Halloween Treats for Boy of Mystery

I’m not sure what the best age is for enjoying Halloween, but being six years old has to be near the top. My son is more excited than he has ever been about Halloween, but he still has the youthful innocence about it that makes it all so charming.

When Kai was three years old, we all dressed up as pirates for Halloween. That year, we had some fun at home but did not take him out for tricks-or-treat. With his gluten-free/casein-free (GFCF) diet, we thought that Kai might get upset about not being able to eat most of the candy he would receive. Also, back then he was really busy every afternoon with his ABA therapy so he really did not have time to go trick-or-treating anyway. Kai did his therapy at home, but also enjoyed answering the doorbell and greeting the kids who came to our house.

The next year, with his love of numbers, we dressed him up as The Count from Sesame Street and took him out for tricks-or-treat for the first time. He enjoyed it – for three houses. After that he wanted to come home and just greet the visitors at our house. My wife had planned ahead and gotten him a lot of GFCF treats that he could eat, so he was satisfied with those and did not seem to mind that he couldn’t have most of the candy he received.

Last year, for the first time, Kai was excited in anticipation of Halloween. He really likes the Peanuts specials which we have on dvd, and the Halloween one is a favorite. Perhaps because of that, or maybe because he was older and just more aware of things, he was very attuned to the upcoming festivities. It was the first time that he decided on his own what he wanted to be for Halloween.

As with his love of numbers, Kai has long had a fascination with letters. When he was younger, he played with letters the way other boys play with trains or trucks. He rarely made animals or other shapes with Play Doh, preferring to make letters instead. He’d also spend hours drawing letters in all sorts of creative ways. For a long time, if you'd ask Kai who his friends were, he'd tell you a letter rather than another child.

With this love of letters, it was not exactly a surprise that the first time he expressed an interest in what to be for Halloween, he said that he wanted to be a letter. At first he wanted to be the letter A, but then he decided on the letter Q.

We realized that it was an odd choice, but, as parents are wont to do, we wanted to him to be happy with his Halloween costume. And so, my wife, who really does not like to sew, made the coolest costume for him – a satin black vest and a matching cape with a shiny red Q on the front and a question mark on the back. And, with that, Kai was Super Q, boy of mystery!

Kai loved his costume. He wore it to school and marched nicely in the school parade. And, for the first time, he really wanted to go trick-or-treating. We went to a few houses on our block and then he had enough. But, after taking a break, he wanted to go back out again. We ended up staying out long after it got dark.

This year, he’s already marked up a map with the route he wants to take for tricks-or-treat. He even wants to walk the route this afternoon to practice for Sunday. If we hit every house on the route, we’ll be trick-or-treating until Thanksgiving.

Kai wants to be Charlie Brown this year so my wife has a shirt with the familiar zig-zag stripe all ready for him. I’ll kind of miss the Boy of Mystery, but Charlie Brown fits him, too.

Good ol’ Charlie Brown. Good ol’ Kai.

For more pictures from past Halloweens, visit Hanabi Boy on Facebook.
And, don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook to be notified of updates to the blog.