Halloween this year...

For those who have been following this blog or know Manya - they would know Halloween for Manya is big! She loves everything about this festival - the origins of which are widely debated - but hey good food, decoratons, fun and candy - we'll take it!

This year she has chosen to be a vampire - all with fake fangs, and black lipstick et al. There is going to be no trick or treating - thank you, COVID. But we might do a drive thru event organized by the city.

A big addition to this year's festivities have been our themed family movie nights! While most movies in this house go well as long as there is popcorn, we have had a few favorites. M rejected the classic - The Nightmare Before Christmas - "too sing-songy, Mom!" Halloweentown was okayish. She (and we) thoroughly enjoyed Hotel Transylvania - we plan to wrap the month up with Hocus Pocus. 

Wonder how life would be in this pandemic without online streaming!

I also must mention our mommy-daughter read for the month - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. The book is engrossing and since this is my first time too with the book - it has been delightful. Highly recommended by us especially this month!

Love for gore...

Over the years, M's fondness for all things Halloween, scare, fright, gore, ghosts, and what not. SHe truly has modeled herself as a mistress of fright.

She wrote this book and not sure if I should worry about her mental and social well being or just applaud her writing skills :)

Why be a princess when you can be the pharaoh!

We are taking a break from Disney (thank god for small mercies), and are currently fascinated by all things ancient Egyptian - including pyramids, mummies, and ofcourse the enigmatic Cleopatra.

#UncoolMom

M wearing her scary mask and holding a broom: Mom I am all ready to *horrorize* you.

Me: Horrify me? Scare me? Terrorize me? Horrorize is not a word.

M: I don’t care if horrorize is a word or not but you are definitely not cool.

Me: 🤷🏻‍♀️ what kind of logical deduction is that.

And then she did the eye roll!!! She actually rolled her eyes and left the scene!!!! 🙄

#UncoolMombutAlwaysRight
#EyerollingKidsNotCoolEither

Mistress of Fright

Manya has always loved everything Halloween and enjoys scary stories. She now is thoroughly taken by the Goosebumps series. Has also entered the next phase of writing and imagining her own scary stories - they are very spooky, and mostly every one dies in the end! Oops!

Halloween Obsession Going Strong...Third Consecutive Year

A very unassuming friendly gentleman at the store, to Manya: "Aren't you a lovely little girl there!"

Manya: "Yes, I do look like a lovely little girl, but actually I am a vampire. I suck human blood."

That speechless-horrified expression on the man's face for the one moment was priceless. I ofcourse chimed in, "It clearly is Halloween time!"
He gave a quick smile and retreated into oblivion.

\

May the force be with us!

Manya has picked up a new obsession these days - Star Wars! Considering I am an illiterate at the subject, Google came to rescue when she was throwing terms and characters at us left right. (How did one parent before the Internet age, I have absolutely no clue.)

Well, we bought her a story book that would be more age appropriate. She picks up tons form the library too and is fascinated by the dark side really :). I have told her she needs to wait a couple of more years to start with the movies. The written word seems to satiate her till then! She is even considering becoming R2D2 - her favorite character form the series - for Halloween - but a lost changes in 10 months!

It's fall again!

All seasons with a preschooler is like rediscovering the joys and beauty of nature.

We started fall with some apple picking...

Made the customary trip to the pumpkin patch...

Went overboard with our Halloween obsession (Bewitched this year, as Manya chose to dress up as a Witch for Trick o Treating...Phew...Until next year!

First time trick o' treating!

I had already blogged about M's Halloween obsession here. Well, yesterday was her first time ever trick o' treating and she did have a blast!

Dressed up as bat girl, our very own caped crusader had not one but two parties to attend. 

I was a little apprehensive about her going door-to-door for the trick o' treat, but was shocked at her independence and unabashedness as her cries for candy became louder as did the amount she was grabbing with each passing house. I would like to assume it was because she was with a known group and knew mommy is close behind - but I must also mention, at one point she asked me to go back home and wait for her. The gall of the girl!  

The Gothic phase!

Manya is going through a real interesting phase - I call it the "Gothic" phase. We happened to chance upon a book about monsters a couple of months back and there has been no looking back after that.

She wants monster stories all the time, she wants to watch "scary" ghost stories - it is not that she is not scare d she is scared but thrilled at the same time. She imagines tree shadows into our bedroom to be monster arms and then screams in fear or mock, I don't really know which! She runs from one room to another saying she saw a zombie and then is highly disappointed when she realizes there is no space under the bed for monsters to hide.

Oh, and I must talk about creative expressions on these lines - she paints dark, stormy nights in her art class using black, green and purple colors. She paints everything black and brown and dabs some silver strokes here and there and apparently those are spooky voices in the dark forest!

That Halloween is round the corner and all stores are already stocking on decorations and jack-o-lanterns and costumes and what not - hasn't helped our cause. This obsession of hers couldn't be more ill  perfectly timed. The following is her well researched (thank you Library) wish list for Halloween:

- She wants to scare people.

- She wants to go trick or treating (and has already bought her pumpkin basket to carry all that candy).

- She wants to go to a pumpkin field, pick her own one, and carve her own jack-o-lantern.

- She wants to become a bat girl (costume already obtained) - no she is not aware of the comic series or the character but the black cape and the mask excite her! She wanted to become a witch but apparently according to her the costumer was "not black enough".

- She wants to decorate the house with pumpkins, spiders and cobwebs - she also wanted skeletons but has scratched that off her list because then the house "will become too scary".

Here are some hilarious conversation tid-bits in this context...

Me: Manya what do you want to be for Halloween?

Manya: Bat girl

Me: Oh but I thought you wanted to be a witch or something - you didn't like that costume?

Manya: No, for Halloween I want to be a bat girl but when I grow up I want to be a witch.

Me: But you said you'd be an astronaut or a pilot or a firefighter?

Manya: No, I just want to be a witch and cast spell on people.

Me: That maybe a very good career choice (bleh)

-------

Me: Manya you have been extra cranky since morning. Can you please not behave so badly.

Manya: I am not behaving badly. I think a witch has cast a spell.

Me: You'll really have to come up with a better excuse next time.

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Manya: I think there's a monster in our room.

Me: There's no monster. Monsters are not even real. They are just in your imagination.

Manya (very disappointed): I wish monsters were real.

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Manya: Tell me a scary monster story.

So, I make some rubbish up.

Manya: But that is not scary at all - please make it more scary so that I am scared!

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This fall is going to be very interesting. Signing off with a picture of Manya's dining plate these days...

P.S. As I was updating the labels for this post, I kid you not a spider jumped onto my screen from nowhere - BOO. It is getting spooky out here!