Monday, October 27, 2008

an update of sorts

...Hello! Remember me? I am the one that was sick with a sinus infection for all of last week. It really took a lot out of me. So blogging was not a priority.

Today: Red Ribbon Week starts at the boys school. I am not sure how dressing backwards is relative to kids saying no to drugs besides it being fun, but that is what today is: Backwards Day. Noah had some trouble with this concept, which is truly ironic because he used to wear his shirt backwards all the time because "I don't want anything on the front of my shirt!" I guess he thought turning his shirt backwards today meant that something would end up on the front of his shirt, I don't know. Rhett wanted to wear his head backwards. Something about strings and springs...

Coming up: Halloween, obviously. I don't remember if I've said but I really wanted the boys and I to make their Halloween costume this year. I am no longer spending over $25 on nylon costumes anymore. Rhett wanted to be a football player, so I talked him into being an Old-Tyme Football Player from the 1930s. We found a Red and Black shirt, painted stripes, found some sweats and made a leather helmet out of felt (love that stuff!) and he is now going to be a 1930s Texas Tech football player. It will be cool. The only problem is that I really couldn't let go and let him help much. When I do something crafty, I want it to look just a certain way and well, I just couldn't let him mess it up. I know that sounds terrible, doesn't it?

My terrible-ness gets worse:

But I did let Rhett and Noah totally be in charge of Noah's costume. Noah wanted to be Star Boy. I was giving him ideas and said he could be "Night" and we make his face a moon and then he have glow in the dark stars all over his shirt and pants. He said, "Why don't I just be Star Boy?" Ok...

First, we found no glow-in-the-dark stars. So they had to paint them. And, let's just say, the finished product looked like something that a little girl would wear to a dance recital. All different colored stars and glitter paint does not a masculine shirt make.

So, I made a decision. I really dislike myself for it but I told Noah that he should be something else. I gave him a lame excuse like "No one will see the stars in the dark" or "Everyone will keep asking you what you are" but inside I was thinking, "Every boy on our street, save maybe one who would probably want a shirt just like it (because he is creative and sweet), would make fun of my little boy." Especially since Rhett even admitted that the shirt was a little girly. (He said it as nice as he could)

Noah is now going to be Noah the Ninja. We are using his old karate uniform and I am making a black belt for him to wear. He even has ninja swords.

By the way, Seth saw the shirt and said "No way is Noah wearing that out of the house." Too girly indeed.

To be fair, he is really excited about being a ninja, so I don't think he is scarred or feels like I am stifling his creativity, so I feel a little better about the whole thing. I just keep picturing him years later, telling his children or therapist about how his mother wouldn't let him be Star Boy and it really hurt him. Or Rhett saying to his children that his mom would never let him make his costume by himself. But I guess there are worse things. So I'll let it go now.

And maybe next year, I will just buy the darn costumes from the store.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're back and better.

It is a dilemma about how much to let kids help. On the one hand, you want them to feel the pride of creating something for themselves, but on the other hand, you want them to look good. It is a tough call.

Mom

Krista said...

I think it's okay to make a judgment call like that, in the interest of protecting him. My kids are calling me "lame" because I refuse to dress up...this is why! I always hated coming up with costume ideas.

Anonymous said...

The backwards day is "turn your back on drugs". We did it today. You forget that wearing a shirt of any kind backwards is not that comfortable. Sandy

H Noble said...

Glad you are feeling better. I missed hearing from you!

I think you did good on Halloween, really. I bought Eli's after deliberating for weeks on what costume to make. Saw the Sock Monkey costume at Target and laid down the money. Oh, well, its cute.

Cheryl Wray said...

Okay, the old-time football player is an AWESOME idea!!! They will both look great!

It's Red Ribbon Week at Delaney's middle school this week too. It was luau day today ("lei" off of drugs).

We are trunk-or-treating tonight and we're all dressing up! Yay!! I love it!