Our Son, Our Life: Halloween 2009

On Thursday I took Jace to school and I went back to work because he hadn't coughed through the night and was doing better in the morning. Half way through the day, the daycare called and said they had given him his breathing treatment and that he was having difficulties breathing. So I rushed over there to find all the other babies laying on their mats awake or asleep and my son sitting at the table with his teachers eatting puffs and drinking milk.... LOL

He was sounding much more congested so Joe and I decided it was time to call the pediatrician. We took him over there to find out that this madness of deep chest coughing and sneezing is all from allergies, not flu.. Thank goodness! They also said he's got another double ear infection. We're not sure if it is remenants from the one earlier this month or a new one. So, they put him on some more antibiotics and increased the breathing treatments for 14 days. The doctor said he didn't see any reason why Jace couldn't go back to school.

So yesterday I took him back to daycare again and he stayed all day! They said he did an excellent job taking his breathing treatments. He still coughed poeriodically throughout the day, but he slept better at nap time and was in much better spirits.

Today He's pretty whiny, but I figure he's just tired. He had a full day yesterday, which I'll tell you more about....

Yesterday at the daycare was the Halloween party. They had a costume parade where they marched through the parking lot for the parents who could stop by. Parents had to bring in snacks. Since there is an egg, milk, and peanut allergy in our room, it was difficult to find snacks to take that a toddler could eat. So we sent one box of animal crackers per child and one Jello cup. No eggs, milk, or peanuts in any of that!

I made Jace's costume after finding an inspirational DIY project on the internet. It didn't seem too hard to do at all and decided I would tackle the job. He was a sock monkey! The whole thing was I wanted something that would not only be comfortable for him and not awkward, but yet something that the teachers could still easily change diapers.

The DIY project on the internet called for the snap crotch onesie... Well, for anyone who has a one year old in 18-24 month clothes, you know that's pretty much near impossible to find. So I implemented my own revision and used the zip up the front blanket sleeper. You know, the kind that has the feet in the PJ's??? Well, there's the MISTAKE #1....

So I took the 12 mens socks & tried to follow the DIY instructions on-line, but it just wasn't going to work using the type of PJ's I had bought. So I had to "design" my own costume.... NOW... This is coming from someone who doesn't know how to sew... I started out using liquid stitch and hand-sewing for more reinforcement.... There's MISTAKE #2.....

Joe saw what a time I was having and he offered to go up in the attic and get my sewing machine. LOVE HIM!!! That changed everything! I was sewing right along and about 12:30am on Friday morning, the costume was completed!

Now Jace has to be at school in costume on Friday. I hadn't had a chance to try it on him because he was asleep. So Joe gets him up on Friday morning and puts the costume on him. Oh how adorable it turned out! I was pretty proud of myself, if I can say that without bragging.... Well, Okay, I'm bragging. If you don't like it, you probably shouldn't read the rest of this blog entry....

Jace hated the costume and cried, which sorta broke my heart, but he IS only 13 months old! So here's his picture in the costume right after he had it on for the first time...

Now isn't that funniest picture? Doesn't it conjure up memories of Christmas watching "The Christmas Story" when Ralphie has to wear the bunny costume??? HA HA HA HA Oh wait - I found something....Anyway.... now that I'm done laughing... Here's the back of the costume (okay so I'm laughing again!)
So my biggest fear was that after I put all the hard work into this costume and made my sister mad in the process - that's another whole story - I worried no one would know what he was. I was afraid he looked like a mouse! So I had him carry arround his sock monkey in his orange plastic jack-o-lantern...

Once we got to school, the word spread pretty quickly that there was a sock monkey in Jace's classroom. Only one other boy was in the classroom when we got there. He was dressed as a Panda. Jace thought it was the funniest thing to see his friend with a panda suit on. He just pointed at him and giggled & tried to pet him.

While I was putting Jace's food in the refrigerator, people were coming into the classroom and were ooooing and awwwing over him. I thought, "yeah, these people are just doing this so my feelings don't get hurt". I had told his two teachers the day before that I was making the costume. So, I thought this was just a tactic to help me not feel so bad since everyone else had store-bought costumes... I just thought he looked so darn cute anyway, I didn't care.

So when I picked him up from school yesterday, his report read: "Jace was so cute in his sock monkey costume! Everyone commented on he should win cutest costume @ (insert school name here). Way to go Jaime!" So I was a little proud, but yet still had doubts that they were just trying to pat my ego.

Now, fast forward to last night on the drive home. I see that there is a trick or treat at the park. I called Joe and asked if he was on his way home and if he wanted to go? (Be prepared... this is where the bragging gets deep!)

So we get Jace dressed up again and off we go to the park, sock monkey and plastic jack-o-lantern in tow. We just get to the bottom of the hill and a few of the parents are going, "Oh would you look at how cute! A sock monkey! I've never seen a costume like that before! It's adorable!" Well, it was that way all night! I was VERY proud then... One lady even asked if she could take his picture because he was too cute & her friend makes sock monkeys for Christmas gifts every year.

Jace walked a majority of the way Trick or Treating. Joe carried him part of the way. We got there a little too late and some of the vendors were closing down before we could make the entire loop. I had a ball just watching Jace see all the costumes and hearring everyone comment on his. It was a ton of fun!

I called Joe's mom & dad when we got home and told them to be prepared with Puffs becuase they're going to get a trick or treater on Halloween night. I told them that we took Jace Trick or Treating and mom and dad got a lot of candy, but this trick-or-treater needed some puffs. LOL So tonight after Joe gets home from work, we're going to take our little sock monkey over to see them.

Here's some more pictures from yesterday at daycare and then trick or treating last night:

Jace in parade

Taking a break after marching in parade