June 29 Photo: Soft

“Soft” is another concept on the Photo-A-Day list that’s, well, a softball when you have a baby. You’re surrounded by soft clothes, soft blankets, soft toys, and soft baby parts. Soft feet, soft bottoms, soft noses, soft hands, soft hair. It’s difficult to choose which soft thing should be the subject of the “soft” photo! But of all the soft things I see around me, the one that I always find myself patting and snuggling and wanting to touch is my daughter’s fuzzy baby head.

My son had fine, soft, downy hair when he was an infant, but it thickened up and started to lose its baby softness when he was 4 or 5 months old. My daughter, on the other hand, still has beautifully fine, soft, baby-textured hair even at 10-1/2 months old.

I love her hair for so many reasons. First of all, because it is so soft. Second, because it has a magical way of retaining just a hint of that sweet, clean baby shampoo smell long after her bath. Third, because it is such a glorious buttery blond with just a hint of coppery undertones in sunlight. And lastly, because it picks up the tiniest bit of curl when it’s humid. And because of all those things, snuggling my face into her hair makes me happy.

In fact, it makes me so happy that on more than one occasion when I was having a rough day, my husband has handed her to me and ordered, “Snuggle. It’ll make you feel better.” And he was right, it did. Ahhhh, soft.