Halloween 2008
A long time ago Henry told me he wanted to be a train for Halloween. I don't generally think of myself as a "crafty" person, but with the help of some examples on the internet and boxes we had in the basement, I think I did okay.
It took me so long, though, that I joked that I was going to build a glass box to display it in after Halloween. My husband said I should take the box my wedding dress came in, throw out the dress and store the train costume in it instead.
Henry ended up only wearing it for an hour, since the day was really cold and windy, but he seemed pretty happy, and I got tons of compliments.
He was all about the candy afterward, and we let him have a few pieces, but we implemented the Candy Witch tradition this year. The night after trick-or-treat the Candy Witch takes the candy and replaces it with small gifts. Henry got some train cars, some art supplies, and a plastic molded giraffe family (all things I got free or super cheap).
I'm still not sure how I feel about this -- I don't like that we essentially lied to him (something I said I'd never do about Santa) or that we took away the candy at all. But then again I don't really want him eating so much crap.
Sigh. This parenting thing is really tough sometimes.
A few more amusing Henry anecdotes, since I don't seem to find the energy for a more comprehensive post lately:
Henry and I were looking at a new book about tools I had just bought for him. It had an area to write on and Henry said that first he had to draw up a plan. I was impressed and asked him where he learned that and he said, "Daddy." I replied, "Yeah, Daddy is pretty smart. He knows about a lot of things," and Henry said, "But not about plumbing."
My husband was cleaning Henry up after a meal recently, and he was so messy that he told him, "I'm going to call you Taco Pants." Immediately Henry replied, "And I'm going to call you Clean Up Pants."
I think we're going to have to keep an eye on this one.
It took me so long, though, that I joked that I was going to build a glass box to display it in after Halloween. My husband said I should take the box my wedding dress came in, throw out the dress and store the train costume in it instead.
Henry ended up only wearing it for an hour, since the day was really cold and windy, but he seemed pretty happy, and I got tons of compliments.
He was all about the candy afterward, and we let him have a few pieces, but we implemented the Candy Witch tradition this year. The night after trick-or-treat the Candy Witch takes the candy and replaces it with small gifts. Henry got some train cars, some art supplies, and a plastic molded giraffe family (all things I got free or super cheap).
I'm still not sure how I feel about this -- I don't like that we essentially lied to him (something I said I'd never do about Santa) or that we took away the candy at all. But then again I don't really want him eating so much crap.
Sigh. This parenting thing is really tough sometimes.
A few more amusing Henry anecdotes, since I don't seem to find the energy for a more comprehensive post lately:
Henry and I were looking at a new book about tools I had just bought for him. It had an area to write on and Henry said that first he had to draw up a plan. I was impressed and asked him where he learned that and he said, "Daddy." I replied, "Yeah, Daddy is pretty smart. He knows about a lot of things," and Henry said, "But not about plumbing."
My husband was cleaning Henry up after a meal recently, and he was so messy that he told him, "I'm going to call you Taco Pants." Immediately Henry replied, "And I'm going to call you Clean Up Pants."
I think we're going to have to keep an eye on this one.
posted by True Mama at
8:21 PM
5 Comments:
As I've said elsewhere, I love the costume--you did an awesome job on it!
As far as the Candy Witch, I can tell you a few things we've done in the past.
The first (when the kids were younger) was to tell them the truth--they don't need that much candy--and then "reward" them when they gave up the candy by letting them pick out a toy. (the candy went to daddy's starving college students!)
This year, the kids' elementary school collected "extra" candy to send to the troops overseas. The collection was on Wednesday, so the kids got to skim off their favorite candy until Tuesday night, at which time they each picked 10 pieces of candy, and the rest went to be sent to the troops.
So far, so good--and this year they went into TOTing knowing that they wouldn't keep it all. There is definite advantage to getting to pick the best stuff, though! :)
By
bfmomma, at 2:42 PM
That costume is adorable! I'm not crafty either, but I think you did an amazing job.
When I was a kid, we used to go trick or treating with UNICEF boxes, getting donations instead of candy. Don't people ever do that here?
By
Anonymous, at 10:11 AM
No, I don't think I've ever seen anyone trick-or-treat with a UNICEF box. Nice idea, though.
By
True Mama, at 12:20 PM
I guess Henry's daddy got his "come-up-pants." (say it out loud- you know you want to.)
By
Anonymous, at 2:08 PM
I take a different approach with candy, and I think it works really well, even though it's somewhat counter-intuitive. My evidence that it works: I always have to throw out candy because it gets old. That's right--it sets around until it gets old and gets thrown out, because my kids don't eat it.
What I do is this: they can have whatever sweets they want, as long as they wait at least an hour after a meal. The theory behind this is that if they're hungry, they'll eat real food. If it's been an hour since they ate, however, they can have candy, ice cream, or whatever.
Having the candy readily available makes it a lot less appealing. About 4 times out of 5, my kids never ask for any sweets after a meal. As a person who has struggled with a lifelong weight problem, it makes me really happy that they don't get driven crazy by having that "forbidden" stuff around. Another benefit is that when they are at someone else's house, they remain immune to the allure of sugar.
I know it's not an approach for everybody. But I swear, it really works incredibly well.
By
Michelle, at 8:23 PM
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