Rosalind was only six or seven weeks old for her first Hallowe’en, and I wasn’t doing much of anything besides walking the neighborhood and nursing her in a chair. Still, I couldn’t let October 31st roll by without some attempt at a costume for her. So I went to the craft store and got some swaddling fabric and a bunch of felt, and in five minute increments on the day itself I put together this:

Sweet Rose

It was half held together with safety pins, but it was enough for the photo op and trick-or-treating at one house before she melted down.

This year I was a little more organized. Rosalind couldn’t choose her own costume yet of course, but I figured since we had spent so much time at the farm this summer, and she enjoyed it so much, a scarecrow would be appropriate. Also, that’s easy to put together even with my meager sewing skills.

Rosalind the Scarecrow

I bought the shirt and jeans at the thrift store, and sewed yarn all around the cuffs and neck. It wasn’t hard. The hat was a little more of a challenge; I took something that already fit her (she has gotten a *lot* of sun hats as hand-me-downs), cut it up, and sewed some other material onto it. I created the brim with some fleece inside to make it suitably floppy. I loved the Scarecrow aesthetic where the sloppy work seemed like it was on purpose.

At the last minute I got the idea of a theme costume for myself to wear while I was taking Rosalind out trick-or-treating: a crow, of course. I had a huge long-sleeve black T-shirt I got when I worked at Jobster (“The resume is dead”, anyone?) and a little scissor-work was all that was required for this:

I am not scared of my daughter

We trick-or-treated for twenty minutes or so, and it confused Rosalind to no end that we were outside at night and going to all the houses I usually call her away from when she veers off while we’re walking down the street. She was very shy. And of course she didn’t get to eat any of her candy. What will next year be like?