The Great Halloween Adventure, part 1
a Mini-Peter Adventure transcribed by Nikki, 2007
October 10-29: getting ready for the year's greatest holiday!
Mini-Peter and I spent a few hours early this October decorating the apartment for Halloween. We used plenty of Orange, of course, and when we'd finished, we went for a walk around the block to see everyone else's decorations.
"Why has everyone else got Orange decorations?" Mini-Peter asked me after about the third house. "Do they all know it's my first Halloween?"
"No, silly. Orange is the color of Halloween."
"Is it really?"
"Yep. It's the color of turning leaves and pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns-- Oh!" I smacked my forehead with my hand. "We forgot a jack-o-lantern!"
"What's a jack-o-lantern??" he asked excitedly, so we rushed to the market to pick out the perfect mini-pumpkin and I showed him how to make a jack-o-lantern.
"That's a fine jack-o-lantern," I complimented him as we lit the candle to try it out. "We shouldn't leave it burning now, though. Let's save it for the big night!"
We blew out the candle and put the jack-o-lantern on the front porch. Now that we had the decorations out of the way, it was time for the REAL fun - the costume!
Mini-Peter had decided quite early on that he wanted to be Real Peter for Halloween. He settled on a costume Real Peter had worn on stage in the early 80's, so we got to work on it. I've never considered myself to be much good at sewing, but he was so excited about the costume that I figured I could give it a go. After all, I'd never sculpted before I made Mini-Peter... maybe if I put my mind to it I could find a knack for sewing, too.
I really should have taken pictures of the mistakes. First there was the jacket that was way too small. Then there were the trousers... I somehow managed to sew both legs together all the way down the front before I realized what I'd done. *sigh* Mini-Peter was very patient with me, standing repeatedly for fittings and not laughing too terribly hard when I made ridiculous mistakes. My second attempts at both the jacket and trousers were much more successful - I was getting the hang of this now! We used the black t-shirt that had come with his leather jacket, found a nice pair of boots on eBay, and I got to work on the finishing touch while Mini-Peter gathered supplies for his next task.
"Please be sure you use only the washable paints," I reminded him. "Don't touch the the acrylics or enamels or we might never get them off. I don't know what paint thinner will do to clay, and I don't want to find out!"
"Don't worry, I took them straight out of the new package." He opened up the mini-mirror my mom gave him for one of his birthdays, snapped open the black paint, and carefully began drawing on his own face.
He used a page from Armando Gallo's book as his reference, and he really seemed to know what he was doing - almost as if he had some sort of instinct for painting his own face. His lines never strayed, his shading never faltered... the magic of Halloween was truly alive as I saw him become the Mini Monkey Man right before my eyes!
"There," he said, dropping the paintbrush and dusting off his hands as if he'd just completed some mundane task he'd done a million times. "How does it look?"
"Perfect!" I marveled.
"Have you finished those kneepads?" he queried.
"I think so. Let's try them out!"
I handed him the kneepads and he sat at the edge of my desk to pull them on, then stood up to admire them. They were a perfect fit!
"Nicely done," he complimented my work.
"Thank you! Where's your jacket?"
He pulled his jacket from the hanger in his mini-closet, slipped into it, and the costume was complete!
"So when do we go trick-or-treating??" he asked excitedly.
"Not for another week, you know that."
"Are you sure we can't go now?"
"We could try, but no-one would have any candy yet."
"Oh. Well, let's go anyway!" He snatched up his bucket and lantern and bolted for the door, but I grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and held him in place.
"Oh no you don't, you can wait. Maybe we can go to my mom's this weekend and get some pictures of you with her decorations, but we're not trick-or-treating until the 31st. It'll be here and gone before you know it, so just enjoy the build-up."
"Ohhhhh-kay," he slouched.
"You don't know how lucky you are, little buddy. Most people only get to wear their costume for one night - you get to wear it a whole week!"
"Only a week??" he slouched even more.
"Well, I suppose you don't have to take it off right away. Come on, stand up straight. You look so cute I can't stand it, so maybe you can wear it a little past Halloween, if you're good."
He grinned and stood proudly, so we took a few more pictures of him then flipped through the Gallo book a bit more, comparing costumes and contemplating what Mini-Peter might like to be next year.
On my next day off work, as promised, we went to my mom's to admire her decorations.
There were giant plastic pumpkins, gravestones, spider webs, and all sorts of spooky things! Mini-Peter was a bit frightened at first when one of the skeletons started talking, but I showed him the battery pack behind it and he was fine after that.
"This is brilliant! I can see why this is your favourite holiday - it's so much fun! I think it's my favourite, too!"
For the next few days, Mini-Monkey ran around the apartment scaring the cats, singing Shock the Monkey, and doing the famous dance that goes along with it. As the big event grows closer and closer, he just keeps getting more and more excited. Now, Halloween is just around the corner, and Mini-Peter - excuse me, Mini-Monkey - can hardly contain himself!!
