Isabelle isn't a fan of her pram. She will sit in there for maybe 15 minutes, then she has had enough. That is partly due to the fact that her pram is rarely used, I usually carry her on my back instead, but it's so hot at the minute that it's not always overly comfortable to do so.
So, for the first time in 6 months, Isabelle's pram came out with us last week when we went for a poke around a local indoor market. I also packed a sling, just in case of emergency.
We managed to get TO the market in the pram - then that was that. She didn't want to be in the sling either...she wanted to walk. More accurately, she wanted to push her own pram. So there I was, like a total idiot, letting this toddler 'push' her pram around at snail's pace, no clue where she was going, while I kept her from crashing into people, and tried to keep us moving.
Needless to say, it didn't work, and after taking the ankles off an old lady, I had had enough. Simon carried her for the rest of the way, and she cried for some of that because she wanted down.
But when she's down, she is poking into everything, and either running the wrong direction, or standing stock still! It's no fun for anyone. And I know I should be a bit more laid back and think "Hey, kid, just amuse yourself!" but when she has grubby toddler fingers all over people's nice, handmade, things, or when we are blocking an entire aisle because she is refusing to move, I have to admit defeat!
Luckily, we don't go to shops much. We mostly spend time outside, or if we are indoors it's somewhere where she can happily have run of the place, so it isn't a huge issue.
Because wrangling a toddler when out is not easy. I can actually see why people use reins for their toddlers now - although that's not something that we will be doing as it isn't our cup of tea (despite Iz getting an adorable little rucksack which actually has a built in set of reins).
So, our pram is once again resigned to the garage after a failed outing (I blame the pram entirely), and even the slings aren't getting much of a look in at the minute, so for the foreseeable future, you may not see us out in the big wide world very much at all....