More Pumpkin Carving, and Kai's Halloween Costume

Though he carved a pumpkin on his own last weekend, Kai wanted to carve a couple more pumpkins with me.

This time we used some Angry Bird templates.

Kai carved one Angry Bird.

While I carved an Angry Bird pig character.

Here's how the pumpkins look lit up at night.

This year, Kai said that he wanted a scary costume for Halloween. He picked a scary one alright.

I guess the days of cute costumes are past.

Kai also created a special video for Halloween.



Kai said that his favourite part of the video was Mom's screams. Ha!

Have a Happy Halloween!

2015 Halloween

The boy who complained about all the walking we did in Boston on our summer vacation had no issues with taking a nice long walk around our neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Even a little light rain did not dampen Kai's Halloween spirit.

Kai was dressed as Kylo Ren, who apparently will be a Darth Vader-like villain in the upcoming new Star Wars movie. He received a number of positive comments about his costume as we went around and a number of folks showed off their own Star Wars apparel to him. I hadn't thought that he particularly cared about what others thought about his Halloween costume, but he remarked that "this is the first time everyone like my costume."

Here he is in front of the house at the end of our block that famously goes all out for Halloween, not only in their decorations but in giving out big ziplock bags of goodies, and serving hot chocolate for the trick-or-treaters and wine for their parents.

After trick-or-treating, we had our usual Saturday movie night, though with a Halloween flavor. My wife added "eyes" to our pizza.

And she made some finger cookies.

And then we settled in to watch Hotel Transylvania.

A good Halloween it was. Hope yours was, too.

Halloween: Ketchup and Mustard

Kai has been really into collecting Trashies that I thought perhaps that he could be one for Halloween.

About a month ago, I googled “Trashies Halloween costume” and, well, let’s just say the results were not what I was looking for. (Though I notice today that the same search now yields a bunch of kid-appropriate results.)

We eventually found one Trash Pack costume for sale, but since it was for young kids, it would not fit Kai. So, I decided that I would make him a costume this year.

I ordered a light-weight collapsible trash can. We would make it a craft project to paint it as if it were trash-stained, and to also paint an old t-shirt.

Unfortunately, nearly four weeks later, the trash can never arrived. It is still showing as “In transit,” stuck at some UPS facility. I contacted the seller and they refunded the money rather than send out another one.

So, still without a Halloween costume for Kai and with the big day approaching, my wife went out and got a replacement:

It’s not homemade, but I have to admit that they look good together.

My wife attended the Halloween parade at school in costume.

And then they came home and did a short round of trick-or-treating in the rain.

When I got home from work, Kai was ready to go again. I don’t think he particularly cared about getting more candy – he eats hardly any of the candy he collects – he just wanted to do another round with me, which was very sweet.

And so it was my turn to be Ketchup, and we embarked just as the rain picked up again.

Three Halloweens ago, Kai was just beginning to talk more ably and it was still hit or miss whether he would say “trick-or-treat” and I constantly had to remind him to say “thank you” at each house. He did not respond when people commented about his costume.

This year, I heard him say “trick-or-treat” loudly and clearly. And I only had to remind him to say “thank you” once.

And when people remarked how great his costume was, he quickly and appropriately thanked them.

At one house, the person at the door did not see me hanging further back with the umbrella over my head. Seeing Kai as mustard, she asked what happened to ketchup. He turned around, pointed to me, and told the woman, “He’s right there.”

We probably went to less than ten houses before turning around and heading back home. It was late and the wind started picking up.

But it was plenty of time for father-and-son bonding.

And for me to notice the progress he has made with his communication and socialization.

And so, despite the rain, we had a great Halloween.

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.
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