Henry's Halloween
This Halloween, I find myself wondering if Batman's mom, or whoever helped him dress as an adult, ever tossed his cape over his head while they buckled his belt from behind as I do...
Henry is Batman. It's really as if he becomes Batman. But only until he's done, or a little embarrassed, at which point he'll take off his mask and say, "I'm just Henry." I remind him that he's never just Henry.
We went to the Carleton Carnival on Sunday - it's a big Halloween carnival that the student athletic teams hold every year for the neighborhood kids. It's a huge, really wonderful event where each team has a booth/game for the kids to partake in, and then they get a piece of candy. So, the volleyball team has kids bowl the ball toward big plastic pins, the track team has a track set up with hurdles, the golf team has holes in a big wooden ghost the kids have to put the balls through, and then there's soccer, football, baseball, tennis - the whole gamut - and each has a game to play. Oh, then there's face painting and an arts and crafts area too. Lots of fun, free, and an enormous hit for the kids. I think parents dig it too. So, we did that, and Henry stunned me - he approached every character he knew - certainly all the superheros, he decided he needed to duel Darth Vader (I don't know anything about that), he approached an astronaut with "Hi Astronaut!", Buzz Lightyear... It was the strangest thing - he is perfectly at ease running up toward these other children and greeting them. Most of them, even the ones he knew, seemed to cower and hang back - - I can't think why.
Then, we went trick or treating with friends on Monday. Same gig there. He nearly attacked and ran over a Buzz Lightyear, and I thought that Buzz's Dad's little dog was going to retaliate on Henry as my son zoomed around Buzz, but he didn't. It's as though he feels this kinship to these characters -or the kids choosing to be these characters Henry knows so well. We met a Spiderman, and Henry said exuberantly, "Hello Spiderman!", and the kid said, "Um, I'm Micah."
I love my big kid.
Henry is Batman. It's really as if he becomes Batman. But only until he's done, or a little embarrassed, at which point he'll take off his mask and say, "I'm just Henry." I remind him that he's never just Henry.
We went to the Carleton Carnival on Sunday - it's a big Halloween carnival that the student athletic teams hold every year for the neighborhood kids. It's a huge, really wonderful event where each team has a booth/game for the kids to partake in, and then they get a piece of candy. So, the volleyball team has kids bowl the ball toward big plastic pins, the track team has a track set up with hurdles, the golf team has holes in a big wooden ghost the kids have to put the balls through, and then there's soccer, football, baseball, tennis - the whole gamut - and each has a game to play. Oh, then there's face painting and an arts and crafts area too. Lots of fun, free, and an enormous hit for the kids. I think parents dig it too. So, we did that, and Henry stunned me - he approached every character he knew - certainly all the superheros, he decided he needed to duel Darth Vader (I don't know anything about that), he approached an astronaut with "Hi Astronaut!", Buzz Lightyear... It was the strangest thing - he is perfectly at ease running up toward these other children and greeting them. Most of them, even the ones he knew, seemed to cower and hang back - - I can't think why.
Then, we went trick or treating with friends on Monday. Same gig there. He nearly attacked and ran over a Buzz Lightyear, and I thought that Buzz's Dad's little dog was going to retaliate on Henry as my son zoomed around Buzz, but he didn't. It's as though he feels this kinship to these characters -or the kids choosing to be these characters Henry knows so well. We met a Spiderman, and Henry said exuberantly, "Hello Spiderman!", and the kid said, "Um, I'm Micah."
I love my big kid.
posted by Kevin and Stace @ 9:13 PM
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