Cowboy-Up and Shop!

This weekend Will went to Elsa Nunley’s Birthday Party. Elsa’s parents, Marc and Kenna put on a fantastic Wild West Themed Party. They had a huge cardboard cutout of a “Juice Saloon” and a jail and it looked great. Also, unrelated to the cowboy theme they had a big bouncy house that Will liked once he got it all to himself (the other kids made it too disorienting for his already clumsy walking). Elsa was the cutest little cowgirl on the invitation so Teresa and I decided we would try to dress up Will too. At first I thought it might be fun to have will be an Indian to Elsa’s cowgirl, but then I thought he would just get shot at by cap guns all afternoon (and ironically he can’t stand loud noises). On further reflection it is probably better that we didn’t use our firstborn to perpetuate an unfair caricature of Native Americans, but to be honest my first thought was the cap gun shooting.



For those who have seen Will walk, you know that he already has that irrepressible swagger that is known to cowboys. Though, as devil’s advocate here, I may have to suggest that swagger be the wide-legged stumbling of a 15 month old. At any rate, we knew that role of a cowboy, individualistic, stubborn, reticent, though at times well spoken, would suit Will perfectly.



So the task then fell on my shoulders to find the various props needed to transform Will from City-Slicker to Cow poke. I thought that surely I would be able to find a toy gun and a badge at the first “Dollar Store” I came across I but I was wrong. So very wrong. After making trips to four different dollar stores, I didn’t find one gun, hat, or belt buckle. I didn’t even find bandana.



Giving up I went to Wal*Mart where I quickly found not one, but two cap guns, a felt cowboy hat, a belt with buckle included and one green bandana. The bandana turned out to be the trickiest as all of the Latino workers thought I was saying “banana” and the first “Whitey” I talked to had no idea at all. Finally I had to walk by the “unmentionables” to the handbags where I found women’s scarves and there it was, the green bandana like a beacon showing me the end of my four hour shopping fiasco. I snagged a Revlon Color Stay Eye-Liner (nod to Teryn Jensen for the “Believe-Me-Beauty Blog”) and then spent another half-hour trying to get out of the store.

But I hope as you can see the Eye-Liner came in handy both for painting a little mustachio on Will’s upper lip and for (I’m told) lining the lids of Teresa’s eyes. Teresa made flashy belt buckle even flashier by making a big “W” Buckle out of foam and aluminum foil. Hopefully these pictures of Will hamming it up for the camera made the shopping trip worth it, as he didn’t even wear the items for which I had spent so much time looking for even five minutes when we got to the party. I think this one tipping his hat as if to say "Howdy Padna'" made it worth it for me anyway.