One of the gang

Halloween is not a big event in a neighborhood full of retirees.

After years of living in our neighborhood of grandparents, and grandchild-less octogenarians, I became accustomed to having 1 or 2 trick or treaters reaching my door and collecting as much candy as I could give without guilt.

Thankfully, the neighborhood is changing and we now claim 10 children on the block. This year, Halloween was different.

One of the moms hosted a night party for the kids and after some food at the house, our group headed out for Halloween.

Imagine a rush of 10 children, the oldest 8 and 9 years old, dashing to each house and screaming "Attack!" The flock gathers at the doorway, simultaneously shout "TRICK OR TREAT," and then press towards the door for their candy.

More than once, the unsuspecting homeowner was so overwhelmed that she was out of candy by the 5th child, and the rest waited patiently at the door, not wishing to forfeit their right to their chocolate.

My son, the baby of the group, was ecstatic for the chance to relish in Halloween. He did well for the first group of homes, but soon found his little legs could hardly keep up with the older children.

He persevered though he had to skip a few homes, but made it through the two block route around our neighborhood and got more candy than he could ever eat for weeks.

Return of the Sith

Following weeks of deliberation and indecision, a crucial choice has been made.

My son -
who was a big hit as the Jedi Master Yoda last Halloween - is turning to the Dark Side of the Force.

I take full responsibility that my boy is fascinated with Darth Vader. After all, all our trips to Burger King to collect the Star Wars toys may have been more for me, than for him. And of course, I had to buy him the Darth Tater and I already owned a lightsaber when he showed an interest in being Yoda last year.

Still, I thought his interest in Star Wars was only a passing phase, that surrendered to his newfound love of other superheroes.

But it was all a fleeting interest that seemed to change daily, as he changed his mind on Halloween costumes.

From Superman to Batman to Robin Hood to a knight to Robin Hood back to Batman to the Red Power ranger to a pirate to the Red Power ranger and finally to the most obscure hero, the Hawkman.

I was quite uneasy with that last choice, knowing it would be impossible to find such a costume.

The moment of truth finally came when we stood in the costume store, seeing what was available. He saw the red lightsaber and there was no turning back.

True to form, my son has been wearing his new Darth Vader outfit regularly. He walks around the house, grunting as deep as he can - "hoh ..... purr ...."
And then he escapes into darkened rooms, his lightsaber lit and waves his weapon in the arm, singing the Imperial March that is truly the Sith Lord's musical theme, just as in one of his favorite cartoons.

The Dark Side has never been so adorable.

The search for a great pumpkin

No matter the season, my son regularly points to the same Lutheran church along our daily commute to remind me: "Mommy, it's the pumpkin church."

 

Every October, a pumpkin patch is delivered to the front lawn of the church as one of their annual fundraisers. And so it has become family ritual to walk the patch and choose our future jack-o-lantern. (And when he was a baby, it was a nice photo op)

 

With Halloween decorations up at school and at the stores, my boy knew the pumpkins would be coming soon.

 

Then on one morning drive, his eyes lit up as he saw the long rows of orange squashes.

 

Luckily, that afternoon, his Nana picked him up at school and was perfectly happy to go pumpkin shopping on the way home.

 

That still didn't satisfy him completely.

 

The next morning, as my son waited for his pancakes, he wanted to skip breakfast and buy a pumpkins.

 

"I want to buy one now."

"Well, we can buy one later."
"No, I want to go now."

"But we can't go now because the pumpkin people aren't there. They are having breakfast now."

"No, they're no. We can go now."

 

This discussion deteriorated into a full-fledge wail, but I would not budge.

 

As we passed by the pumpkins, my son saw that, indeed, no one else was there.

 

"You're right, Mommy. Nobody is there yet."

 

When I picked him up from school, he renewed the argument, realizing he could win this time.

And soon enough, we were at the patch, walking around and comparing the sizes and shapes.

Several pumpkins had this patch of bumps all around and my son made a point of rubbing each one of them. We saw a few albino pumpkins (probably just a different breed but I don't know the name).

He kept picking some small pumpkins and I kept trying to press him for someone larger that would make an impressive jack-o-lantern.

After debating about 7 different ones, we finally agreed on a tall, but relatively skinny squash. While I went to start discussing pumpkin prices, my son jealously guarded our pumpkin.

 

On the way home, we discussed all our pumpkin plans and I explained to him how I looked forward to making a pumpkin soup or a pumpkin pie, as well as toasted pumpkin seeds.

 

"But Mommy, you can't do that to the pumpkin. The pumpkin people will get mad. It'll hurt the pumpkin."

And then I saw a few tears starting to fall.

 

 

 

A good morning

Sunday morning started this way.

 

Before daybreak, my half-conscious mind sensed my little boy approaching my bed, even before he whimpered, "Mommy."

 

As he stood near my head, I reached around to pick him up for an early morning snuggle. We both slept a little, though he started stirring as soon as the sun streamed through our window.

 

He started tossing, finding different sections of Mommy to use as his pillow while he stared at the decorations around my room.

Eventually, he settled on my hip and meditated on a favorite poster of mine: The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.

 

I've had the print for years, so long that I can't remember if I bought it in college or when I rented my first apartment. I have fond memories of seeing the original work - in all its breathtaking size and vibrancy in Vienna.  A few years later, I actually had the print framed and it hangs in my bedroom to this day.

 

"Mommy, I love that painting."

 

"Yes, I love it too, honey. It's name is 'The Kiss.' "

 

"Is that you Mommy?

 

"No it's not."

 

"OK, but I still love it."

 

 

La-la land

I've been neglecting the blog while I daydream of Mr. Darcy and the wonderful film, Pride and Prejudice.

If you haven't seen it yet, (yes I'm talking the Keira Knightley one), it's marvelous.

In my usual short-term bouts of obsession, I have not only watched the movie, but reread the book and pursued several websites for film clips and - gasp! - a copy of the script.

 

I'm promise better posts when I'm off this malady.

 

 

 

Holy Toledo, Batman

I take full responsibility for the fact that my son knows all about lightsabers, Darth Vader and Yoda.

Batman, however, came from a different source, despite the fact that the Dark Knight was also a distinct part of my childhood.

I was about 4 years old when I watched the old Adam West series on TV, while my father, who worked night shifts, took his badly needed naps. He had it timed well. After Batman was over, I was supposed to wake Daddy up so he could go to work. I have such vivid memories of this routine: my father on our old tan sofa and me sitting between him and the coffee table while the Joker, Robin and several rounds of "Pow" and "Bam" flashed before my eyes.

These days, however, my son experiences Batman comes through the Internet.

At the moment, one of his favorite websites is this wonderful animated series of the Lego Batman vehicles.

(I'm already a big fan of the animation company, which did this wonderful Star Wars - Lego movie).

Batman came in handy when my son was home sick with a cold and I, trying to rearrange my schedule to watch him one morning, needed a quick shower.

No problem on the distraction, especially since my 4-year-old is already handy with a mouse and knows how to navigate a web browser. In truth, he only needs me to send him to the web page, since the URL is embedded deep in my bookmarks.

I shudder to think what would happen if I set up a toolbar buttons saying, "Batman." Then he would have nothing to stop him from stealing away to the computer and watching the defeat of those Gotham City criminals.

The cutest part is the fact that no matter how many times my son has watched these videos, he is still amazed everytime when good defeats evil. He cheers the ending everytime, having that affirmation that all is good in the world, and all that is bad goes to jail. (Or at least the Arkham Asylum.)