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Just try getting that costume off of her.

Halloween was last Wednesday, right? So why is it a week later and I still can't convince my preschooler to let it go?

This was the first year she really got into the concept of Halloween. She loved trick or treat - wearing a costume, going door to door, getting bright, shiny pieces of candy to put in her bucket, and looking at all the spooky decorations. I thought the ghosts and goblins might scare her, but my warrior princess has no fear of anything that goes bump in the night.

But now I can't convince her that Halloween is over. She thinks we've been holding out on her all this time, and each house in our neighborhood is a candy store just waiting for us to stop by again. Whenever we go outside, Cordy immediately asks, "Go trick or treat?" Trying to guide her into the car, and not down the street to some unsuspecting neighbor's porch, is quite an effort. We also had to remove the pumpkins from our front porch, because the mere sight of them would send her into an excited Halloween frenzy.

She also now greets us by saying, "Happy Halloween!" and should we refuse to participate in the seasonal greetings, she will continue repeating it until we either throw candy at her and run away or cave in and say, "Happy Halloween!" in return.

However, the worst side effect by far, is her insistence in watching only Halloween-themed shows during her TV time. Only the Halloween episodes will do. Plus, a few days before the holiday, she found my DVD of Mickey's House of Villians on the shelf and begged to watch it. I decided it was probably OK - my only worry at the time was that it might be a little scary for her. At three years old, some of the hauntings could frighten her. But she loved the whole thing, and as soon as it was over started campaigning for a repeat viewing.

That DVD is now driving me crazy. Practically every hour, Cordy asks if we can watch "Mickey's Halloween?" and brings me the DVD case, just in case I had forgotten what it looked like. And she's seen it so many times that she knows what's coming next at the end of every scene. I'm bored with watching it. I offered her other movies to tempt her away - Monsters, Inc, Nightmare Before Christmas, Fantasia - but if I try to play one of them, she screams, "No! Turn it off, mommy!" Only Mickey and his villian-infested House of Mouse will do.

Maybe I can start talking about Christmas to her? If I can build up enough excitement over Christmas, she may give up her Halloween obsession and fixate on Santa instead. Are there any good Christmas DVDs out there that are appropriate for three year olds? Yes, I know it means she will then drive me insane with begging for Christmas all the time, but at least it'll be a novel change of pace for a little while.