Halloween

I love dressing up for Halloween... I love coming up with the most creative costume and pulling all the pieces together to execute it perfectly! Last year one of my daughters costumes was a cow-duck. I know what is a cow-duck? When my husband was a child my father-in-law used to tell a story about the cow-duck. So in honor of him we made her a hybrid farm animal. She was 10 months old... she had no idea... It actually worked out really well because we put a warm fleece cow costume under a warm duck costume and that was her costume when it got really cold. Plus if it warmed up we could just take off the duck and she was still a little cow. We took her to boo at the zoo and got some interesting interpretations of what she was. We decided to not put her in the costume contest because the other kids didn't have a chance. :o)
She had 5 costumes last year... partly because I couldn't resist every time I saw a cute costume... partly because I didn't want to put a jacket over so I had a costume for every weather change... and partly because I was warned that my time of picking out her costume was very limited. My friend Melissa's son REFUSED to wear the costume she picked out for him when he was about 2 and insisted he be Handy Manny. My daughter is not yet 2 so I figured I had another year before I had to deal with this reality. Last season after Halloween, I bought a few costumes on sale. Look at me being frugal!!! Last night while watching Barney, Ashlyn called me in to fast forward it because she was scared of the wolf on the Little Red Riding Hood skit. Awesome... one of those great finds was of course... Little Red Riding Hood! How much do you think it would traumatize her to wear it still???
So we were talking to Ashlyn the other night and thought we should start prepping her for dressing up. We asked her "What do you want to dress up as for Halloween a flower, little red riding hood, or a scarecrow (some of my budget finds)". Ashlyn's answer... "No, I Elmo!" WHAT!?! My 21 month old not only knows what dressing up for Halloween means... but also has an opinion on what she wants to be... Then she decided later she wanted to be Minnie Mouse (she saw a Minnie costume in the store) because now she wants daddy to be Elmo. Then of course my husband asked "Well what should mommy be?" And my sweet daughter answered "Bar Bar!" What about a GIANT PURPLE DINOSAUR says Mommy to my child??? Really???