We Bid Adieu to the Infamous Moo

Anyone who knows us knows that my third child loves her cow costume. During my stint as a SAHM she would wear this costume for days on end. But all good things have their season and recently I have begun to see the run of the "moo" coming to a potentially tragic end.

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Halloween 2011

It all began on her first Halloween, she was 5 months old and we were scheduled to attend a Halloween party in a couple days.  I wasn't sure what costume to dress her in. I'd searched everywhere and finally landed on the infant/toddler costumes at Costco. Her sisters were Tiana and Cinderella but there were no princess costumes her size. I was personally distraught because I love having a themed Halloween where everyone is dressed similarly. But my 30 minute search led my mother-in-law to force me into a realistic decision. "It's time to be reasonable, there just aren't any in the child's size.  She's going to have to be something else.  No one will notice because she's a baby".  I hated to admit it but my mother-in-law was right.  I needed to just pick something so we could leave this big box store.

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"Moo" circa 2012

So that year I settled on an animal...a cow!  Sure I could've chosen the duck or the monkey or any of the other available animals but something about the cow was actually super adorable.  I bought the Carters 12 months costume  (so we could layer underneath) and thought nothing more of it.

Halloween was a success. Afterward I was going to donate the costume to charity but for some reason I couldn't part with it. I often throw costumes in the dress up bin to get reused during imaginative play on the non-Halloween days.  I was conflicted because the cow costume was 12 months and I figured she would have grown out of it before we had a chance to dress up in it again. Nevertheless I kept it and when she started walking and talking she began wanting to wear the costume.

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"Moo" circa 2015

As any millennial parent wanting their child to "live life to the fullest", I let her wear the costume whenever and almost wherever.  I can still her hear her baby voice say "my mooooo my moooooo" as she aggressively shoved the costume in my face.  I'd comply and clothed or not underneath, she'd prance about the house for hours in "her moo".

That costume endured illnesses & potty training mishaps, trips to the grocery store, blog filming, extreme summer heat, and cold school morning drop offs. I never fought her on "her moo". It was hers.  In fact it was the only thing that was just hers because I forbade her older sisters from touching it.  No one did. They respected "her moo"...  It was hers.

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Lately she comes in with her three year (almost 4 year) old voice requesting assistance with putting on "her moo", I've started rationalizing the reality of her request.  "Look lady I think it's too small now. Let's put something else on".   Indignant and almost insulted she spits out a vicious rebuttal full of denial, "No it isn't mooooom.  Now help me put my moo on please. See, see it still fits!".  I know how ridiculous it is to mush her big body into this costume.  The cow head hood is stretched at the seems, the tail looks comically short and the leg holes choke her athletic thighs.  But I comply. I put on "her moo".  I've asked myself when this will stop. I thought one day she would lose interest in her moo.  But as I think about it, I don't think she will. When it gets too small I think I'll have to hide it from her.  When I do, I've considered donation but I think I'll keep it so that her future baby can wear "her moo".

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