Liam and the Halloween Costume Horror (Pt. 1)
Halloween is just around the corner along with the excitement of dressing up to go trick-or-treating. However, no one is more excited than Liam. As early as a week before October Liam would begin his morning ritual of waking up and asking how many more days until Halloween. As an attempt to limit the amount of time this question was asked throughout the day, I wrote it on our family calendar on the fridge so he would count down. Of course, this attempt was futile whenever we went home for him to see the calendar or if he was in another room, or if he forgot the calendar was on the fridge. So, essentially writing it on the calendar didn’t help…at all.
When Halloween Spirit opened a location just down the road from our house, Liam was the first to notice. He announced at least five different costume ideas but by the end of the week, he finally settled on a bat. That weekend we loaded up in the car to browse Halloween Spirit for some decorated ideas and see what was available to piece together the costumes this year. The first Halloween Spirit didn’t seem fully stocked just yet and there was no bat costume pieces to be found anywhere in the store which only meant one thing…ADVENTURE TIME! We loaded back up into the car on the hunt for another Halloween Spirit in the area. Lucky for us, there was another location right down the street but this one ended up being a bat costume bust as well. By our third Halloween Spirit, Liam decided to ditch the bat idea and wanted to be a crow instead.
The hunt was on again.
Leaving Halloween Spirit victorious and Liam wearing the biggest grin on his face we loaded back up into the car to head home. The first question out of Liam’s mouth? You guessed it, “How many days until Halloween?” I told him he’ll have to check the calendar when we get home. Luckily, that response appeased him, and we continued home.
The moment we walked through the threshold of the house, Liam rushed to the fridge to check the calendar holding the bag with his costume with a vice like grip. He counted the days out loud then turned to me and said, “34 days until Halloween” I nodded my head in agreement. “Sooo… that’s like in one week?” Knowing my child and having gone through this skit before, I knew this was going to be one of those dizzying discussions which left us before frustrated by the end of it. I braced myself for battle that was sure to follow.
“No, Liam 34 days is about four weeks.” I could see the wheels turning in his head. “Ok, so I can wear my costume to school on Friday?” he said with determination in his voice. “No, not this Friday. You can wear your costume to school in 34 days when it’s Halloween.” By this point I knew I had to choose my words wisely because simply saying, “not this Friday” would lead to the same question next week. Explaining timing to Liam when he has his mind set is like having to navigate through an American Ninja Warrior course in your mind. With any miss step you fall into the dark water below having to paddle your way out. For now at least, this conversation ended with a reluctant “okay” which I took as a win.
Until….
(Stay tuned for part 2)