On Saturday, we met up with Kris and her new boyfriend Tony for a trip to the zoo. It was a lot of fun even though Cate is too young to really notice any of the animals. I knew that was going to be the case, since when we go for walks, she doesn’t notice the horses unless they stick their heads over the fence for us to pet them. It’s all about people-watching for her, and that’s fine.

And I am totally annoyed with myself for bringing the camera with me and taking a grand total of one picture while we were there. I took a picture of a wallaroo. That’s it. Not a single baby photo. I don’t know what happened to my brain, but there you go.

I realized while we were there that I really need a normal stroller. I’ve been getting by for the past 6 months with just the frame that the car seat snaps into, and that’s fine for quick store trips, but I need something that Cate can ride in sitting up and facing out. She was not happy about sitting in her car seat at the zoo, so Dave and I took turns carrying her in the Baby Bjorn most of the time. That was ok, but a little tiring for both of us.

Since I had mentioned the stroller thing to Kris, less than an hour after we left the zoo, she called me to say that she was at a yard sale and found a stroller. She said it was ugly, but it was lightweight and easy to fold, and it only cost $5, so she was buying it for me. Right on! We met up the next day so I could pick it up from her. It’s a Century TraveLite stroller, and ok, it sort of looks like one of Bill Cosby’s sweaters from the 80’s threw up all over it, but it isn’t that bad.

When I got home, I took Cate for a spin up & down our street in the stroller, and she LOVED it. She tends to kick her feet when she’s happy (sort of like a puppy), and her feet were going non-stop the entire walk. I even stopped to chat with one of our neighbors, which is normally when she’d get bored and cranky, but she was happy and smiling the whole time. Yay!

Then yesterday, I googled the stroller to try to find a picture of it so I could show my mom what it looked like. In retrospect, it would’ve been easier to just take a photo of it and email it, but I guess it was lucky that that didn’t occur to me until later. The first result was a link from the Consumer Products Safety Commission that the stroller was involved in a huge recall several years ago. They say, and this is a quote: “The strollers can unexpectedly collapse or the car seat/carrier adapter can unexpectedly detach. When this happens, an infant or young child inside the stroller or an attached car seat/carrier can fall to the ground and suffer serious injuries.” Um, holy crap?

So obviously, we won’t be using this stroller ever again. I’m honestly tempted to take it back to the yard sale people and demand Kris’s five dollars back. I’m hoping that they didn’t know about the recall, because if they did… god, what jerks.

Meanwhile, Cate and I are off to go stroller shopping this afternoon. At least I don’t have to worry about spending money on a stroller and her not liking it. And maybe I can get one that doesn’t involve the colors teal, purple, yellow and hot pink all on the same stroller. Fingers crossed.