Stroller Back, Girl

We’ve been spending a lot of time in the park recently. It’s easier to entertain Abbie outside than inside, plus I can ignore the squalor we live in yet never have time to clean when I’m outside the house.

Abbie is lucky her brothers tolerate the stroller more than she did, otherwise we’d never go outside. Abbie hated her stroller as much as she hated her swing, bouncy chair, crib, playpen, or any other baby containment device that didn’t involve direct contact. It wasn’t until she was about a year old that she tolerated a stroller, and that’s only because she could feed herself while we left her strapped into it. Abbie hated her stroller so much that I briefly advocated saving money and not buying a stroller thinking the boys would hate it too, and we could use another more practical method to transport the twins, like sherpas or some sort of spell of levitation. Today I’m glad we let Adam buy us the stroller because the only non-disposable, non-furniture baby equipment we use more are the bottles. And burp clothes. Dear lord we use a lot of burp clothes.

On the other hand, maybe it’s too bad for her that her brothers like the stroller, otherwise I’d let her and the dog run around the backyard unsupervised while I keep the boys entertained, and open the door to let them back in the house when one of them bangs on the door. Either way, we generally head to the park as a four-person unit, with Abbie roaming the playground, the twins chilling in the stroller, and me bouncing between the stroller and Abbie making sure everybody is still breathing. If mommy is home and not trying to wind down from or gear up for her crushing job duties, I’ll occasionally recruit her to take Abbie outside while I sit on the floor watching the twins and trying to wind down from my crushing Abbie supervision duties. Mommy, though, spends a lot of time working so we can afford luxuries like a home near a good park and name brand premium diapers for overnight, so it’s usually just me hauling the three kids.

Prepping everybody by myself can be a challenge, especially on a day like today when the weather was chilly enough to require jackets. This afternoon I set the boys in their gym, rounded up everybody’s jackets, found Abbie’s shoes and socks, rolled Ian onto his back after he rolled onto his tummy and got pretty ticked about his new position, located the pants Abbie removed while she should have been napping, slipped a jacket on Tory, rolled Ian back over, changed Tory’s diaper after realizing he pooped, picked a screaming Ian off his tummy so I could slip a jacket on him, started putting Abbie’s pants on before I had to quit and address Ian’s screaming, strapped Ian into the stroller outside so he could roll over anymore, strapped Tory into the stroller to give Ian company, dressed Abbie, and took her outside to the stroller, making sure nothing happened with the boys in the five minutes I left them outside unsupervised to dress Abbie. Then we were ready to walk the half-block to the park.

We have a good stroller that’s lightweight and easy to push. Still, when you load a double stroller with 25-and-increasing-pounds of baby, it can get hard to move. That’s why I appreciate Abbie’s newest trick: Pushing the stroller. If I let her, and usually even if I don’t, she’ll step behind the stroller, put both hands straight out in front of her onto a crossbar, and push. She really puts her back into it, and genuinely moves it at close to my walking speed. She can’t steer, so I have to make sure she doesn’t hit something like a fence post or another two-year-old. She loves pushing it so much that I have to lock the wheels in the desired location so she’ll play with the playground equipment instead of the stroller. I’m glad to see that she’s finally enjoying our stroller, even if she still won’t tolerate sitting in it.