The Man with the Yellow Hat

Last night, of course, was trick-or-treating.  I think Rowan is at the perfect age for this type of event.  As Mike says, “Everything is so magical for him, and new and exciting.”  He’s right too.  The amount of energy that kid exudes is incredible.  It’s impossible not to catch some of his excitement.

This was Rowan’s 6th Halloween, so let’s take a walk through the past, shall we?

This was Rowan’s first Halloween at 2 months old.  We didn’t really go trick-or-treating this year, but we totally rocked the whole handing out of candy thing.  (We even gave away the good stuff!)

This is Rowan’s second Halloween costume at 14 months.  I limited the trick-or-treating to my dad’s office and the nursing home, where he was a HUGE hit!  Seriously, you want to make the elderly happy? Stick a baby in a costume in the middle of the room, and let him go nuts.  They will be tickled pink!

This was the year of the construction worker.  Rowan had just turned two, and really had the concept of asking for candy down.  He even said, “Please?”  I think this was the costume that kept on giving too….he still uses that tool belt and all the tools.  I knew investing in real tools instead of plastic ones was the way to go!

For a brief time Rowan wanted to be “the guy that drove the fire truck.”  Shortly after this Halloween when he was three, he abandoned that idea to cultivate his dream of being the ice cream man.  Wise choice, my boy.  Wise choice.

This was last year’s costume, when he was four.  He’s always loved to cook (he is going to make an awesome husband some day), and wanted to express that side of him through costume.  He pulled it off beautifully, and still throws the jacket and hat on from time to time to subtly tell me that he wants to bake cupcakes.

Without further ado, I present to you, the 2013 homemade costume of awesomeness……..THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW HAT!!!!

 OH….EM….GEE you guys…I know I’m biased, but holy cow did he look cute.  Curious George has been his favorite series of books for a long time.  Years even!  Like three years!  That’s a long time when you’re only five.  We dyed the shirt and pants, cut the tie out of felt, and glued the black polka-dots onto it.  The hat is an old straw hat we found at a thrift store, that we covered in yellow felt, with a wad of stuffing to shape the top of it.  The boots are his rubber barn boots that he’s had for a year or so.  The black belt we had, and the stuffed Curious George came from my Aunt Dorothy.  The whole ensemble was a hit.  Here a few photos from trick-or-treating in town:

Good ol’ Mike, who so graciously pulled the wagon up and down all the hills and through the crowds of people in the dark.  He’s a good guy. 🙂

Anyway, a good time was had by all.  It was a lovely time of socializing with the neighbors and getting to know them better.  I think everyone needs to take advantage of the opportunity trick-or-treating gives us to reach out to the people we share our town with.  I’m always shocked at how many wonderful people live near me that I never see or talk to.  I have no one to blame for that except myself either.  I’ve got my foot in the door now, and I hope that I don’t let another year go by without getting to know them better.

Catching up

So basically I’ve been having way too much fun living my life to post anything about it here.  Sorry guys, but I’d rather be living than writing!  Lucky for you, Rowan is amusing himself with his trains this morning, so I have a moment to sit down and fill you in.

A couple of weeks ago Rowan and I took a road trip to northern Massachusetts.  I anticipated a lot of whining and crying and carrying on, but I behaved myself!  Hardy har har…  Rowan was also a gem.  He cried only once during the whole time in the car.  He was having a hard time pooping while strapped into his car seat.  As soon as I stood him up on solid ground, he took care of business, and we were happily on our way.  All in all, I thought it was a valid reason to cry, and I was happy to help resolve his issue.

Our stay was more than pleasant, reconnecting with old friends, and making several new ones.  Rowan got quite proficient at yelling, ‘MIIIIIITE!”  and “Jaaaaaate!”  and “HAAANNNNAH!”  We took a trip to the Boston Aquarium, did a little sight seeing, visited the pumpkin patch, and just hung out.  It was a wonderful getaway for both of us, and a bonding adventure that I will always remember.

We got back into the swing of things pretty easily, and had Halloween and trick-or-treating to look forward to.  Rowan dressed as a construction worker this year, and every day he tried on his costume, and practiced his role.  We talked about candy and other people wearing costumes.  He took the whole thing very seriously, and when the time came to actually go knock on doors, he was ready.

First order of business: prepare candy

 

Getting Rowan's costume on

A construction worker is nothing without a good pair of work boots.

 

He knows he looks good. Shoot.

 

Oh yes...the cutest little construction worker ever!

 

Really? They'll just GIVE me candy? Just like that?

 

Just ONE piece Rowan! Let's put the rest back.

Off to the next house!!

Rowan and his womens. 🙂 Trick-or-treating in style!

 

A little nervous about the dog rushing out, but still said, "Please candy?"

Wait, I get pizza too?!?

Neen helped hit a few houses

Strutting with confidence.

I'm very proud of my pumpkins! 🙂

 

Soon to come: A video of Rowan sawing a piece of wood in half with his very own real saw!!  I know you’ll all be up all night in anticipation!

Leaf Pressing

One of the neatest things about Rowan is his enthusiasm for a project.  He loves to be given a task, the directions to complete the task, and then the space and encouragement to fulfill his duties.  

Yesterday he and I ran to the store to pick up a few things for my grandmother, and while we were there Rowan browsed the Halloween isle.  After exclaiming, “NORANGE!” for every single pumpkin he saw, a plastic machete caught his eye.  It was clearly intended to maim/kill/torture the victim of the wielder (how is this holiday, and I use that term loosely, for kids???).  Rowan held it in his hands, turned it over a few times, then held it up for me to see, with a huge grin on his face.  “Knife, Mama!  Cook!!  Please we cook, Mama?”  

Over-protective and VERY selective about the shows/music/people her child is exposed to, Mom: One 

Violent/corrupt/moral-less world: Zero 

After the knife incident, Rowan spotted some grotesque window stickers.  You know, the ones that attach to your windows using static cling?  He really wanted to bring them home and affix them to the glass door that leads from his play room to the back porch.  I was less than thrilled with the depiction of a youthful zombie with a pipe through its brain, so I opted out of the sticker purchase, and led him to the housewares isle.  We paid for a roll of wax paper, and headed home. 

After unloading our loot, I explained to Rowan that we were going to collect some leaves, press them, and then iron them between two sheets of wax paper.  After, we would cut them out, and tape them to the door.  I had him at “collect some leaves”, and he was out the door before I was finished with my shpeal. 

I gave him a handled Starbucks bag to collect leaves. You would have thought it was a Vera Wang, the way he strutted with that thing.

Rowan was extremely selective of the leaves he chose for this project. For every ten he picked up and examined, maybe one was good enough to earn the privilege of going into the bag.

A short break from collecting leaves was spent trying to catch a cloud. I swear he'll do it some day.

Flattening the leaf between two sheets of wax paper. It took us several tried to realize that there is really only wax on ONE side, and we were doing it upside down. Good thing we had lots of leaves!

"VERY hot, Moma. Handle touch ONLY!" Thanks Rowan. I'll keep that in mind.

Cutting out the pressed leaves. This is a difficult task, requiring many facial contortions.

Tape is a tricky sort of thing.

He kept telling it to, "Stay! Stay!" It didn't listen. I'm guessing it had something to do with the tape being on the wrong side.

Ta-da!

"And this one here I collected from under Mom's car." Allow me to translate: "I spotted a leaf directly under Mom's car. I whined until she crawled under her car and got it for me."

Very satisfied with his job well done.

Yes, he worked tirelessly for the entire afternoon, but his efforts were not in vain.  He woke up this morning, walked over to the door, and after studying his handiwork, he proclaimed it, “cute!”  Then he skipped into the kitchen asking for pineapple.