Here Comes the Sun: Park Life, Summer Edition
Summer is here and the public fountains are in full effect, spraying cooling water from the mouths of turtles, seals, and other concrete animals in parks across New York city. While children are busy frolicking in the sun, enjoying a splash in the water, for our little one the onset of summer highlights certain seasonal challenges. The “fear of water on the face” (which has us seriously considering this contraption for the bath and beyond) makes the fountain a no-go zone. At a recent visit to the iconic fountain at Washington Square Park, the fine mist in the vicinity of the waterworks was more than enough.
Little W, cool and collected in a sand-free, fountain-free, air conditioned zone, sipping on a cup of imaginary tiger lemonade
The sandbox also is a potential pitfall, thanks to our little one's "Sand Terrors" which we discovered on last year's Mexican beach holiday. Excited to introduce her to the joys of la playa, we placed her tiny shoe-clad feet onto the white sandy beach for the first time and ended up with our baby soundlessly shrieking, clamoring up into our arms to escape the unknown horror happening underfoot. Not what we expected, although a supposedly common reaction in babies. Now, at any park with a sandbox, the detection of even the smallest amount of grit on the ground causes her whole body to seize up, eyes and arms reaching upwards to mama to airlift her out of the situation.
There are a few other hot weather considerations: little W has inherited mom's "extreme head sweats", which occurs when the temperature passes 73 degrees (23 Celsius) and is coupled with any kind of exertion. On a particularly warm day last week at the park, with our daughter's hair plastered to her sweat-drenched head, another mom exclaimed, "What happened? Did she get wet?" to which I answered "No..." slowly realizing that perhaps not everyone's child has a head like a faucet. I quickly whisked her away to an air-conditioned apartment.
As if the heat wasn't bad enough, the sun's burning rays are a constant concern. Our daughter is half red-head (from papa) so a large part of our vacation/summer time is spent with me slathering on sunscreen on the exposed skin of the whole family. We apply liberally, and often, as directed and then some. We are the Econo-jug customer.
As you can see, summer has it's challenges. Hence, the summer uniform to address some of these concerns:
- Sun Hat: We love the Original Flap Happy Hat, with ties or without (for infants, since ties can be a choking hazard). These look like those Legionnaire caps worn by the French Foreign Legion, desert-dwellers, and outdoors aficionados. Shrunken down to baby size, they look functionally adorable. UPF 50+. Keeps the sun off the face and neck. Bonus: absorbs head sweat.
- Sunscreen: Of all of the formulations available, we prefer Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen, Baby. Chemical free, paraben free, fragrance free. Smooths on and rubs in nicely. We trust that Australians know a thing or two about the sun. California Baby also makes a good, natural sunscreen stick that we throw into our bag for touch ups.
- Sandals: Salt Water Sandals by Hoy. A sandal that just looks like a classic sandal. So summery. Made from salt-water friendly leather for swimming (or catching some fountain mist). We like the ones with the rubber bottoms.
- Sunglasses: Teen Tiny Optics. We came across these in a little shop on the Sunshine Coast last summer. Baby Elton John meets Prada, for infants/small toddlers. Soft, bendy arms won't poke your baby's eyes and make them comfortable. Inexpensive so if they go overboard in the stroller, it's no big deal. We also are very into Sons and Daughters' assortment - a higher end, nicely designed eyewear brand for kids. Achingly cute look book. We will upgrade once she passes the fling-them-out-the-stroller phase.
- Swimsuit: For swimming, hopefully with face getting wet soon. Popupshop makes the most insanely cute one-pieces with photographic animals screened on them. Tigers, leopards, panda bears, parrots, horses - so many amazing options for your water baby. We also like a rash guard style top to keep the sun off. Crewcuts makes nice ones. We paired it with a plain white swim diaper, found on Amazon.
From Left: FLAP HAPPY Original Flap Happy Hat $18.95, flaphappy.com, POPUPSHOP Swimsuit Tiger, 25.71, popupshop.net, SONS + DAUGHTERS EYEWEAR Pixie Sunglasses $75.00, wearesonsanddaughters.com, J. CREW CREWCUTS Baby Rashguard, $36.00, jcrew.com, TEENY TINY OPTICS Alyssa Sunglasses, $12.00, kiddventory.com, HOY Salt Water Sandal, $34.95, zappos.com, BLUE LIZARD AUSTRALIAN SUNSCREEN Baby Sunscreen SPF 30+ 5oz, $18.99, bluelizard.net, IPLAY Baby Swim Diaper, $10.23, amazon.com.