Brock-a-doodle-doo!!

Oh how I enjoy Halloween. Perhaps because of my theatrical inclination. More likely the appeal originated with my mom's amazing sewing feats in my childhood that allowed Jake and I to put ourselves centerpiece in our imaginations. I hope Brock will have the same experience. I think he likes it so far.

No, Brock wasn't caught lying about poopy pants, that is a beak going for a pre-event test run. I think that was the longest he ever wore it.

We acquired some educational material to help facilitate the understanding of Halloween's cultural practices. "Poultrygeist" was the perfect find, as it got him quite excited about being a rooster. "Boo" was/is such a hit I am actually regretting checking it out.

We're men! We're men in tights! He, in fact, loved his tights so much he slept in them later.

 

Ah the time has come! We first went to Boo-Palooza, an annual event in our Wicker Park Neighborhood. Here we are suiting up. 

Rowdy Rooster commences.

Brock-a-doodle-doo!!

We went as farmers to support our little chicken hawk.

The morning of Boo-Palooza was a rain out. A wonderful 65 degrees, but too wet for feathers. We darted into a local spot for bloody marys before the sun broke the showers.

Roosters love corn!


and to prove it...

A farmer inspects the seasonal yield. 

He loved this cat! He's on kind-of a cat kick. We asked him what his favorite animal was yesterday and he said cat.

 

Brock got to pick out a pumpkin and decorate it with stickers. He made Murray, naturally.

 

The next day we hit the Logan Park parade with friends Sarah and Miles, little Maeve and baby James. The fact that we have no photos of them or the event is disappointing but not surprising with our ongoing track record.

 

Damn hippie chickens!

  Based on our earlier encounters, Brock directly associated the rooster costume with candy. This became problematic. On this particular outing to the parade, there was no candy. After some frustration, we were persuaded to go "trick-or-treating" at a nearby Walgreens. And all was well. Thank you peanut butter M&M's.

Halloween day is the only day we are allowed to take pictures in music class, so I was happy to get a good group shot with our teacher Little Miss Ann. We are not allowed food or candy in class, so another day of candy/rooster association that was met with a foul foul. At one moment Brock interrupted the tune and the class with a deeply emotional wail of "caaaannnndyyyy!!!!". Gawd. It was a long class that day. Luckily, I came prepared with the before mentioned peanut butter M&M's ready when we got downstairs.

This year we harassed our good friends Phuc and Sherry to host a trick-or-treating party in the burbs. They agreed and ourselves and the Focklers headed inland to partake of doorbells and sweets.

The weather was not so good. I rigged his rooster to accommodate a raincoat.

Carrying the umbrella trumped candy bucket. Let me clarify, empty candy bucket.

Brock was quite tentative in the beginning; after a demo from Jonas he was all set to say the magic words.

Trick-or-Treat!

He got the hang of it quickly.

The master at work.

Another super fun year. I am going to take as much advantage of him not having an opinion about his costume for as long as possible. Maybe one more year? Please? I have big dreams...