As a parent I often find packing up to go someplace more of a chore than I thought it would be before becoming a parent. When they are babies you have to take cribs, bottles, food, feeding chairs, and so much more. Sometimes I even had to take my own small baby bath tub, since my parents only have a shower. It gets crazy!
What is nice is that as my kids have gotten older I don’t need to take as much, and now that both Luke and his baby sister are on table foods I don’t have to worry about food or bottles anymore. Which is so nice!
But, with Luke things aren’t as easy as they might be for most parents with two kids. Not that having two kids is easy, definitely not. For example, most parents with a 3 year old and a 1 year old when going to the doctor may only need to bring a single stroller for the 1 year old. The 3 year old can walk in holding your hand or even help push the stroller. Well for me it isn’t that easy. Luke can walk with his walker, and our baby girl is learning to walk…but not quite there yet. So, I still have to carry her or use a stroller, which means I get our baby girl in her stroller and then go around and get out Luke’s walker and get him going. When we go places with lots of people I have to kind of push Luke along, he is too nosy for his own good, so I go in to the doctors trying to push Luke along and pull the front of the stroller at the same time.
So the other day I had to take both Luke’s walker and the single stroller. This used to be easy, but with Luke’s new walker (that I really do love) it isn’t so easy any more. This new walker does not lie down flat like the other one. The result? The stroller gets the trunk and the walker gets to ride in front with me.
It makes a funny site really. The walker is too wide to just fit in the passenger side seat and too tall and deep to lie completely flat. So I have to put it in so that the walker sits up and one wheel rests on the shift changer that is between the driver and passenger seats. Then the handle bars stick up, and it almost looks like someone is riding the passenger seat beside me.
This isn’t too bad if it is just me and the kids, but if there is another adult? Well, we either leave the stroller behind or the other adult is just out of luck.
The other problem comes if I go through the drive-through somewhere. Where do I put my drink? After all the walker takes up the cup holders. Then there is controlling the heat. The wheel is wedged against the heat control, so it takes two hands instead of one in order to get the car warmer or cooler.
The simple solution would be for me to drive our SUV instead of the car each day. The problem with that scenario is that Luke weighs 35 pounds. Lifting him up and putting him in at an angle to get him in his car seat is not real good on the back. It’s not like he is a sack of potatoes that I can just throw in.
I’ve never been a fan of mini vans. But this last month I’ve been dreaming of “if only”. Of one day when I would have more space and be able to take along a walker, stroller and still be able to eat in the drive-through. I’ve been dreaming of a minivan. Is that normal?
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