Whitney Drake

…or at least the Halloween Costume Parade. Remember those? I loved walking through all the classrooms, and showing off my outfit.

Well, yesterday was the oldest kidlet’s turn. The Preschool had a big day planned. The costume parade followed by a Halloween party of epic proportions. The parents were all assigned things to bring. Because I noticed the sign up sheet late, I brought strawberries. Ooooo.

Now, when the boys were out with the in-laws, they spotted the Halloween costumes as Costco and quickly convinced my in-laws to buy them costumes. The in-laws did so, and smartly hid them away from where the boys would see them. My mother-in-law and I had even hatched a great plan to make the day easy for me to handle. She stayed home for the first part of the day, and kept the little one home with her. I’d get to take the oldest one to school, take video of the parade and get some pictures.

As I was sneaking the costume out of the closet, the little one saw it. I was worried he’d want to go with me, and that’d involve packing snacks and all the other paraphenalia you need for a 3 year old with serious allergies. Not to mention, get him dressed, finish getting the Oldest Kidlet dressed- all with 5 minutes before we had to leave.

Instead, I gave him the sword from his costume, and he went back to the movie he was watching. Crisis averted.

Dressed the oldest kidlet in his costume, and I took the obligatory pictures. At first, he didn’t want to wear the helmet- but once we told him it looked good, he wouldn’t take it off. Honestly. We got to school, and his teacher asked if he wanted to take it off. “No, Miss K—, it looks pretty.”

I went to a nearby Starbucks to get some caffeine. Unfortunately, this one was in a grocery store. I don’t know what it is, but I never seem to have luck with those Starbucks. My drink orders are usually wrong, or I have to explain something. My drink order- “a grande chai latte with an extra pump of chai.” What can I say? When I make them at home, I make them strong. (For those wondering- when you get them at a Starbucks, there’s usually a little water in the cup in addition to the chai mix and milk) They looked at me like they couldn’t understand me. “Did she say foam,” one of them asked the other. “No, she said an extra pump.” Then to me, he said. “I’m not sure what that means.”

So I smiled, and patiently replied, “You know how you put in a certain amount of pumps of the chai mix? You just put in one extra.” So they made me my drink and I left. I went back to the school, grabbed my tripod and went to the preschool yard to stake out a spot where I could film the whole thing. I wound up with a spot a little in a sun, and then dealt with a bunch of rude parents who tried to get in front of my camera. Finally, I brokered a deal. I wasn’t going to film all the classes, so as long as they let me have a clear shot for my son’s, we were fine.

Out he walked… and no smile at all. He was serious and all about walking around the courtyard and doing everything he was asked. (Of course, we just got back his school picture, and it’s serious as well) Highlights of the costume parade- it’s a Lutheran run school, so having them play the Time Warp to get the crowd warmed up was pretty funny. There was a kid dressed as a pokéball, one of the few completely homemade costumes. And it was nice to see that my son’s class was the only class where all the kids marched, and nobody cried. (Also, they got to march to the Ghostbusters theme, which was another bonus)

Afterwards, the kids all did a preschool-wide dance and everyone went back to their classrooms for snack. I had to work to get the kidlet out of his costume and into regular clothes. In the end, it was the idea that he might get it dirty while playing outside that got him to change.

It was a great day, and ultimately, he had a great time. But boy, I was exhausted by the end of it!

Originally published at American Whitney. You can comment here or there.