Skip to main content

Counting my blessings

I have mentioned elsewhere on this blog (link missing because I'm too lazy =) that Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I mean, I spend the rest of the year trying to keep candy out of my kids hands, and I'm supposed to be happy about strangers corrupting my kids' taste buds? (Not to mention the allergy issue, which makes everything more difficult.)

I do enjoy the creativity of making costumes, but this year I got off remarkably easy. I thought that Eleanor was going to be difficult, because she kept changing what she wanted to be. I laid down the law: on September 15th, whatever decision she made was permanent. All summer she talked on and off about being "a skeleton riding a bike." Not easy to make, but not impossible, I thought. But then on Labor Day we went to a party with a Hawaiian theme---they even gave out grass skirts and leis. Eleanor liked her grass skirt so much that she decided to be a hula dancer for Halloween.

We then got a purple tank top from Target and decorated it with fabric paint flowers. Eleanor actually did almost all of the decorating, my main purpose was to keep her from putting so much paint on that the shirt wouldn't dry until Halloween. She wanted to make a pretend ukulele and carry around a back pack with a CD player which would play Hawaiian music---luckily we had a friend with a real ukulele. Just add a straw hat and you're done!

Amanda was even easier. Since she is actually a superhero, that is what she wanted to be for Halloween. Her Aunt already made her a cape, so we just had to figure out what else she was wearing. 'What do superheroes wear?" "A cape." "What else do they wear? Do superheroes wear dresses?" "Nope." "Shirts?" "Nope." "Socks?" "Nope." "Underwear?" "Nope. Just a cape."

We eventually talked about it and looked at some real superheroes (Word Girl and Super Why) and saw that they wear things that look kind of like leotards. But this morning as she was getting dressed, and the leotard was out, I asked "What do superheroes wear?" "A superhero leotart!" She then looked at her pink leotard with the little gauzy skirt, hesitated, and said, "Maybe they just wear superhero clothes." We found a superhero dress for her to wear.

A friend lent Luke a dragon costume. I expect he will be very cute.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why you should study the history of math

  Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Ca...

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...

Comfortable

Last night Amanda was sent to bed early for gross insubordination. I did snuggle with her for a bit, but then went to wash dishes and other exciting stuff. When I came upstairs, 20 minutes after her usual bedtime, she was still awake and flopping around. "Amanda, are you comfortable?" I asked. "No," came the answer. "What do you need?" I asked, thinking she wanted water, to be tucked in, her doll, something like that. "A mama," she answered. I could do something about that. I snuggled her for about 5 minutes and she fell fast asleep.