And the costume choice is...

…a princess!  That’s right.  My sword-wielding, monster-loving little girl wants to be a princess more than anything else this Halloween.  Some might say so what; little girls all over want to be princesses for Halloween.  Well, this isn't the typical "I want to be a princess" little girl.  Mia is not very much into really girly stuff (and what’s more girly than the princess theme?).   She’s pretty rough-and-tumble about most things, although I do see more and more girl coming to the surface all the time…hence the costume choice.  She’s been slowly becoming more interested in princesses and that whole side of being a little girl, and she quickly learned all the names and even has her favorites.  She first asked to be Snow White, which I thought would be adorable, so we went to look at dresses at a store I had seen last year that sells the cutest princess costumes at Halloween.  They had quite an array of dresses to choose from:  Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine.  Mia tried on the Snow White dress and liked it okay, but it just wasn’t doing it for her – or us.  It had some kind of gold and sequined criss-crossed peasant tie on the front (I suppose to make it more flashy or sparkly?).  I don’t know, but we didn’t like it.  Although a bolder choice in colors, Snow White’s dress is relatively simple-looking compared to the others, but I think that’s part of its charm, so why mess with success?  Anyway, we knew she didn’t want it when she kept eye-balling the other dresses – in particular, the “yeh-yow” one, which of course is Belle’s.  Have to admit, I sort of got excited.  I was always partial to Belle myself.  Totally remember going through a Beauty and the Beast phase, going to see the play with my mom, collecting the dolls…the whole nine.   So I thought it was very sweet - in a sentimental kind of way - that she had picked Belle. Then the woman and man helping us told us they didn’t have any more Belle dresses in an extra-small.  What!?  “But you’ll be getting more in before Halloween, right?”  They said they tried to order more, but the manufacturer was even sold out already.  Are you serious?  It’s only mid-September for crying out loud!  “Is there any way we can get one?”  You don’t understand, my daughter asked to be a princess for Halloween – a princess!  I have to get her this yeh-yow dress!  Then the man said “Oh, wait.  The one in the window!”  Ah, yes.  I did remember seeing the little yellow number on the way in and ooh-ing over it.  I kept my fingers crossed while he went to retrieve it.  “This says it’s a small…” Damn it!  “…but I think it’s mis-marked.”  Really?  You think so?  Don’t screw with me, guy…  So we held it up to the other extra-smalls and sure enough, it was the same size.  Of course, Mia just had to try it on and oh my, what a princess dress!  What a princess!  I was just waiting for her to quash it all and say "No!  I want to be a dragon!" or something else Mia like that.  But, no.  She didn't budge.  All I could think was Oh, my God.  She actually likes being a princess?  I feel a…slight shift.  While we were all ooh-ing over how cute she looked in it, she was soaking in the moment while looking in the mirror and twirling from side to side.  As soon as she turned around from the mirror and gave her Daddy that menacing yet sweet smile, it was all over.  The only words out of his mouth were, “That’s the one.  You can ring it up for me, Miss.”

Now, knowing how she is (and her past history with costumes), I’m just waiting for the uh-oh moment on Halloween where she will no doubt stain, rip or defile her beautiful dress in some way.  Just because she wants to be a princess doesn’t mean she’s going to act like one…