The subject of Halloween costumes has been coming up a lot lately at the dinner table. Halloween made a big impression on the little one last year – and this year she started plotting her costume in August. Last year the girls’ costumes sort of went together. E was Hermione, and F was a pretty cute little owl – we just called her Hedwig to go with the theme. So in August the conversations about costumes sounded like this:
E: I’m going to be Hermione again this year.
F: I’m going to be My-my-o-knee too.
E: Yeah! Two Herminone’s! This is going to be awesome.
Me: (Yawn)
I kept trying to steer them in another direction. Here were some of the things we covered that month, and then the next.
Harry Potter. Dobby. Lady Bug Girl. Buzzing bumble bee. Cookie Monster and Elmo. Jane Penderwick. Soccer girl. Witch. Scary witch.
Then we went camping and we started to see a theme. Fire + S’more. Two halves of a s’more (that was my favorite). And then after the actual trip, the little one was obsessed with being a skunk. I mean – a “stunk”, as she pronounces it. She seemed to finally settle there, but E was really stumped. She kept trying to think of book characters, but dressing up as Jane Penderwick (“I’ll wear ponytails and carry around a blue notebook!”) just didn’t seem very exciting. And then she started to make the leap from the Percy Jackson series, to mythology and then Artemis – Greek Goddess of the Hunt (and wilderness, and fertility…), otherwise known as the Roman goddess Diana. This lovely lady.
And hey! That’s not a skunk, but that is another animal hanging out around our campgrounds. A deer. We pitched the idea of a deer to F and she said “Oh sure, sure!” She’s pretty open to suggestions, she just doesn’t stick to them long.
We checked out some images of Artemis and started planning our costume. We have blue silks already, just going to put together (or find) the white robes.
We found a bow and arrow and some glittery gold spray paint to paint it, and a pretty cool leather braided head band at Target today. I’m trying to track down a light brown long sleeve shirt for F, and we’ll add some white spots and a fluffy white tail to some brown leggings she already owns. And when we went looking for brown foam or felt to make some antlers we found some Christmas foam antlers already on the shelf at Michael’s. Perfect. She wore them all through the store, and the grocery too.
Three funny things F said today while we ran errands:
Act I: Stern Warning
We left Target and headed out for some lunch. In the car E and I were discussing the starry angel costume we had just seen (in a very small size) and how perfect it would really be as the base of her Artemis costume if we could find one a little bigger. I mentioned that if we couldn’t find something already made it would be simple enough to fashion her robes out of a bed sheet. E sighed and admitted that we could do that, but she didn’t seem to really like that back up plan.
E: I really think if we use bed sheets instead of that long silken robe then the whole costume’s going to look really homemade.
F (in a very bossy, know-it-all voice): If you keep whining about your costume, E, Mommy’s going to turn your fancy costume back into a sheet.
Act II: Nickname
We left lunch and headed over to Michael’s to look for a few more items for our costume quest. On the way through the parking lot F mentioned that she wanted to walk – and not ride in a cart – when we got to “Mike’s Store”.
Act III: Always Listening
(This is difficult to explain via typing rather than speaking, but I’ll try. Also, it’s helpful to know that F is at the stage where she doesn’t want to be left out of anything. There’s no discussing plans that don’t include her in front of her, unless you want to hear a tremendous amount of wailing. Careful codes must be employed when discussing matters of these sorts.)
F is chattering to herself in the background, seemingly oblivious to anything else going on around her.
Me: E. You remember what we talked about? Well. I’m thinking. Uh… (quietly) that N-A-P might be better for JB.
E: Okay?
Me: You know what I mean? By JB? J. B. Our plan?
(Our plan had been to stop by a Halloween superstore with those initials to see if we could find some long white robes. However, the errands were dragging out, it was way past nap time, and I was tired of buckling and unbuckling a three-year-old into a car seat. I figured it would be easier to go home, get the kid in bed, and then run down the street with E. I had to mention it though because it was a change in plans, and not mentioning it ran the risk of the original plan being mentioned and the wailing beginning. Hence the code.)
E: Oh…yeah! I get it! (Lightbulb moment.)
Me: You know, because it’s late. And the food. (Referring to groceries in the car.)
E: Yeah, and the…you know…(whispering) scares (referring to the super creepy things in the store sure to freak the little one out.)
Me: Riiiight, so you’re with me? On the reasons?
E: Got it.
Quiet pause, F’s chatter stops. And then she speaks.
F: Plus you won’t have Frances running up and down all the aisles!!
Quiet pause again, and then screams of laughter. She knew exactly what we were saying, and had her own contribution ready – even when it was an indictment of her own behavior. Hilarious. And spot on.
The codes must get better. She’s onto us.