My Son John: A Super Halloween

Dear John,

We had so much fun this Halloween. I was pleased by how many activities we did versus how much candy you consumed. It is so easy to find the good in Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving. How do we turn Halloween into anything but the scary sugar jolt that it is?

I am still looking for the answer to this. I am tempted to turn towards All Saints Day as a resolution to Halloween, but it still feels contrived to do so (since neither your dad or I are really all that into the All Saints Day celebration, at least not yet). For this year, at least, we focused on the fun and whimsical nature of Halloween and just tried to do as many fun activities together as possible.

First, I had to select your costume. I wanted so badly to dress you as the Jack of Hearts, put your sister in an Alice in Wonderland costume with me as the Red Queen and your father as the Mad Hatter. I mean I really wanted that.

But you are more and more into your name being John, not Jack, and it just wasn't as funny with John dressed like a Jack of Hearts. So I went the other route and just asked you what you wanted. You wanted to be a superhero. I despise the store bought fake muscle superhero costume and so I looked instead for a cape and mask that would become solid dress up gear in the future. Once that was bought, you sister needed her own and a pair of sibling superheroes you became.

After the Halloween photoshoot came the church pumpkin carving. You dad had fun being the black market for sharp knives and you enjoyed playing with the incredibly not sharp pumpkin saws that everyone was exchanging for knives with your dad.

I love that both you and your dad have such animated faces in this process. You look like you are willing the saw to work with your mouth and your dad just looks maniacal.

Your pumpkin had to, of course, follow the superhero theme and had a Batman bat on it. You were extremely taken by the flame and would not release your hold on the pumpkin saw, even for the picture. I guess I should re-evaluate what seems more maniacal... the dad about to gut a pumpkin or the son looking longingly into the flame with a saw in his hand.

You see what I mean about Halloween, don't you? Even good old fashion fun turns a little dark and twisted.

Happily, our next adventure was to sunny Sea World with the Fords and there was much, much, much less twisted humor.

See, here is a nice family picture of super you and your super sister with your witchy mother in front of some skeletons selling used treasure maps.

Hmmm. Not twisted, eh?

Well, we did have a lot of fun with the Fords, who were dressed as a football player, a football and a (blind) umpire (respectively).

We fed the dolphins. (Nothing creepy about handing over dead fish to aquatic mammals.)

We rode the rides... which was great fun until you had to wait in line for the next go round, which I suppose for you was on the edge of panic-inducing.

It is awfully hard to wait when you a little boy.

You found yourself inexplicably drawn to the Sesame street character whose name neither of us knows for sure. (I think she might be Rosita.)

And since last year, you thought these guys were terrifying, I thought it was neat that you were so fascinated this year.

You got to hold your newest Ford, although she wasn't as happy about that as you were.

Mostly, though, we got to celebrate Mr. Ford's birthday and be with our friends for the eve of Halloween again.

And there were balloon animals. Also, not creepy. And certainly not anxiety creating as a certain mama waits and waits and waits to see if they will pop as a certain little boy keeps kissing, or biting, or kissing the Shamu shark (whale, dolphin).

The following day, on Halloween, your dad (who missed Sea World with his sinus infection) took you and your sister trick or treating while I stayed in bed with mine.