Motherhood not only means I choose clothes on the basis that I can breastfeed in them: I have started choosing jewellery on the basis that it will entertain Charles. On Wednesday I took 3 big bags of clothes to the charity shop and then spent a while more shopping. I got two long strings of iridescent plastic beads - one blue, one green - and a pretty bangle with mirrors on. The beads are moderately successful at saving me from pinches and tugs while nursing.

I also picked up a sunhat with neck flap, as Charles has outgrown the one I got him earlier in the summer. It is probably a girls hat but is neutral enough for me: white with bright embroidery on the cap and rainbow stripes on the flap. I tried it on his head quickly - a little loose, but not ridiculously so. When I paid for it I noticed the size label. 4-8 years.

Today I bought him his very first pair of shoes. We are nearly at a point where he can walk around to the local shops or down to the park, rather than be pushed in the buggy. I took him to Clarks where a very nice young assistant measured his feet very carefully and very carefully felt around his toes once we'd tried the shoes on, and asked me to get him to walk around a bit so she could observe the fit (he was very interested in these strange new additions to his feet and took some coaxing to walk in them). He is a size 4G. I think I should get him some bigger socks. I haven't bought him socks since spring - he hasn't worn socks since spring - and they were size 0-0.

I have a new car seat coming from Amazon, as the top of his head is at the very top of the rear-facing size 0+ one.

While I was looking for socks, I half-heartedly looked for something a bit smarter to put him in for the wedding we're going to tomorrow. We have an ok shirt and a plausible pair of trousers at home, but I was just wondering if we could smarten him up a little more (before he crawls under the tables etc at the reception). If he was a girl, there were acres of formal-event-suitable dresses in M&S and Boots. There were tshirts and jeans, or tshirts and combats, or tshirts and corduroys for boys. And all the socks were horrible. I hate British high-street baby clothing choices.

John Lewis shut just as I got there, and the shopping centre next door where Mothercare lives was also shutting. I considered a trek to ASDA but just then saw Rosie walking by and went home with her instead. "I'm getting expert in the semiotics of gender in baby clothes" I found myself saying when telling her about the sunhat.