How to Beat the Heat, Baby!
We are officially in the dog days of summer, and oh my gawd do I feel like a sweaty dog lately, not like the pretty constellations they are named after. It’s been a sultry, steamy, crazy-hot summer here in Chicago.
But do you know who’s been the dampest of them all? My poor, sweet baby. Every time I take him outside for more than five minutes he looks like he just took a schvitz at the club. It doesn’t help that my Bugaboo stroller is lined with fleece. (Why, oh, why did I spend $700 on an oversized Patagonia jacket with wheels!?) It also doesn’t help that we’ve had like 40 million days over 90. I would kill for just a low 80s day, you know?
Though I try, I just can’t hibernate all summer (and winter), because of the weather. So I’ve concocted some ways for my baby (and me) to stay cool when the temp soars.
- Carry around a spritzer bottle. When I know I’m not going to run into anyone I care about seeing, I spray on the cold water like Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. The baby thinks it’s funny, and he doesn’t complain that he’s at least five degrees cooler with a little spritz.
- I ditch the hat for the shade. Hats make me and my baby sweat. Instead of constantly trapping the heat with a summer hat, I just walk in the shade, park in the shade, do just about anything in the shade that helps me to avoid those searing UV rays.
- Make excuses to go into air-conditioned stores. We like to walk, walk, walk, but about every 10th block or so mama needs to cool off. It doesn’t count as shopping if you’re trying to regulate your temperature, right?
- Not too cool to pool. I’ll try out any pool around as long as it has cold water. Even the baby pool. And, I’m not even ashamed of my post-baby bod. Yes, I’m that hot (temperature-wise, people!)
- Walk slow. I usually race around town like the road runner, but come the hot days, I try to slow down my gait to ease the heart rate (and resulting perspiration.)
- Give licks of popsicles. No! Not for me, for him. I know I should probably avoid sugaring up my little guy at such a young age, but nothing cools off a youngin’ like a lick of a popsicle (or even a little touch of it to the back of his sweet, soft neck.)
Cross-posted to Second City Baby.
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Category: Chicago, Environment
we have had some miserable days. I have 3 boys and two could careless about how sweaty they get or how many mosquito bites they get. They’ll smear on some sunblock and squirt on the bug spray and spend all day outside getting sweaty and dirty. Then there’s my middle son…he HATES to sweat and has spent as much of the summer as he’s allowed to inside the nice cool house.