Velcrometer
Throwing stuff at the internet to see what sticks
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M. Giant's Velcrometer Throwing stuff at the internet to see what sticks |
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Thursday, November 01, 2007 Trick or Treat IV A lot of people mark their kids' childhoods with birthdays, or with Christmases. I think I'll probably always mark M. Small's with Halloweens. His first Halloween, in 2004, was also his first full day home from the hospital. They sent him home before he was ready, so he could barely even drink from a bottle back then. Needless to say, he was the worst trick-or-treater you ever saw in your life. While his costume, "Human Burrito," was quite convincing, I literally had to carry him from house to house. At least he was portable.  Or he would have been, if Trash had let me take him out of the house. I think she was secretly worried that at his size, he might somehow end up in some other kid's goodie basket. The following Halloween, 2005, is when he actually went trick-or-treating for the first time. I really did have to carry him everywhere. He wasn't that great at walking yet. Plus this was back when if you wanted him to say something, you had to practice for a couple of weeks, but thanks to a crash course on "trick or treat" that night he was able to say "tweee" by the time we got home.  I'm the one on the right. Note that his costume, "World War I Flying Ace," was selected purely for warmth, and for the ability to bundle him up underneath it. Only about 50% of the total contents of that flight suit are M. Small. Last year, 2006, was the first year he picked his own costume. Okay, he had two options; we were at Target and Trash held up a zebra suit and a Tigger suit and told him to pick th-- "That one!" A clear preference. He liked that costume so much that he still wears it around the house sometimes, as seen here.  For trick-or-treating that year, we actually ventured beyond our block. He went out with his cousin Deniece and her other cousin, and did pretty well for himself. I think he just liked ringing the doorbells and meeting people, and getting candy was just some weird formality that went along with it. This year he was old enough to tell us what he wanted to be. And that was? A turtle. We made sure he meant a turtle and not Turtle, and set out to find a turtle costume. There are plenty of them out there. But they're all made for kids who are the age he was at when he was a World War I Flying Ace. So my mom made one. She started out by making him a corduroy blanket sleeper (for extra warmth). She also made him a hood that velcros at his chin. The shell she fashioned as a kind of sandwich board, using an armature of chicken wire and cardboard upon which to apply the shell pattern. Behold:  Trust me, that's him.  In relative repose, with the hood down. I thought the boots would not only provide more visibility, but also be in keeping with the costume's amphibious theme. And he only fell over, like, eight times.  Demonstrating how much freedom of movement the costume affords him. Or maybe he's demonstrating that he just ate something sticky. Hard to tell. He didn't want to wear the shell when we first went out, so I followed him around, explaining to the neighbors (and Deniece, and Deniece's mom, and M. Small's birthparents, and his birthgrandfather, who all came out with us) what he was. When I got tired of that, I would just hold the shell up to his back to demonstrate the effect. And when I got tired of that, I just dropped it down over his head while he wasn't looking. By then it was cold enough that he didn't protest. Deniece kept running ahead and ringing the doorbells, but M. Small didn't mind. She did the waiting, and he did the collecting. He saw no problem with that system at all. It's both wonderful and sad to see your child grow up so fast. It gets easier to take care of him as he learns to do more and more things for himself, to not have to watch him every second as he learns right from wrong. But on the other hand, I'm pretty sure this is going to be the last year I get 90% of his Halloween candy. posted by M. Giant 8:25 PM 4 comments 4 Comments:Wow, I can't believe M. Small's been around for 4 Halloweens. I've been reading your blog since before that, by the way, I just never comment. PS he is incredibly cute.
By Awesome costume, Grandma!
By Wow! If that Tigger outfit came in my size I'd wear it all the time too!
By
my nephews (one a little older than, and one a tiny bit younger, M.Small) both love to wear their costumes around the house. Our family Christamas photos show the older one wearing a perfect Storm Trooper cosutme while unwrapping his gifts under the Christmas tree. My family is not always like other families (thank goodness)
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