You know how you sometimes see that little girl in the grocery store wearing her Cinderella dress? Or the boy who looks like he's been wearing his Spiderman pajamas for four days straight? When I see those families, I always have to wonder what happened at their house before they walked out the door. Now I know.

Patriot has taken to dressing in strange costumes. I think it started a week ago when I let him get a Batman mask at Wal-Mart. He immediately (meaning, before we left the toy aisle) put it on and assumed the persona of Batman, at least as much as he knows seeing as he's never seen a Batman movie, cartoon, or comic book. As we continued our shopping, we talked about how Batman was a hero who helped people and fought bad guys. Patriot liked that idea and, as long as I referred to him as Batman, actually helped me continue my shopping.

Me: Patriot, do you see any bananas?
Him: No, Mommy, but Batman might.
Me: OK, Batman, do you see any bananas?
Him (in a deep voice): Yes, they are right over there.

This seemed like it could be a pretty good deal for me. So I let him keep the mask on until naptime. As soon as he woke, he wanted it right back. I figured it couldn't hurt any, so I gave it to him. He was Batman the rest of the day and the next day. As time went on, though, we noticed "Batman" seemed to be a little sassier and wasn't afraid to talk back to grown-ups disrespectfully. This is not OK, so we promptly limited the time in the Batman mask.

The next day he asked to wear his Bengals helmet and wanted to wear it all day long. A little unusual, but maybe he's just anxiously anticipating the start of the NFL season (aren't we all!).

We had a sunglasses day. This day he wanted his brother to join the fun, so they both wore their sunglasses. Patriot told Azlan, "Now we're styling."

Today he found a kid-sized life jacket in the garage. You know, the kind you'd wear on a boat. He wanted to wear it and, since we were just goofing in the yard, I put it on him. The boy wore it all morning. He played Wii in the life jacket. He kicked balls in the backyard in the life jacket. He looked like he was just waiting for a flood! Oh, how I wish I had a picture of him wearing the life jacket and the Batman mask at the same time! It was the funniest thing ever.

So where do you draw the line on ridiculous costumes? For me, the line is when my own inconvenience or embarrassment outweighs his desire to express himself through imaginative play. And my embarrassment threshold is pretty high so don't be surprised to see me running errands with Batman!