Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Jack in the Box



This is a picture of Dear Son as a Jack in the Box. At this point, I started using the wheelchair as part of the costume. This opened a world of possibilites however it was the last Halloween costume I made since Dear Son was in the hospital after that and then he got too old. One of the last costumes I wanted to do was to have him as an army guy in a Hummer and to build the Hummer over the wheelchair.

I would love to make costumes for kids in the hospital. Some of the costumes I'd like to make are a fireman in a fire truck (complete with a wooden ladder, bell and dalmation) with the fire truck fitting over the wheelchair, an astronaunt in a rocket and for a girl, a princess in a castle where the castle would fit over the wheelchair. I'd love to make these costumes for the kids and then if they are in the hospital on Halloween, the Child Life department could allow the kids to select the costumes and then take a picture of the child for Halloween in the costume of their choice. I am not a real crafty person but I'd like to think I have an awful lots of costumes that I could create.

It is more difficult when you child is disabled and in a wheelchair at Halloween because you can't go trick or treating in the traditional way. When the child doesn't speak, you can't have them say "Trick or Treat" and they often can't hold the bucket nor can they even eat the candy, assuming of course, you would let your child eat it to begin with. I took him a few times to show off his costumes, which is really what it's all about and hooked up his communication device to the foot of his wheelchair. He could then take his foot and hit the communication device to say, "Trick or Treat". It's never really about the act of trick or treating but about having experiences as a parent or a mother that is normal and typical. There are so many times when you'd just like to be normal and do things like other mothers or have your children do things like the other kids. As the mother of a special needs child, everything is always a lot more difficult.

I had so much fun creating all of these costumes. The inspiration was my best friend in grade school. At that time, we would go home for lunch and come back in our Halloween costumes. Her mother always made exceptional costumes for her and sometimes, they were so good she was totally unrecognizable when she returned. I decided I wanted to be the mother who made the cool costumes. It turned out, it was a fun way to celebrate Dear Son.

Now that he's too old.....I've been thinking about the cat. The cat's only five years old. I made two costumes over the years, the Cat in the Hat (with the cat sitting in the hat) and made a Batman costume due to the cat's coloring. He didn't like the second one. But I could also do, "Cat's in the Cradle" or "Catsup and Mustard" with the cat sitting in half of a catsup bottle (I would make the catsup and mustard bottles plus I have a Munchkin cat that's only seven pounds so he'd look cute) and have the catsup and mustard bottle on a red gingham tablecloth. Hmmm,.....I could take these pictures and make them into Halloween postcards......

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW DM, you are one creative gal...not only in your writing but your home decor and costumes. How blessed we are that you share your world with us. Thanks...

Anonymous said...

Great Costume Dream Mom! It's amazing what you can do with a card board box isn't it. My youngest son was also a Jack in the Box one year and his older brother was a Transformer. I really like the army guy in the Hummer idea--very cool.
It took a long time for my son who is disabled to grasp the whole concept of Trick or Treating. When he finally did he was almost too old but because he was small far his age we went a few extra years and he really enjoyed himself. You do need to have those typical experiences--you really do. But to have them you also have to do a lot more planning and adapting than the average mom. I love your costume ideas--file those away-- maybe someday you might get to use them.

Dream Mom said...

Thanks, anonymous, that was nice.

Zoe-You are so right about the age thing. By the time they finally grasp the concept or can do many things, they are too old for them. And the planning and adapting is a lot of work. I think the one thing a lot of us Mom's of special needs kids could use if for things to be "easier". Nearly every thing we do is a lot of work.

I know for the Halloween costumes, I would always dress up Dear Son the weekend before Halloween just so I could take my time and get some good pictures. This was the day before digital phots so I would take a whole roll of film of him hoping to get one or two good photos of him. That way, on Halloween morning, I could relax and just get him off to school and not worry about trying to take pictures before the school bus came. With normal kids, you wouldn't have to do that, you could just take their pictures and you are done!

Anonymous said...

How absolutely beautiful! I've sent the link to a few friends who work in our Childrens Hospital. I'm somewhat crafty, and own an amazing sewing machine.... I've made little "hood" costumes for the play trunk at the hospital... but this... THIS IS AMAZING! Here is hoping we can run with your beautiful ideas and make Halloween a big hit this coming October...
Thank you so much for sharing. I think this can count for paying it forward? I just recently got around to viewing that movie =)

Mete said...

I LOVE these costumes. So creative! Ethan has just outgrown those Old Navy one-piece zip-up things. I'm really curious what I'll come up with fromnow on. I could take a page from my cousin's annual costume - every year he's a farmer (jeans and a t-shirt).

I know what you mean about the pictures too. Every Christmas I would take two or three rolls of Ethan trying to get ONE good picture. So much waste. Thank goodness for digital cameras. Now I take 200 pictures and just delete the 199 that came out bad. :)

Cathy said...

I think there is not anything you can't do!

Dream Mom said...

Anon 10:46 I am glad this gave you some ideas. One costume I always wanted to do for a girl was the Morton Salt girl. I'll be anxious to see some of the costumes you come up with. Be sure to share them. My e-mail is in my profile.

Mete-LMAO at the 199 pictures. All you need is one good picture and that you will have forever which makes it worthwhile! We all want good pictures of our kids. There is nothing wrong with that. As for Halloween, start thinking about what you'd like to make now. I always tried to pick costumes that went with Dear Son's body type and disabilities-for example, the tin man worked because he was thin and the jack in the box worked because he couldn't sit up very well; on the flip side, a tin soldier wouldn't have worked at all because he wasn't stiff. Let me know what you come up with.

Cathy-Thanks.

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