Tuesday, November 1, 2011

You "Say Trick or Treat", I Say "Give Me The Candy Or I'll Pinch You!"

So today is Halloween, the scariest day of the year. This is the day ghosts will rise from their graves, zombies will stagger through the streets and the horseman continues on the hunt for his elusive head. Yes, all things spooky and creepy will be lurking in the shadows tonight. And if that doesn't send shivers down your spine, then how about this....Camryn will be out amongst the masses! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Ah yes, Halloween. It is a favorite time of year around our house and has been for the last ten years. It is Mason's holiday of choice, her most beloved day on the calendar. I don't know what began her fascination for it, but ever since she was a toddler she has loved anything spooky, which I wasn't sure whether to laugh at or be very concerned. I have to say I did veer more towards the latter when at age six I bought her a rubber vampire doll she wanted and she slept with it at night like a twisted teddy bear. But hey, she's an artist and a writer, and we are kinda out there. Every year we make it a point to visit ZooBoo, a Halloween celebration at our local zoo. It has grown to become a family favorite and we rearrange calendars and decline lesser invites to make sure we can attend. As I have written before, ZooBoo with Cam's is interesting. She has done fairly well all in all, but there have been the occasional random pinching of strangers and blood curdling meltdowns. I just pretend we're part of the show and move along. This past year was no exception and except for a pinching episode that literally left my moms arm in bruises, no innocent bystanders were injured.
Last year, we added a Halloween party to our calendar of ghastly events. Mason started planning it in December no lie, so yeah, she was kind of excited. Brad and I decorated the inside and outside of the house, there was a spooky tunnel in the backyard with strobe lights, fog and creepy sounds. There were games and food and it was a blast. Camryn did pretty good, but again, there is always an incident and that year was no exception. This years party was even better than last. Maybe it's because Mason started planning even earlier, as in the morning after the last one ended. The spooky tunnel was back, we added some more games and I wowed even myself with my culinary concoctions. I hand carved a melon to look like a brain. It looked amazing, so what if I have carpal tunnel now...haha. I baked two crescent roll "snakes" stuffed with meat and cheese,then decorated them with food coloring. I made ranch dip with a carrot "hand" complete with slivered almond fingernails sticking out of it and hot dogs wrapped in dough to look like mummies. Then there was the "mud" pie, covered in Oreo "dirt" and crawling with gummy worms, which was a big hit with the kids. I made "bat" wings, "swamp juice" punch with gummy worm ice cubes and a seven layer dip that was sinfully delicious! Mason was so excited to have a new friend from school join the party this year and her friend had a great time, except for having to escape from Camryn, who was always within a five foot radius from her, looming in the shadows like a mini Michael Myers. She had pinched a couple kids already and you could see them running through the house screaming, but hey, it's a Halloween party right? It was kind of like a 3-D party game. Everyone survived with all parts in tact and Mason proclaimed it the "best party ever!" so all in all it was a success!

Tonight is trick-or-treating, and as always it will be an endeavor. The neighorhood we live in is famous for it's Halloween display. They go all out, I mean alllll out with spectacular decorations, hand spinning cotton candy on their front porches and even blocking off streets,lining them with torches and putting on shows. Two years ago they did a scene from Wizard of Oz and strung a cable across the street from one roof to another. A woman dressed up as the Wicked Witch and stood on the second story terrace of her home shrieking "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!" while fire blasted up behind her and a flying monkey "flew" over our heads on the cable. This is not your ordinary trick or treat experience. We of course love it and Mason, well you can't smack the smile off her face as we wander up and down the streets taking it all in. Natalie loves it as well, although she is not quite as fond of all things spooky as her older sister, but I gotta give the girl credit. For five years old she is pretty stinking brave. But then again, she is Camryn's sister and ain't nothing scarier than an autistic eight year old who is frustrated beyond words (pun intended) on the rampage. So I guess you could say she's been through the boot camp. Now Camryn, she loves it all as well. She doesn't get scared of a bloodied head or a warted up witch in her face. In fact, when we went to Zoo Boo this year, there was a person dressed up in an oversized witch costume and Camryn went right up to her, grabbed her hand and said "Hiiiiiiii baby witch, she's a good girl. I wanna give him a hug." I about peed my pants, it was so cute! So,for Cam's the fear factor really isn't. But autistic kids can be very sensitive to large amounts of stimulus and even for the most even keeled folk, tonight's trick or treating surroundings could shake them up a bit. Camryn get's super excited about the most mundane things, biting her hand and tweaking her face so tight her eyes sometimes disappear. So when she is in the midst of all the craziness that we will be in tonight, it is like she is in a constant seizure, tweaking and hand biting away. Don't get me wrong, she loves it, but it is alot for her to process and not being able to verbalize it must be painfully frustrating. And by painfully frustrating I mean frustrating for her and painful for anyone within her reach. The whole city knows about our neighborhoods Halloween extravaganza and they literally bus people in to take part, so as you can imagine, it is pretty crowded. Ok, insanely crowded. And I don't mind a crowd, but when you're pulling a human crab in a wagon, crowds can be a bad thing, a very bad thing. And I know, it's Halloween, so if somebody get's pinched well, those darn goblins!! But Cam is going to be Cinderella and everybody knows Cinderella doesn't pinch. Maybe I should change her costume up a bit and she can be "Sinderella" or better yet "Break-the-Skinderella". Ha ha, then I could tell people she's just immersed in character. What usually ends up happening and what will probably happen tonight is there will be about six adults with us and the three girls. Brad will pull Cam in the wagon, I will stay on one side of her and another adult will cover the other. The remaining adults will keep watch on Mace and Nat who can go up to the houses by themselves and then I or Brad will walk Cam up to trick or treat, making sure both hands are accounted for. Every now and then one slips and she gets in a quick pinch to which I look at the crying kid and pissed off parent and say jokingly "Ummmm, trick?"
She makes it about two blocks and then we can tell she has had enough so Brad takes her home and the girls and I and the rest of our group carry on in search of more sugar. It is always a fun time and I have to say some of my fondest memories are the ones made on this ghoulish night.

It's 2:30 and I need to start laying the kids costumes out. Mason is going to be a dalmatian, Nat is a witch and Cam I already told you is Cinderella. Not the traditional princess, but hey, that stories been told a million times. The main idea is still the same. It's all about knowing when to leave. Cinderellas coach turned into a pumpkin and that was supposed to be some tragedy, but in our version Cinderella herself turns into something way scarier than a squash led by mice. Brothers Grimm got nothing on the Sisters Walker!

So here goes nothin'! Another Halloween with Cam's. I am definitely scared and could really use my fairy godmother right about now. I don't need a sparkling gown or a fancy updo, and I sure as heck don't need any glass slippers, I mean really...glass shoes? No, I'll be quite content with just a dash of calm, a sprinkle of ease and a big ole dusting of Bippity Boppity BOO!!! Happy Halloween!!!

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