A Ladybug, a Skunk... and Miss Viola Swamp

In case anyone out there is wondering, the magic age where kids decide to voice a strong preference about Halloween costumes is four. After being wishy washy for a week, Nathan eventually latched on to the idea of dressing as a witch.  And wouldn't let go. Not a warlock, not a wizard, a witch. With a black dress and tall hat and green hair and green fingernails.

Oh Nathan. Always a big bucket of quirky.

And it turns out he had a very specific witch in mind. A certain Miss Viola Swamp. Apparently she's a character in a children's book (which everyone on the planet has heard of except me) -- a mean substitute teacher who we're supposed to understand is actually the real teacher in disguise. Oh and she looks like a man.

So basically Nathan was asking to be a cross-dressing witch for Halloween. SUPER.

Oh!  Except, I'm not sure she's even actually a witch.  Whatevs. Details.

So we found a witch's hat, green hairspray, and I took a green highlighter to his nails.  I talked him into a cape instead of a dress. He took one look in the mirror, decided he didn't look like Miss Swamp (duh sweetie, because you insisted on being dressed like a witch, and is she even a witch?) and proclaimed that he was just a regular witch pretending to be Miss Swamp.

Clear as mud, yes?

So. I sent him to school like this:

He was nervous right at the last minute, but when he got to school and all the other kids were also wearing costumes, he felt better. Oh and his teacher was also dressed as Miss Viola Swamp, and had also opted for a regular witch's hat and a cape (really, universe? really?) which was either extremely validating for Nathan or extremely weird. One of those.

We also dressed up the girls (in two hand-me-down costumes, you might remember Nathan as a skunk too) (side note: wow Nathan and Anneliese look alike when they're dressed as skunks!) and took everyone trick-or-treating. 

baby's first halloween! *scaryface*

It was rainy and cold, and only Anneliese didn't seem to mind the weather, which she proved by stomping in every puddle and sloshing happily through every gutter and was soaked to her knees by the time we got home.

Which was about six houses after we started.

And our little girl skunk garnered far more comments than our little boy witch.  I have to say, I'm kind of proud of our neighborhood for that. No one batted an eye.  Yay America.  For what it's worth, Anneliese does make a ridiculously cute little skunk.

As for me, I dressed up as a mommy of three who loves trick-or-treating in the rain. Who just survived her son's first drag halloween. Awesome.

Happy Halloween!