Dressing a baby in cold weather is sometimes a royal pain in the ass. One never quite knows just how warm is warm enough. It’s probably best to err on the side of caution – rather too warm than too cold. Just bundle on the layers so that if babs is feelin’ the heat when you are on the tube or in a shop, you will be able to whip off a layer with ease.
My biggest problem is that my 11-month-old hates hats. As soon as she is aware of something on her head she pulls it off without a moment’s hesitation. And she does the same with the hoods on her jackets, which is quite hysterical because the hood is attached to the jacket and therefore much more difficult, for a baby still learning the skill of coordination, to remove. But with some frustrated persistence, Amelia will still manage to get the hood off her head. So much for the lovely warm woollen winter beanies I had in mind – my daughter would rather have a frozen head. My husband and I have worked out a ‘hat placement technique’ to try and keep our baby’s melon warm; one of us creeps up behind our daughter and when the hat ambush occurs, the other distracts Amelia with a toy, teddy or funny face.
This is kind of hard to do when there is only one parent around but if the strategy works and we do manage to get the hat on successfully, it will usually stay on for about half an hour – until Madame realises that something has invaded her head, and then off it comes.
Today I bundled my precious up for a walk. She could barely move and looked like a fat pink marshmallow – I thought it was cute (and a bit funny) but I can’t say that my daughter appreciated the sentiment. Luckily the outside world is a brilliant distraction and the hood of her jacket stayed on her head for our entire hour and a half walk. One small victory for mommy!
But I am not under any false illusions; I predict that stubborn little Amelia will most likely suffer from a recurring case of of head frost this winter.
