Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Dressing up baby

Baby clothes. Cute. Impractical. Poorly designed.

Helena's growth is textbook. Big at birth, but within weeks her height and weight were smack down the middle of the charts. Yet, sizing clothes can be a problem.

Do not baby clothes designers realize that babies wear diapers? Could they not design pants, shorts, underwear, bloomers, with a little extra wiggle room in the baby butt area? God forbid the little one might wear cloth diapers, as Helena does! Outfits look adorable — and proportional — on the hanger, but their reality is a little askew. Even though they look nice on, and may even be comfortable, it's often a tight squeeze and a struggle to get them on.

I am proud to say that Helena spent most of the first months of her life in pyjamas. The best way to ease into life (or one's day) — lounge about a bit, check out the surroundings. Socks, booties, vests, sweaters, headbands — I don't understand them. Why would parents do that to a baby, or themselves?

Autumn. The temperature has dropped. Since mid-October I've seen babies in the neighbourhood sporting the latest winter fashions. Deep-winter, sub-zero snowsuits. What do they plan to wear in January? I expect it'll be a bit colder then...

We actually went clothes shopping for Helena on Saturday — she has boxes full of hand-me-downs (including Baby Gap silks and velvets, and very groovy pyjamas), and handfuls of new outfits from every friend and relative she has, yet I felt the need to assuage my fears that she would be sadly underdressed (or undressed) through the winter. We picked out some casual pants and a turtleneck which she can mix and match with the rest of her wardrobe.

I hate pink.

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