Seven years of Halloween

Don't try too hard to work it out. The numbers don't add up. The very first Halloween costume, when William was just a few months old, is missing. Missing because it was so lame. I dressed him as Santa Claus. In October. Because I left it until the very last minute to try and get a costume. And all the cute baby bees and peapods were gone. They were already wheeling out Christmas stuff. What did I know about Halloween back then? Ya, nothing. No Halloween where I come from. I've tried to make up for it though. Which is why we have a house full of costumes, Halloween or no. Spiderman was never actually used for trick or treating.
I think he may have worn it to a preschool party.

(Thank you to my friend Sara for the inspiration for this collage!) 

William, this is how it all began...

We took William to his first Springsteen show this week in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia.  We've waited a long time to do this. I've always been worried about his little ears with the noise and, more honestly, about his attention span. I schooled him all week long about how there'd be no leaving part way through for hotdogs/candy/popcorn/ice cream/play dates/trip to Toys R Us or fake toilet breaks. I'm hardcore. Once I'm in, I ain't leaving. He's been begging for years to be allowed to come see Bruce with me so I figured, ok, he's seven now, maybe it will be Just Fine. 

Many people take children much younger than this to see Bruce. They even bring them into The Pit. Now The Pit is seriously hardcore. You need some badass dedication for that. It means arriving several hours before they even open the doors to the arena to get your lottery wristbands. If you win the lottery to get into the pit, you line up and go in about three hours before show time to stake your place in front of the stage. You stay there. Then the actual show is upwards of three hours long itself. It's a test of endurance that's always repaid a thousand times over but how on earth do you do this with a small child? After Tuesday night, I can honestly say I have no clue. 

All I can think is that these children must be made of stronger stuff than ours. Twenty minutes in he began asking whether Bruce was almost done. Ten minutes later he was out for the count, curled up in his seat where he proceeded to sleep through the next three hours of relentless, LOUD rock and roll. (No need to call child welfare services, he was wearing quality ear protection.)

Several times Bruce came over and looked at him with a cute 'what tha heck?!' expression on his face. It was my first show in an actual seat in forever since I tend to favor the aforementioned grueling pit experience. It's definitely a different perspective from a seat but our seats were particularly spectacular (thank you so much Miss Holly).  

Despite our sleeping child, we had an awesome night. It was very special to have Joe there with me again. We caught up with some great friends (and relatives!), experienced an amazing show in a great town and, speaking for myself, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. 

(So, see you on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Bruce!) 

Walking to the John Paul Jones arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. William is headed for his first ever Bruce concert. Joe is heading for his 301st, give or take, but his first in seven years. Don't ask.
  

William and Mommy in the E Street Lounge before the show.
Special guests of the band. Too much fun. And too much popcorn.
And possibly a little too much beer. They really
 should not serve alcohol to minors.

In our fabulous seats. If you have to have a seat,
 these were definitely the seats to have.
So many thanks to our good friend Holly who made it happen. 

Lights out. Let's get this party started... You can see William already has a look of trepidation on
his face. He was very disappointed to discover they were not
 selling Bruce 'dolls' at the merchandise stand. 

When I said 'lights out',  I did not mean it quite like this. 

The man without whom none of this would be possible.
He is forever and always an integral player in my Kingdom of Days. 

My boys

Testing out my fab new camera on our walk tonight. I do believe I will have to take some kind of four year university degree course in order to be able to use it properly. But this is just some messing and fumbling around trying to figure out what's what. 

Orr's Farm Market field trip

We had a gorgeous day for our second grade field trip to Orr's Farm Market today. Wagon rides and buffalo and apple orchards and a picnic lunch with some great kids, teachers and friends.

Above: Seriously, they made us put on these caps to tour the

apple factory.  Thank God for the dark shades. No one

will ever recognise us now.  Right: If I ever see that 

photo on facebook there'll be big trouble.   

Sexy and I know it...

William: "Mommy, I've made up a new song. Wanna hear it?"
Me: "Sure!"
William: (to the tune of  'if you're happy and you know it...') "If you're sexy and you know it clap your hands, if you're sexy and you know it clap your hands...'
Me: "Um. What does sexy mean?"
William: "You don't know what it means?"
Me: "I think I know what it means but I want to hear what you think it means."
William: "It means wealthy. It means you are VERY wealthy."

Well ok then. We might just
go with that for now. And I'll add it to the growing list of things I
probably should have explained
right away but decided not to because his interpretations were
just so stinking cute.

That's one tooth gone...

Today my baby lost his first tooth. It happened at school and the nurse gave him a little tooth shaped container to put it in. I had to pretend to be excited for him because he's been waiting for this day for such a long time. All his friends have lost many teeth already and here he is 7 years and three months old and still with all his baby teeth. Of course, I'm not really happy about it. It's just another sign of time passing way too quickly for me. (Yes, I am that mother who continued to wedge her baby into his bassinet long after he actually, you know, fit into it.)

Anyway, you may depend I will be keeping this tooth and any others that dare to fall out. I've made a deal with the tooth fairy. She will not be taking that tooth back to her little tooth fairy garden. Just leave the cash lady and flutter on your merry way.