Spurned Monkey

Thanks mostly to Curious George, Charlie has been on a monkey kick for some time now. "Hoo! Ha! I a mokney!" he chants, loping around the house with a bruised and battered banana in hand. So, depite an utter dearth of sewing skills, I assembled a little monkey costume for him out of brown sweats, felt patches, some cut up tights, and the plundered guts of a tacky stuffed panda bear.

He loved it. He wore it for days--to the park, the post office, even to the pool. All of Lunenburg has heard "Hoo! Ha! I a mokney!"

The night before Halloween we took Charlie trick or treating at his Nanny's house. "Time to put on your monkey costume!" I said. "No," he stated firmly. "I a bunny." There was no changing his mind. So I fished a dollar store bunny mask out of the costume box, pulled a carrot from the garden, and Ta Da! instant bunny.

He has refused to even look at the monkey costume ever since, although he has played dress-up with Jonas and taken turns as a pirate, a cow, and a dog. Jonas won't wear the monkey costume because he is scared of the tail. Moral of the story? Toddler plus planning ahead = needless angst. So here's to the joy of living in the now! (Not to mention this gets me out of trying to sew again. My needle-pricked fingers are thankful.)