Growing up we always had handmade costumes. My mother would stay up into the wee hours of the morning finishing our costumes the day before we would proudly walk to school hallways for the Halloween parade. I remember, not so secretly complaining that I wanted one from the store, failing to realize that far more effort and money went into mine and that she would have saved herself some time and exhaustion. Now, I inherited zero sewing skills and far less patience and so while I never make Kennedy’s costume I scour the web for people that can and delegate that responsibility. This year I stepped way out of my comfort zone and gave my kid what I always asked for: A mass produced, store bought costume. A Shimmer & Shine costume to boot-which I learned was a pretty hot-ticket buy this Halloween (but man oh man do I loathe that show). If only it was as cheap as it looks. I cringed as I put it on her and it literally crunched but God, was she ever happy and so as I sent her off to her preschool Halloween party, so was I.
We were pretty jazzed up for hokey practice this past week for a few reasons. One, we did an extra practice skating session last weekend and she was excited to show her coaches how much better she got, using two feet to skate and everything! Second, we came across a hand-me-down jersey we got from Sean’s cousin. She was so excited to wear a really hockey jersey; I was just excited that we were able to cover up the “hooters” part of the autograph that read: Hugs & Hooters –Lee. The kid looked legit and Sean and I had a good laugh watching her skate away from us!
After dance this weekend we quickly ran home for a costume change to give Shimmer another go-around for the costumed bowling birthday party she had been invited to, swapping the wig out for spray painted hair This was her first invite to a school friend’s party and so I was stressed because, well, I’m me. Also, when we were getting changed Sean noticed her pet fish, Nemo, died. We had the thing for almost 2 years and so we’d really become invested in keeping him swimming. We debated back and forth about telling her versus just buying a lookalike to slip in the tank. Honestly, I didn’t think she’d be too broken up about it and so we told her. Boy was I wrong. Total mom-fail. I miscalculated, forgetting that death is not an abstract concept to my little one. But as she cried and cried what really did us in was when she stopped sobbing and just sniffles and said, “well he can be Jack’s fish now, I bet that will make Jackie-boy really happy.”. She and I both got ourselves together in time for the party and she excitedly said hello to the kids from her class while I introduced me and Sean to their parents. Each time I was met with some version of “oh we hear about Kennedy all the time!” A thousand scenarios ran through my head about what they must hear and that was only intensified when during the pizza break Kennedy brought up the death of the fish to the kids she was sitting with. Really though I was horrified about where the conversation was going to go thankfully it stopped with just poor Nemo’s passing. The party went on without further incident except for me trying to ensure my kid was not an absolute maniac.
As that party wrapped up we packed it up and headed on to the next round of fun. Sean and I planned a grown-up Halloween party for my co-workers and Kennedy was going to stay at my parents house with my nephews and have a birthday party for my dad. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I love throwing myself into planning something and an opportunity to sabotage a diet so mission accomplished all around.
“What’s after this nap?”
School, work, and then trick-or-treating with the neighbors.
Inhale the chaos, my friends. Breathe deeply.
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