hating the hat

Today we went to the zoo again. Since I knew it was going to be a bright, sunny day, I decided to have Emma Jane "practice" wearing a hat before we left. For the past few months she gets very annoyed if you put anything on her head. She used to wear hats and headbands with a smile, but as soon as she learned how to take them off, they were history. This morning I put her hat on MY head and walked around happily showing her how cool it was to wear it (of course, it was barely staying on my much bigger head). She laughed and giggled at her silly mama (probably thinking I'm a big nerd) and I thought my trick just might work. After a few minutes of prancing around in her hat, I slowly placed it on her head. She smiled sweetly and swiped it off in a matter of seconds. After a few tries, I finally discovered that if I quickly distract her with something else soon after placing the hat on her head, she will forget it's there momentarily. Before we left the house, I shot some quick pictures of her just in case she suddenly realized there was a foreign object on her head. We made it all the way to the zoo without any hat swiping and I was thrilled! After all, this fair-skinned girl is going to have to get used to wearing hats. As I proudly strolled my Emma Jane through the zoo, several people stopped to say, "What a cute baby!" and "Adorable hat!" and I was tickled with myself for finally teaching my baby girl to keep her hat on. Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me say, "Ma'am, did you just drop this?" and sure enough Emma Jane's darling hat was lying on the filthy sidewalk a few yards behind us. I replied, "No, but SHE did, and she's very pleased with herself" as I looked down at my smiling child. We tried the hat again a few more times, but it wound up on the sidewalk each time and I finally had to admit that I was defeated. Enjoy the pics because you won't see many more of this little girl in a hat!