Halloween Twenty-Fifteen

Halloween 2015 was epic.

Your dear, dear Mommy hand-made you guys super awesome costumes so you could be exactly what you said you wanted to be!

Aidan, you wanted to be a 'big spider'...and so you were!

Julia, you wanted to be a "spooky witch!" And so it was:

Awesome costumes!

Mommy and Daddy also had to get in on the act--- what's Halloween without costumes! So Mommy made us into CAVE PEOPLE!







What weird and wonderful Weinstein family!





And, looking like that, off we went for a three-part, three-stop Trick-or-treating halloween extravaganza!

Stop one: Mimi and Pops' House:

Mimi was a pumpkin, and Pops was the Lone Ranger!

Next Stop: Yaya and Baba's house!

Next- and final - stop: Brady's house, where we went trick-or-treating with the Shields (Skeleton and Ninja Turtles) and the Nodelands (Minnie, Mickey, Donald and Goofy!)

Aidan, you were so enamored with Brady's costume, that you became a "NINJA SPIDER!"

Julia, you changed into a PINK SKELETON!

And off we went! Friends...in costumes...getting candy together. Door-to-door!

You guys did wonderfully. It was amazing watching you, Julia, who just one year before was pretty much too scared to go door-to-door, run to the front of the pack to go head first into trick-or-treating. There was a minor setback, when the boy dressed as a demon surprised you and made you cry. But, don't worry, he was scaring the heck out of adults too. Then, in classic Aidan-fashion, you, my son, weren't scared of the Demon boy at all! In fact you hung around him talking to him, asking him questions, and inviting him over to our house. Then, of course, there was the teenage boy who looked at my costume and said "tell me you lost a bet..." Snarky damn kids these days...

You guys got QUITE the loot trick-or-treating...your buckets over floweth! In fact, as I write this in January 2016, you guys have been eating one or two pieces of candy per day- as allowed by federal law- and you STILL have a lot of candy left! 

What a haul! and what a night!

May your buckets always overflow with something sweet, may you always find joy in using your imaginations, and may you always have good friends and family to trick-or-treat with.

Happy Halloween!

An Earful

Let me paint the scene for you. Sunday. A few hours before Julia's 3rd birthday party. Aidan, you and Mommy were playing around, giggling, and basically tomfoolin' when mommy- who had you in her arms- saw something shiny in your ear. She asked me to get a flashlight. We peered into your ear and both agreed: we saw something in there. And it was too deep and small and wedged in there for us to even try to get out.

We asked you if you had something in your ear.

You were honest, a bit sheepish, but honest.

You said "yes. It's a bead. I saw it outside karate and I put it in my ear and it fell out. Then I put it in again."

You were a little embarrassed by it, but mostly nonchalant. As if you'd forgotten it was in there.

WHAT??????????

Okay. So. We. What? huh?

Thoughts flew left and right. Right and left. What do we do?

This was a Sunday mind you. Karate was on the previous Thursday...and Tuesday...and the Thursday before that. How long had this been in your ear? You didn't have many details.

Okay. So. No time to panic. You and I went to the Urgent Care.

In the waiting room you drew some pictures. I was particularly interested in this one:

"I love it! Tell me about your drawing!" I said.

"It's a chalk monster. With ears. With a bead in his ear." you replied.

See the bead?

NOW you tell us! But, no matter. It was a really cute drawing.

And then you decided to do more monsters.

Finally we were admitted to see the doctor.

They read your vitals.

You chewed their ears off about what was in your ear (now you're talkative!)

...And the doctor tried three times. Unsuccessfully. You cried and we decided to not try to push it any further.

He was embarrassed and said he wouldn't charge us. "I've never been unable to get something out of a kid's ear before!"

But...the good news was that that bead wasn't going anywhere. It was locked in there tight.

So....we went to your sister's birthday party!

Fun. fun. fun. with a bead stuffed in your ear.

On Monday, Mommy took you to see a Pediatric ENT.

Is this it?

He tried to get the bead out. Unsuccessfully.

He said it was too jammed in there.

So, they gave you prescription ear drops to help reduce the swelling and schedule an in-office appointment for Thursday (actually they had originally scheduled your appointment for after Halloween, but Mommy and I didn't want you to be in pain and have a bad Halloween...you'd been looking forward to it for so long! So Mommy asked super nice and saved Halloween by getting the appointment scheduled for before Halloween!). They'd have to put you under anesthesia to make sure you'd hold still.

It was around this time that your ear really started to hurt. You were grumpy and on edge...and we were worried. Your ear hurt. And there was nothing we could do.

We talked a lot during this period about various things we were not allowed to wedge in our various orifices. Lesson was being learned.

Finally, Thursday arrived.   

You went in.

 

And out came this.

Sweet relief! For you...and for your worried parents. 

Look at that thing! Remind me to ask you if you remember this so I can get a straight answer out of you as to why that would look like an appealing thing to put in an ear!

Later that night, you told us tales of how the doctors put a circle over your face and you passed out.

And we told you, "yes...that's right. and while you were asleep they took they bead out of your ear."

You looked very surprised. And ecstatic. You didn't believe us, and started feeling your ear. You didn't realize that that's why you went to the doctor that morning, and didn't realize that it was gone, you silly boy!

We told you again that the bead was out of your ear. "Yes! Yes!" you yelled and gave us big hugs.

"...and I will never put anything in my ear ever ever again."

Sweet relief and a good earful to hear that...