of mechanical grim reapers and princesses

A couple of weekends a go I thought it would be a fun to visit the Halloween superstore that opened down the street from us. Hadley is so aware and I think the concept of Halloween will officially set in this year.

Not to mention she enjoys dressing up. I mean like, putting mismatching shoes on that are now too small for her. Hats under tiaras. Frilly dresses over Dora the Explorer pajama bottoms. And sometimes she refuses to remove them, so we are stuck going in public with these concoctions.

Allowing her to be creative and make her own choices, right?

OK, so back to the Halloween superstore...

I put the girls in our double stroller because I had a feeling Hadley would go ape sh*t in this store and I wasn't interested in prying her little paws off of every other Halloween related item in the store. I wanted to get in. Look around. Admire. Maybe buy a costume for her. And leave. Period.

So we head in. And of course, in the true spirit of Halloween, there is a haunted maze to enter the store. Adorn with every scary Halloween item you can imagine. I knew something was bound to move, but not like I anticipated.

Just as we come to the end of the maze, a motion activated grim reaper folds at the waste and lands right in Hadley's lap. IN HER LAP! And there was silence. A silence so long I knew no good was about to come from my child...

I looked up to see a (had to be) 16 year old greeter watching this with a stunned smile on his face. And I said "She's about to scream like you wouldn't believe." And I'm thinking, that's what you get you little sh*t for not warning a mom with two very small children (I could see him from the time I entered the doors, so he had plenty of time to throw caution to the wind).

She screamed. A high pitched. GET ME OUT OF HERE! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?! Scream.

And the pimple faced kids reaction? "I've seen worse." Yah, but probably not out of a two year-old. SHE'S STILL A BABY!

At this point I was forced to pick her up and settle her down, pronto. Otherwise we would need to leave and never return again. And being the Halloween lover that I am, I wanted to take a gander at a Halloween superstore.

In between sobs, she cried "Scary. I scared."And she plunged her hand down my shirt, the place where she still seeks comfort, and cried.

Some older employees directed me to the "not-so-scary" kids section, where we immediately stumble upon Toy Story costumes and even a cutout to take pictures. And another pimple faced kid asked if we wanted our picture taken in it, while Hadley is still screaming bloody murder. I was polite and said "no thank you," even though the offer seemed moronic at the moment.

Then we found the fairy princess section and suddenly all was right with the world. And really, how could I resist?

But now when we drive by this superstore she points and says "Scared me!"

P.S. She now expresses her creativity with her new fairy princess costume (gotta get my money's worth, right?)
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