Nostalgic stroller envy

The other week I was at Jungle Joe’s chatting with a stay at home dad.  He said that  his wife had a case of stroller envy.  “Stroller envy, what do you mean”, I asked. 

“Well, we have the one stroller, but now she wants a jogging stroller, as well as, an umbrella stroller, whatever that is”, he said.  Suddenly it was as if my subconscious had manifested itself in physical form and was confronting me with feelings I was having too.

Internally my Id and Superego were laughing at me, 1.  For being in a Jungle Joe’s… and loving it and 2. For understanding exactly what his wife was talking about.

When we were initially shopping for strollers I had no clue about what strollers were good for what purpose.  In this case strollers are kind of like shoes, you need a couple different ones for where you’re going.

The Stroller travel system

That’s the bigger one on the left and has a baby carrier that snaps in and out.  The baby carrier also pops into the base that will be secured in your back seat.  The downside to this system is that the baby carrier can get heavy and the stroller isn’t really responsive if you’ll be jogging or walking quickly.  However, the upsides far outweigh any negatives as it’s comfortable, folds flat, has loads of storage and has a shield to cover your Baby Mojo from the sun.

The Umbrella stroller

I was slow to embrace the umbrella stroller but am a big fan now.  It’s very lightweight and folds up to the size of an umbrella.  This is the great stroller that you’ll use when running a couple of errands or when you need to calm your little Mojo down with a couple of laps around the house.  The down side is that your child has to be able to hold their head up, so it can’t be used immediately for infants, and it’s ride is a bit rougher than the bigger strollers.  It also doesn’t have the shield to protect against the sun or have any storage space, but it’s the difference between a pair of dress shoes and hiking boots.

Those two strollers are the ones that occupy the Mojo garage for babies.  Personally I would love to have one of those three-wheeled strollers with the inflatable tires.  They look cool, you can jog in the them and they’re comfortable. 

They also have the added visual impact of  making your child look like they’re in Tron or driving their own Green Machine.  Oh, I loved my Green Machine and was totally shocked to see that Huffy is still making them.  Huffy, there’s a brand that I haven’t uttered since I was a child.  It’s one of those brands that are almost exclusively regulated to children and parents.  Since they don’t make Green Machines that are marketed to parents I guess I’ll be familiar with them for the next 14 years at least. 

Back to strollers.  You need more than one, plan on it and start scouring the yard sales now as these are great items to purchase used or from a consignment store.  I know that we’ll be on the yard sale looking for a jogging stroller.  If you have one that you’re selling for about $40 please let Daddy Mojo know, otherwise good hunting!