Little Red and Big Bad Wolf

When Mila came down with the flu last Friday afternoon, I worried what that would do to our Halloween plans for the weekend.  I figured she would be over it by Monday, but the pessimist in me foresaw it working its course through our whole family and I envisioned a Halloween on the couch with Hocus Pocus instead of costumes and pumpkins filled with candy.  I tried to think positively, but I once again realized I have a lot of growing up to do when it comes to interrupted plans.  More reflecting on that later... 

So when Sunday rolled around and we all found ourselves healthy and the weather dreamy, I threw on the costumes and decided to take the kids on an adventure to the woods, just in case. :) 

Mila has loved Little Red Riding Hood for a long time.  We read her Little Red Riding board book more than any of her others, the Big Bad Wolf is her favorite bad guy, and we often find ourselves in imaginative play reenacting parts of the story together.  There was really no question that Mila would be Little Red for Halloween this year, but ever since her costume arrived in the mail, she's been plotting out this picture in her mind of us all taking part in the story.  "Coozie" would play the big bad wolf, I was to be the grandma, and Daddy would play the woodcutter.  So needless to say, Mila was a little confused when Cruz's stormtrooper costume arrived!  Afraid I had crushed her little dreams, I found a wolf mask for Cruz, some dark rimmed Grandma glasses for me, and we all hopped in the car to find a forest to make her little story come to life.  I smiled big when Beau got in the passenger seat, wearing a lumberjack hat with a small axe looped through his pants. :)

I smile as I type recounting this hour we spent in the woods.  Cruz fully absorbed his part as wolf, darting deep in the woods and sneaking up behind us in his mask.  Mila looked like she came right from the pages of the book itself, I guess except for the sunglasses and Motorola phone she found and placed in her basket to bring to Grandma's house.  She turned into this shy little bird when we probed her to play along with Cruz, but did come out of her shell when she got to chase the wolf away down the trails.  She cheered when Dad/Woodcutter held the wolf upside down to spit out Grandma, but DID NOT like the part where the wolf actually ate the Grandma.  I guess we were a little too into character for Mila's liking. :)  We played, we explored, and I took some of my favorite pictures ever, thankful for fall, for imaginations always ready to come to life, and for a "oh ye of little faith" reminder on this Sunday afternoon.