The Bonnet

This weekend, which was sunny and gorgeous, I introduced a new item into Lucia’s wardrobe: a bonnet. This bonnet, white with lace and ruffles and little pink roses, was a gift from a wonderful family friend, and I’d been eagerly awaiting spring weather so I could put it to use. First, she wore the bonnet to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning. We had to walk down a busy road to get to the entrance, past a long line of cars waiting to pay their entrance fee, and several people leaned out their car windows to exclaim over the baby in her bonnet. Inside the market, a clearly crazy woman approached Andrew, waving her arms and asking in a loud voice, “IS IT REAL? IS IT REAL? IT LOOKS LIKE A DOLL.”

Sunday, we drove south to Lodi to meet up with a cousin of mine in the area from Seattle. We had a little time to kill beforehand, so we went to a winery—Lodi is a major part of wine country. Lucia was wearing a little spring dress, and the bonnet, and I was carrying her in the Bjorn. When we walked into the tasting room, the heads of all the tasters along the bar swiveled in our direction, and everyone began to exclaim over the baby in her bonnet. “She looks like a commercial!” the wine pourer remarked. “Thank you, thank you,” I murmured politely as people discussed how cute she was.

It was almost too much; I felt almost as though I’d crossed some kind of line and half-expected someone to approach me with an eyeroll and say in disgust, Oh, now, come on.

We rounded out our day by visiting the Clarks in Napa and sat outside in their beautiful backyard eating burgers from Taylor’s—our last visit with them as a foursome. Soon Lucia won’t be the youngest baby anymore. I wonder how she’s going to like giving up some of the attention.