Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Birthday to My Kid

My son turns five today. This makes me incredibly happy, not only because he's turning five and I haven't accidentally left him anywhere yet, but also because he happens to celebrate this momentous occasion on what we all know is my absolute favorite holiday. This makes me go squee, because I now have an excuse to humiliate him for years to come. (As if I need an excuse.) When he is a teenager and I am in my 40s, I shall dress up as Smurfette the American Gladiator at his birthday party and embarrass the heck out of him.

Because if Smurfette could hold her own in a village full of Smurfdudes, then she should have no problem with the other gladiators.

And the year after that, I'll be Posh Spice Claus (ho ho HO!). And the year after THAT, I'll be a zombie tooth fairy. (Teeeeeeth!) And the year after THAT...

Maybe I should stop. So many costume ideas, so little time.

Anyway, you might be feeling bad for my kid right now, because of all of the pre-planned humiliation he has in store for him, but he can definitely hold his own. At Halloween last year, he decided that THIS year, he was going to be Ghost Rider and he wanted me to light his head on fire, but with pretend fire that wouldn't burn. He followed this up with a request to be Billy Idol, which I was actually in full support of, except that son's favorite Idol video is "The Cradle of Love." It's the one with the semi-nude girl that dances around on the bed.

He doesn't care about her clothing. He just thinks it's cool that she gets to jump on the bed and no one yells at her. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Anyway, I really didn't want him to be telling his teacher and all of his schoolmates about that. It was bad enough a couple of years ago when my brother-in-law was still smoking, and son went to preschool, stuck a stick in his mouth, and proceeded to "smoke" it. All the other parents LOVED me for that one.

Son changed his mind about his costume at least once a week, and this started the week after Halloween LAST year. So that's approximately 50 costume ideas that we went through. At first, I was amused by this, and then somewhere around idea 25 or so I started to get frustrated. But then, I realized how much like me he is, with his whole Halloween obsession and all. So maybe, just maybe, when I dress up as Scarlet O'Hairdresser, he won't be so humiliated. Maybe he will think it is as cool as I do.

He is my kid, after all.

22 comments:

Rachel Hawkins said...

Happy birthday to YOUR Small Son! Ah, isn't it fun having Halloween babies? All the years of crazy costumes and abject humiliation... Of course, I've always said that at least I can A) pay for my kid's future therapy, and B) when he goes to said therapy, all he'll have to say is "My mom is a writer," and BAM! Lifetime prescription to Lexapro at his disposal!

ETA: My word verification was "Crumph." This is my new favorite word of all time. I am working on a definition as we speak!

Unknown said...

Happy Halloween Birthday Boy!

Hope you have an awesome day, Carrie!

Vikki said...

Awww...Happy Birthday to your little dude! And, OMG, he wanted to be Billy Idol for Halloween? He is forever earned a place on my "coolest kids ever in the history of time" list. (My son being at the top of the list for humoring me when I tried to teach him the robot.)

Aaron Polson said...

Happy birthday and All Hallow's Even.

Billy Idol - that's priceless.

Jamie Eyberg said...

Happpppy Birthday!he celebrates it in good company with my Grandpa.

Tiny T said...

He gets it honestly :) Happy Birthday to him and Happy Halloween to the whole family!!

Cate Gardner said...

YAY! Happy Birthday to your Kid - and what a cool day to have a birthday on. I bet you forced him out on Oct 31st on purpose. :)

Tabitha said...

How cool!! My birthday is in October, but not on Halloween. You have no idea how many times I wanted to just change it when I was a kid. :)

My five year old shares a holiday too, but it's the 4th of July. Also not bad, but not quite as cool as Halloween.

Happy Birthday to your son!

Carrie Harris said...

Rachel: It's fun for US, anyway. :) You'll have to give me the crumph definition when you get it. Because you're right; that word rocks!

Jeremy: Why thanks! You too!

Vivi: Yeah. One of his favorite things to do is dance around in his Batman underwear singing "Rebel Yell." We have it on video. ;)

Aaron: Happy Halloween to you too!

Jamie: Well, happy birthday to your grandpa too. Which is totally meaningless to him, but seemed nice to say.

Tiny T: Happy Halloween to you too, sunshine.

Cate: I absolutely did. I was induced on October 30th and held on until 2 AM just so he could be born on Halloween. ;)

Tabitha: I like having holiday babies. My girls are Thanksgiving. If we have another, I'm thinking maybe Groundhog Day. Or April Fools.

K.C. Shaw said...

Happy birthday to the boy! Remind him that the whole country is celebrating his birthday tonight, with candy!

sruble said...

Happy Birthday to your son! I am soooo jealous of his Halloween birthday. Mine is on Sunday, and I've always wished I had been born 2 days earlier!

Smurfette the American Gladiator and the Zombie Tooth Fairy? I really need to get back to that kind of thinking, and soon. I've been way too serious for way too long (cue lots of laughter and snarfing from my husband, but really, he has no idea of the hilarity that could ensue if I got back to my silly roots).

I like Scarlett O'Hairdresser too.

Soooo, what is the final verdict on costumes for you, your son, and anyone else in your house that's dressing up? I've read so many fun costume ideas for you that I'm not sure if any of them are really going to happen, are they? I hope so, and pictures too :)

Happy Halloween! I hope it's hauntingly fun! (yes, I know that was cheesy, but it's the only time of year I can get away with saying it.)

PJ Hoover said...

Happy birthday to your son! And have fun in that Smurfette costume!

Kelly Polark said...

Hee! Love the mini Billy Idol! When he trick or treated, he could have rebel yelled, "Trick or treat," gotten the candy, then sang, "He cried more, more, more."
Have a smurftastic Halloween!

Adrienne said...

Happy Birthday to your son! My son was due on Halloween, but I was happy he arrived a few days early. We like to spread out our celebrations.
Have fun with all the festivities!

Scillius Maximus said...

Last I heard it was Superman. But I think he should go as Superfly. A bug like stronger than steel hero who can rap and will use his gold chains only for good.

Hanna Banana said...

Aaaah, hope he has a good birthday!! I love the zombie toothfairy idea. My nine year old finally decided last night that he was a zombie soldier (just because the camo make up looked too much like baby poo and wiping it off did NOT help the look he was going for). I told my daughter she looked more like a Vampire Geisha than a "pretty" vampire. I got a dirty look for that one. On the whole holiday babies thing, my oldest is a New Year's baby. It was so much "fun" to go into labor at the New Year's Eve party, not to have the first baby born in that hospital that day and, AND about twelve hours too late to get to claim him on my taxes.. :)

Anonymous said...

How fun to have your birthday on Halloween. I love the costume ideas - so funny! :)

Fox Lee said...

Deviled eggs create little monsters, I suppose ; )

Elizabeth said...

Hey I have a 5 year old son too. Aren't they SO COOL at this age??
I love him to smithereens too.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Yeah, hope it's just the jumping on the bed without getting into trouble that has him so fascinated. :)

He is only five....

Do we get to see pictures of costumes????

Hope your Halloween was great!

Keri Mikulski said...

Happy Birthday to your son!!!

Have an amazing day! :)

Brenda said...

Happy belated birthday to your son...

I have a feeling if he is just like you, then when you dress up like Scarlett O'Hairdresser he will all ready be dressed like Batman's eyebrows or something just as cool as his mom's outfit...grin...