The Peter Pan Hat

Leo has had an alter ego for almost a year now. One moment he is Leo and then suddenly he will become Peter Pan.  Not only is he Peter, but Finn is Michael, I am Wendy, Ben is John, and today my dad was elevated to the status of Captain Hook.  So for Halloween, after changing his mind a million times we settled on the obvious and easiest, Peter Pan with Finn as a Lost Boy sidekick.  As the big day drew near we made a trip to the craft store, picked out the necessary elements and returned home to whip up a costume.  After I finished the hat and tunic I was so excited for him to try it on for size.  But in the half hour of anticipation that it took me to sew up the gear, it all became a little too real and Leo had a change of heart.  He had decided that he needed to just be Leo.  I think he thought I was actually going to turn him into Peter Pan and send him off to Neverland, and no amount of persuasion could convince him otherwise.  So I decided to let it go, after all, the preschool party was not for another 24 hours, and Halloween was days away.   Well, that night as Ben was tucking him in, I heard them talking.  Ben was consoling Leo in his sweetest-most supportive-gentle-hero-Dad-voice "Buddy, you don't have to dress up if you don't want to, nobody is going to make you wear something that you don't want to wear, don't worry....."  Meanwhile, I am thinking,  Aww, Ben is so sweet...but he will wear that cute fucking costume, and he will love it.  So the next day while Leo's protector was at work, I tried my best to convince him that if he just tried it on he would love it.  I even tried the psychology of whipping up a hat for Finn, who did wear it with pleasure.  Finally, I resorted to trying to just pop him into it really quick thinking that if he saw himself in the mirror he would think it was cool.  It was sort of like trying to wrestle a totally wild chimpanzee into a new outfit, and come to think of it, it was very much like the haircut scene from last Friday.  I guess you could say it was a parenting low on my part and ended with Leo sobbing hysterically that he just did not feel good and he needed a nap.  Needless to say, he did not wear the costume to the fall festival at preschool.  Halloween arrived a few days later, and Finn happily wore it all day long.  Finally at 8 o'clock as the annual family gathering at our house was winding down, Henry and my brother decide to go trick or treating to a few houses before they head home for the night.  Leo was instantly on board with the plan and into the Peter Pan costume in less than a minute.  He trick or treated at two houses and talked about it for weeks afterward.  And now, as we roll through the year Peter Pan is here to stay.