Monkeys in Character

So the costumes have been a hit! Anna's more than Alex's...yet again this year. But I'm sad to hear that people don't know who Pippi Longstocking is. Really? And the reason behind Alex's pirate costume is that Pippi fights off the pirates or at least that's what she tells people. Hence the Pippi/Pirate combo. (We didn't have the braid done yet for this picture.)

Halloween is still two days away, but we've had a good amount of fun in the past week to drag out this holiday. Thursday we went to the Halloween trail. Once again, it was an endearing evening with the kids. I love Halloween when it's simple and just spooky enough to be fun. This weekend our neighborhood had its Halloween playground party. And today the preschool Halloween parties began. The only thing that makes me a little sad is the lack of creativity in Halloween costumes. I know we're busy parents trying to do a million other things, but I found it disappointing that there were only 3 kids....as far as I could see....who didn't have costumes bought right off the rack. I'm not saying moms should be sewing or stitching costumes, but even enhancing them beyond what you get right off the hanger would be nice to see now and then. (I'm sure I'll get flack for that comment.)

My apologies for going off on my soapbox here....but the other reason for this post is to share how Anna really gets into her character. When she's dressed as Pippi, she prefers to be addressed as "Pippi." She will tell you all about her horse and monkey and how she has two friends named Tommy and Annika. She also thinks it's OK to actually BE Pippi. (Meaning: put her feet on the table, climb on things she shouldn't, and try to lift things which are way too heavy.) She also prefers to only address other people in costume by their alias. So on Sunday when I was dressed as a cat, she called me "cat." Today at school, she made sure to address her classmates by "Ariel, Spiderman, Princess, Rabbit, Dog and Batman." She would say, "No, that's not Griffin, that's Batman!" She will never be the one who's not appropriately in character.