M's First Halloween

Well, this was my little one's first Halloween and I was quite excited. Her name means monkey in Spanish, so she HAD to be a monkey. Some people felt the need to inform me that this was not a "girl" costume--perhaps she should be a lady bug or something equally "girl." Hmmph! Silly me--I had always thought that some monkeys were girls and some were boys. I didn't know...It did make me stop and think though. Unless it is pink or princess or has the word lady in it, apparently whatever "it" is, is not for girls. What nonsense. My daughter was not masculinized by wearing a monkey costume. In fact, SHE was pretty dammed cute, if I may say so, myself.

When I took her to the Mother Goose program at the library in her costume, the librarian commented that she was Curious George and where is the Man in the Yellow Hat? What a brilliant idea!!! Well, off I went to the second-hand shop and bought the most hideous yellow pants (just a touch too short, just like in the book), a hideous yellow sweater and a matching hideous yellow hat. I wore my costume as I took her trick-or-treating with her father and her uncle and not a single person figured out my costume. Even when I explained it, not a lot of people seemed really impressed with the brilliance of the idea. Ah well!

M's uncle was sooo excited to come trick-or-treating with us. Three adults to take one child up and down the block. I'm not sure if it is more funny or sad, but all of us adults had a blast. M was not sure what to make of the whole ordeal. When we brought her home, her little hands were freezing under her gloves and I felt terrible for her. She recuperated as soon as she saw her bottle, though. Surprisingly, she coped very well with the whole ordeal of flashing lights on people's porches, strangers cooing at and touching her, the cold and being up 30 minutes past her bedtime. Usually only one of those factors would be enough to bring on the bewitching hour, yet tonight, M was content to hang out in her father's arms. Hmm---perhaps Halloween is a magical night after all...