Reducing my "baby footprint"

"The Expedition"






VERSUS

"the Escort"

So there's a lot of talk about reducing our carbon footprint, but I spend even more time these days focused on my baby footprint.

I live in an urban baby haven and so there's lots of stroller action on the street. At a certain point the sidewalks get pretty filled up. Unfortunately our apartment is on a hill with crappy sidewalks, so it's pretty tempting to take the double jog stroller out for hitting the grocery store and cafe just to make getting home easier (getting home is the uphill slog). But ease of pushing is outweighed these days by wanting to streamline.

I don't think I'm the only one in this mindset. I have one friend who just traded her Mountain Buggy for a Cosco umbrella stroller (which she calls her ford escort). In a way it makes sense. Mirrors the cultural shift of the cool cars from SUVs to the Honda Fit.

With twins it just means carrying one in a pack and putting the other in a single umbrella stroller.

I actually don't think that the outsized baby footprint has a ton to do with good old fashioned American materialism... or even keeping up with the Joneses. My guess it's more people who get baby-geared up while the kiddo(s) are still cooking. We're part of a society that thankfully gives you a bit of control over most aspects of your life. When pregnant - especially with the first - you really have very little control over what's to come and what to expect, so researching equipment to buy becomes a substitute.

Walking down the street

Things change when you walk down the street with twins.

"Twins?"
I nod yes.
"Oh my god!"
"That's what we said."
Everybody laughs and I walk on.

That's the best case scenario.

It's really strange the questions people choose to ask given the opportunity. It's often pretty straight forward, like "two boys? two girls?" But occasionally that one question burning at the front of their mind is "Do they wake each other up with their crying?", "Do you ever use a babysitter?" or 'Can they read each others' thoughts?"

Even walking the streets of Manhattan is different with the 2 A's. Andy is much better at extricating himself from random strangers, but I had 2 10 minute conversations with older women. One had twins of her own and wanted to tell me all about their acocmplishments. The second lectured me about my responsibility to raise the girls with good manners and kindness in their hearts towards all people. Now how am I supposed to just walk off in the middle of that? Even if I did have somewhere to go...