The Big Cheese

When Lauren announced that she wanted to be a "kitty" for Halloween this year, I immediately thought of the mouse costume we have that Jackson loves to play in. Cat and mouse, that's appropriate for them...which then led to the question of what Molly would be..and since she's a step down in the pecking order, of course it seemed natural for her to be THE CHEESE. (Farmer in the dell...are we tracking?)

I looked into cheeseheads for children, but didn't want to spend $18 on something I'd never use again. Little did I know then the time, money and energy that I'd be putting into a fruitless endeavor.

First, I got a box from Costco that was just the right size, and had holes for her head and arms. I planned to paint it to look like cheese. There was a slight risk that she might come out Sponge-Bob-ish, but little Molly quickly made it clear that she was not going to tolerate wearing any type of box.

This meant that I was going to have to get crafty, and let it be known that I am not the craft-y type. So I decided to go with a very simple homemade option--fleece cloth resembling the color of cheese made into a "no-sew poncho" while extra fabric could be shaped into some sort of soft hat. This initiated a trip to JoAnne's Fabric for the fleece, only to learn that Friday night is a popular time for the fabric store (who knew?) and there went one hour and a half, plus $6 for the fleece.

Another hour or two and the poncho was measured, cut, tied and actually turned out halfway decently, but when I tried it on our dear one year old, she immediately struggled to get out of it. Apparently not enough arm freedom. A soft fleece hat was also found not to her liking. So when, a few days later, she was having fun wearing a dress-up construction hat, I decided the ensemble would look more like this:

I hoped perhaps Molly would see her siblings dress up and get into the spirit of things.

This afternoon we prepared to head to Calvin's Light in the Night event and got the kids into their costumes. Jackson and Lauren, no problem. But as soon as I put the poncho on Molly, she immediately yanked it off.
You can almost see the wounded disdain in her eyes: "You actually thought I would wear this thing?"

And of course it was the same way with the hat...she wasn't having anything to do with it.

The closest I came was getting her to wear this pathetic attempt to let people know what she was...which lasted about 30 seconds.

And that's how I came to lose the Halloween costume battle. When we go trick-or-treating on Monday, Lauren will be a kitty. Jackson will be a fireman, which is what he wanted to be in the first place. And Molly will be whatever she wants to be...chances are she'll just go as herself.

And if we ever attempt a Halloween costume theme in the future, I'm thinking it will be Molly who decides what they'll be.