Cramond Beach in late September

[AD: This post is sponsored by Lighthouse Clothing]

The day we got home from our holiday in Bulgaria, I emptied out my suitcase, and, rather than putting Max’s summer clothes back into his wardrobe, I packed them away into the storage boxes I keep on the top shelf, for things that are out of season, or which don’t fit him yet.

Four days later, I got the boxes back down again, and rifled through them to find something summery for him to wear to his friend Sienna’s birthday party. It was late September, but one of the warmest days we’ve had this year. After the party, we visited my parents, and sat outside for a bit in the evening sunshine: it felt like the perfect midsummer night. The next day, however, looked like this:

You can’t really tell from these photos, but it was actually pouring with rain that morning: to the extent that, as we drove to the beach, I started to really regret getting Max hyped up for all of the splashing in puddles were going to do, because for most of the journey there, it looked like we weren’t even going to be able to get out of the car. Thankfully, though, the rain had become a fine drizzle by the time we arrived, and stopped altogether for long enough for us to do the promised puddle-jumping, and avoid an unforgivable parenting fail: phew!

Such is Scotland in September, though: you can literally go from shorts and t-shirts one day to raincoats and wellies the next, which means that, when you go out, you have to be prepared for pretty much every eventuality. Toddlers, of course, don’t care about any of this, obviously. I mean, I spent the first year of Max’s life constantly fretting over whether he was too hot, too cold, or otherwise uncomfortable, and meanwhile Max himself was – and is – completely oblivious to the temperature. He’s a little boy who loves to be outdoors at every possible opportunity, so when Lighthouse Clothing offered to send us both some waterproof coats from their collection, I figured it was a good opportunity to make sure we’re prepared for whatever the Scottish weather decides to send us.

In these shots, I’m wearing the Tori jacket in pistachio, and Max is in the ‘Anchor’ jacket in ‘sunshine’. (I’m not gonna lie, I 100% intended to get us both matching jackets, but the yellow was sold out in my size, so that’s another dream from another day…) In addition to their fantastic weatherproof jackets, Lighthouse Clothing also sell my very favourite clothing item – Breton tops – so I also got the Causeway Top in Cloud Midnight Stripe for me, and the Oliver top for Max. (The stick, meanwhile, is the model’s own: he found it on the beach in Bulgaria and became quite attached to it, so I, being the hopelessly sentimental sort, insisted on bringing it home with us. Then, yes, we brought our own stick with us to the beach, and I spent the entire time worrying that we would lose it, and an important part of our family history would be gone forever. I’m still worried about it now, actually, because I think we left it in the car when we got home, and what if it’s lost, people? WHAT IF?)