Dueling Ariels

If you've been following Mommy With a Penis, you've heard about my daughter's closet of princess costumes, from tiaras to matching shoes. You've also heard that my son sometimes likes to dress in his sister's things. Well, to support both these themes I dug up this photo from last Halloween...

Sometimes we just have to face the fact that mermaids are huge. When I was a kid, long before the Disney film, I'm a little ashamed to admit that my favorite story was The Little Mermaid. (Didn't everyone have a Hans Christian Anderson anthology?) Granted in that version she was blond and not a plucky redhead, and I don't remember her having a moniker of any sort. She was just a mermaid looking for love: long suffering, pretty and silent. And she had a brassiere made of seashells. What future gay boy wouldn't be enamored.

Michael took Maxie to Target to find her Halloween costume and without qualm she chose Ariel. I was amazed at how quickly she made her choice, because left to her druthers my daughter can hem and haw and still not have settled on an outfit by lunch. But Fate wasn't quite done with us. A day later, our little neighbor brought her old Ariel costume for Maxie to wear. So now we had two mermaids and only one child to dress. Being fast on my feet, I quickly hid the Target costume, price tag still attached, figuring I'd return it later, pocket the cash and put it in my dermabrasion fund. Little did I know that I would almost have mutiny on my hands.

A couple of days after acquiring the mermaids, both my daughter and my son wanted to wear the hand-me-down Ariel costume. I tried to set a rule, "Maxie will wear the costume for five minutes, and then it will be Sebastian's turn," but that new agey parenting technique was met with fury by both parties. I tried to make the other princess dresses seem appealing: beautiful Sleeping Beauty, glam Princess Barbie, sparkly Iridessa (Tinkerbell's sistah fairy friend), but I could sense both of them were about to loose it. It was Ariel or nothing. I weighed my options; all out meltdown or happy siblings. I'll be the first to admit they may have played me but I dug out the Target costume anyway. And total peace was restored.

It should be noted that while Sebastian loved dressing up as Ariel, he decided against transvestism and went trick or treating as a werewolf...his decision.

Dermabrasion, however, is still on hold.

Comments

MysteryChick said…
I think both they're both adorable mermaids.

My 7 year old son prefers to wear either my black patent leather boots or my red patent leather peep toe pumps with just his boxer briefs.

I'm wondering if I should be concerned about his predilection for patent leather (or possibly my own)?
SurprisedMom said…
Your Ariels are just darling! What cuties! I love the fact that you encourage them in in their creativity! I have two girls, but only one went through the princess phase. I loved watching her pick different outfits.
Unknown said…
You are such a good dad to give up the micro! AND, why do so many guys look better than the ladies in dresses. Damn you guys.

Story time? So, Club Med Turks and the gay bartender dressed like Roxy from Chicago every Thursday, made apps and put on a FAB show. The ladies? We hated Thursdays. We looked so rundown compared to him. No joke, all the guys, gay and straight (most didn't know he was a he, silly guests) hit on our little Roxy the bartender all night. Ha, fun times!
Rita Templeton said…
Your Ariels are adorable - both of them. :)
I once had a great wig and my two boys fought over that like crazy - had to buy a second one. I got some great photos out of it all!!!

Adorable kids you definitely have :)

Cheers
Holli in Ghana
CSY said…
I LOVE the fact that you let your son dress in the Ariel costume! I put my daughter's Dorothy outfit (dress, shoes, socks AND stuffed Toto in a basket) on my son...just for FUN and to trick my mom. It was AWESOME! Hubby didn't think so...sometimes Men are such goobers!
Mermaid....werewolf.....all in a day's work, no?
That picture is priceless!
Rich said…
Aww. Don't remember where I found your blog, but its cool. I checked your twitter and that background kills me. I LOVE Mommie Dearest.
I own it (and owned the Hollywood Royalty Edition) and have read the book countless times. Christina I both know how it feels to be hit with a wire hanger.
Mark said…
Love the costumes!
Unfortunately, Target doesn’t carry them in my size.
m.
Ah, shouldn't Sebastian live up to his name and dress up as as Ariel's singing lobster? :)
Vodka Logic said…
Softie.... they are adorable. xx
love the picture may he can be a merman!

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