Hats Off, Please

Don’t get baby hot – not ours, anyway. Even having a winter cap on while riding in her car seat can make a vast difference (dad rides in his all the time, no problem). For instance, tonight driving home from a community meeting I couldn’t understand why baby was so upset. I knew I hadn’t overdressed her (having learned how she hates to be overheated), but didn’t know that the hat alone could make her sweat the way it proved to do. I wouldn’t be writing this down, except that she cried the loudest she ever has, and that’s saying something, during our 18-minute trip. I kept thinking she’d nod off, as she has after crying in the past, but it kept getting worse. In retrospect, I should have pulled over to try to learn what was ailing her. I really had thought she’d fall asleep, and I was keen to get her home to her mommy.

When we did get home, and I carried her car seat inside, her arms were quivering with her emotion; it broke my heart in a few million pieces. Twenty minutes later, she’d cooled down, been breast fed, and was laughing it up with dad and mom – as though she was having the best day of her life.

Maybe she was.