Poppa Large

BABY STYLE

First off - I survived Week 1 of SAHD status. It wasn't easy, especially the first two days. I was literally counting down the minutes until Sam came from from work so I could hand L off to her mom. I was just exhausted from dealing with this uber-fussy baby who hated the bottle and hence, was starving herself into discomfort. By mid-week though, L was better and now, she takes to the bottle as easily as could be hoped and that's made her a much happier baby. A thankful dad rejoices.

And I admit...it's fun to take her out so much. If I'm not too tired, I skip the stroller and strap her into either the sling or Bjorn. L's now strong enough to hold her neck up so I face her forward to greet the world and yeah, I'm doing it as much for my benefit as her own. I like flossin' around town with a cute baby hanging off my chest (it's like Baby Bling). I still need to figure out how to occupy both her and I for so much time per day. I don't want to resort to using the TV as a babysitter but sometimes, it's damn attractive.

Anyways, I've learned an important lesson from all this time with L in her fussed-out mode: it makes you appreciate people who put some actual thought into how to design baby clothes with both baby and parent in mind. There is nothing worse than trying to clothe a screaming baby and not being able to figure out how how the hell her buttons are arranged. Actually, I don't understand why so many baby clothes have buttons on them at all - are zippers gauche now? My favorite outfits for L are ones where there's one zipper that runs from her neckline down to one of her feet - zip in, zip out, super-duper easy.

On the other hand, this is a crazy cute kimono-style jumper that Sam and I love having L wear:

However, as elegant as it looks, it has about two dozen buttons (not really, but it feels like it), many of which don't intuitively snap in where you expect them too. I mean, I'm an educated dude - I shouldn't need a mechanical engineering background just to dress my daughter, you know?

Don't get me wrong...I appreciate how onesies and some jumpers have easy-to-open bottoms for quick diaper access...but on the other side of the spectrum, you have sweaters with actual buttons (i.e. with button holes) which is a nice old school touch, but have you ever tried to button someone when they're squirming around like a tadpole?

Sam doesn't seem to mind though - she's more a slave to fashoin than me. If I could dress L in mumus all the time, I probably would, just for the convenience.

Posted by P.L. at 12:20 AM