babies love to be carried

I had a sweet experience today at the grocery store. I was carrying Anastasia on my back (in my new Beco Butterfly). She was getting tired, but she's starting to like being on my back, and she was sitting there quietly while I shopped. A lady who worked at the supermarket saw me and asked, "Where are you from?"

Confused, I answered, "Atlanta."

"Oh, I didn't know people carried their babies on their backs like that here!" She was evidently delighted. "In my country, we all carry babies like that."

"Where are you from?" I asked her.

"Ethiopia," she said.

Well, of course everyone carries babies on their backs there! They do it everywhere outside of the western world. But, as I told my supermarket friend, we westerners are slowly catching up to some of the wisdom that a lot of cultures never lost. "Babies like to be carried," I said, reaching around to pat Anastasia, and my new friend smiled and nodded.

"Aaah," said Anastasia, which was her way of agreeing with us.