13 days of halloween, day 09: a tale of two elmos

on the ninth day of halloween, we went to the annual lantern parade around jamaica pond!

this was one of those times that i found myself stepping aside as a parent so that my child could find happiness. it's probably the hardest thing one can do- to set aside your better moral judgement, your own personal code of ethics, your integrity, and in my case, my social stamina...

and just let her be elmo for halloween.

we tried sooooo damn hard to get her interested in anything else- serial killers from history, classic movie monsters, tea party candidates, but in the end, what really made her happy, was elmo. as mommy said:

best thirty bucks we ever spent.

as we walked up to the pond to wait for bebe's best friend morrie, people were already calling out with the "hi elmo!" and "that. is. adorable!" comments. after only a short walk she was noticeably uncomfortable with all of the attention she was getting. i was kind of having an anxiety attack internally as i watched her borderline-scared face avoid any and all eye contact with the smiling and well-meaning strangers.

we tried sitting down, but that didn't really help. in fact, it put her closer to the smaller kids in strollers who would see her and yell. she was so happy to have this costume before we went out in it, and now she looked like she wanted to climb down into the bottom of it and disappear.

until morrie showed up:

also dressed as elmo. in the same exact costume (a few sizes larger).

after that, it was pure awesomeness.

we made our way across the street to the parade:

there were lanterns for sale, but many people make their own weeks ahead of time. some are simple designs and others are really elaborate. the most popular among the kids is a two-liter bottle with the top cut off and decorated usually with crepe paper or something similar. then you can drop a light, or flash light down inside and you're good to go!

it gets dark at the pond, and there are no lights around the walkway, so it's the ideal place for a lantern parade.

these two were happy little monkeys! they jumped and ran and collected acorns and caused traffic jams with how cute they were. people would see one and exclaim "elmo!" and then see the other and exclaim "two elmos!" then when they noticed that they were together, their heads exploded. unfortunate.

all you can see are the lantern paths ahead of you as they ring the pond.

that, and my flash going off. sorry folks. proud dad, coming through.

at the end of our walk there were some hugs and smooches good-bye, followed by the entire parade sighing and saying "so cute!" in unison. elmo on elmo love- does it get any... lover? lovier? i don't know, and i don't know. having her best friend morrie there really made bebe's night. we're lucky they have each other.

de-costuming:

and reflecting back on the night that was...

tonight's post was brought to you by the album "Too Dark Park" by Skinny Puppy, and the movie The Watcher in the Woods...

see you tomorrow!