The Costume Chronicles

A few entries ago I mentioned how I wasn't sure whether Girlchild would be amenable to wearing her fairy princess costume for Halloween.

As it turned out, she very nearly went trick or treating as "typical two-year-old girl."

After school that day, Boychild and his two buddies were at our house. They had worn their costumes at school, so their Mom and I had them dress up for a photo when she came to collect them at suppertime and begin The Great Halloween Evening Rush that takes place every year. For the photo, we wanted to include Girlchild. Would she even look at her fairy princess costume? Absolutely not. She did, however, agree to wear the Dalmatian puppy costume that has been kicking around the house since Boychild wore it a few years ago. So we have a grand photo of Black Spider-Man, Red Power Ranger, a Transformer and a Dalmatian Puppy.

After supper, when the time came to don costumes for trick or treating, we once again faced battle. I had already decided to promote the puppy costume over the fairy princess based on the earlier events:
1. She wore it fairly willingly.
2. I would not have to worry about adding layers under the dress to keep her warm.
3. I would not have to force her into tights, which she doesn't like on the best of days. (Smart girl. I loathe pantyhose.)
4. I could throw the puppy on over whatever she was already wearing and she would be warm enough.

It was looking for a while as if no costume would be worn, although she was eager to go outside with Black Spider-Man and start trick or treating. Ultimately I did what any good mother would do: I put my own selfish desires above hers and stuffed her, kicking and screaming (for her own good, by gum) into the puppy costume. As I had suspected, once we got going outside, she was absolutely fine. As soon as she saw all the other costumes, including a large number of princesses, she was very into Halloween. She and her brother had a fabulous time.

We now have enough get-ups lying around here to open a small children's costume store. When the buddies come over, it is not uncommon to see the place crawling with superheroes because they bring their costumes, too. Since Halloween, Girlchild has discovered Boychild's old Spider-Man costume (the non-evil one). It's too small for him and miles big for her, but she gamely puts it on and runs around with the other superheroes, wearing the mask like a hat with the eyes facing the wrong way. That Spidey has eyes in the back of her head. We've been calling her Spider-Girl.

She still won't wear the fairy princess dress, but she has worn the wings a couple of times. She's practical, you know. Flying is the important part - who needs to look like a princess when you have big blue eyes, lots of blond curls and pink wings?