A few weeks ago we bought Ingrid a new spring hat: a stretchy, floppy hat in brown striped cotton jersey. For some reason she loved it from the moment she first held it. I think the softness was part of the reason, but more importantly, the hat is mostly shapeless and just a little bit too big for her, so she can pull it on herself. Her winter hat fit tightly and had ear flaps, so it had to be put on just so. This new hat she can pull sort of kind of roughly in the direction of her head, and it ends up in a reasonable position. Often skewed and wonky, but who cares? She likes this new power.

It also turned out to be a great sleep aid. When she wants to go to sleep, she likes pulling the hat down over her eyes to shut out the world.

A few days ago we somehow lost the hat. It probably got thrown out of the pushchair and we didn’t notice. She missed it. Today we bought a new, identical one, and she was so happy to get her hat back that she didn’t want to hand it to me at the till. For the next hour or two she wouldn’t let go – she would either wear it or hold it all the time.

The picture shows Ingrid and the hat in our Chariot Cougar cycle trailer. It’s one of our best baby investments: expensive, but well worth the money. Well designed and well made, robust, easy to use, convenient and comfortable – great in every way.