This story about
our trip to Germany is a little bit out of order, but I really need to tell you this story because it was really one of the highlights of my journey as a mother and blogger. Having the opportunity of visiting the Didymos Store in Ludwigsburg Germany was such a special event for me.
It all started about a year ago when I told my friend Gretchen that I'll be going to Germany over Christmas the following year. She asked "Are you going to visit Didymos?" Wow- I guess I hadn't thought about that!
I've been a babywearing mama from the very start, but mostly with knitted wraps, ring slings and soft structured carriers. Now that my second daughter is now a toddler and my "someday baby #3" is on the horizon, I knew that I would love to start getting into wrapping with a woven wrap. So I started doing my research on finding a Didymos woven wrap that I fell in love with. I finally did - Indio Sole Occidente.
I will tell you with full honesty that I dreamed about this wrap, many times. I was excited to see it in person and actually feel my first Didymos wrap. So time passed and I waited. We spent our vacation in Germany and saved our visit to Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg for last.
In preparation for our trip I contacted Didymos to see if I can set up an appointment to chat with someone about the wraps, a little bit about the company and maybe get some babywearing tips from the source. I was honored and *so* excited to learn that Anna Hoffman, an owner and one of Erika Hoffman's children would be meeting with me. I mean, really - an owner of Didymos made time to see me?!
We arrived at Didymos and somehow I was expecting this gallery of wraps, a museum of babywearing history and assistants just waiting to help parents learn about babywearing. Babywearing Heaven, really. What I found was a colorful store that had about 2 dozen wraps on display and a direct focus on organic and quality made children's clothing and accessories. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but a nice surprise.
Anna welcomed me into her store and we talked about the wrap that I had chosen for myself, Indio Sole Occidente, as well as a few other wraps that friends had
begged pleaded asked me to pick up. I quickly drooled over my new wrap and she asked if I would like to have a tour of their office. Uhm, YES PLEASE.
Behind the original Didymos shop is a larger building that houses the offices. We walked into their shipping room where all the Didy wraps we love come from. Literally, walls and walls and walls of wraps in their boxes. "And this isn't even our largest room," Anna joked.
As we walked through the building, and Anna showed me things that she made me promise not to talk to anyone about, we talked about the legacy of the wrap. She spoke about her wrap that she used on her son, now 18 years old, and it is as precious to her as a symbol of her relationship with her son as perhaps my wedding ring is as a symbol of my relationship with my husband. Her description invoked images of all the things that a wrap does for us as mothers and for our children, and really that it isn't something that needs to be tucked away when the child outgrows it. She likes to use her wrap as a table cloth, a scarf or stole, anything really - to bring it out and enjoy the memories it's given her. She's saving it as an heirloom for when she becomes a grandmother one day. What a wonderful thought! It totally revised how I will think of mine.
Although Didymos is one of the most well known names in the woven wrap industry, not only for their beautiful colors and amazing handiwork, but really for the commitment to quality. Anna's mother, Erika Hoffman, the creator of Didymos and whom I would credit as bringing modern day babywearing to the western world, started wrapping simply out of necessity with her twins. As a mom who had her second child a week after her first child's second birthday, I can absolutely agree and wholeheartedly thank Ms. Hoffman for coming to this revelation almost 15 years before my own birth. I credit so much of my attachment parenting style and motherhood capa
bility for the ability to wear my children. I've worn them through the house to do chores, through the zoo to give them a better peek up, closer to my chest when they are sick and need snuggles, and across the world and through large crowds to keep them safe.
But the need to find a solution to a problem isn't where Ms. Hoffman ended. Her strict requirements for the materials and labor that go into the wraps also is evident in her work. Didymos adheres to incomparable standards in quality of material. Didymos has always received high marks for compliance in Öko-Test and Eco Institute. All components of the wrap making process are controlled and even the ingredients to the dyes used are limited to being the most natural available. This truly makes a big difference to me, when I consider how much time my children might spend in a Didymos wrap. It was truly one of the highlights of my trip to Germany and I am so thankful that Anna Hoffman took the time to speak with me!
I managed to bring home a
Further Didymos reading: http://issuu.com/didymos_das_babytragetuch/docs/didymos_jubilaeumsbuch_en_ansicht
