Stroller potato

Walt and I have two strollers -- one of those really cheapo umbrella strollers, which are lightweight and fold away easily, and a much bigger, sturdier one that our friends Jason and Yoriko gave us. Until very recently, I had only used a stroller once that I can really remember, when Devon was a little baby and I was meeting my friend Elana for lunch; I decided to see if I could get her to fall asleep in the stroller (and it worked!). But other than that, we used the Baby Bjorn until she just got too big for it; and then later we either walked or carried her. The strollers always seemed like too much hassle -- a whole bunch of extra equipment to carry around and load onto buses, wrangle up steps, etc. It just seemed a lot easier to have her walk.

The other day, when we were in the middle of a yardwork Blitzkrieg, I took Devon on a walk to give Walt some uninterrupted time to finish the sprinklers in the backyard. For some reason I got the idea to pull out the umbrella stroller (which we had been carrying around in the car for over a year and never used) and see if she wanted to try it out. Maybe it was the novelty, but she was totally excited about trying out the stroller. We got loaded in and walked all the way to Laurel Village, a little shopping strip several blocks from the new house. She was in the stroller all the way, and then when we stopped, she wanted to get out and push the stroller herself. I was pretty surprised about this, since she usually wants to walk (or be carried); I had visions of my carrying her and then pushing the stroller about 2 blocks into our walk.

Now that she's gotten a taste of the stroller, though, she's rather obsessed with it. Yesterday evening, after a full day of yardwork, we came home and went to the neighborhood playground for an hour or so before dinner. We always walk there, but this time Devon wanted to go in the stroller. We broke out the big stroller (and I can see why they cost more money -- they are much easier to push and maneuver), and she was thrilled to get in it. She's so excited about riding in the stroller now that Walt thinks she's in danger of becoming a "stroller potato," never to walk of he own volition again.