The Evolution of Boy as Seen in Costume

I have a philosophy when it comes to boys and Halloween costumes. Boys are only soft and squishy for a short period of time. You can get away with sweet and adorable costumes for only so long before you start fielding requests for vampires, demons, ghouls, and other scary creatures. The way I see it, mothers are entitled to carte blanche Halloween costume selection until children have a solid opinion on the matter.

With this in mind, I dressed Mikey as my favorite animal, the elephant, without nary a complaint from the peanut gallery for his first Halloween. And much like his costume, he was sweet and soft with delicate pink ears.

And on his second Halloween he was a fuzzy-wuzzy puppy dog. The nose of his costume would pant and bark when you squeezed it.

The following year, with Mikey almost two and a half years old, I could feel my reign as supreme costume picker-outer coming to an end. So, I decided to go out with a bang. Luckily, I found on ebay a costume that represented Mikey's personality perfectly.

And I was right. In the midst of a desperate addiction to all things Peter Pan, Mikey announced he wanted to be none other than Captain Hook. This happened the year Pirates of the Carribean came out, so Mikey was one of 10,532 pirates roaming the neighborhood Halloween night.

Nicholas was Peter Pan. Turns out Peter Pan costumes are hard to come by in infant sizes. I bought all the material to make one ahead of time, but ended up waiting until the last possible minute. I made his costume without a pattern by holding yards of fleece against his squirming body. To use technical sewing terms, the hat was a bitch to make. Note the drunken stitchery! That's what you get when you have 20 minutes to make a costume.

This year, Mikey has been unwavering in his costume selection. Since August, there is only one costume worth wearing. No amount of me showing him various catalogs or websites could change his mind. No, he knew exactly what he wanted to be and how he was going to look, down to the twisted circle in his hair, thanks to all those Superman Grilled Cheese Sandwiches he's been eating.

Parenting Dilemma: What should Nico be? He's young enough for me to have my way with him, and I'm not too excited about Mikey's idea to dress him as Spider Man. The peacock is too big, so we will save it for next year. Should I reuse the doggie costume? It would fit him perfectly. I just wonder if he should have his own costume based on his personality, rather than his brother's hand-me-down. I know it doesn't matter, which is why I am torn. What do you think? New or old costume?