CBC daycare
There's a baby in the office this morning.
It very well may be the tiniest thing I have ever seen in my life.
It is THIRTY HOURS OLD. And they gave the thing to ME to hold. I didn't even think babies hung out in public when they were less than 2 days old, but they do up here, and they do so in my arms, at my desk, before story meeting.
I was told whose baby it was, but I don't remember. Someone's sister's niece ... I don't know. It's funny to think someone's newborn... someone I don't know and probably will never meet... was chillin' at my desk this morning.
Coworker brought him to the office in the most beautiful amautiq. For my "southern" readers... an amautiq (you say it like ow-mah-tee) is the best way to carry a kid EVER. I swear before I head back down south I will have one made for me. Because after seeing a woman riding a snowmobile with a baby on her back... you've got to wonder why in the world anyone would bother with a stroller.
Some amautiq pictures
4 comments:
Women in Inuvik don't use amauti, but they do something similar: they use oversized button-up shirts to hold the baby. The button-up shirt goes over the mom's regular clothes. She puts her baby on her back and ties the shirttails together under her breasts, sort of like teenagers did in the '80s.
It's much, much better than a stroller, and keeps the baby even closer than the pouch of an amauti.
The amautiq does look neat and probably quite practical up North. I doubt that strollers would work too well in the blizzards you get. However strollers do have there place. Speaking from experience after carrying a baby for nine months sometimes your body likes a rest. I think you would have some difficulty driving a car with an amautiq on your back.
mom
i think an amautiq is great but i do agree when the babe gets heavier, its harder. also i am not the most graceful on ice so a stroller worked for me. weirdly enough, some ladies in my community are interested in my stroller, well its a bike trailer. both has its own post and cons though.
In Igloolik, amauti is pronounced am-OW-tee
and the word for heart 'umati' is pronounced OO-mah-tee...I would get that confused with your ow-mah-tee!
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