But we knew that. And we're up for that. It was fascinating to watch. And in no wise was it more interesting than in the realization that Reed and I are in desperate need of planning help for this little adventure. We knew we were going to need our parents' advice and baby sitting services. We knew we were going to want help in the form of emotional support. What no one told us and we hadn't realized until now -- it doesn't matter how many Consumer Reports or Baby Bargains books you read. Unless you take a current parent of a small child shopping with you, you will buy your baby seat and stroller twice -- and probably a whole bunch of other crap as well.
I suppose the first give away should have been months ago when Julie and Eric brought their 5 month old, Mitchel, over for dinner and proceeded to prepare a bottle of formula using a system that was a. premeasured b. not trash generating and c. involved none of that sterilizing fussy crap. In 2 minutes, Mitchel was happily getting a bottle and we were head over heels in love with the idea of efficient new gadgetry. No idea if we're going to end up on formula, but it was good to see a bunch of the cumbersome myths about formula being a pain completely dispelled.
This weekend's revelations were somewhat geared to older kids --e.g. sectional tupperware and sippy cups are vital to your personal happiness. But they also told us things like that we will need a microwave if we breast feed long term because defrosting frozen milk on the stove takes time and is a pain. And then there's the things they didn't tell us, but we saw in action. Babies generally HATE being restrained in any way for any length of time. This includes playpens no matter how many toys they might contain.
Then there's the things we found random parents at Babies R Us to tell us. -- Good strollers are expensive, but there ARE no substitutes. Good car seats involve avoiding certain kinds of clasping systems. The makers of good carseats also sell crappy carseats and cost is NOT an indicator of quality. The sort of clasp you want for an infant is not the same as the one you want for a toddler who is smarter and capable of undoing the clasp and wiggling out. Mercifully no one needed to tell us that the leather carseat was a stupid idea. We're not quite that dumb.
We had, however, talked ourselves out of the expensive stroller and chosen a carseat we'd have replaced within a month. Fifteen minutes worth of good conversation with a knowledgeable parent and the zillion dollar stroller is back -- along with a cheaper carseat with a better design. Anyhow, note to all potential parents -- USE YOUR FRIENDS AND IF YOU DON"T HAVE ANY, ASK TOTAL STRANGERS. It matters where you spend that money. Really. A wooden crib may be pretty, but it's a stupid use of money. Spend the extra 150 bucks on the stroller. You'll thank yourself when it survives through two kids because it's well made, weighs 10 lbs, collapses easily into a small lump, has well placed pockets, and can be adjusted to the right handle height for both parents. Envision struggling with the converse of this description every time you go anywhere. Now you know why the world buys minivans. It's to carry the damn strollers. Ugh.
Posted by karen at August 13, 2002 12:00 AM