“’scuse me, ma’am, there’s a baby on your back.”

The first thing I learned about wearing a baby in a soft sided carrier is that it is not a common practice in our little town. There hasn’t been a single outing where I haven’t heard a comment of some sort, or seen someone pinch her friend and point at us, or had a fellow shopper stop me in a Target aisle with a question or two. Also, most people either must think I’m completely deaf, or they don’t care that I can hear them talking on the other side of the rack “Did you see that lady with a baby on her back?!”

I’ve received some of the strangest questions and comments from total strangers. Here are a few I can remember.

“What happens if you lean back too far?” You ever seen a turtle on his back?

“Do you ever forget he’s back there?” Umm… no. Would you forget if you were toting 25 lbs?

“Oh. My. Gosh. That is seriously the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Like, completely useful, and like, SOOO adorable! Where. did. you. get. that??” Just calm down and if you promise not to wet yourself I’ll tell you.

“Oh, please be careful not to turn around too fast. He might hit his head on the shelf behind you.” Or if that doesn’t happen, I could always lean back too far. You ever seen a turtle on his back?

But by far my favorite comment is the one I get most often:

“Oh, wow, you have a baby on your back.” Really? (craning my neck to see over my shoulder) Oh, I sure do! How did that get there? Thanks for letting me know, friend.

So some of the stuff I get is pretty ridiculous, but there are also plenty of people who are just curious. And I’m happy to say I’ve set many a mom on the path of the baby wearer while riding the escalator in the mall.

In fact, one day last week a sweet lady asked me to write down the brand of my carrier for her so she could look into getting one for herself. I was quite happy to do that and while I fished in my bag for a pen she said “By the way, what is the weight limit on that thing?”

Well, I can carry my three and a half year old in it with no problem, and I told her so. She took a good long look at Jackson and then sort of shook her head like she didn’t quite believe me.

So

Just imagine the reaction I could have elicited from her had she witnessed this:

 

Oh yeah I did!