Are We There Yet?

Halloween is one of Micah's favorite holidays. He loves browsing the store's aisles looking at all the costumes and decor, and every time he's there he's pretty sure he needs another half dozen things. I generally nix all purchases, but on occasion I'll sneak something into the cart for a Christmas present. For a boy who loves to dress up, Halloween is a grand holiday season in which to do some Christmas shopping.

Most of his previous 10 Halloweens, I've chosen Micah's costume. There were a few years when he decided that he wanted to be something in particular, like the year he wore his pajamas. That was a baffling thing to us because it's a struggle to get him to put them on at all (I'm NOT going to bed!), and he was adamant that he was going trick-or-treating in them. Neither would he take them off. It finally clicked with me that the year before he'd worn his Sheriff Woody pajamas (that looked better than a lot of cheap costumes you can buy at Halloween), so he had the misguided notion in his mind that you had to wear pajamas when you went trick-or-treating. Kids with DS can be funny that way. You do something once and it's Set.In.Stone. (Fun fact for DS awareness month!) Rather than fight him, because he'd dug his heels in deeper than I was willing to dig, I just made him a stocking cap and sent him on his way.

Ignore the fact that the kids looked like they were freezing. This was 10 minutes before it snowed 6".

So it was far more exciting to me than it should have been when Micah pointed to a picture in a Halloween book of Dracula, put his arm over his face like Drac pulling his cape over, and then pointed to himself. "You want to be Dracula for Halloween this year?" YESH. So there it was. He chose his Halloween costume this year, and I was thrilled to death.

I trotted myself to the fabric store where I chose a plain black cotton and a plain purple cotton to make the cape with. The Dracula in Hotel Transylvania has a purple lined cape, so I figured he could relate to that one well. Sam, however, found a heavier fabric that is a deep burgundy and has what is most likely a western print on it of a floral design, but in a Halloween context it looks rather creepy in a coffin-lining kind of way. In other words, perfect for Dracula. Or Hugh Hefner's mansion. But I try not to think about that. 

Micah tried buying a Dracula costume at Walmart the other day, so I knew I needed to get his done to make him stop pestering and trying to spend money. Except there's that Catch 22 where if I make his costume, he'll think it's Halloween. I debated my options, and decided to make the cape anyway since he was home from school today and needed something to help him remember to obey instantly in all things. (Bribery, for the win!) I headed to the sewing dungeon (as I call it now that I've moved all the things to the basement) and started drafting patterns and cutting and pretending I knew what I was doing. Turns out, I didn't.

Micah's sign for Dracula is putting his arm over his face like he's drawing his cape around. There just wasn't enough fabric to make his cape that big for him, so it was a fail on my part in planning. (If only I wasn't so stubbornly opposed to following patterns!) Micah, however, is pretty happy with it anyway. He struggles to get the folds up over his face, but he can manage it, and as a bonus it'll last for years to come in the dress-up box.

At bedtime tonight, Micah was very sure that it was NOT time to bath and brush his teeth. He wanted to go trick-or-treating because he had a costume. Today started the longest 18 days of my life. No, we're not there YET.

For the record, Micah insisted on the stand-up collar. Nothing less would do, of course.