An early start...

It's school day #4. B has done so much wonderful stuff in the first 3 days that I'm ready for some "normalcy", but no... By 8:00 this morning we had already accomplished three (relatively :) amazing things today. The first was that B didn't freak out when he slept right through to the alarm this morning. B has come to depend on the hour before his official wake-up time of 7:00 am as "his" time, & though he can't do just anything he wants (he's expected to keep the noise down so parental units can get their beauty sleep...), he can watch tv, play a computer game with the headphones on, or lego very quietly. Mostly, I think he just needs time to adjust to the day, & whenever he's slept right up to the alarm before, he's gotten very angry about his lost time. Today, however, he sat tousel-headed in bed & said "wow, I really had a good sleep!" I got his clothes out & handed them to him as he sat there quietly. As soon as he looked me in the face he began telling me about a new character he's created named "chip", who is a computer companion to another of his characters. C had mentioned last evening after B went to bed that chip was the main topic of conversation after dinner (I went to a school meeting & arrived home just in time to read to B at bedtime). I was able to gently interrupt the flow of information about chip & ask B to get dressed for school & he happily complied as I left the room. Wow! No yells & self-recriminations for sleeping too long!

Next, as B was making his toast, I gently broached the idea of wearing his new raincoat to school. B had basically outgrown his old raincoat last spring, but there was something about the new one that freaked him out. It was different than the old one, which was a medium-blue slicker-type, unlined with a beaked hood. Land's End standard... except that LE changed the style last spring... so I bought the navy-blue one with a sweatshirt-grey lining (a plus, to my mind, since it'll be warmer), that has more of a hoodie profile than a slicker profile. B took one look at it last spring & refused to even consider wearing it, & wouldn't say why except that it "triggered bad thoughts". Big sigh. I try very hard to be aware of B's clothes preferences when buying him stuff. He grows so fast that it seems as if he's just gotten accustomed to one lot when we're on to the next. I try to buy similar styles (on sale, when I can) so that he'll be emotionally comfortable with them. B shows no interest yet in taking an active part in choosing his clothes, so I'm doing what I can here. It was pretty infuriating to have him reject a brand new coat out of hand... but my better nature took over (deeeep breath) & I just put the coat away & he went back to struggling into the outgrown one. Well, it's raining this morning, so I decided: new school year= new coat (maybe?). I mentioned matter-of-factly as he was buttering his toast that he had outgrown his old raincoat & that his new one, although still blue, is a little different. I said that I liked the fact that it has a hoodie-type lining because it'll be softer & warmer. B asked if it was shiny... & as I thought of an answer, he said "well, I guess it has to be, if it's going to be waterproof." I agreed, then showed it to him. Actually, it has a matte surface, which pleased him quite a bit. Another deep sigh of relief... & my kid wore his new raincoat to school.

Over breakfast I was leafing through the latest JoAnn Fabrics flyer & B saw Halloween costumes on the back. I mentioned that we're going to have to get started on his costume soon. We had idly discussed this before, but nothing conclusive. I have made B's costumes since day 1 & he has come to expect a lot... As he's gotten older it's been hard to find a costume that he wants to wear that would be recognisable to the rest of the world, though. He often wants to dress as the characters he creates in his head. When B was younger he dressed-up as various characters all the time, but as he's gotten older he's gotten shyer about dress-up & Halloween has become his main venue for it (sadly, because I really miss it!). C & I have tried to steer him toward recognisable characters because B has found it's not much fun to go trick-or-treating & no-one knows who you are (in our neighbourhood they ask...). B found this out when he dressed as Jedi twice (when he was 5 & 7), but these were off-years for the films & he had to keep telling people who he was ("I'm Qui Gon as a Padawan!"). Last year we managed to pull-off a coup when we came upon the idea of dressing as Sherlock Holmes. This really caught his imagination & everybody knew who he was. So... at breakfast this morning his first idea was to dress as his new character "chip", but I reminded him that nobody would know who he was. The he thought Inspecter Clouseu of Pink Panther fame would be good, but I was leery of this idea. B has never seen the movies & only knows the theme music & that the Inspector is a bumbler. I prefer that B know what he's getting into if he's going to dress up as someone & I told him so. The he thought maybe a pokemon- I could make him a Pikachu suit! Well, I probably could (I once made him a "techno-gerbil" suit for dress-up... you had to be there, I guess). But I was uncomfortable with the possibility of the kids teasing him for wearing something that a little kid might wear. I explained that this sort of suit is what people expect younger kids to wear & that I didn't want him to set himself up for teasing. OK, there's a part of me that says "why not Pikachu? B likes Pikachu & it might make him happy to dress-up as him." But there's another part of me that is very aware that B is getting older & bigger & it will not help him socially to dress like a little kid, & in fact might end up hurting him. B seemed to understand what I was getting at & decided against the Pikachu suit... And then it hit him... he could dress as a spy like Ck (his college-bound friend) does! I asked B if he wanted to be a surveillance spy or a "man-in-black-type" & he decided surveillance. He has loads of spy gear collected over the past few years, so it'll be pretty easy to dress him in black pants & turtleneck & then drape him with equipment. B was elated to have figured it out. I was delighted that he was pleased & had made a choice.

And all before 8:00 am... :)