Midnight Stroll

Oscar and I went for an afternoon stroll today in a very cold, sunny and windswept Osterley Park. Well, I did all the strolling, and Oscar jiggled along behind me in the baby backpack wrapped up in his snowsuit, mittens and fleecy hat. The backpack we have has a very nifty device: a little mirror on a string that you can use to check that your baby is still there and is having a nice time. This mirror got used several times today as Oscar's hat has a tendency to slip over his eyes, particularly when I'm walking at a brisk clip. Several people stopped to comment on the fact that I was taking a baby on a scenic walk with his eyes covered (I wondered why I was getting very little reaction to my 'look at the leaves, look at the ducks Oscar' commentary). By the time we'd negotiated the long driveway back to where my car was parked, it was getting quite late and the nice hat-realigning volunteers had all gone home for sunday tea and crumpets by the fire. I couldn't really see what Oscar was up to in the mirror anymore as it was getting pretty dark. I figured that he was alright though, as I could hear him chattering and singing away to himself. It wasn't until I got back to the car that I realised that not only had he been chatting to himself through his hat (which had worked his way down over his entire face by then), but he didn't even have a fighting chance of being able to push it up himself, as he had lost the use of both hands too. There was a strip of velcro on the top of the backpack which had cruelly snared both wool mittens. He seemed ever so pleased to be back in the car for some reason...