Surviving Halloween

I meant to post right after Halloween to show the kids in their costumes. But to be honest, I needed a few days to recover. My visit to Violet's school for her Halloween party was not quite as empowering as my fun outing with her class for their farm field trip. The truth is, no matter how hard I try to find the positives at her school (and to be sure, there are many), having to send your kid to a special-needs school just, well, sucks. And even though the staff there are just amazing and infinitely kind and patient with the kids, and there is much about the school that gives you warm feelings, sometimes, it is just sad to be there.

Like on Halloween. You have all these preconceived images of kids dressed in their costumes, flitting from one classroom to the next, happily trick-or-treating while gathering candy. And while that was true for some of the kids (especially in the higher functioning preschool classes), many of them don't walk, let alone flit. And it's really hard to come up with good costumes that work in a wheelchair or a walker. Many of the kids don't talk, so it's not unusual to see them with buttons or switches they press for an automated voice that says "Trick or Treat." Even when they get the candy, some of the kids can't eat it because they have difficulty chewing or are fed by tubes.

So it's kind of a tough scene on Halloween. At least it was for me. But I'm still a newbie to this. I'm hoping I can catch up with some of the staff, who do an incredible job of carrying on and creating a fun atmosphere, regardless the circumstances.

Violet had fun. She was adorable in her Minnie Mouse costume. And she was mostly smiles while we cruised the hallways:

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And she enjoyed some of the class games:

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She was pretty exhausted by story time:

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And this is how she looked after the party. (I should have dressed her in a Sleeping Beauty costume.)

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Later, I got to Calvin's school just in time to see this smiling police officer marching in the parade:

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Notice the box of Dunkin' Donuts in his hand? He wasn't allowed to bring anything "resembling a weapon" to school, which is pretty much all of the equipment that goes with a cop costume. So we needed another prop. His dad made the run for emergency munchkins, and they really made the costume. (Plus they were really yummy later.)

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But Halloween wasn't over yet. Later that weekend, we decorated pumpkins:

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And later, we did a little more family trick-or-treating. And the smiles from this duo made me love Halloween again:

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