super girl
Yesterday while getting dressed Bee decided she needed to wear her superhero costume from Halloween. Normally I would have tried to talk her out of it, but she's almost three, and has gotten pretty good at stating her case. And I figured, what's the harm.. she does make a pretty cute superhero.
We dropped C off at preschool and spent the morning running errands. Do you sometimes have a list of ho-hum things to do? Do you need to add a bit of excitement to your ordinary day? Then I suggest you spend an hour at Trader Joe's with a two year old in a superhero costume.
Never have I had so many people stop and say hello. People held doors for us, helped us navigate the always crowded aisles, reached to get things from top shelves. Little old ladies giggled, grumpy looking men suddenly smiled. One little girl about B's age even asked her is she was a Wonderpet.
When I was telling my husband about our morning, he recalled an episode of This American Life which we listened to a few weeks ago. Act 3 tells about a guy who dresses up in a hand-sewn Superman costume (he wears it in public as often as he can). Why would he do such a thing? I suggest you give it a listen.
01.7.2009
Reader Comments (10)
My daughter wore her fancy dress-up shoes last May (the bright yellow plastic kind) when we did errands. Same exact thing happened- in NYC EVERYONE stopped and commented on her shoes. When does that happen? The experience was so memorable that I was inspired to write a picture book story!
I LOVE THIS.
And that story on "This American Life" is quite beautiful.
(Nice, little Bee!)
My little one asked me for a superman suit just this morning.
It must be in the air...
Superheroes really bring out the best in people! I suspect that most of us need a little more whimsy in our life and it's nice to recognize it in others!
That is so sweet! I loved the This American Life story too.
: )
I listened to that episode on This American Life! I'm so glad you let your daughter wear her costume.....think of all the wonderful interactions she had and the lessons she's learning.
That is so sweet! I wish I could wear a superhero cape to work...
aww, thats incredible. I remember when i was in elementary school our teachers put on a super hero day. Everyone was asked to dress up as a superhero. Most came as the regulars, spider man, superman. My mom was good enough to help me think outside the box. I went as spaghetti man. i wish i had a picture of that costume. A giant spaghetti and meatball suit. It was great that you let her wear her costumes not on halloween. It should be custom to wear costumes at will.
this shot of little bee is killing me. i have a hard time believing its. her, she's frozen at 21 months in my head. . .
and just when i think this american life couldn't get any better, i hear that superman episode, it quickly became one of my favorites (although that is a really long list).
The guy who did that Superman story (Luke Burbank) has a radio show and podcast called Too Beautiful to Live. It's a lot of fun, and I'd recommend checking it out.