The Dr. and the Halloween Parade of Costumes

“Fezzes are cool”

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

5

(The last Halloween post for 2015 – I promise. It’s a Halloween wrap, one could say.  This post is not as long as it appears to be – there are a good number of pictures because, you know…. it’s Halloween and I have no restraint)
As costumes go, this year was really not all that difficult.

• He chose costumes that actually existed.
• We were able to find all of his requests in his size.
• The two that I did have to buy in pieces to make up the costumes were not all that difficult to put together because the pieces actually exist.

It was a relatively easy year.
Yes, we had the whole “Jim Dear” bump in the road but luckily and unexpectedly it worked out  so – Jim Dear will be counted and included in his “costume parade” this year and of course included in his annual Halloween book that he receives for Christmas each year.

– We do take this holiday very seriously.
We may be a little bit over the top, but he loves it and I am perfectly happy to encourage and go with it!
Onward….. his first second choice – the costume that he wore to his Work/Day Program Halloween Dance and the reason (well partially the reason) he was so excited when I brought out that nightmarish pair of glass slippers….
Prince Charming – the REAL Costume this time.

He even had the opportunity to escort a real princess to the dance. We were not allowed to call her a princess, she is the “Zombie Prom QUEEN!” But to DC, she was a princess – just don’t tell *Salli. Her costume must and should always be identified properly using the official name. Never a Princess!
A few days later we were going to the Haunted Miniature Golf Course to work at a table to support DC’s summer camp. Wearing a costume was not something I had thought about, believe it or not. When I realized the day before I ventured into my costume closet to see if there was something in there for him to wear at the last minute.
The Costume Closet: Let’s talk about the costume closet. DC and I live in a very small duplex. There is no storage and really nowhere to put anything, but still I have an entire closet devoted to Halloween Costumes (Priorities, people!). This closet is beyond ridiculous. I really can not find anything. I don’t even know everything that is in there at this point, but I was hopeful. The other issue with pulling out an old costume is that many of them will not fit him any longer. DC is a big boy.
I saw something with a black cape. I was able to get at it without the rest of the closet caving in on me. It was a Jack the Ripper costume. The only reason that I can think of for having a Jack the Ripper costume is that I must have thought I could use all or part of it for one of DC’s requests for a costume that did not exist. I don’t recall ever using it though. It had a black vest, a black cape and a top hat. It was trimmed in red. I showed it to him and asked if he would like to wear it to the golf course. I got an emphatic “Yes”. The boy just loves a cape. We tried it on. I was worried about the vest but it fit – PHEW. He went to look at himself in the mirror.
I asked: “DC who are you?”
“Captain Von Trapp”
????!!!!?????
I have no idea why he thought he looked like Captain Von Trapp unless there is some obscure scene in the Sound of Music where either Christopher Plummer or Stephen Moyer is wearing a cape. If DC thinks so, then there probably is.
Only because I was still a bit confused about the Captain Von Trapp thing, I asked him again who he thought he looked like. This time the answer was “Doc Terminus” (Jim Dale from Pete’s Dragon for those of you that have not seen every Disney movie ever made). That actually made perfect sense. He did look like him, more than he looked like Captain Von Trapp, anyway.
Of course we did have a mustache on hand to complete the look.

We were scheduled to man the table a second day and fortunately I did not have to venture into the dreaded closet again. I remembered his Grease garb from a Grease Sing-A-Long that we attended a few years ago that was hanging in his own closet – SCORE!  It had a jacket which was perfect as it can get mighty cold out there and there is nothing worse than having to wear a coat or jacket over one’s Halloween costume.
Nothing… Seriously… Look it up..it is just not done!
The second best part was that it was easy and recognizable……

except that everyone called him “Elvis” – everyone.
His camp party came just two days after the golf course. His choice……. “Hook” but not the Disney Captain Hook (yay!)- Captain Hook from the television show “Once Upon a Time” (yay, again). I was happy with this choice. It is a popular character on a current TV show. Other than the Big Bang Theory last year, he really never chooses or has any interest in anything current, so usually No One Knows What He Is Supposed To Be. 

He even ran into another pirate at the party.
Fortunately no swords were drawn – it was all very amicable.
Moving on to my very favorite costume of the season!  This one for the Best Buddies Halloween party.
Dr. Who – the 10th Dr.! (DC’s favorite DR (mine as well)  and the greatest challenge of the season – David Tennant’s hair.

• Two ruined wigs
• DC loosing his stuff over the hair clippings – everywhere.
• DC loosing his stuff over the hair glue (extra strength mouse, but I really think it IS glue) everywhere.

I finally had to give it up or the costume that he was so excited about would turn into something he did not want to wear or hear about – ever again. I think we still made the point even with the rather ridiculous hairdo.

One could truly say the was “The Madman with a box.”

DC and his Best Buddy

Traveling in his “Big” (very, very big) Blue Box through space and time to somewhere in New England – coordinates set for October 31, 2015 and regeneration complete…….
comes…….The 11th Doctor.

Although David Tennant, the 10th Dr. is DC’s favorite – He would not pass up the opportunity to wear a FEZ.
But seriously……Who could??
“Fezzes are cool”

Happy Halloween!

Love those old Statuses

and even more Short Stories

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

2

or…. Short Stories; the Threequel… (or… “Fluff” because it’s been a busy month)

Below are some “short stories” (statuses) that have been posted on my own and my public Facebook pages (Instagram too) – too short to qualify for a blog post, although many have turned out to be the inspiration for an official blog post. You may have seen a few of these before, probably not all though.

Should have landed home  at 12:35 pm Thursday. 13 Hours later, we made it! “There’s no place like home”.
…

Just watched DC trying to get on the bus w/out smashing 5 bouquets of flowers for his teachers – we’ll see if they make it…….not one of my better ideas.
…..

Even though we were in the blazing sun – he couldn’t get past those dark clouds – we didn’t get very far….
…..

BB and DC testing the Bertie Bot flavors on the way home from Salem.
…..

Taking DC to NY tomorrow to see “Bye Bye Birdie” (one of his favs) and the bonus…….. “Uncle Jessie” (John Stamos from another of his favorites, Full House) is in it. He is very excited! Doug, on the other hand, is attending under protest; already practicing and perfecting the eye rolling, heavy sighs…….
…..


Just lost another 10 years of my life; DC fell off the horse. He’s okay, I may never be.



……

DC had a great time “Ghost Hunting” at the “shemitury” (DC speak) with BB tonight (both in full TAPS gear)
…..

Lost power at 4am (Mr. “No Storm Today” knew the instant it went off), it just came back. Long morning driving him around until it came back on – Before resorting to driving him around I did try for a couple of hours to get him back to sleep but who can sleep  with “Waiting!” being yelled at you continuously. When I told him to please stop yelling, he moved on to spelling it. When that didn’t work  he moved on to sign language (yes, it is quieter, but of course he had to poke me each time so I could see him signing)!
….

Yes, it’s June but DC has already picked his Halloween Costume and it is on order. A little ahead of schedule this year, we usually wait until August :) . We LOVE Halloween, in case that isn’t apparent to you all.


…..
“Pretty Maids All In A Row”

…..
Because no is allowed to sit in his chair in the kitchen (even if he is not in it) or his “spot” on the couch, I thought we’d make it official #BigBang









…..
STOP THE PRESSES! DC is at an Arc activity with his “Arc Friends” and he is eating Lasagna!

…..
Sitting in the waiting room for DC’s scheduled DR. Appointment this morning and watching Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Club House to be exact. We were called in before the dreaded “Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog” song came on and yet it is still stuck in my head…… Now it’s stuck in yours. You are welcome.

…..
Waitress: how do you want your burger?
DC: Good!






…..
Poor deprived boy, they don’t have wings. He’ll have to settle for ribs…. Sigh






…..
After losing his computer/DVD privileges last weekend, he is preparing his list for this Friday. “Movie Adventures” is what he is calling his upcoming Friday night (yes, I am still sick and sound like a man)

…..
Still trying to get to watch the first episode of The Walking Dead, but I have it on good authority that Rick and DC may share the same Band-aide obsession.









….
Robin Hood found himself a princess. He was excited….. for awhile. She dragged him around the dance floor for quite some time. DC apparently not wanting to hurt her feelings (or needing Mom to fight his battles) yelled to me “Mom! My arm is bothering you” (translation – She is holding my arm and it is bothering me) each time they passed by. I guess having a princess on one’s arm can get old, even for DC.






And forever my favorite……..

“Mom, I look ‘Dora-bull’ ” -(no lack of confidence there)

The Glass Slippers

Leave the shoe; take the chocolate…..

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

14

I am sure at this point it is very clear to everyone that DC is a big fan of Halloween as am I. How great is it that he loves something that I do just as much as I do? How often does that happen?
When he was young, he’d wear his costume and we would drive to the houses of family members and friends, only time for 4 or 5 stops, but it was enough for him. When he was a little bit older we added Trick-Or-Treating at a few houses close by to our evening. He always had a hard time trying to figure out why we were going to the door and ringing the doorbell but we weren’t going inside. I had to stop him at every door from trying to walk right into people’s houses.
When he got older still, we stopped driving to friends and family because that could take all night and just began trick-or-treating around our own neighborhood. He did finally get passed trying to walk in to every house.
DC loves Halloween, he loves wearing a costume and of course he loves getting the candy – he just really didn’t want to have to walk for it. So our trick-or-treating around the neighborhood usually consisted of 3 or four houses willingly and then I would push him to do just a few more.
He was not very old at all when he realized that my costume ideas were always in theme (yes, I know, I am really hard to put up with at Halloween). When he was old enough to make the costume decisions himself, he always chose his, mine and Doug’s (this was before Doug decided he’d had enough of Halloween – BOO!)
With DC at the helm, the costumes as one would imagine were almost always from Disney. I have dressed as quite a few Disney characters, very many of them princesses. I did have to put my foot down at Princess Ariel, but otherwise we were usually able to pull off the theme. DC is very particular about his princesses. He had to make sure I wore lipstick (the one and only day of the year that I would) and he always had to approve the shoes. I could not get away with anything but the proper princess shoes. In most cases I was able to find those glittery shoe covers that went with the costume, so heels or pumps were not always required – PHEW!
Then came the year that he decided that we had to be Cinderella and Prince Charming. I really wondered what took him so long to pick that pair. I really thought that Cinderella, being his all-time favorite princess would have been his request much earlier on.
Under DC’s watchful eye, I was able to find a blue Cinderella ball gown and of course a blonde Cinderella wig. Although we had a hard time finding a “Prince Charming” costume back then – we were able to find a “Handsome Prince”. It was not the same but it would do.
Of course I must have glass slippers. I knew I was not going to get away with shoe covers this time around; this was CINDERELLA – this was serious! It is really a good thing that we make our Halloween costume selections in August every year because these slippers were not easy to find. I did finally find a pair. They were THE most uncomfortable shoes I have ever worn but I figured that it would be fine because he would only make me walk to 4 or 5 houses, tops.
<insert buzzer here> I was wrong, so very wrong……
Whether it was just the fact that it finally kicked in that the more houses he went to, the more candy he would get or just the over the top excitement for the glass slippers or both – he did not walk, but ran from house to house. The only time he stopped or slowed down was to check my feet for the shoes or randomly grab my dress and lift it up to show people my shoes.
I don’t think he cared that he did not look like Prince Charming at all. I had a crown for him to wear but he insisted on wearing the hat that came with the costume – a more casual Prince, we’ll call it. This Halloween was all about the shoes. We did our street and then some. Afterwards I limped home with DC grabbing at my gown the whole way.

I do believe he had these shoes on display in his room for quite some time before I put them away. He got awfully excited when I took them out last week to take a photo of them. He did not realize that I still had them. The excitement was due to one of the costumes he had chosen for this Halloween Season – I think he may have thought I was going to pull out the gown again.
No way! Not happening!
I am now quite sure that Cinderella did not leave her shoe behind accidentally. Given the chance to do it all over again, I am positive she would have left the shoes (both of them) and just opted for some chocolate.


I know exactly what she was mumbling under her breath when that darn prince returned that stinkin’ shoe…….
Forget the shoe, forget the Prince… just hand over the chocolate.

The Battle of the DVD's

Choosing my battles……..

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

7

We went away this weekend to NYC and Sleepy Hollow. We try to take a Halloween Weekend every year to somewhere either “Halloweenish”, Spooky, Historical or where costumes are involved. We will be going to a ComicCon the weekend after Halloween (that counts) so we decided to do just a quick overnight to Sleepy Hollow this weekend. Our usual Halloween destination is Salem MA, but we’ve switched it up the past couple of years mainly due to the fact that Doug is <insert colorful metaphors>  of going to Salem – I, on the other hand, never tire of it.
We had already done a weekend in Sleepy Hollow a couple of years back. We did just about everything there was to do with the exception of the BLAZE. I did not know that in order to do anything in Sleepy Hollow in October, tickets must be purchased on-line ahead of time. Fortunately, once I discovered this and by the skin if my teeth, I was able to get tickets for everything else.
This year we thought ahead and got tickets for the BLAZE early. Since that was all we were going to do in Sleepy Hollow, we decided to first spend the day in New York City (DC’s favorite place), check into our room in Sleepy Hollow and go to the BLAZE at 9:30 PM (the only time available when we purchased the tickets).
I had not been feeling well all week and would have opted to skip the whole thing and stay home on the couch, but DC had already been told about the trip and he already added it to the calendar so that meant it was engraved in stone.
Knowing his propensity to over-pack DVD’s for the sole purpose of stacking them next to him while he watches YouTube on his computer, and knowing full well there would be a visit to a bookstore at some point during the trip, I told him that he could only bring 5 DVD’s and 2 books. I said it more than once. I just didn’t want to have to keep track of a bunch of unnecessary stuff and try to carry a bunch of unnecessary stuff. I just wanted to pack light and get this over with. (I did forget my jacket in the room, so I really couldn’t manage to keep track of the necessary stuff – turns out, they don’t ship forgotten things. We have to go back and get it).
5 DVD’s and 2 books.
“Okay Mom!”
He went about packing his laptop, his DVD’s, his books, and pens to edit said books.
“DC, how many DVD’s did you pack?”
“5 DVD’s – 2 books”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I promise”
When I went to grab the charger for his phone, I found that he already packed that as well. I found THAT to be a bit impressive. He is usually only concerned with his books, DVD’s and laptop.
I told him how proud I was that he remembered his charger by himself. He took that compliment and added that  “I am proud of the 5 DVD’s and 2 books” – he was just pointing out the fact that I forgot to tell him in that sentence that I was proud that he followed the rules.
We spent the day in New York City. We visited all of his favorite places and headed out for Sleepy Hollow about 3 pm. All I wanted to do was sleep for a little while before dinner and the Blaze. In the room I was just telling Doug what a great job DC did packing only what I told him to and remembering his charger, when I noticed a good 15 to 20 DVD’s sitting next to his laptop. Now, this has been an issue before and the celebration over him being sneaky and figuring out that he could just hide them is long over with. I do have to give him props for figuring out if he packed his own charger there would be no reason for me to go into his backpack (a new level of sneakiness), but like Tonya in ‘All the …..small things’, I have to be the mother, even though I knew full well what would be in store for me after reprimanding him.
As soon as he realized that I noticed just how many DVD’s he had with him, it started…..
“I am sorry Mom. I will never lie again!”
“I am so sorry, Mother!”
DC only gets to use his laptop and DVDs on the weekends. That has been the rule for many years. Losing his computer privileges is the only thing that EVER makes any kind of impression on him.
“DC, you lied to me again. I told you the last time you lied to me that you only had one more chance before your lost your computer for the weekend. This was your last chance, so no computer for the weekend.”
(Seriously, as punishments go, this is really not much of one. It was all ready Saturday night. We would be going out soon and we were leaving the hotel the next morning, but this did not matter to him).
Now, 2 inches from my face……
“I promise to never tell a lie again”
“Mom, I’m sorry!” – those of you that know DC, you know that:

He is sorry for absolutely everything! Partially he believes “I’m sorry” will get him out of anything.  Like a typical man, he thinks that saying “I’m sorry” even if he doesn’t know what he’s sorry about will get him out of anything or at least get me to stop talking. If he really wants to bring it home, he goes to: “I’m ‘ter-bly’  sorry” or “I am soooooo sorry”. He’ll even throw in a “Can you ever forgive me?” (movie line), if he thinks it’s necessary.
He says he’s sorry, WHILE he’s doing something he shouldn’t, and will continue right on doing whatever it is because he’s covered, he already said he was sorry. Or he’ll say he’s sorry when he’s about to do something he knows he’s not supposed to do. He’s covered, he said he was sorry!

I heard this and variations of this throughout the evening all recited 2 inches from my face. I won’t go into the amount of times I explained to him that just because he promises not to do it again does not get him out of the punishment he was already given. I understood that he was sorry and I was proud of him for being sorry…… believe me, it was covered and covered.
*****
We did enjoy the Blaze –

but every few minutes he reverted back into his “I’m sorry” campaign.
Back in the room, he changed his tactic.
“Mom, thank you for much for the trip”
“Mom, thank you so much for the dolls”
“Mom, you are my queen.”
“I love you Mademoiselle”
“I am being so good!”
I did explain to him as I always do that I never would think or say that he was “bad” – he is not bad; he just did something wrong – on purpose.
We went to sleep (remember, I am still not feeling well). 4 or 5 times during the night, I woke up to find this boy 3 inches from my face telling me that he has “Good Behavior”  and “I promise never to lie again”
There are times when DC really does not understand what he has done wrong and I will speak with him and try to get him to understand – this was not one of those times. He knew exactly what he was doing while he was doing it. I can not just let everything go, even though at this point I really wanted to get some sleep. If I gave in now he’d know that I would give in the next time.
Morning came.
He hadn’t packed any paper to bring on the trip so he resorted to writing me apology notes on the inside of his books.

As many times as he brought it up, there was an explanation for him. I love him, I always love him. I was not happy with the choice that he made to lie and sneak but I am not angry at him. If he does not do it again he would not lose his computer again.
We left the hotel, looked around Sleepy Hollow a bit, had lunch and headed home.


Monday was a holiday but the weekend was over, which meant his punishment was over. He double checked that fact with me and was extremely happy to hear that he was correct in his assumption.  We were home all day on Monday and he was quite happy not to use his computer, because Monday is not “the weekend”. But he knew it was ON for the following Friday and I never heard another word about it.
(He understands the word “punishment” from Full House. I originally never used that word – that was all him)

Jokes

“Funny Friday” Night

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

8

Jokes…… not really a concept that DC understands most of the time. There are things that he finds funny when he is watching a movie or reading a book and physical comedy, of course is very funny to him – but to tell a joke and understand why it is funny is not always in his realm of understanding. He is very literal and jokes are oftentimes very abstract.  Not to say that he does not spend a good part of his time laughing – he does. I rarely know what he is laughing at and he, for the most part can not explain just what is so funny. It is just the things that are going on in his head.
There are times when he does surprise me…

As I am sitting here listening to him laugh at a scene from “The Big Comfy Couch” on YouTube – the same scene over and over and over again – and I am reminded of a time that he not only surprised me but his teachers as well.

Below is a post from two years ago about a that day. Since we seem to be having a funny Friday night here (over and over and over again), I decided it was as good a time as any to re-post……
******

“Funny Friday”

For the two years after “Graduation” DC attended a transition program through the school system at a local college.
I was visiting the school for a class event, one Friday afternoon and his teacher, “Mr. Disney” (as DC calls him) excitedly came over to me and asked “Did you help him with his jokes today?” Not knowing what he was talking about, I said “No, what jokes?”  One of the IA’s (“Para’s” to some of you) chimed in to tell me that he had told 3 jokes for “Funny Friday” that morning.
Mr. Disney went on to tell me that every Friday is “Funny Friday” and all of the students tell their favorite jokes at the morning meeting.
Okay…. Let’s pause here for a moment……
I don’t know how long (or if ever) it will take before anyone will understand that HE IS NOT GOING TO COME HOME AND TELL ME THESE THINGS! If someone else does not tell me, I am not going to know. If I had known about “Funny Friday” I would have helped him with some jokes, but unfortunately I was never told.
I was surprised that he actually TOLD a joke because DC’s idea of a joke – and it’s always the same – is:
“Ha, Ha, Ha! Funny Joke!”
Me:   “What’s the joke, Bud?”
“Monster!”
(Insert “cricket” sound here – that is it)
They proceeded to tell me the jokes he told that morning. He told them properly complete with a bow and…. they were actually funny – real jokes!
“Why did Bo Peep pour chocolate on her sheep?”
“She wanted a chocolate BAAAAAAAAR”
“Why can’t Cinderella play Soccer?”
“Because she ran away from the ball”
“What do they call a Fairy that doesn’t take a bath for a month?”
“Stinker-Bell”
He told honest – to – goodness JOKES!  After years of “Monster”, he actually told, not one joke, but three and UNDERSTOOD why they were funny!
Later, I ran into the Interim Dean of Health Sciences, of the college who couldn’t wait to tell me about the three jokes that DC shared that morning. Everyone was very impressed, to say the least!
Still I had no idea where he found these jokes.
About a week later, “Mr. Disney” finally got DC to tell him where he found his material.
Actually, he showed him……
After asking him all week, DC went to the computer, typed “Disney jokes” in the search engine and found a web-site full of Disney jokes.
He memorized them and had them ready for “Funny Friday”!
He was able to figure out on his own that “Monster” wasn’t cutting it for “Funny Friday” and he needed better jokes. He went about finding them himself, remembered them and had them ready for Friday!
“Monster” ?? Still his favorite joke.
(Graduation – I do not know what it is like everywhere else, but here school-age for SPED is 3 to 21 years. DC “graduated” from the High School after spending 4 years there. Having two years left of school, after his senior year – the options were to let him stay at the High School or to have him outplaced into an appropriate transition program. Fortunately the town put together this transition program right before DC was ready to graduate.)

Costume choices - back to the original

“No Jim Dear”…. (shhhh… it just may be)

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

4

In an earlier post I wrote about the “Jim Dear” derby hat and how after many years of asking to be “Jim Dear” for Halloween, he decided against it – after I had purchased the hat and picked out a few steampunk suit options to surprise him.
Last night we attended the 50th Anniversary Gala for the summer camp that DC attends. DC loves to wear a suit so he was all for it.
After running up the stairs a good 3 to 4 times to “look in the mirror” and admire his handsome self – he came down wearing the “Jim Dear” Hat!
hmmmm…
He ran back up to look in the mirror a few more times and returned with a moustache request. Much like his beloved Band-Aids, stick-on moustaches are another staple in our household.
I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted.
hmmmmm..
All-righty then, the moustache, it is!  I was hoping that he would decide to take it off before we arrived at the party.
He did not.
He wore it a good long time. He received many compliments on his moustache and was very happy with the attention. When we were still at home, he would not tell me who he was supposed to be but as soon as someone at the party asked him if his name was Charlie (Chaplin);  he promptly corrected them “No, Jim Dear!”

with Grandma

He did eventually take it off when it started to get itchy more than halfway through the event.
It is October.
He wore the hat.
He added the moustache.
Jim Dear?……………..Yes, this year.
I guess it just had to be his idea.
Good enough for me.
I will take it!