Background info: Trunk or Treat was our dress rehearsal for Halloween night. This was the first time Adeline agreed to wear her costume in public.....she's a funny one about costumes. Most girls are DYING to wear dress up clothes. Adeline is hot or cold about dress up. Some days she just cannot wait to play in the dress up area at school and other days she wants NOTHING AT ALL to do with costumes. She isn't a shy child, but costumes can sometimes embarrass her. So knowing this about her, I never made a big deal about her Halloween costume. After all, she refused to wear a costume last year. I just casually asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween and she always said, "I don't want to." I would ask her what Anna and William should wear and the consistent answer was always, "a bunny rabbit and a dragon." I figured if Anna really dressed like a bunny, perhaps Adeline would take the bait and wear a costume too. William was NEVER going to be a dragon. He laughed that one off and told Adeline he was going to wear an army guy costume. Adeline thought that sounded fantastic.
So for the weeks leading up to Halloween, I continued to ask Adeline what she wanted to wear for a costume and I always got the same answer, "I don't want to." My reply every single time was always, "ok, you don't have to dress up in a costume. But, you can wear your ballet clothes because those are comfortable." I thought worse case scenario, her "costume" could be a ballerina and her ballet uniform is something very familiar and safe for her.
Then two days before Halloween, I saw a pink ballerina/princess costume at Tuesday Morning and bought it. So glad I did!
Flash forward to Trunk of Treat. I showed Adeline the beautiful Princess costume I found and her eyes about fell out of her head. "Oh mama, I go try it now? I will try it in Adeline's room so I can see it in the mirror and I will get my sparkle shoes!"
I was pleasantly surprised that she was delighted with the outfit. She fully embraced the costume and she was COMPLETELY transformed the second she put it on.
I watched her from afar when she first saw herself in the mirror. She beamed and twirled! It was so terribly cute! She asked me to put her in her crib, so I did. She can see herself better if she's up high in her crib. I left the room and watched her....I LOVE these pictures. She had no idea I was there and she was dancing around in her bed. The innocence of a child's imagination is magical.
Now back to Halloween. So, we had a great time at the Trunk or Treat. William "picked a nose" for candy and Adeline played a cute game where you feed an elephant a peanut through his trunk and then he spills out your candy via the trunk. Adeline could have played this game a million times. William was on fire. He was having such a good time and made it through the parking lot trick-o-treating in record time. Anna was a trooper. She was dressed in her precious bunny costume and never once made a peep about the hat. She was too busy watching all the people to notice she was dressed up!
As we were leaving, Adeline saw the pony rides. I specifically avoided the pony area when we first arrived because the line was SO LONG. But we had to walk by on our way back to the car and that is when Adeline shouted, "Oh I want to ride! I want to ride the pony, PLEEEEEAAAASEEE!" Suckers. I stood in the line (which by then was short) and Dan took William and Anna back to the car. Adeline was so eager. She could barely wait her turn for the pony ride. When we finally had our chance, she chose a pretty little fellow named Thunder. Adeline climbed on Thunder and patted his mane. She said, "Mama, this is a sweet little horsey. Isn't he cute?" She rode Thunder in a circle 6 times while I walked along beside her. Oh my goodness, the Princess and her Pony! Adeline loved it. She didn't want to get off. She begged and begged to ride Thunder again but I had to say no. The line wasn't moving that fast and the family was waiting for us. Adeline understood and waved to Thunder on our way out. She blew him a kiss and said, "I see you tomorrow Thunder!"
We had a great time and needless to say, we had 3 tired little tricksters when we got home!
