A Halloween Scare

It's October and Jude's coming over, let's go to the Halloween store and have a little scare. 

"Hey Jude, do you want to go to the Halloween store?" 

"Yeaaaahhh," he responds with a big smile. "It's going to be so spooky." 

"It is going to be so spooky," I agree. "Let's go."

A giant, orange windsock man dances outside of the store. "Grammy," asks Jude with wide eyes. "What's that?" He points. "That's the Halloween man," I explain. This in itself is enough fun for Jude but I coax him toward the door. I open it and he sees a large, jumping spider. He freezes as he considers it. "Can I pet it?" he asks. "Sure," I say, as I hear other customers remark on how some kids are so brave and others just cry and scream as soon as they come through the door. I'm proud of him.

The Halloween store is extreme for a 3 year old. It's a bit much for a Grammy too. I did consider the witch here, whose lamp was lit with the souls of little children, but we decided she was too scary for Grandpa.

"Hey, Jude. Stand by that werewolf and I'll take your picture." He is cautious but willing. He scrunches up his shoulders and starts easing himself in backwards toward the wolf. Notice in the photo the box that says Jumping Cat?  Notice on the floor the mat that says, Step Here? Yeah, Grammy didn't notice that and Jude eased right onto that square and the cat sprang out and screeched at him. I can still hear Jude's bloodcurdling scream, which makes me a little ashamed to be laughing, still, when I think of it. 

The cat put him off his game and he was unnerved for the rest of the visit. "Hold me, Grammy?" Oh my gosh, of course I will, honey.  I was happy to see that once he felt safe again, he was looking for the next scare. There seemed to be a chamber of ghastly beings, so we found the kids area.  "It's not scary in here," I assured him.

He's a boy. He found the weapons. "Can I have swords, Grammy?" Grammy grimaces. "No, I don't think Mommy wants you to have swords." Mommy wouldn't mind the swords, but we're still on foam swords, not hard plastic swords. 

Thrills are cheap in the kids area, we did find a hairy rat. He picked a Thomas the Tank Engine Halloween bucket. But there's shrieking just around the corner and that's pretty darn interesting.

Off we go, in search of the next scare. "What's in there?" has asks. "Scary things, Jude. Scary things."

"It's going to be so scary," he says with a grin.  A spider jumps out of a box. He moves closer to me. "I think this store is too scary. This stuff will frighten Grandpa, so we better go to the other Halloween store."  We pay for Thomas, have a tantrum to pet the jumping spider on the way out of the door and make our way to Party City.

A little more our speed. "Look at this spider, Grammy. AAAAAAUGH!" He chases me. "Oh no, a big hairy spider, it's so spooky." He chased other children with it and I was pleased to watch 8 and 10 year old kids play along with him and act scared. He loved it. 

Look at that! Sweet boys get a free balloon at this Halloween store. Unfortunately, naughty boys who have a tantrum when they want to buy a second, larger spider let go of their balloon and lose it. Oh well, that's what happens to naughty boys.

We bought a ghost for Grammy's tree. He's not too scary, that's how we Halloween, mildly frightening for a 3 year old.

Or, maybe not very frightening for a 3 year old.

Ok, not at all frightening for a 3 year old. Or a Grandpa.

"So Jude," I asked. "Would you like to go to the Halloween store again?"

"Yes," he said.

"Even though it was scary?"

"Yeah, the cat was scary. And it heart attacked me."

"It heart attacked you?"

"Yeah, it heart attacked you too, Grammy."

"It did, Jude. It did."

Happy Halloween!