Armed with a pram I feel top of the sidewalk food chain. The only thing that comes close is a mobility scooter but the majority view is that a prams contents are more important , a mobility scooters owner comes second.
People get out the way as you chug along sticking to your side , no compromising everyone politely shifts over with a pram , no locked polite zig zagging with strangers.
With this new power comes great responsibility and I still try to remain as considerate as possible , just because I have a pram does not mean anyone else owes me anything , but you can't help but feel a little righteous.
You can't help but feel you've earned your walkspace after mastering the navigation of the pram , the model I use has cleverly designed wheels that need a bit of a push to shift but can go in any direction , they give a little strain but its sturdy. I quite like pulling a slow 180 with the pram while my little passenger with her beaming smile gives her approval at my bond style driving.
My god daughter is nearly 5 months old now and has changed a lot since she first saw light of day. 5 months ago she was still in the womb, it is strange to think that she hasn't been around all my life. Now I walk her around while she looks up at strangers passing by crooning her head back a little too far to follow them pass by , I watch her look out over the water , her solid gaze a mixture of goodness knows what thoughts and emotions.
She is able to show more emotion and has a new found squeal she can belt out at ear piercing pitch, its amazing how much noise can come from something so tiny. Once I've spent some time with her my mind gets adjusted to her size but a day at work gives me the break I need to realise how tiny she is still when I set eyes on her as I enter the flat. My hands larger than her head, her tiny hands barely able to wrap around one of my finger tips.
I love her half-moon smile and the excited arm shaking she does when someone she knows enters the room , I love it when she sits on my lap and from the body movement I know when I look down I'll see her cute little chops staring back at me her big eyes gazing intently at me , no judgement, no hidden agenda. I love it when I am the one that can comfort her from a bad nightmare or get her to sleep when she's restless and above all I love to make her smile.
On our excursions I get the odd smile from people because I am a chap walking a pram but not just from women , I've had the odd cheery smile from guys including a taxi driver turning into the road I was waiting to cross.
Of course its not all positive feedback. I have passed beer boys and had a coughed insult aimed in my general direction , well once , to be honest he may have just coughed as one of his mates did peer into the pram as he passed to see the baby , hmmm.....
Walking with a pram gives me some purpose and responsibility , I feel like I canot be so easily judged as I stride around going about my business , with a pram I am saying to the world I am a nice guy now f**k off out my way.
I love realising what parents are talking about now , those mixed moments of magic and torture. Theres a nice family feeling in the flat when mum , dad and of course baby are here, this does give me a strange feeling as I suppose I become a flatmate rather than someone more significant. I guess I do fall out of favour a little.
A couple months ago she cold barely smile , couldn't really control her body , an hour ago she looked at me and grabbed my nose. While I was out walking her pram she giggled as she kicked away the blanket I was trying to cover her in. She can roll now , has been able to for a while and yesterday she crawled backwards a couple baby lengths.
There are few guarantees in this life but I reckon I can add to the list that every future generation will have parents still ushering the phrase ' they grow up so fast!'.
You can find more of the same at Graeme's blog