Delayed

Hiya all. I was going to work on my post today, but H got the afternoon off! We rode bikes with Cleo and went and saw a movie. I'll try to get the post up tomorrow!

Talkin Bout my Chariot

So a while back, H asked me about bike trailers. This is what I sent her:

So I did some research on bike trailers. The Burley trailers are considered fine for light use. Once Cleo is old enough to go in a trailer, though, I'm thinking the bike will be my primary mode of transport with her. So I'm not looking for a Sunday bike ride trailer, I'm looking for a car substitute.

Enter... The Chariot.

Has storage space in back. All weather. Shocks and a hammock style seat for child comfort. Converts quickly and easily to a stroller and back for outings and shopping. Should be able to haul her around for a few years in it until she's old enough for a tag-along. She and I will fear no rain in it. Expensive, but this will free us up from having to depend on the car!

I was expecting to get it for my birthday in the fall, but H was able to get it on sale recently to allow us to enjoy the summer!

Don't get me wrong, the Yepp is still preferred for sunny bike rides, but our Chariot isn't about that. It allows dad to capture a bit of his former life when I lived primarily by bike. There have been many times in the last 9 months where I have been immensely frustrated with having to pack up the kid into the car for minor trips out.

Non-approved baby positioning

Now, that's a thing of the past.

We tried it out a few times on fun rides and set things up so H's bike hitches up to it as well. For me, though, the real test came last week.

You see, Cleo sometimes enjoys hummus on pita in the mornings. One day a few weeks ago, I gave her some hummus for breakfast that I had bought at our local store. Then, as is our tradition, I took the slimy post-breakfast baby upstairs for a shower.

While getting cleaned up, though, her skin became super red on her face and chest, causing a dad freakout!

A superposition of two states

I called the advice nurse but, thankfully, the kid wasn't troubled and was mostly bewildered as to why her shower was cut short. The blotches were actually fading even as I waited. The nurse first reassured me it was not the dreaded allergic reaction. She told me that different types of hummus have different concentrations of lemon juice and other irritants in them and that, combined with hot water and soap, irritated Cleo's skin significantly.

Fast forward to last week. Cleo is out of hummus for tomorrow and I now only trust Trader Joe's Organinc Hummus. It's raining outside. I could pack her in the car... but all we really need is hummus. My eyes turn to the Chariot.

Let's do this!

Wave function collapsed...
And the kid is nice and dry

I'm leaning that the biggest downside of a baby trailer is the fact that you have no idea what's going on in there. On a sunny day you can leave it open enough to look back and see how the kid is doing. When you close the rain flap? Cleo suddenly turns into Schrodinger's cat. The only thing keeping me from hopping off of my bike at every intersection to check on her is Cleo's humming or occasional laugh.

Actually, one time I did hop off because I hadn't heard her make any noise for a time and it was raining a bit fierce. Cleo was happy as a clam and looked up at me with this casual "Oh, hi there!" expression on her face.

Anyhow, the trip went well, the baby stayed dry, and we got a few things more than hummus, all fitting in the Chariot easily. Successful trip? BIG YES!

In fact, the only real problem I have with the Chariot is that I get that Phineas and Ferb song stuck in my head every single time I load the thing up; often I end up singing it to Cleo. Enjoy.

Morning People

Cleo likes to sleep in. For a while, I honestly believed this was a good thing. I LOVE to sleep in and I was feeling pretty blessed that my progeny shared in this. On my days off, the kid and I would blurrily blink ourselves awake around 10 or so and officially start our day around 11.

My view during down dog...

Slowly, though, we realized that this carried with it a frightful consequence: Late night baby. H and I struggled for some time with a little girl that would not sleep at night without making the connection. I mean, it seems obvious, but for a long time we missed it that if she is sleeping in until 10, why wouldn't she be up until 1or 2 am that night?

Sadly for dad, once we did make the connection, we had to end the sleep-ins. Alarms were set for 8 am with a special sleep in time of 8:30 am. The kid's been pretty unaffected by getting up earlier and actually does seem to thrive. Dad, on the other hand, has to sigh and, while entertaining the fantasy of building a pillow barricade around the kid to prevent her from toppling over the edge while I sneak in an extra hour of sleep, force himself to get up.

I've combated this by creating a routine. For about 1/2 an hour after waking, the kid climbs and rolls around on the "dad-nasium" and generally has a good time while dad tries to secretly check his email on his phone without the kid becoming interested in stealing the phone from dad. We then go to Cleo's room where she's free to crawl around, make noise, bang on stuff, do her feral growling (I feel at times like my child is part velociraptor...) and generally just entertain herself while dad does some yoga, which includes her rolling under dad and laughing while he is in Down Dog.

Then it's down to the dining room for breakfast for the kid with coffee for dad. After that, upstairs for a shower to clean up the thick coat of food the child has smeared on herself. Then it's back down to the main room where the kid is placed in the Pack and Play so dad can clean up the carnage from an enthusiastic baby breakfast. After that, it's milk time, then nap.

This usually takes us to around noon. I have to say, I've become a big fan of this routine. I'm not sure how Cleo feels about it as her mother is a lot less rigid than I am and their days together are much more free form. For the most part, though, Cleo does seems to do well with this.

What has suffered, though, is our ability to make events. For example, a brief look at PDX Kids Calendar from last Wednesday shows 16 kids events occurring in the morning between 9 am and 11, with only 6 happening in the afternoon... really only 4 if you don't count mommy matinees.


This puts me in a conundrum. Do I keep to the morning routine I've grown to love and that really helps bring peace of mind to me and reliable structure for Cleo? Or do I pack us up without our morning ritual in order to make sure my little girl continues to have a variety of experiences (even if she doesn't really comprehend most of them...)?

Yes, I know the answer is compromise, but I just hate having to break away from something that is working well. I'm hopeful that the new bike trailer (more on that in my next update!) will help with me feeling a bit more enthusiastic about getting the kid out and about in the AM. I'll keep you posted!

Independent yoga time