Last week Gideon and I were riding on an angkot (public transportation like a small van). There are no such thing as car seats here in the land of motorcycles and scooters, so Gideon is conveniently carried in our fabulous ergo baby carrier that Dylan's parents sent us. This particular afternoon there were two older Javanese woman on the angkot with us. As usual they were cooing over the baby- asking how old he was, telling me how big he is compared to their babies. They also were (as usual) worried that he might be cold, but I assured them that since he had been strapped to my body in 90 degree heat for the last several hours that we were both actually quite warm. They then explained how they carry their babies wrapped up and in a cradled positioned (the picture above is of an older child in a traditional "selendang", a baby like Gideon would be lying down). As they shook their heads disapprovingly they made sure to tell me several times that they would never carry their baby like I was.
As they finished telling me this, a young high-school girl joined us, took one look at me and exclaimed quite excitedly "Angelina Jolie!" Well, for a second I began to feel quite flattered at this poor blind girl's mistake, but then she explained that Angelina Jolie uses a baby carrier similar to the one that I was using. I have no idea how she knew that, but this girl was thrilled with my choice of baby transportation:)
Gideon and me in Bali
(I look tired because I was. How does
Angelina Jolie do it?)
Javanese grandma approved:)
(My house helpers help me
every time I use this, maybe
someday I'll remember how to do
it all by myself.)
