Child-seats: you don’t always need children in them to make them useful

3 seats, 3 different loads, 1 successful outing with my special helper.

So, the other day, I was in the in the common situation of needing to run an errand.  But that errand then turned into two errands.  Then the kids took a nap.  But one woke up much earlier than the other two were likely to…normal stuff for parents, right?  The little circumstances of our days are fluid, changing one moment to the next in a way that’s not terribly fascinating, but often logistically-challenging nonetheless.

The second errand I needed to run was picking up a jumbo bag of potting soil at the hardware store.  This is not generally a task I would’ve considered accomplishing with a bicycle a year ago.  The first errand, a larger-than-usual Trader Joe’s haul, would’ve been easy enough to handle on my about-town solo bike.  But adding a 50lb bag of soil and a recently-wakened child to the mix meant using the YUBA.

I’m used to having at least both of the girls on the bike, if not them AND the baby, but it’s always nice to have a little on-on-one time with one of the kids (it’s actually very necessary, and even doing mundane things like running errands with just one “special helper” provides bonding time we don’t usually get when taking care of the children, en masse).  So my little Doodlebug and I headed off to Trader Joe’s to get a bunch of stuff.

**Something I’ve learned riding a cargo bike: just because the bicycle can handle a whole bunch of weight on the back doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t still distribute the weight more evenly across the whole bike whenever I can.  So, instead of removing the baby’s YEPP Mini seat before we departed the house, I kept it on so I could use it to carry the groceries, knowing that the rear of the bike would be carrying a larger and less-wieldy load than usual.  (The YEPP Mini, by the way, is rated to carry 33lbs, and that thing is sturdy).

So we went to Trader Joe’s, got what we needed, enjoyed a pulled-pork taco from the demonstration counter, (I also had a wee cup of French Roast), handed out a couple PRACTICAL CYCLE business cards to some people who wanted know where I got our YUBA, and we headed down the street to the hardware store.

It’s a small thing, to be sure, but I prefer shopping in a grocery store that has hand-drawn signs referencing Monty Python scenes whenever I have the choice.

Doodlebug and I had a nice time in the hardware store (almost any place can be a destination worthy of at least a modicum of anticipation and excitement with a young child–especially a place that has birdfeeders, a wall of kitschy keys waiting to be carved, numerous powertools, and an old-timey popcorn machine dispensing honest-to-goodness real popcorn).

After browsing and munching, we got our potting soil and I loaded it on the rear “Peanut Shell” seat (Doodlebug was sitting in the front one, right behind me and within tickle range).  I made sure to use one of the bungee cords I keep on the back of the bike to sufficiently anchor the floppy bag to the seat.  It worked like a charm.

We made it home easily, enjoying some tunes along the way in the afternoon breeze -the (The Avett Brothers: “The Carpenter” if you’re interested), and–soon enough–the girls were planting sunflowers and herbs with Mommy in the garden.

Not very long ago, I would’ve just jumped in the car and handled these errands, probably by myself.  On this day, though, I got some exercise, some sweet time with my little one, and a little more social interaction than I would have gotten otherwise…all for the cost of about 30 extra minutes.

I’ll pay that price any day.