A life lesson

I know I should be doing a post all about our fun Halloween. . .oops I mean Harvest Festivals(why don't we just call it what it is?) but I have a better story to tell!

Elijah is in public preschool this year. As most of you know, we have had a lot of changes in our lives over the past few months. The switch from private to public preschool has been one of the harder ones. Elijah is extremely smart(am I biased? maybe!), hilarious, and overall just quite the character! He doesn't always listen and he doesn't always obey! And sometimes, he does the most outlandish things! But you know what, I love him all the same!

Well, he got into some "trouble" a few weeks ago at school. This just happened to be the day that we had planned to go buy Elijah his beloved Halloween costume for the year(Elijah LOVES to dress up and has been known to go just about anywhere in a suit. . this includes Wal-Mart, church, basketball games, etc.). Ricky and I decided that if he couldn't behave at school, then he didn't deserve the treat of a new costume. This was a Thursday so Ricky told him if he did better on Friday then he would take him to get a costume. Well, Friday came and it involved a phone call from his teacher to me during school. . .NOT good. This of course meant, no costume. This was much harder on ME than I thought it would be! He LOVES costumes and after all he did have an AMAZING week the next week(which was rewarded with a trip to see Where the Wild Things Are). But, as hard as it was, we knew we needed to stick to what we said! We had lots of discussions about which costume he would pick out to wear on Halloween(after all he does love costumes and has several he could have worn) and of course it changed everyday. He went as red/blue Spiderman to the carnival we attended last Sunday. And yesterday, his sweet cousin, Jonah, allowed him to borrow his black Spiderman costume(not that Elijah doesn't have one. . .it was just more special because Jonah let him borrow it). Elijah was excited to go trick-or-treating in the borrowed suit.

While waiting for all the family festivities to begin, the mail arrived. Elijah got a Halloween card from my Mom. This card included a picture of Grandma, Aunt SeSe, AND $5! The pictures got all of the attention at first with lots of hugs. And then, I told him we would go to Wal-Mart on Sunday to spend the $5. And then the question came. . ."can I buy a costume?" I thought about this for a little while. We had told him we wouldn't buy him one. So, after a minute, I responded, "you know, you probably can because all the Halloween stuff will be on sale!" He was beyond excited at the thought of a new costume.

Halloween came and went. Elijah wore the borrowed black spiderman suit and never thought anything about it. He didn't notice that his was worn and torn. And, he got just as much candy as everyone else.

Elijah with all the cousins right before the trick-or-treating began

This evening though, I took Elijah to Wal-Mart to spend that $5. And you know what he got? A $6 Captain America costume. (I figured after all that waiting I could handle throwing in a dollar and the tax.) It was the hardest thing watching him try not to cry every time he mentioned a new costume and we reminded him that we wouldn't be buying him one. But tonight, it was ALL worth it! He has NEVER been so excited to get a new costume! As soon as we got out of the store, he tore open the package and put on the mask. And then he started peeling off his clothes at the car to put on the suit. I am actually surprised I could convince him to take it off for a bath. But, I am 100% sure it will be put on as soon as he gets home from school tomorrow.

Sorry for the poor quality of picture, it is from my phone!

Lesson learned! For Elijah AND Mommy!! :)

*Update*

I went in to the boys room to check on them before I went to bed. This is what I found. . . .

Guess he couldn't wait until after school got out to put it back on! :) (Don't worry, I took the mask off. But, his brother is a VERY light sleeper and I didn't want to wake him by taking off the entire thing!) So, Captain America is sleeping at our house tonight!!