She'sWrite: Owning his fear ... He's 'not afraid'

Like many Americans, we hit the sidewalk on Sunday all dressed up with a bucket in tow to go knock on strangers’ doors and beg for candy. Halloween, what a fun holiday!

It also can be horribly scary, especially through the eyes of a 3 year old. Logan was a fireman and a mighty happy one at that. In the suburban land of the homemade costumes, my kid’s was bought from the store, but hey he was ecstatic over it and so was I. He had an inflatable fire extinguisher on his back and an Elmo pail for hauling candy.

Some of the houses had groaning ghouls, cackling witches and moaning mummies. Whenever we’d walk up to one of these haunts he’d clutch my finger tighter, and his steps would get tinier.

“It’s OK, it’s just pretend. There’s no need to be scared. I’m right here. It can’t hurt you. You’re OK,” I’d say over and over again.

Remember how terrifying it was to be a little one? All those strange noises that adults didn’t seem to notice? The nightmares? Scooby Doo? (I remember one of my babysitters always watched Scooby Doo, and it scared the crap out of me.)

In our house we’re working with owning our fears. A few months back, Logan started saying how he was afraid of monsters, so we talked about how monsters weren’t real,  they couldn’t hurt us, and we can always tell them just to not scare us.

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She'sWrite: Finding a "Boo-riffic" Halloween Costume

“What are you going to be for Halloween?” Remember when we were in school and during this time of year that was the question du jour? I still smile fondly when thinking about my favorite childhood outfit. It was one of the “honkers” from Sesame Street. Honk! Honk!

Halloween can be such a fun time, especially if you love to dress up like I do. Now that I’m a mom, I love that I get to dress up my kid. For his first Halloween, he was a screaming pumpkin. I say screaming because he didn’t care too much for the outfit. For his second, he was a Bear, which was fitting because his nickname is LoganBear. (Though he still wasn’t wild about the costume.) Last year it was a dinosaur, which we both loved. Now it’s our fourth and he’s got a strong opinion.

I wondered, what is he going to be this year? I worried that the days of me choosing a cutesy outfit for my little guy were over. I wanted to dress him up as a sweet little bumblebee – you know, paint his nose black and everything. But he’s got a healthy obsession with Batman and Spiderman, so I figured he’d rather be a superhero.

Last weekend we ventured out to one of those seasonal Halloween stores. It wasn't until I was about 10 feet from the store’s door that I remembered how these places’ ghoul-factor can be over the top.

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