Love Letters To My Infant

Time. Most of us don’t like to think about time. I recently learned that there are theories that our perception of time is slower impart because of how fast our metabolic rates are when we are small. It is possible that a baby’s perception of time is much slower than yours. As my son’s 1st birthday flew past and my 40th slammed into me like an avalanche, I acknowledge that the value of time for me has increased. I know now that time is particularly precious in the early months of life. 

The first time I recognized things were moving faster then I wanted them to happened after I had my first baby. Like all newborns, my Kate was impossibly soft and nothing was too good for her delicate sweet skin. I would take her from the bath and slather her in a concoction safe enough to eat to protect her new skin. As she lay there, looking up at me on the changing table, I would imagine clothes for her. The softest, warmest, purest clothes that I could dream up. These clothes became little love letters for my sweet newborn.

Fast forward a few months in and I found myself a purveyor of babywear. Always on the look out to try new brands for high quality, smarter, modern clothing for babies. I made an embarrassing number of first time parent buying mistakes. Disgraceful. PILES and PILES and she outgrew everything SO FAST. I gave to charities of course, imagining a baby that had less means would share in the experience of that cute dress. Then I read a very eye opening and disheartening article about how most clothes, particularly infant clothes, end up in landfills. Some estimates indicate at least 80% of baby’s first year end up under ground. 80%?! Even poor nations have started turning away second hand clothes and thats just one part of the footprint the business of clothing leaves behind. My buying habits changed overnight. I couldn’t possibly celebrate my baby in the same way ever again.