless for him.
Living in San Jose, where the weather is perfect, I could not imagine spending even one day in doors with Joseph, so I borrowed an out-facing baby carrier from a friend thinking it would be worth a try. He loves it. Maybe it's because he is sick of looking at his mama all day, or maybe I just have halitosis, but looking out into the world he jabbers, he smiles, and strangers go crazy over him!
This grand realization sparked insight for me: be flexible. Babies (and kids!) are adaptable. The world won't end if the stroller is gone, or the pacifier, or if you're at a friends house and forgot the playmat, or the favorite blanket, or even if your kid lost a sock somewhere along the way. If you forgot wipes you can always stick your babies butt in the sink.
Life goes on. Don't panic. Try to find some humor in bad situations. If you have a routine and something rocks it, it can feel like armageddon. Believe me, I know.
But relax, take a breath, and adapt…chances are your child already did.
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