The Mall

When Em was born, we had an over-one-shoulder sling carrier for her.  It was nice, but after a block or two of walking around our neighborhood, my one shoulder and back would start hurting.  We also had a hand-me-down front carrying Baby Bjorn, which was really nice, but Todd and I were both always afraid Em's head would snap off if we weren't holding it, thus taking the "hands free" option away (and it was hard to wash and dry).  Then, when we were searching for cloth diapers in Howell, MI, we found a wrap that was all one piece of material and looked really comfortable.  The owner of the store spent time with me trying to figure out how to wrap the thing (she didn't realize I was a visual learner and wanted to 'help' me figure it out on me... it was bad, let me tell you).  Much to our surprise, the thing worked wonderfully!  I could carry Em facing out towards the world, in towards my chest, on my back... you name it, I could do it, so we bought it.

Yesterday, Todd and I went to the local mall because I needed to go to the grocery store, the pharmacy, in search of a piece or two of clothing that fits and I could get all that in once place at the mall.  We had lunch at a cafe in one of the grocery stores and a very nice lady came up to us and asked the difference between the two kids.  After finding out that they were just shy of 16 months apart, she told us how well we were doing because her two were almost 12 months apart (I nearly spit out my drink on that one!).  We talked for a bit longer, until she asked if we knew the sex of this baby.  Totally unsure of what she meant, I pulled the top of the wrap down and exposed Cooper's head and informed her that he was almost two weeks old and a boy.  I've never seen such a shocked expression in my life!  She was convinced that I was pregnant, with (what I can only assume) some weird cardigan or such.  Todd and I had a good chuckle about that one for half our meandering around the mall.  

I had been trying on cloths and such, so Todd was holding the baby and apparently a guy holding a newborn attracts attention.  When I came out of the dressing room, he told me about these people who were admiring Coop and then, upon finding out how old he was, looked at Todd like he was the worst dad on the planet (apparently taking a two-week old child for stroll in the mall is something you don't do here).  This, of course, made him feel terribly, so he asked me to put Cooper back in the wrap.  I was happy to oblige, and stopped by the next store window to get him in.  Two cleaning gals were about ten feet away, but I didn't think anything of it until one crept up closer to see what I was doing.  She apparently was giving ME the "you're the worst parent in the world" accusing look until the last piece of material came up to secure the babe.  The whole time, the two ladies are speaking in some language I can't identify, but at no point did I think these women would have an issue with someone 'wearing' a baby.  All the women (okay, not generally the white women, they use strollers) here carry babies on their backs with towels.  None the less, Todd told me the whole story from his point of view afterwards.  That was the point I think both of us officially realized that we were beyond 'odd' to most who look at us with our off-roading stroller and baby-wearing ways, we just didn't fit any mold people here have... which, of course, makes us laugh!