This year will be Ben's first Halloween...at least as an active participant. Last year I had my stomach painted as a Jack-O-Lantern. Funny how last year I displayed, maybe even flaunted my stomach...huge stomach, and yet this year with a much smaller stomach you couldn't pay me (well, it would have to be a substantial amount) to hand out candy with my stomach hanging out... Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

Back to Ben's first Halloween. He obviously needs a costume. While he'll still be too little to walk around and collect candy we're going to be handing out candy again this year and little kids in costumes are just too cute to pass up. So now all Andrew and I have to do is pick a costume for him. Easy?

Here's a quick comparison of Andrew and my preferences for various things...

Music? Andrew likes jazz and blues. I like country or Christian rock.

Take out food? Andrew likes Chinese. I like pizza.

TV channels? Andrew likes the History channel and the Independent Film Channel. I like HGTV and the National Geographic Channel.

So when it comes to Halloween costumes this is where we are at.

Andrew says cool. I say cute. I just want to make him ADORABLE. Really, I just want one of those little animal costumes, the lions are my favorite. You know, the floppy man, fuzzy little suit, funny tail, Ben's big blue eyes and some painted on whiskers. Ahh, it's just too cute already. Andrew says that my idea is very boring and unoriginal. I don't disagree. I'm not saying this isn't what every parent does for Halloween, but it's ADORABLE. See, that's the part that he's missing. ADORABLE.

I think that it's my right to make my son adorable. I think that the first two, maybe even three Halloweens should be mine to make my son adorable because I realize that after that point I will have lost my control. The days when Mom's ideas weigh more than Dad's ideas to a little boy are numbered. (Even though Ben does make them last longer by sleeping as little as possible...) I can already see us at Halloween when Ben is five and mom will say "doctor" and Dad will say something like "sword-fighting Ninja" and I think we can all see how that Halloween will go.

But we aren't there yet. So I just want to put my little guy in the fuzziest, cutest, snuggliest, most adorable costume that I can find because even though I couldn't stop the Ninja-days from coming even if I wanted to, I don't have to rush them along.

However, in the interests of marital harmony I don't want to force my hand on this (even if I'm convinced I'm right...) So we're trying to compromise. Andrew said "Jimi Hendrix". I say "Albert Einstein." Then Andrew lays out his grand plan...I can have Ben dressed up like a crocodile which is a cute little animal costume (even if it's not as cute as a lion). But he wants to dress up as the Crocodile Hunter (may he rest in peace). Ha ha, okay very funny. I can see the humor, albeit a little morbid.

I have to admit I don't have much against this plan except maybe I can already feel the headache from hearing my husband's fake Australian accent saying "Crickey" all night.  The biggest issue is where does this leave me?

Hmmm, maybe I can be the sting ray that does The Crocodile Hunter in.....