Right after Halloween last year Hannah told me she was going to be a Rock Star next year. She was going to wear a costume that consisted of a short skirt, and a shirt off the shoulder (according to the picture she saw). She was going to have a high ponytail off to the side and carry a microphone. AND, she told me, she was going to have ATTITUDE because that's what Rockstars have. I noted to myself that I had 364 days to change her mind on this costume. The Rockstar costume continued to be costume of choice right through the winter and even into spring. Even with all of the princess hooplah, the fights with her friends over who was going to get to "be" Cinderella during playdates, her Princess birthay party, etc, Rockstar still held strong.

She then went through (and is still actually in) a superhero stage. Her favorite superhero became Flash ("he's super duper fast"), her movie of choice became The Incredibles (one that I didn't actually mind watching alongside her) and Tim introduced her to the X-Men and Wolverine. My mission (or my "job" as she put it) was to find her a either a Flash Girl or Wolverine Girl costume. I thought to myself that this was not going to end well when she got to her school Halloween parade and there were ALL of her girl friends dressed in their flowing, taffeta princess dresses and ridiculous, life threatening heels and she was adorned in a masked Wolf costume and a cape. Not that I wouldn't WANT her to be different and be so proud of her not caring what her friends thought but knowing her, she would end up upset that no one would know what she was and she'd have to explain through her mask and wolf teeth the story of Wolverine. Thankfully, before I shelled out any money or even had to look very hard, she was on to the next thing.

I finally found the Wizard of Oz movie. One of my all time favorites. One she had been begging me to get for her. And she watched it. And watched it. And watched it. She asked me to pause it so she could stare at the red sparkly shoes. She became obsessed with Linda ("No Hannah, it's GLINDA." "But mommy, I like how Linda sounds more..."). And she turned to me 2 months ago and said, "Mommy, THAT is what I want to be for Halloween. Dorothy. And I want Luke to be Toto. Because he's smaller than me and Toto is smaller than Dorothy so that works."

So here we are about 6 weeks before Halloween and I'm wondering if it's too early to actually buy the costume. In a way I want to seal the deal so that she doesn't come home wanting to be Snow White because all of her friends will be princesses but at the same time shelling out the dough and then having to deal with her not having ANY interest in wearing it would not be good either. I'm leaning toward buying it and just continuing to sing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" to her each night to keep up the excitement.

She asked me last night what I'M going to be for Halloween.

H: "Mommy, what do you think you'll be?"

Me: "I'm not sure yet. If you're going to be Dorothy and Luke will be Toto, maybe I should be a witch?"

H: with a look of terror on her face, "NOOO Mommy, you can't be something scary!! No. No. No. This family does not DO scary."

Me: "Ok, how about the Good Witch?"

H: "No, she's blonde and you're not, that doesn't work."

Me: "Ok, how about the Tin Man?"

H: shaking her head in frustration, "Oh, Mommy, he's much taller than you and a BOY! Tsk Tsk".

Me: "Well, Hannah, why don't you tell ME what YOU think I should be."

H: "Either a Big Little Bo Peep or a Teenager Dorothy."

Me: "A Big Little Bo Peep huh? Not sure I can find that costume."

H: "Well you can try and if not, I saw a teenager Dorothy in the magazine I've been looking at with all of the costumes. She's wearing socks instead of tights and has pony tails instead of braids. And she's wearing HERMENDOUS sparkly shoes!"

Me: "Ok, sweetie, sounds like a plan."

H: "And I've decided that Luke will be the lion instead of Toto because I want to carry Toto in my basket and Luke is too big for my basket and I don't want to have two Toto's. And even though the Lion should be bigger than Dorothy, I'll let it happen just. this. time."

So, there we have it. 6 weeks and counting. I'm thinking I'll wait on my costume considering I've started the Eating of the Candy Corns and I'm not sure what fits me today will necessarily fit me then. But if I'm going to be a BIG Little Bo Peep, that just might work.