The boys look adorable in their costumes!

My son – at almost 13 – was some vague masked dude for about 60 seconds, and was a hippie when he had to dress with the marching band for the parade (I should be embarrassed to admit that he wore my clothes for that costume. Clothes I actually WEAR).

My just turned 6 yo daughter wanted to be a bride and it took moving about 16 mountains to find a bride costume (except for skanky bride, which inexplicably was available for the kindergarten set). She wore it for trick or treat and for her school party, but as we were leaving for a family Halloween party, she announced that she didn’t want to be a bride – she wanted to be UNDEAD.

We had:
clown
pumpkin
flower fairy
bunny
firefighter

3YO: Dragon. (But not a REAL dragon, so don’t be scared, sayeth he.)
Baby: strawberry.

But, Linda, I am seriously coveting your shoes. I’ve been looking for red patent leather shoes for what feels like eternity.

Oooh, I like the pumpkin with the key nose. Mine always turn out looking like a Dylan-sized person made them, even when I use one of those cheat kits.

Happy Halloween!

My 15 yr old daughter was a killer raggedy ann-complete with blood spray over the front of the costume. I miss the Disney princess days!

Thought you and your readers might be interested in this (from lifehacker)

Halloween Candy Buy Back

http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/search-results.html

“counseling to deal with his anger issues” … that is hilarious. I know it isn’t for you, since you are living it, but for those of us out here…bwah ha ha. Anyway, hang in there, he doesn’t need counseling, he just needs to get well and older! :)

I got the same song and dance from my son’s teacher about taking my 5yr old for therapy to manage his anger. Feels good to know that judging from the posts here that I am not the only one who got this song and dance.

forgot to add what our Halloween night was like….our teenagers out doing their thing….dh and I handed out candy and participated in neighborhood”adult” boo experience…..very fun….

ugh….let me explain….adult’Boo” experience sounds a bit dirty…..which it was not….just involved leaving goody bags for the adults….

Did you throw something at her head when she said that?? Other than menacing looks, that is? Holy crap. What is it with MILs?? When my son was 2 weeks old we had our first get-together at our house for a football game, and my poor son got passed around like a plate of nachos…everyone had to hold him. When I mentioned later to my MIL that he was just inconsolable later on from too much stimulation, she said “Are you sure it wasn’t YOU who was over-reacting? Maybe he was just picking up on YOUR stress?” Gack.

Anyway, my hoodlums were an army commando (age 7) and my 4 yo daughter wore a little poodle skirt and top.

We ended up with zero trick or treaters (plus side: more candy for us!) and our girls (2 1/4 year old twins) refused to put on the princess skirts I made them. Oh well. We only went to one neighbor’s house anyway, and she wasn’t a stickler for protocol.

Hope the boogers dry up soon for you.

Homegrown Superman!
We’re all blond so I had to improvise on the “hair.” :)

Where are all the trick-or-treaters anyway? We had maybe 7?

Has anyone ever told you that you look like Kelly Pickler???

Not bad for sleep deprived!!

Love the scarf… Is that the one that dipped in the toilet? My 2 year old wore an angel costume I made..after 2 houses he wanted to go home.. So I carried him a couple blocks in hopes of more peanut butter cups. What color is the sky on your MIL’s planet?

Um, YOU look fabulous. Love, love, love the shoes, and I may have to run out tomorrow just to look.

My 3 kids went out in Star Wars themed gear. The oldest (5) was a stormtrooper, my middle (2 1/2) was Princess Leia, and the baby (10 months) was Yoda. So much fun, we might do a theme every year.

Poor Dylan….and poor you. I’m sure you’re ready for “normal” to take back over. The boys look adorable and you are too stinkin’ cute!

My oldest daughter, 11, was a bumblebee. The only freaking costume I could find that wasn’t completely slutted out. Costumes these days – even for her age – are so short, tight, low cut, and see-through that they look like they should be posing in the October edition of Penthouse! My 5-year-old was an adorable ladybug, and my 15-month-old son had a very similar costume to Dylan’s – a dragon – but his had shiny scales on it. Too cute. And those jack-o-lanterns kick ass!

Next Halloween will be better! You’ll always remember the Halloween that sucked ass. I remember mine….it rained – I mean STORMED – until about 10:00. We went trick-or-treating anyway and pissed all kinds of people off. But c’mon – if they were parents, they’d totally get that you don’t hype up Halloween for weeks, then totally let your kids down because of a little all-night thunderstorm!!

I don’t like Halloween and my kids didn’t dress up this year. They didn’t care; they got candy anyway (untainted, from mom & dad). We went out to dinner and to the bookstore and they got books. They were pretty excited about it.

I love your scarf!

Of course your munchkins are adorable, but YOUR SHOES kick ass woman!

My kids were tigers (see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33138142@N00/4063243330/). It was a pretty good halloween, because we skipped the nighttime neighborhood trick or treating and just went to our city’s downtown shop-to-shop event. Earlier, and much less walking for the little ‘uns.

We actually had two costumes for our son. The first was Cardboard Tube Samurai, which he wore to a wedding at noon on Saturday. I would like to say that like the commenter upthread with the Devo costume, that it was worth it for the small number of people who did recognize it. Sadly, no one recognized it. Philistines. ;-) The one he actually went trick-or-treating in was an astronaut.

As for the baby, she was Batgirl. And my wife and I went as members of the Dharma Initiative.

My son was a pirate because I got his costume for a dollar. We had a bear hat from Target on hand if that didn’t work out but he can’t take his clothes off yet while he can get the hat off, so we didn’t need two outfits. He’s only a year so we didn’t go around to houses in the neighborhood but we did trick or treat during the daytime at businesses in our town. But waiting in line with a baby is awful so mostly we just walked around and looked at things. I was exhausted, but I don’t really know why.

I don’t have kids and didn’t get dressed up myself (I actually kind of got lost, tripped and fell down in a Corn Maze – the kiddy side, the one without the chainsaws and monsters and such – which is all together too embarrassing to discuss).

We did hand out candy for a little bit, though (I need more practice in not giving it out by the fist full), and there was one boy, looked to be about 5 or so, that was dressed as Spiderman. As I handed him candy, he announced to me, “I’M A BUMBLEBEE!”

I think to prove a point, you should enlist MIL in finding a therapist that would work with Dylan. She could explain in great detail his fits of anger, stubborn-ness, screaming, dog-hair-eating episodes only to find out (or figure out from the hysterical laughter from the therapist’s end of the phone) that 2 year-olds can in fact, just be little assholes – no therapy needed, thankyouverymuch :)

I love that so many people still dress like the HArry Potter characters. My 8 y.o. dressed as Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter :) ) and my 5 y.o. was Luigi from Super Mario Brothers.

Love your red shoes!!

Please know that you are not alone with Dylan’s tantrums. My 19 month old sounds very similiar. Sure, some people’s kids don’t have tantrums at all- but those kids probably grow up to be losers. :)

My 2 year old was a spider. We had a blast and the weather was perfect. As for you little one going to counseling…you can tell your mother in law that I am a child and family therapist, and I find the idea off sending such a little tot to counseling for having tantrums absolutely ridiculous….there, now you have someone’s professional opionion! LOL! :) If it makes you feel any better, my MIL has borderline personality disorder…so get togethers with her are a BLAST! (sarcasm noted eh?)

Our Halloween was awesome. We entered our community’s annual costume contest and won for dressing up as Sesame Street. My boys were Cookie Monster and Elmo (I was Bert, my husband was Oscar, and our friends covered Ernie, Abby, Big Bird, the Count and Grover). Gabe was so excited about trick or treating, less so about the candy.

Toddler tantrums are totally normal, and worse when they’re sick. If every toddler who threw tantrums needed counseling, counselors would have no time to see anybody else. Nick can be a terror when he’s in a mood. Today he ended up covered in stamps because it was the only thing that shut him up long enough for me to get ready for work.

Maybe Dylan and my daughter could go to therapy together, cut the bills in half. On the other hand, at least your MIL isn’t therapy-averse should the need ever arise in the future, knockonwood that it won’t.

My son (5) was Luigi of Super Mario fame with his cousin, who went as Mario. My daughter (22 months) was a penguin a la Happy Feet. The stuffed belly buffered any falls, and created a hilarious Ralphie’s-little-brother-in-a-snowsuit-from-A-Christmas-story effect in that she rolled around on the ground attempting to get up while the adults around her laughed until we had tears streaming. Yeah, we’re Hell’s Minions.

Yeah, one Christmas my MIL asked me if my daughter alway acted like this. Umm…let’s see, it’s 9:30pm, only a hour and a half past her bed time, and she’s 17 months old. Did you really have children?
But on a happy note, yes, we had a great weekend. We went and stayed at a hotel with a indoor waterpark. They had a pie eating contest and a arcade too! We had a clown and a monkey. The twelve year old is just way to cool to dress up I guess. We only lost the 2 year old once and it was on my husbands watch:)
I really hope your little guys start feeling better soon. Sick kids suck!

Oof! I had to laugh at your description of the toddler therapy, but totally sympathize!

Our Halloween was great… we’re in a new neighborhood this year and wow, they totally decorate and know how to celebrate Halloween! I too pilfered the good candy once Cooper was asleep. He came down with a cold the night after Halloween, so I haven’t had much sleep since, but at least it held off until the trick or treating was done :) We dressed as matching Zombies and my hubby was Michael Myers. Pics are posted on my blog :)

Love the kids costumes! I hope you get some sleep this week!!

My kiddies were pirates. My 3 year old son wanted to be a pirate and of course INSISTED his little sister be a pirate too. She is 20 months and was also sick and GRUMPY and WHINEY. So yes, this is how they are at this age. And I thought MY mother AND MIL were sometimes crazy :)

Halloween was awesome this year! Last year my son Cash was only 4 months old so despite his adorableness as a Folsom Prison convict, he could have given two shits what was going on. This year he ran around in awe of the animatronic witch on display at my office, pointing and “Uh! Uh!”-ing at the pumpkins and lights and flying bats. Oh, and he was dressed in a green pepper costume with an Army name badge that said Sergeant Pepper. :)

I simply must know what brand your shoes are! They’re wonderful!

I love your site, it’s always good to read parenting from someone who’s human like the rest of us.

Kyle had the worst stomach virus ever combined with teething which made him in TOTAL NEED OF SOME DAMN THERAPY MY GOD, so he was a spider for all of 15 minutes.

Oh, also, our Halloween totally sucked ass because of the aforementioned virus.

I am totally digging the pumpkin eating a pumpkin. Will need to remember that for next year!

My four-year-old boy was Underdog. I thought we were doomed to illness as well when he actually asked to stop trick or treating because his tummy hurt. But then, he was fine.

Hope you are all well soon!

Cute pics! Your MIL sounds like my Mom and your entry has made me decide that, if I have kids, when she gets all “your child needs…” I’ll just say, “No, right now he’s just being an asshole.” :)

My MIL scolded me, when my daughter was almost 2, that she would never survive on her own, because I am so overprotective. WTH? Are 20-month old’s supposed to survive “on their own”? She’s a therapist.

We were Cinderella and a sleeping baby here. Couldn’t even muster the energy to put the baby in the hand-me-down costume for pictures. I suck.

Lumpyhead was Balloon Boy, Lula was Dora Being Abducted by an Alien (although she refused to wear the alien and was just Dora for most of the night), and Nathan Jr was King Kong.

Gnwe (18 months) was SuperGwen! Which was great, except people who didn’t know her assumed the “SG” logo my husband designed stood for “SuperGirl”. Hey, no offense to you, SuperGirl, but SuperGwen? Would KICK YOUR ASS.

Halloween was great – we had a clone trooper and Yoda (complete w/green snot of his own). They were pretty cute and had a great time.

I’m dying laughing over the MIL comment – was JB a perfectly adjusted 20 month old? Or has she just completely blocked it out – with counseling? I vividly remember that stage and fear entering it again (youngest just turned 1). 20-month olds can be assholes whether they are sick or not. But – I also remember that once the language started to catch up with the rage and ability to express it, things got a LOT better. Two was actually a lot of fun – here’s to hoping that the same happens for you and little D!

My 2 1/2 year-old daughter was a dinosaur. And I must admit, I loved that she had absolutely no interest in any princess or ballerina costumes or anything “girly” like that. Just a big green dinosaur. With wings. And claws. That’s my girl.

Also, LOVE the idea of sending your toddler to therapy. Can I send mine? She won’t poop on the potty, maybe there’s something Freudian going on there? Or, you know, maybe she’s just being two. Hard to say.

I’m going to go with….. it takes one to know one approach. Meaning…. that maybe MIL needs counceling… I know mine did. I probably had abou 30 kids…. some teenagers, who I only gave one piece of candy to each. They were at least polite. but I think toooooo old to be trickortreating. I didn’t have anybody to send out…..my granddaughter was dressed in a cute pumpkin outfit, but she is still in the hospital…. growing. So, maybe next year.

This too shall pass. Good Luck! And…. hide the candy…. from the MIL.

Ugh, what a horrible thing to say! When your child is sick it is exhausting for everyone and it makes your kid act like a really grumpy version of himself. And I think it can be really hard to keep that in perspective when you’re the one getting the full brunt of the child not feeling well and not sleeping well. So yes, you’d sort of hope the grandparents could see the situation for what it is and offer you some support!

I wonder if your mother in law suffers from the same sort of amnesia that makes women remember their pregnancies and labors as much easier than they probably were and their children as so much more angelic than they probably were! One and a half year olds can be tough and Dylan seems to be playing the sick child version of the role with gusto.

Our 3.5 year old daughter was an astronaut, and she (completely on her own) decided that her 5 month old sister should be an alien. It was adorable, really, although several houses that we stopped at automatically assumed she was a boy! Argh! She’s still a girl, even though she wasn’t wearing a tiara and fairy wings,

re: the MIL thing… unfortunately, it’s MY mother who is of the stereotypical mother-in-law variety, and while she might not suggest toddler counseling, she would certainly have offered some herbal supplements to “calm the tiger within” or have offered to attempt some wacka-doo naturopathic remedy. *sigh*.

Hope everyone at your house kicks the viral bug v.v. soon and that you can all get some decent sleep :)

I don’t know that the counseling thing is actually that insulting. I used to think the child pyschologist open hours at the daycare were ridiculous until I had friend after friend telling me how much it helped all different kind of issues, although things like anger issues related to new sibings or divorce/remarriage seem to be the most common. Apparently they never do more than two or three ‘sessions’ with a small child but people have said that it seems like having an outsider sit down and explain things to teh child and set out some rules has worked when the parent, saying the exact same words, has been completely ignored.

When I first read your MIL’s recommendation, my first response was, OMFG my son needs counseling for his anger issues as well then, because I swear, Oliver is your son’s brother from a different mother!

I’m happily consoled by others’ advice that “this too shall pass” although clearly not quickly enough!

I have been followingthi sthread for a while, Keep it going

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