Our Daughter Totoro

I am the world's least crafty Mom- I can't sew, I don't scrapbook, and I have no clue how to put together a Halloween costume. And so, I retrofit.

This is Sophie's first proper Halloween- she was way too little last year to join the annual neighborhood Halloween parade and so I was excited to put her in something both fun and adorable. We've known we wanted to dress her up as Totoro since, oh, I don't know... forever? It's our favorite Miyazaki film (and character) but it is almost impossible to find a ready-made Totoro outfit here in the U.S. Then I serendipitously stumbled across the etsy site, Ami Amigos, and discovered that the designer, Kyoko, is as huge a Totoro fan as we are, and that she was selling a hand-crocheted Totoro hat. I decided to buy the hat (I justified it by telling myself it'll double as Sophie's Fall hat too), raided her wardrobe for everything gray (sweater and leggings), and sewed on the white plush tummy on my own (cutting an oval piece of fabric and simple tacking, I can do...) And voila! Our Daughter Totoro!

[more photos here]

Sophie had fun, I think, walking around with all the big kids. Literally. She's been walking by herself for a couple of weeks now, albeit a little unsteadily and only for a few steps at a time; but today, she resolutely refused to let us hold her hand and insisted on walking all by herself, even at the risk of being trampled by the mob of candy-crazy children. She did good though, walking for long stretches, sometimes even running, and all the time, clutching on to her precious toadstool bucket for dear life (even when it was empty). In the end, we busted out her push cart just so she would have more stability and could also use it as an offensive weapon in case any older kid tried to get in between her and those Milk Duds (not that she can eat any of the candy she collected because of her allergies).

Most importantly, Sophie was happy, smiling and laughing, waving and saying "hi" to anyone and everyone. She has no clue what candy is and that it's even edible, but I think she enjoyed the attention she got with her costume, hanging out with other children, and just being part of the festivities.