This is (was) little man's first time trick-or-treating; before moving to the 'big city' we lived a little ways out of town, up a long-dark driveway in the woods. No one wanted to walk up that driveway for a treat, I'm tellin' ya. So, we never actually went out trick-or-treating, either. We didn't live in a subdivision, and the nearest neighbors had an even longer dark driveway, so we would celebrate at the church fall festival.
Everybody was happy.
Fast forward to Halloween 2008. We have moved to the Halloween Capital of the South. Our subdivision has the award for the most enthusiastic halloweeny spirit. Oh my goodness, these people go all out. It was exactly a year ago that we were shopping around for a new place to live and as such, we'd made several 'covert' missions up here to get the feel of the area, see what was available, etc. One trip was to this subdivision.
It was probably the week or so before the big day and I couldn't believe what I saw. Almost every house was decorated....not just a pumpkin here, a pumpkin there.....but decorated to the nines! I've never seen anything like it.
I told the sweetest hubby that I couldn't wait to see what they do for Christmas! (oh, btw. Found out that evidently Christmas doesn't awaken the enthusiastic decorating bug that halloween does here in the burbs o' hotlanta.)
Anywho....back to the story. Oh wait. Hold on... one more thing about this peachy city.
Atlanta has a traffic problem. Seriously. You didn't know?
Well, picture this. Add the pressure of half a million people (heck, I don't know, seemed like a good round number.....I just live here.) wanting to get home 'early' for their little gouls, and you got yerself a hot mess. Just wanted to throw that one in there for your pleasure.
You're welcome.
So, we get home and have maybe 15 minutes to get ready before we have to go to the obligatory pre-trick-or-treat party at the end of the cul-de-sac. Complete with pizza and costumes. BYOB, of course. But that's another post for another time.........
SH and me notice a little bit of an 'attitude' coming from the little-man-who-would-be-the-red-power-ranger. Not a problem yet, just the first inkling that there might be a wee problem ahead.
Since I've posted before about these 'Feelings of Not Belonging' nonsense; I'm not going to go into that too much here. But as for me, I was pretty much ready to leave after finishing my piece of pizza. Little man had eaten half a piece of pizza and two brownies and was having a great time. He doesn't let something like not knowing anybody very well stop him from enjoying himself. He just jumps right in and joins the fun. Man, I wish I could do that. When does self-consciousness take over??? Somewhere around teenage years, I imagine.
Cue the big kid dressed as a ghost/zombie. I saw little man running through the cul-de-sac where we were. The big kid was behind him, chasing him; LM had a smile on his face, so I thought nothing of it. Then, on the next go around, LM wasn't laughing anymore - the laughing face was a little frantic now. Hubby stepped out of the edge of the crowd; Ben saw him and ran to him crying. He was scared.
Little man isn't one to just cry at the drop of a hat, he's really a pretty tough little guy, but like I said earlier, he wasn't his usual cheerful self. Got him all straightened up and his daddy took him over to where the other kids were and they talked to the ghost/zombie. He apologized, saying he had no idea that Ben was scared, they were just playing and that he never meant to scare him. Zombie offered his hand. Shake. Problem solved.
Next meltdown came when a little ghoul and a red power ranger ran smack into each other at a full gallop, resulting in both of them landing hard on the concrete. Tried the old, "aw, shake it off, buddy" but that didn't work. Had to hold my little ranger while he cried big, big tears and the whole gathering ogled the whiny new kid on the block. Ok, so maybe they didn't ogle. Maybe they didn't even notice. This is my story, I can say what I want. They ogled.
Last meltdown of the evening came when we were headed home to get ready for the highlight of the evening: trick-or-treating!!! Woo hoo! Ah. Not so much.
Walking home LM announced that he didn't want to go trick-or-treating. I can't even begin to relate the entire conversation - just sufice it to say that you can't rationalize with a 4-year old power ranger. In the house now and the tears are flowing freely. Daddy sends LM to his room and tells him when he's finished crying, he can come down and they'd go out to get some candy.
Just a few minutes pass. The tears are still there, but he's stopped crying. He's ready to go!
So, out the door they go; First Time Trick-or-Treating! He practices by turning around, ringing our doorbell and shouting, "Trick-or-Treat!!!!!!" with a big smile on his face.
I'm left to hand out candy here at home. Between trips to the door, I spy the days report sheet from LM's preschool teacher. So, I pick it up to read about my little guys day:
- Ate all his lunch. That's good.
- Painted pumpkins and decorated them to look like bats. That's original!
- Nap time.
What's that, no nap today?
- Halloween party. Instead!??!!?
Well, I guess that answers that. Even power rangers need a nap. Especially 4 year old power rangers.
Now, for the rest of the story.......
Daddy and LM come home after hitting around 12 houses, maybe. Little man is pooped! The costume comes off and he sits down with me in the comfy chair to snuggle a little. With his little head resting on my shoulder, he asked me if I'd take his socks off for him. I say, sure sweetie. Socks off now, I look down to kiss his forehead and he's out like a light. Two seconds flat. Couldn't have been any more than that.
Power rangers sure are cute when they fall asleep snuggled up next to their mommy.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are appreciated! (and I'm gettin' lonely here)