Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me!

We've had a lot of fun with costumes lately. In the past Ruby hasn't been one for Halloween much, but this year was different. When her auntie offered to make a costume for her, suddenly Ruby's interest in the holiday was piqued. And to my utter surprise, Ruby decided to be Artemis. Why was this so surprising, you wonder? Well, this is a child who loathes wearing dresses-- so much so that I once offered to pay her to don one to her Christmas choir concert. And it's quite obvious that in order to be a Greek goddess, a gal can't throw on a pair of skinny jeans and Converse tennies. (Well, if you're a Percy Jackson character I suppose it would be apropos-- but I didn't want to suggest this and then ruin the possibility of seeing my Ruby looking feminine.) So I happily covered the cost of the supplies needed to get my little lady to look like, well, a lady.

LM, on the other hand.... He just likes dressing up. Period. In fact, it's not unusual for him to come home from school and immediately strip off his regular clothes and hop into a costume. The following shots are not from Halloween, however. These are from his cousin's pirate-themed birthday party. LM wanted to keep his attire as authentic as possible, and so he elected to take his shirt off. (He must have been impersonating a Hawaiian pirate or something.) And if one piratey eye-patch makes you look deliciously malevolent, then two must make you even more so-- even if you can't see anymore.

And, of course, if you're truly going to be a pirate, you gotta get a bit rowdy. After all, pirates don't sit quietly, politely eating their cake and ice cream-- right? And attempting to "borrow" the guest of honor's new birthday presents in order to play with them yourself is perfectly acceptable behavior for swashbuckling buccaneers. (And look-- he even has a realistic looking rum belly too!)

Hey, that gives me an idea! I think LM's next birthday party theme should be "Door Mouse" or "Victorian Gentleman". Agh, who am I kidding? LM would find loopholes, no doubt. The door mouse would probably stumble into some mutating gel and turn into a ninja master ala Splinter. And the victorian gentleman would certainly find cause to duel the other party-goers with pistols at dawn.

Yeah, it's best to just go with the flow, I suppose. Besides, it's really more fun that way.