I love Halloween, but this year was especially awesome because I got to go Trick-or-Treating with Aiden for the first time. I’ve taken him to a couple of houses before (sometimes just carried him there) on Halloween, but he was too little to really get the full experience. This year, dressed up in his Jedi Knight costume, Aiden went to every house, all the way around our block.
People would ask, “Who are you supposed to be?” And Aiden would say, “I’m Luke Skywalker!” My inner fanboy was screaming, but it was terribly cute to watch. To round out the Star Wars tributes, we dressed Gavin up as Yoda. We took Gavin to a couple of houses to show him off to neighbors, but it will be a few years before he makes it around the block with Aiden and me.
The elementary school where Aiden goes to pre-school discovered one confirmed case of H1N1 virus this week. It’s a SWINE FLU OUTBREAK! They won’t be closing the school though. Things that they suggest will help: wash your hands often, don’t share personal items or food/drink, and keep sick kids at home. That makes sense, but it doesn’t hurt to get your kids vaccinated anyway. And so we did.
Gavin went in for flu shots yesterday. It was an hour wait at the clinic. He got the first set of infant shots for both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 vaccine. Aiden had his seasonal flu shots less than thirty days ago, so he has to wait for the H1N1 shot. Gavin will need to go back in for the second set of flu shots, and Aiden will get his H1N1 shot at the same time. For the record, I get a flu shot every year.
Unfortunately, Gavin reacted badly to his first flu shot. He was crabby all day and then got a fever after we put him to bed. We gave him some Infant Motrin and that brought his temperature down. We were still up most of the night with him. He continued to be a little cranky today and didn’t eat very well, but the fever hasn’t returned. It might not be flu, since he does the same thing when teething (plus drool).
Aiden loves Playhouse Disney, and we tape new shows for him all the time. A relatively new addition to the Disney lineup is the “Imagination Movers”, now just entering their second season. The show is about four guys that help people with their problems, which they call “Idea Emergencies”. Along the way, they sing and jump around a lot, wearing blue “movers” jumpsuits. Aiden loves this show.
We originally got Aiden a few musical instruments to gauge his interest in music. He would play with them sometimes, but he was really set off when he started watching Imagination Movers (conveniently scheduled right after Mickey Mouse, his favorite show). Now he carries his drum everywhere and plays along with their songs. The songs are actually pretty catchy, kid-friendly with a basic rock-and-roll vibe.
Then they started touring. Although they played regionally as early as 2001 in their native New Orleans, partnering with Disney in 2008 has allowed them to tour nationally. One of their stops was at the Holiday Star Theater in Merrillville, Indiana, not far from us. We bought their latest CD, “For Those About To Hop“, to listen to in the car with Aiden and get up to speed with their music.
We first heard about the concert just as Aiden was learning about the show. We weren’t sure if he would like it, so we waited to buy tickets and got sixth row balcony seats. Not bad seats, but individual Movers would often leave the stage and mingle with the kids on the main floor during songs. We did see Mover Rich on the other side of the balcony, but we didn’t get to meet him. It’ll be front row seats next time!
And of course, Aiden loved the show. It really seemed like an adult concert except for the content of the songs (such as “Playing Catch” and “Where Is Warehouse Mouse?”). But they closed with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”, which was awesome but surprising. Chrissy got Aiden a pair of Movers drum sticks that light up when you smack them together (or on anything else). He held onto them all night, and now uses them to play his drum when the Imagination Movers are on TV.
Aiden had two field trips to Scheeringa Farms last week, one with each of the pre-schools that he is attending. Chrissy chaperoned the trip with the public school class and I tagged along with the private school class a few days later. On both visits, both the parent and the child were allowed to pick out one pumpkin each from their field.
So what do we do with all these pumpkins? Let’s carve them up! Chrissy carved a face into the tiny pumpkin that we picked out for Gavin, and I used a stencil to cut an intricate skull-and-crossbones into Aiden’s medium-sized pumpkin. The one larger pumpkin hasn’t been carved yet, but we really should put something cool on there.
We had an unusual visitor last night: a very large frog! Well, more of a kidnapping victim than a visitor… Chrissy was coming home from her night class when she almost ran over a bunch of frogs near the pond in our neighborhood. Turns out that frogs are not so good at Frogger. She “saved” one by bringing it home to meet Aiden.
Aside from tree frogs in zoo exhibits, I had never seen a real frog up close before. When I was a kid, we caught toads and garden snakes in the wetlands (“The Swamp”) by our house, but there were no frogs there. Aiden had never seen a frog up close, either, so this was new to both of us. Aiden touched the frog like it was radioactive.
The frog hopped around the kitchen for a few minutes, freaking Aiden out, and then we put him to bed in a plastic bucket with some water in it. We hoped this would keep him wet overnight. Chrissy took him to school the next day to show the third graders. She even tried to feed the frog some meal worms, but he wasn’t interested.
Chrissy put the boys (and the frog) into the green wagon that evening and walked them over to the pond where she found it. They said their goodbyes to their little green friend, and he hopped right into the water. The frog only stayed with us for a day, but the experience was something that Aiden won’t soon forget.
When I built the display shelves in my office (and I use the term built rather loosely, since Uncle Glenn did the actual construction), I made it a point to install cross-bar locks on the oak doors. I figured that some day in the future, there would be a little boy trying to put his grubby paws on my collectibles.
Three years later, I have finally had to lock the doors to the Transformers shelves. Aiden is pointing through the glass and saying, “I want to see THAT one!” Adorable, but frightening. He has a thing for construction vehicles and he is now at eye-level with the Micromaster shelf (including the Construction Patrol).
I just told him that he could see just fine through the glass. Those are too old for him to play with. This didn’t make him very happy, but I gave him some other (broken and incomplete) Micromasters to play with, and he played with those instead. However, the display cabinets will have to stay locked from now on.
There was a charity benefit concert for a local teen at Coruscant Comics on Saturday. Chrissy had just left with her sisters, but she called me as she passed by the parking lot to tell me that there were Star Wars characters outside. They were there to support the event, which was very cool of them. Chrissy said we should check it out.
I was going to be alone with the boys all night, so I thought it would be nice to swing over there and see what was going on. I buckled the boys into the bike cart and pedaled over to the comic store, just a few blocks away (this was the first time that I had been on the bike this year, though, so I suffered greatly for this later).
It was worth the effort. There was a Stormtrooper from the 501st Legion and Boba Fett there. Aiden had never seen a Boba Fett before, so he just sorta stared at him for a while. They were very friendly, and we got some photos of them. Gavin didn’t want any part of them, though, and refused to even stand near them.
Once again, it’s time to decorate the front yard for Halloween. The garage rafters were full of orange storage boxes, including last year’s monstrous Day-After-Halloween haul. Just getting everything out was a chore, but it was all worth it once the yard was complete. We easily have as many Halloween decorations as Christmas decorations now!
The Yard, Last Year
The Yard, This Year
But once the decorations were up, what became really apparent was the colossal difference in the way our house looks. We completely replaced the siding since last Halloween, and the huge “A” and picket fence in the front have been removed as well. It’s a huge contrast. But there’s also the big increase in Halloween decorations over last year. Our graveyard has doubled in size, and has its own fog machine!
Graveyard, Last Year
Graveyard, This Year
So our yard will be the one to see this year! We actually had strangers come over and take pictures of our yard last year, which was gratifying. I just really enjoy putting on a display for Halloween. And Aiden likes to play in the Graveyard too. But someone will have to stop me soon, since the yard will start looking ridiculous within a few years if our collection keeps growing at this rate!
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