Sometime during the past few weeks I made up my mind to get Caleb some proper outdoor gear. He’s made it through two winters now in his bulky Columbia snow jacket, which served its purpose very well, but is too puffy for some applications. The jacket is waterproof and warm, which is great when playing/hiking outdoors in the snow, but overkill for any semi-warm to warm wet weather during the other three seasons. He had a rain jacket at some point but grew out of it. And about a year ago, when we were exploring New York City, we ducked into a store to buy him the only rain jacket available — an oversized pullover anorak.

I like being outdoors quite a bit (a lot, actually), but Caleb may actually like being outside more than I do. So, rather than force him to wear his winter jacket in wet spring weather, or his bulky (width-wise) anorak (I suppose he could also wear it over his backpack like a poncho…), I figured it was time to get him a proper shell for his torso, and perhaps a pair of rain pants as well.

I did a bit of research online as well and decided that the jacket should be more of a performance item (waterproof with as much breathability as possible) and figured he could live with semi-breathable rain pants to save a few bucks. Now comes the hard part… In looking at the various jacket options in-person, I found that as the sizes increased from the toddler range to the “boys” range, the girth noticeably expanded as well. This was a consistent feature in many of the jacket brands I checked out. (I’ll save my comments about childhood obesity, diabetes, exercise, quality of diet, television, parental responsibility, etc. for some other time…)

I managed to find two jacket brands that stayed slim as the size increased: The North Face, and Marmot. Since Caleb seems to grow a few inches in height every time I blink, I eyeballed the jackets for a size that I figured would carry him through two seasons (we did the same with his Columbia jacket, which was also on the trim side). Both jackets were quite nice but I settled on the Marmot for a few outdoorsy-geeky reasons (front pockets above the hip belt, double storm flap, lightweight and more flexible fabric) and because Marmot is an awesome company.

For pants I chose REI’s Cascade Pants, which have a waterproof, windproof, breathable material. They are also nice and trim and the pair I bought him may actually last him three seasons (the first two will require some cuffing, of course!).

So, head to toe, save gloves, Caleb is now water and wind-proof. For winter outings we’ll layer him up (just like we do) rather than encase him in a single puffy layer, and for the other three seasons we’ll do the same, with fewer layers, of course. I’m eager to get him out for longer hikes and have a few camping/hiking trips for he and I (+ Megan and Nadine for a few) planned between now and next winter.

Here’s a photo of Caleb in his new high-tec shells:

And what does any responsible outdoor-type person do as soon as they bring new gear home? They test it out of course! (Yes, I know I’m a dork but I’d rather find out something is not waterproof in my shower than 5 miles down a trail in pouring rain…)