Halloween Weekend !

Woo... I'm still recuperating from all the fun of Halloween weekend, but I've recovered just enough to get back to blogging.

So.. the best of Halloween this year was that it was a full blown three day weekend. This year, instead of being the haunted house in our neighborhood, we decided it was time for Bratexander the Great's first Trick or Treating experience.

We kicked off the weekend at Central Park's Pumpkin Festival. Boy were we glad that this was a rain or shine event. It SNOWED. And good lord did all that snow look lovely in the park. Punky got a handful of pictures, but it was on a borrowed camera so we'll have to wait a while before we can post them up. We each got to pick out a small pumpkin for free, and got goody bags from Radio Disney. There were stickers, candy and lots of other goodies. We also met one of the park's rangers who talked all about the wildlife that could be seen there throughout the year. Best of all, the had a haunted house. This was of course Bratexander's first one ever. It was so good we did it twice... which then sort of became the norm for the weekend.

The next day we went to The Ghoul Pool right here in The Bronx. This was the pool house at Van Cortland Park which was transformed into an awesome haunted house. There were two separate sections so that families could choose to avoid the more scary part if they needed to. We all did the whole thing, and The Brat was a champ almost to the end. Instead of actors jumping out at him being the scary part, the scary part wound up being jello brains. They had that spooky guessing game where you blindly touch gross things. That seemed to be what messed with him the most. But, he got yet another goody bag and some candy, so all was well in the end.

On actual Halloween day we wound up trick or treating in TriBeCa, and Chelsea, before hitting up yet another haunted house and even a haunted forest.

The best part? All of the above adventures were free. Also.. Alex learned a thing or two about courage, lying, and facing his fears.

Bratexander the Great is a very sensitive child. So much so that once upon a time when he was a little younger, people couldn't laugh in his presence without him going into a tizzy thinking that they were laughing at him. Sooo.. parenting him is all about walking a very fine line. I believe that people should be allowed to be sensitive. I believe that boys should be able to cry without shaming. Yadda, yadda. On the other hand I also believe in making children strong, teaching them about having a backbone, etc. I don't think that the walks are mutually exclusive. So, yes he can be sensitive, and cry if his feelings are hurt, but he can also be a self secure boy, who knows how to let some things roll off his back.

The haunted houses turned out to be good teaching tools. At first he tried to lie about not being scared. When confronted about this, he got very upset, but then he grew a pair and decided he wanted to go through the haunted house again. So we did, and he was very brave about it and this time, he could honestly say that he wasn't scared. I hope that it's a lesson that stays with him.

Annnnnndd.... Now..Satan and his family are on the phone, so my thoughts are lost. Till the next blogging episode!

-Angelwick