An Alternative To The Bonding Reflex

With the economic downturn, status ain't what it used to be: the hottest fashion accessory in our trendy neighbourhood isn't a pair of Dolce & Gabanna sunglasses, or Lululemon yoga-wear woven from sea grass--it's a toddler, of course! And with two...well, let's just say our spot with the Joneses is well-secured...

With the weather improving (slowly, but improving nonetheless), your standard-issue/once-around-the-park-Jeeves stroller ride just wasn't cutting it with our discriminating dynamic duo, who at nearly six months have become a lot more inquisitive (read: hands-on) than they were even a few weeks ago. We'd been shopping for infant carriers since before they were born, but the range of choice and contradictory consumer reports (not to mention the atrocious service one would expect from Babies R Us)were enough to make us want to lie down and wish the entire subject away. Lidia had given a friend's Baby Bjorn a test run, but found its lack of back support troubling.

We decided to go with a pair of matching harnesses from Infantino, which promised greater relief for our spines and longer life in that this model supported infant weights of up to 32 pounds (!).

Assembly was fairly straight-forward and within minutes, we were each toting a boy like a couple of Gap-clad marsupials.

It was a bright day but a windy one as well--not an entirely unknown symptom of living off of King Street West--so we had to be careful to shield the boys from not only the sun and the harsh blasts as well.



The boys were content and wide-eyed at the awesome spectacle of all that is Queen Street West--from graffitied walls to the tattoo parlours to the overpriced handbag emporiums and esp. the admiring glances of persons from all possible social classifications, if you get my drift--and if you've ever been around Queen West And Bathurst on a typical afternoon, you certainly will.







Feeling ambitious and neither of us plagued by a slipped disc, we expanded our walk all the way down to Spadina and then back around via King. Eventually, Nathaniel nodded off but Carter remained wide awake as we embraced yet another yuppie cliche for a break at one of the three hundred Starbucks locations in our neighbourhood (to be fair, I hadn't had a Starbuck's beverage since the fall of 2008-I'm a Tim Horton's man...Second Cup if absolutely desperate).




I sampled some iced-concoction while Lidia went with the latte. When we were finished and about to leave, Nathaniel woke up and Carter fell asleep...must've been all that soothing World Beat music they pipe in...



When we arrived at home, the boys were wired from their stimulating walkabout, as if they'd absorbed a little of the residual caffeine from the coffee shop (told you they were into the whole tactile-thing), but eventually settled into nap mode. As I watched them sprawled out on the mat, all I could think of was something I'd read earlier:

32 pounds? How about to the corner and back...?