G is for Ghosts and Other Halloween Fun
Halloween is drawing closer, And Roo couldn't be happier. She is really getting into the holiday this year and gets excited when she spots anything Halloween related. Especially bats. Skeletons not so much though. We even watched Nightmare Before Christmas a few nights ago. I went into it prepared to stop or skip through spookier bits but she only got annoyed with my constant asking "Is this too scary?" and made it through the whole movie.
Our letter for the week was G and I couldn't resist the Ghost theme for this week.
Pinterest fail. I'm as not happy with the hand print paint ghosts as I was the hand outline ghosts, but Roo had fun painting her hand
We also did a G Giraffe and dipped cotton balls into brown paint for the spots, then fingers, which quickly turned into a free painting session.
A bracelet in Halloween colors to practice patterns, counting to 4, gross motor skills, and colors.
We made monsters out of playdough, check my instagram for more pictures of these!
A Candy Corn picture that encouraged color sorting
Tonight we carved our pumpkin! Pumpkins... After we brought home the big pumpkin, Roo brought over one of her tiny pumpkins and said that was the baby, then asked for my pie sized pumpkin and said it was the Mama. So we ended up with three Jack-O-Lanterns: A Daddy, a Mama, and a Baby. I remember carving pumpkins as a kid and having a love hate relationship with the guts. They were so gross, but so much fun! I was sure Roo would love it too.
I was wrong.
She wanted nothing to do with "that gross stuff" and wouldn't go near it. We had her touch the outside of the pumpkin, try scooping it with a spoon, and eventually wiping guts on her arms to show her how it felt. I hoped it would get her over the fear once she saw they didn't feel too bad. She hid in a corner for awhile after that. Eventually we coaxed her back over by bringing her sensory bin back out and burying a tiny pumpkin in it.
She watched us scoop and carve, but still wouldn't go near the guts. I told her the pie pumpkin seeds weren't gross and were for eating. Two seeds were picked before she announced she was done and went back to her tiny pumpkin.That's when I broke out the paint and let her go to town.
Now I need to get back to work on Roo's costume.
Yes I'm making it. Sort of. My plan was originally to have her use an Elsa costume she got for her birthday as her Halloween costume. Her Grandma made it and it's too adorable to just wear around the house! I decided to go all out and bought myself an adult Anna costume pattern. I'm about halfway through with it. My husband would wear a white sweat suit and beanie and be Olaf. Cute right?
Except, two days ago, Roo was asked what she was going to be for Halloween.
"A bat!" Of course.
I reminded her that she was going to be Elsa, not a bat. She was so disappointed, but agreed that she would be Elsa and Mommy would be Anna. She kept talking about bats that day. And the next.
So guess who's up late trying to figure out the best way to make bat wings for a two year old?
My costumes as a kid were almost always homemade. When they weren't, they were last year's dance costume re-purposed. I was sometimes jealous of the other kids in my family and their licensed character costumes. Now, I love sewing my own costumes. I've made a couple of cosplay costumes for myself, and even some dance costumes for others. I'm not terrible at it, and I really enjoy it. So I plan to make Roo's costumes as long as she lets me. I know she will probably go through a similar phase that I did and demand a licensed costume, and I'll try to be okay with it. But I didn't realize that I would loose the opportunity to choose her costume for her so soon!
What about you? Were your costumes store-bought or handmade? What about your kids now? Post your answers in the comments, or send me a message!
