Free At Last

The 50-degree-plus winter days keep coming in Rhode Island, and baby keeps getting pushed in her stroller along the seawall in Narragansett. Today, she somehow wiggled out of both her winter booties (which she didn’t really need) and her socks (which she did), which I noticed about halfway through our walk. Baby had been laughing, and I’d been responding with my own laughter, for a few minutes before I realized that what delighted her was having fresh air on her feet. I found the socks and one bootie in the stroller, but had to turn around and walk a hundred yards or so before I located the second. Her feet were barely cool to my touch, but I enclosed them again for the rest of the walk. She may have appreciated the effort to keep her safe and warm on some inner level, but her laughter did not continue.