As you can plainly see, Chloe was a bright green dinosaur for her first halloween. And I think you'd agree she was the cutest dinosaur ever to roam the earth. Last night we proudly took our wee dino out to the neighborhood houses asking for treats. Growing up in the outskirts of a Texas city, Matt never experienced urban trick-or-treating. He was a little skeptical at the idea of knocking on strangers' doors and asking for candy. So I did the talking and he did the dinosaur toting. Turns out Matt and I had a better time than Chloe! She was a crabby dinosaur
(appropriate to her costume I suppose because her crying much resembled baby dino roaring) and eventually fell asleep on Matt's shoulder. Matt and I had some pleasant chats with our neighbors and brought home a dangerous haul of candy.Several of our neighbors incorrectly assumed that Chloe was a boy during our trick-or-treating venture. Why? Because she was wearing a dinosaur costume? Why can't girls be dinosaurs? Arrrrrgggggghh . . . roars the dinosaur. I have the same problem any time I dress Chloe in any color other than pink. I realize that babies appear fairly gender neutral (unless you change their diapers) but that's no excuse to trap my Chloe into a doll-playing-ballerina-princess-girl box. God created Chloe to have a unique and distinct personality and she shouldn't be constrained by our society's ideas of gender. I qualify that statement by saying she should instead be guided by the Bible's idea of womanhood. I hope and pray Chloe will grow to be a godly woman characterized by the virtues of honesty, kindness, love, and gentleness. Proverbs 31:30 says "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
On a lighter note, this holiday again reminded me that I am a very proud parent. I unabashedly carried our digital camera and snapped at least twenty pictures of our baby girl. I have been looking forward to dressing Chloe up in her dino costume since we bought it. When did I buy it, you ask? When I was six months pregnant. How's that for anxious? The surprised and almost frightened look on Matt's face when I brought home our yet-unborn baby's halloween costume was priceless. We both had little idea then how much fun we would have dressing our darling up and showing her off to the world.
Well, I have to say this holiday was more fun for us than for Chloe. As you can see from the photos, we were all beaming smiles and pride at our cute little baby girl. Don't get me wrong, we are enjoying the candy treats but the real fun was in relishing the sweetness and newness of Chloe. How much more love can a parent's heart hold?!? I have a feeling we are just beginning to taste the joy of parenting. Enjoy a few more halloween photos below . . .
Mommy and the sleeping dinosaur
Daddy shows off Chloe with her treats
Our lovely sleeping dino
