Dying a thousand deaths........

I will freely admit my strong suit is not staying a step ahead of my kids. Especially as I have gotten older my *ability to anticipate a nutty childhood behavior* sense has dulled a bit. So I really saw nothing amiss when I noticed Jed had his *one or two sizes too small, two big rips in the back and a number of snags (it's nylon)* spider man suit on under his clothes this morning before we headed to the zoo. (No one can see any of those defects under clothes....right? :)

To be fair to myself....it is not all *that* uncommon for him to wear costumes under his clothes. He is often milling around with one of his many super hero outfits on during the day and when we go somewhere he puts his clothes on over it.

Fast forward to our zoo outing. All was well and we were having a jolly time on a lovely day seeing the animals and getting a good walk in. We ate our lunch and then were delighted to see that the zoo playground was open.
The zoo playground that includes a *spider web* for kids to climb on.

My guess is anyone reading this has a clue what is coming, even though I didn't.

Yes, no sooner had we parked the stroller.....Jed started stripping off the outer layers of his clothing to reveal his *one or two sizes too small, two large rips in the back with numerous snags* spider man outfit and zipped over to said web.

Well- there for a minute I had to struggle with my self about whether or not to let him go out about in public like that. To me, the park seemed populated by young, hip, affluent moms with expensive strollers and well dressed children. :) But- since I could see him from afar while I stood by baby Ella toddling about ( thus not alerting anyone to the fact that I was *the kooky mom who let's her child go about dressed in rags*) off he went. The irony was that he really was the *belle of the ball* as my grandmother would say. I heard several moms chuckling affectionately about his garb, and saw grandparents with sparkling eyes chatting with him while he played on the web. Of course more than one boy his age came up to him and checked out the costume while exclaiming *Cool!* I really didn't notice anyone scratching their head or wrinkling their nose with distaste at him.

I guess I should be glad I have a little one who still has such innocence about what people think.
A lesson his mom should learn for sure! :)