Halloween Memories

I hate dealing with medical insurance claims. 

I just had to get that off my chest.  Sorry.

I also have to tell you all that I have had kind of a fun morning.  Joshua is off for a play date after school today.  So I have been reading this morning and relaxing a little.  It's sort of the first chance this week I have had to do this.  You know.  Because I play the Catch Up game rather than the Get Ahead game.  So I came home after I dropped the Jman off at preschool.  I sat with a cup of coffee and read, and then I got to be amused by our silly yellow lab, Quincy, who spent about five minutes playing "Let Me Chase My Own Tail and Yelp When I Catch it Because I Bit it too Hard".  Quite funny, really.  I mean how goofy is that?

I am going to go and clean up just a little after I finish this blog post, and then I am going to go to editing hell.  My new, not-so-favorite-but-oh-so-necessary place to be. 

Tomorrow, I am taking Joshua downtown after school.  We started a tradition on his first Halloween that he gets to go downtown in his costume to show Miss Linda, Jamey's assistant, what he is going to be.  She is usually the "costume debut person".  And then we eat lunch with Jamey, and sometimes Miss Linda, and just enjoy a little family time.  It is a nice tradition to have.  I will have to figure out how to change it a little, as next year he will be in school.  Wow, that's crept up quite quickly.

I think my favorite Halloween costume for Joshua's five choices so far has been the year he was a dragon.  That was for his second Halloween.  That costume was adorable.  It even had a tail.  I think all my pictures of him that year were taken from the back, because I just couldn't get enough of the little tail on him. 

Gee that's funny.  I guess my post name will be All About Tails today.  You know, Quincy's tail. . .Joshua's tail.  But only if I can figure out how to keep that theme going. . .thinking. . .thinking. . .nope.  Not gonna happen.  Oh well.

The first year Joshua went trick or treating, he was almost five months old.  He looked quite fetching as a little orange pumpkin.  But my favorite memory of that first Halloween was the most appropriate treat he got.  He was just getting ready to try solid foods (other than rice cereal), and so when we came to my parents door, my mom put a jar of babyfood into his bag.  I think it was peaches.  That's a good MiMi, isn't it?

And then I think about the first costume that he really had input into picking out, which was the year after he was a dragon.  He wanted to be Elmo.  That costume was pretty cute as well.  The Elmo head looked so big on him that I thought it would topple him right over.

I guess I could make his costumes.  But I don't feel terribly creative.  My mom used to make ours.  But almost every year, we'd end up being hobos.  And as creative as my mom was, I still wonder why we always went as hobos.  Except the one year when I went as a dirty laundry basket.  My mom cut most of the bottom out of a laundry basket, and then made "suspenders" for me with a jump rope.  She looped it through the holes in the laundry basket.  Then she filled the bottom with a blanket so clothes wouldn't fall through and then piled in some towels and stuff around me.  She wrapped clothes around the jump rope to hide it.  And I wore a hat on my head.  I must admit, that one was pretty clever.

Maybe one day I'll come up with costumes for Joshua on my own.  But he seems to like the store bought ones just fine.  So who knows.  If I ever do, I think all I'll be able to come up with is a hobo or a dirty laundry basket.  It would be awfully cute though!  Oh and in case you were wondering, and although I think I put it in a previous post, in case you missed it, he is going to be a doctor this year.  I wonder if that might possibly be a look into the future?  Wouldn't that be something?

I don't care though.  Let's not rush into decisions about his career.  And let's not wish the time away.  I look back at the Halloweens all those years ago, and I wonder at how quickly the time went.  I do the same when I think back to Joshua's first Halloween.  Too fast the time goes by! 

I better hurry and go so I can get some things done.  Have a lovely day.  Reminisce over your favorite costumes, and your kids favorite costumes if you have kids.  I love those memories.  Even if I was a hobo for most of mine!