I love slings. I use the plural even though I only have one, because they are a great idea in principle and there are a lot of slings out there besides mine that I like better, but won't afford. The picture above is 3-week-old Miriam in the sling. I can say with very little exaggeration that Miriam spent the first three months of her life in the sling. It was just how she rolled, at least if we didn't want her screaming all the time.
Here she is at 6 months-ish, still hanging out.
Now Magdalena occupies the sling, though not as much as Miriam did. It's kind of a relief to be able to put the child down every once in a while.
I got to thinking the other day how many tasks I've managed to accomplish while wearing a kid in a sling. Some of the odder ones that came to mind include wearing the sling while:
- playing the piano as an accompanist at a baptism
- making bread
- making dinner (even though the instructions say not to cook while wearing the sling...)
- sleeping
- going to the bathroom
- lifting Miriam into the child's seat part of a shopping cart (can you hear my back hurting?)
- breastfeeding. But it's very, very tricky.
- watching an entire movie (Masterpiece Theatre's Dr. Zhivago), standing up and bouncing to keep baby asleep.
How about you?