Here are the four strollers I have for Busy Toddler.

I have four strollers for Busy Toddler. I actually have five strollers, but I keep one at Grandma’s house.

When I found out I was expecting Busy Toddler, I had two strollers. I needed an infant car seat, however, and I decided to splurge and purchase a travel system – an infant car seat paired with a stroller for easy transitions from car to wherever. I would be doing lots of running, I reasoned, with two older daughters who were in lots of activities. I took one of my older strollers to Grandma’s, and we used the other one around the ranch. I saved the new travel system stroller for trips to town.

My older ranch stroller didn’t move well across gravel, so when my sister-in-law was getting rid of her jogging stroller, I took it. Then I purchased yet another stroller last summer. We were going to be doing some traveling as a family in our Nissan Pathfinder, and I decided we needed an umbrella stroller that would fold small and wouldn’t take up too much of our precious cargo room.

So now I have four strollers here at the house. I can justify having four because each serves a slightly different purpose besides transporting an infant or toddler.

What makes the whole situation really crazy, however, is that Busy Toddler would really much rather walk than ride in any of her strollers. I generally have to force her to ride in one, and I often find myself pushing an empty stroller just to have the storage space available for stuff. This “stuff” can include shopping bags, coats, snacks, drinks, backpacks, cameras and purses.

It may sound funny, but I’m not the only one who pushes an empty stroller. It’s amazing how many people I encounter in the mall or in the park doing the same thing.

I'll have to clean the dust, mud and hay and grain remnants from this stroller so I won't be embarrassed to be seen pushing it around town.

We recently lent our infant seat to some friends who had a new baby, and I’m getting ready to part with the matching stroller, as well. It only makes sense – they go together as part of a travel system.

And even though I’ll still have three strollers at my disposal and Busy Toddler is already 2, I’m hesitant to give it up. Perhaps it’s more of a sentimental issue for me than a practical one. After all, who really needs four strollers for one child?

Oh, and did I mention I also have a child backpack for Busy Toddler to ride in, a Radio Flyer Wagon, and a trailer that pulls behind a bike. How many ways can one toddler be transported? OK, maybe my problem is really the nasty grips of consumerism …