Crunchy but not crazy

It may not have been a surprise to my friends and family, but it was to me. I'm a crunchier mama than I thought I'd be. Yes, I'm a vegetarian. Yes, I owned a pair of Birkenstock clogs way before Crocs were around. Sure, cooking was a big part of the way I provided for my husband, so why not make the food I give to you? I've made the "crunchy" decisions one-by-one, never intending to make as many as I have. Somehow they have come together to make me seem, I think, to be a different kind of person than maybe I really am. I think a lot of moms have a line in their head that separates things that make sense to do differently from things that are, well, crazy. I mean no judgement here, but as far as I'm concerned I haven't crossed that line. Apparently others take for granted that I have. Here's where I am crunchy: 1) cloth diapers, 2) make most of my own baby foods, 3) will probably leave you rear-facing in the car seat as long as I can, 4) use the ergo carrier when convenient and 5) of course, I'm a veg-head. I am not, however, the crazy kind of crunchy. I DO believe in vaccines according to their recommended schedule. I DO think you should get to explore your world and not be worn all the time. I DO think you should sleep in your own crib without me.

Here's how this usually comes up: Two weekends ago you and I finally made it to the downtown farmers market (yep, a crunchy haven). I wore you in the Ergo. The Ergo always generates a comment or two. Other moms ask what kind of carrier, if I like it, compare it with their own sling or carrier. We had two such comments in about 30 minutes at the market. The first mom had her six month old on her hip. She left her Ergo at home, but liked it. Ten FULL minutes later, I also knew that the mom had discovered attachment parenting and had moved a mattress into her daughter's room where they slept together. "Sure he (the Dad) misses me, but it's not forever." Again, I'm not here to offer a judgement of that mom's decision, though I did automatically think about SIDs risk with co-sleeping. I'm not a proponent of attachment parenting, but to each her own. I think it's a mistake to make the child more important than the marriage. The crazy thing to me is that she was sharing this with me, a total stranger, who definitely did not ask about her marital bed. I'm sure that mom felt that she had stopped short of some other kind of crazy herself. It makes me wonder if I'm somebody else's brand of "crazy."