Evan In The Hat Halloween
It took 3 weeks of convincing before Evan finally agreed to be Cat In The Hat and not Transformers for Halloween.
I told him that if he was going to be Transformers (either Bumblebee or Optimus Prime) or Wolverine or Ironman he will be like many kids and the people handing out candies will say, "weren't you here before?" and not give him candies. Wink.
Eventually he grew to love the idea, the taaaaallll hat, the loooong tail and white gloves. Which was good because it was a chilly afternoon (52F/11C as high), I was able to layer him up inside (4 layers for the top and 2 for the bottom) without covering his costume with a coat.
He even had a sack instead of the generic bucket (that pumpkin face he glued himself) or the pumpkin fabric bag simply because I misplaced the latter.
Tom is just as stage parent as I am, although he's more subtle about it. My husband was complaining of being cold the whole time yet he stuck around, calling out regularly to remind his son to say "trick or treat" and "thank you".
Evan's loot. Since Tom doesn't eat candy bars, and it's a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind for my son (he has had two half eaten lollipops last night) I'll be the one who's going to be tempted by these candies, they will packed and brought down to storage for the Philippines this January.
I love Halloween, especially after having a child. It's my favorite american tradition. More so this year since I have gotten many compliments from the Halloween costume I made. In fact I overheard three times of it "winning the prize". The best part, Evan proudly told his daddy, "I was the only one!"
Posted by geri at 09:19 AM | 10 thought balloons
Ed (guest)
geri
geri
geri
Yeah, we also do the "crying in the bedroom only" too (I tell him it's too noisy outside. Or I tell him to choose, bedroom or naughty corner. We've had many public incidences but it's funny how the more often it happens the more I am immune to other people's reaction lol What really sort of "controls" the situation when a meltdown happens is just giving him 2 choices, e.g. he doesn't want to take a bath, so I let him choose bathtime or bedtime. Because routine is very important I think in all children, he then chooses bathtime.
One time he had a nightmare crying to want to take a bath. Tom tried to calm him down but he kept on insisting on taking a bath. I stepped in and brought him to the bathroom, turned on the shower and gently asked him if he still wants to take a bath or wait until later that night. That worked.
I was also thinking that maybe adjusting to pre-school school might also have a lot to do with these meltdowns after all it is a big change. But I am so glad that we did get Evan started on school, as you might be with LA, and start having all these adjustments now than wait for the one fell swoop in kindergarten. I shudder at the thought if we waited lol
Ed (guest)
Like you and Evans friend's mother, we've had our share of defiance. I've gotten that when it happens at home that I tell LA to go pout in her room and come back when she is more cheerful. Initially she had to be carried to her room but now she goes by herself and it is becoming less frequent. I think she realizes now that it doesn't do any good. Fortunately, we've only had two public incidences and in those cases, we go to the car and sit until she is ready to behave. Once when we weren't around a car, we went into the bathroom to not disturb the other patrons of the restaurant we were at. It's hard.
I really like what you said about training and I'm glad that we let LA 'help' even when it isn't so much help. She helps unload the dishwasher, sweep, vacuum, bake and just about whatever we do. It already pays dividends now so I hope it will really pay when she gets older.
geri
Ed, oh it would be fun to hand out the candies too. I wish we could do that but since we live in the condo... If I was a little girl I would most probably would choose a fairy costume for all halloweens :)
Em, can't wait for Julia's photos with her as a pumpkin. Yeah for somebody who took 3 weeks of convincing, Evan was comfortable in his costumes. I was surprised that he was very patient with me taking the picture, but it helped that before we came down I already told him what we were going to do (like stand still for 15 minutes while mommy takes you picture hahaha).
I can't believe how you almost missed doing trick or treating. We were the exact opposite, Evan did it when he was only 5 months (kanahan ang nanay) but only for 2 houses.
Emilie (guest)
That's a fantastic costume! Great that it didn't get covered with coats or jackets too and still be warm. I love the hat best. Evan looks like he's proud of it too with cat in the hat poses..very like the real cat in the hat.
You would be laughing at how we had ended up spending halloween. We initially had not planned to join it. Haay, kaning mga ignoy man, wa kahibaw unsay buhaton. And we lived in an apartment last year so we were pretty isolated. But we ended up joining it anyway. Best that i tell you about it over the phone. It's a good thing i had bought Julia a pumpkin suit for her to play with at her daycare. now looking back at it, halloween is starting to me my favorite too. It is like christmas where we could go house to house (and not sing carols even) and get some treats. :)
Ed (guest)
Ed (guest)
loraine (guest)
