These days it is tricky to find a plain old stroller. You are only allowed to buy “travel systems” in which there is an interlocking stroller, car seat, carrier combo that will meet all of your needs and fulfill your wildest travel fantasies. We bought one of these plastic monstrosities shortly before Jonas arrived. Now, three and a half years later, after much abuse, all of it’s many wonderful parts have kicked the stroller-bucket and presumably gone to the big walking trail in the sky. Maggie has no need for a baby car seat, so I only need to replace the stroller.

After much procrastination, and a few months of using a crummy umbrella stroller I got for free off of the side of the road ( I know, you had no idea I was so white trash!), I embarked on a mission to buy a new stroller. It seemed so simple, but, as most things relating to parenting do, proved to be otherwise. I had done quite a bit of searching online to find a stroller I could both afford and enjoy. In other words, I had consulted Target’s online store and found one in a color I could live with and a price within my meager budget. I had Chris check it out for the technical stuff ( you know, wheels and all those tricky little parts) and he said it looked fine, so I packed up Maggie and we drove to Vacaville to Target.

Target always makes my head spin a bit what with all the sparkly new stuff that I don’t have and probably don’t need, but suddenly, inexplicably want. I managed to keep a clear head and not buy the twenty-dollar a pop storage baskets from the shabby chic department, and made it to the baby section with minimal drama. I surveyed the very tall shelf that our Target keeps all of the display models on and found the one I had seen online. Of course, since I was at eye level with the wheels, it was a little difficult to get down to test drive. Some strollers are like pushing a box of lead with no wheels, so the test drive is a crucial step in the buying process. While waiting for an employee to saunter by, I pushed it back and forth on top of the huge shelf and deduced that in a four inch travel span it rolled quite nicely. During all of this waiting I couldn’t help but notice that there were about ten strollers on display, and yet only three boxes with actual strollers for sale. When the guy meandered by I asked him if they had this model in stock, and lo and behold, they didn’t. There was another one that was ok, so I asked about that one and it turned out that it was also out of stock. He went to go see if the Fairfield Target had them available and, while I waited, Maggie and I had a leisurely walk around the baby section where we managed to snag a bib, drawer latches, and a really cute dress. When the Target guy came back he told us that they were out of everything everywhere and there was no real info on when anything might be back in stock. On this note, I checked out and spent twenty-five dollars that I wasn’t planning on spending.

On the way to the car I remembered that we had bought our last stroller at Toys ‘R Us. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I drove to the next town to check out the Toy’s R Us stroller selection. We arrived with about twenty minute until closing time and Maggie had become cranky. I put her into the stroller and as I began to quickly wind my way to the non toy section in the back of the store as Maggie began to scream her displeasure. I shoved an ugly flower toy into the cart to see if it would help. It didn’t. I spied a big shelf full of fancy-schmancy V Tech and Leap Frog toddler toys that light up and play music and, from what I hear, can be trained to feed small animals and administer CPR if the need should arise. I snagged the first one I saw and handed it to Maggie. It was golden. She smiled! She laughed! She bobbed up and down to the music and pushed the little buttons and maneuvered her most adorable “I am a Cute Baby” maneuvers, and was, in all respects, quite delightful and charming. I got to the stroller section and saw a very cute stroller in chocolate brown with lovely baby blue accents (very chic). It had cool wheels and stood at a very nice height for me so I didn’t have to slouch when I pushed. It had a visor that clicked into three different positions, a mom tray and a baby tray with a super-sized cup holder (‘cause, you know she’ll be needing that for her 7-11 big gulps). It was also ten bucks cheaper than the other, less impressive strollers that Target likes to advertise but not carry. Cha-Ching!

I got the last one in stock. The nice people there delivered it to the front of the store for me so I didn’t have to try to haul it around on my own. I began my trip to the front of the store and tried to return the ultra cool farm animal/piano/counting/pre-calc toddler toy to the shelf. Instantly the cute baby disappeared. Her face melted and then contorted into a hysterical open mouthed wail complete with tears and flailing fists. I promptly handed it back to her. Cute, charming, blissful baby reappeared and as she danced her little dance and made her new squishy face of joy, I was overwhelmed by the power of her cute. All of the logical thoughts of the beaucoup pile of toys at home from Christmas and Maggie’s birthday and the fact that Chris would think I’d lost my mind were suddenly replaced by thoughts like, “well, great gramma did give her five bucks for her birthday, and the stroller was cheaper than expected, and she’s soooo happy, and maybe this wonder toy will buy me a few minutes of peace at home and maybe let me pee without a baby clinging to my hairy legs. . .” and the next thing I knew I had swiped my debit card and both the stroller and toy were mine.

Once she knew the toy was secure, Maggie screamed all the way home. I regret nothing. The stroller is awesome and the toy is so fun the kids are fighting amongst themselves to play with it.