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| Cobra-ella, the baby space girl and her steampunk Frankenbot brother. |
We are makers of things. Usually we make things on computers, but this year we both stepped out of our digital confines and made real things - with our hands. Last year, Mr. Cobra pioneered this new Cobra tradition by creating a Deadmau5 helmet for 3yo Dexter. This year he made Dexter into a steampunk Frankenbot. Brixton joined in this year as a 60's intergalactic mod martian baby girl with a dress I sewed (first one ever). It took many nap times and nights after they went to bed. We knew this, started early and spent most of October sporadically spending our free time building our kids little unique, homemade costumes. It was a challenge outside of our normal realm of command-Z. We both sewed, painted and went on many supply trips. The process was as enjoyable as the output.
This was Brixie's first year of trick-or-treating, so we opted to do a quiet neighborhood Trick-or-Treat Street instead of the huge Belvedere block party that is getting out of control. The neighborhood haunt was perfect. There were just enough houses spaced just far enough apart. While there were definitely a fair amount of kids, there weren't lines to get candy and it was easy enough and safe enough for an 18 month old to toddle down the sidewalk. She did pretty well, until halfway through. She then insisted on keeping all the candy she grabbed in her tight little fists instead of dropping the goods in the bag. Even if she grabbed more candy, she'd still try to hold it all in her hands, leaving a trail of dropped candy behind her as she went to the next door. I snuck behind her and picked it all up and put it in her bag without her knowing. The one time I tried hard to get her to let go of the candy, she ended up kneeling on the sidewalk screaming at the top of her lungs. Needless to say, I stopped trying to get her to let go of her candy. The cutest thing she did, she couldn't yet say "Trick or Treat", so it came out sounding more like a mumbled oeeeeet!"
Dexter loved his costume. He was way more experienced in candy procurement and left me and Brixie in the dust. He did demonstrate the first few houses for Brixie, but soon took off with dad to hit as many houses as possible. He is currently afraid of the dark and wolf sounds which made a few of the scarily-decorated houses fun to take him too. Dad had to hold him a few times to get him to the candy dish. He seemed to love to be scared though. At one house, they had a 3' tall dancing ghost with glowing red eyes that moved back and forth. Apparently, that was the scariest thing he'd ever seen. He talked about it for days afterward. He was afraid of that ghost. It wasn't the house covered in cobwebs, with giant vampire bats hanging with flashing red eyes by a full graveyard with lots of skulls and a creepy old lady that was way too excited that a kid made it through her spooky decor. I was afraid of the latter.
