Sophie the Rain Cloud

In retrospect, in light of Hurricane Sandy devastating the U.S. East Coast, dressing up as a rain cloud was probably not the most respectful idea. But if you know our daughter, you'd know that once she got something into that stubborn head of hers, she wasn't going to let it go without a fight. And so a rain cloud she was...

I think last year was the last time I would have any say in Sophie's Halloween costume. This year, even though we have a perfectly functioning dinosaur costume she could have worn, Sophie insisted on being a rain cloud. She was adamant. I asked her why and it turns our, it's because of this video, an episode of her favorite Kipper cartoon where Arnold, Kipper's pig friend, takes a balloon ride into the clouds. When Sophie was sick a couple of weeks ago, she probably watched this video at least 10 times so I guess it stuck in her head...

And so with the help of a huge roll of cotton batting (the material you use to stuff quilts), an old dress, some felt cloth for rain drops, and A LOT of adhesive spray, Sophie's costume was born. She actually thought of crying on cue during trick-or-treating; and screaming- "So it will be like real rain and thunder, Mama." Oh Sophie...

But in the end though, we settled on a squirt bottle which she ended up not using much of because she needed two hands to operate it and she was too concerned with her pumpkin candy bag.

I think Sophie had a lot of fun- running around the estate with the big kids (some of whom mistook her for a sheep until they saw the rain drops...), shouting "trick-or-treat!" at the top of her voice (which was something she didn't do as much of last year), and riding up and down the elevators. One thing that did scare her though-- and which marked the end of Halloween for her-- was the last house we visited.

It scared the bejeezus out of her when someone opened the door dressed as a vampire, flashing a torchlight under her face. At that moment, trick-or-treating was officially over :( Anyways, by that time, she was getting really tired too. And the humidity was probably getting to her as well. Her costume was basically one large quilt fluffed up so I can imagine that the mugginess was not fun.

She was happy going home with her little candy haul. She diligently picked out the ones she knew she could eat-- mostly the lollies and gummies-- and then force-fed the chocolates to Jude. I think it was her way of enjoying them vicariously through him :)

More photos here.