Picking a costume

When Halloween was mentioned this year and Spencer was asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, he adamantly said, "I want to be nothing!"  I thought maybe it was just that day, but I asked him a few days later and a few days after that and he still had the same answer. I tried showing him pictures of costumes of his favorite characters. Nope. "Nothing!"  I even tried asking him, "Well, what are you going to do about trick or treating?  People won't give you candy if you don't dress up. That's the fun of it!"  He thought for a moment and said, "You can go get it for me!"  Uhhh, not!

I just knew his M.O. (Method of Operation)... He was going to refuse until the day of trick or treating, then see everyone in their costumes and want to dress up. I would be out of options because living in Germany if you want a costume, you have to order it online, make it yourself or choose from the meager leftovers that have been picked through at our local American store... which didn't have a great selection to begin with and you run the risk of being dressed like every other little kid there. Germany doesn't really celebrate Halloween, they have their own dress up celebration in February (it's called Fasching and is right along with Carnivale & Mardi Gras), although some do celebrate it and some stores are starting to carry costumes in October... it's just not really the same selection if he insisted on being something specific.

In my mind I kept thinking, well he just won't get to dress up. He'll have to learn his lesson. But in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn't be that strict when it came to Halloween.  I had people give me some great ideas of costumes you can make out of stuff from home and keep in the car just in case... Superheroes, a businessman, wear his lederhosen from last year, so I was already starting to plan what I was going to do.

One day, the day Brian and I were shopping for costumes for our own Murder Mystery party, Spencer out of nowhere says, "Okay, mom. I'll dress up. I'll be a train conductor."  Normal people would think overalls and and a cap, but no... I already knew that he would have nothing to do with that look. He was going to want to be a Thomas the Train conductor, who wore blue button down suits with proper hats and black boots.  I thought, "there's no way..."  When what to my wondering eyes did appear, "Brian pulled out a police costume and right away Spencer said, "A train conductor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Bingo.  And there you have it.  He wanted to wear it every day since. You'll see the logos I quickly last minute printed out from the computer and stuck on there to cover the police logo. I think it turned out quite awesome actually!