A wealth of (nearly useless) knowledge

I think all of us have a bit of expertise on something - for some, that knowledge is useful for their jobs or life, for others, it is simply filling up brain space - to come out when needed which isn't very often. I contain the latter kind. I am a complete stroller nerd. Always have been - I can remember in school, when other little girls were drawing ponies and rainbows, I was designing strollers. I fell in love with an Evenflo stroller and ended up buying it (with my brothers) for my mom when my youngest brother was born.

This obesssion has continued, I'm somewhat ashamed to say. Surfer gets a kick out of it; we'll be driving down the street and see someone pushing a stroller, and he'll quiz me on the make/model, etc. Almost like guys do with hot cars they see driving past. Which brings me to an interesting correlation. You see, I think of strollers a baby cars. Wheels are wheels - big or small. And while I may not be picky about the type of nursery furniture, or clothing, or toys our baby gets (when we finally have a baby, that is) you can be darn sure I'm going to make sure our child has one sweet ride.

We'll begin our lesson today by looking at the "base model". The Graco - which I dub the Ford Taurus of strollers. It is comfortable, nicely upholstered, lots of features - but heavy, unweildy, and won't survive more than one child without looking like it's come through battle. It's affordable, though, so it's common and re-sells on Craigslist for a dime a dozen.

The Combi is the Asian import, the small - yet surprisingly versitile - ride for petite babies. Too flimsy, though, for any lengthy use.

Flimsy also is the very common Peg Perego. This set of wheels is by far the most popular model for those with "group mentality" taste. Think of the GMC Yukon: slick, stylish, bulky, oversold. The whole things just... wiggles when you push it.

If sturdy and sure is your game, consider the Bob. This rugged offroad model is very common amongst the Starbucks crowd and you see it regularly at the upper-crust shopping centers and nice neighborhood parks. It reminds me of the Nissa X-terra: a great SUV made for nature but rarely veers off the paved or tiled path.

The models of the upper-crust vary like the cars at Bellevue Square.

For function, style, and compact size go with the Maclaren. This British model screams quality. The Mini Cooper couldn't do better - and they share the same slightly inflated price.

Inflated price also comes with these two highly trendy models - the wheels of the stars (or, at least, the babies of the stars). The Porsche Cayenne (or Bugaboo): quality, inventive styling, versitile function, but come on - people buy this for the status symbol.

Then there's the feel-good stroller, the most ridiculous set of baby wheels out there, which I readily compare to one of the most riduculous cars out ther. The Stokke Explory, or the Toyota Prius. This stroller is a hunk of plastic that looks like it wouldn't stand up to a heavy breeze, let alone a toddler who likes to throw its weight around. But it's overpriced, and people seem to like that.

The Silver Cross is just a beaut, the ever classy, solid, beautiful Jaguar of kiddie wheels. I've never pushed one, but you know just by looking at it that it would ride like a hot knife through butter.

I could go on and on, but I'll spare any of you who are still reading this post. Let me bring you to the crowned Queen of Strollers, at least in my book. This is truly style, function, luxury, and simplicity all rolled into one. It is the Audi A4 of tiny rides, the Inglesina Zippy. You can hold a testy tiger in this stroller and it wouldn't budge, it has shock absorber wheels to cover rough roads, it reclines fully to comfort a napping infant, and it's hood comes all the way down to the bumper bar for those stormy days. It turns on a dime, folds with one hand, and looks great. This gets the "baby-trend stroller of the year" award from me.

Now, this is if we have one baby. Don't even get me started on twin strollers.