emre's halloween

it ain't easy being a twenty-one month old.  emre knows that all too well.

emre's school sent out notices and invitations for their halloween celebration, which was to include a parade and concert.  so, we needed a costume.  we decided he'd wear the adorable lion costume that my mom made for him.  we practiced face painting the night before (but he hated it and wouldn't let me touch my face).  tried again the morning of while brushing our teeth and he loved it!

 

on the ride to school he still hadn't decided if he was willing to go along with it...

we left emre at school to rehearse.  we came back an hour later and joined the other parents who were waiting on the side walk for the parade to begin.  ben and i were giddy with excitement - our son's first halloween parade!

excited parents

finally (after a slight delay - those toddlers are sooo uncooperative!) they made their grand entrance. emre was a bit stunned by the crowd, i think. 

shy little lion

 i tried to hide (so emre wouldn't see me and flip out), but it didn't work.

sad little lion

soon emre was screaming, despite his teacher's best efforts to calm him down.

MAD little lion

the kids were supposed to 'trick or treat' at the toy houses where teachers were waiting inside with candy. emre was having none of it.  i walked him around to the houses before we headed back into the school.

pretty much all of the moms had to join at some point

inside, emre was still upset.  he thought we'd come to pick him up & couldn't understand why we weren't going home.  poor babe.

this is fun!  right?

we sat together for the concert, which he didn't want to participate in (in fairness, there was only one little girl who actually sang along, some of the time).  the teachers did a great job performing the songs they had worked on with the kids, and it was a lot of fun just being at emre's school and meeting his classmates.

concert - picture from the preschool

afterward all the kids got to eat some treats, prepared by their teachers.  that was emre's favorite part.

table of treats

slowly cheering up

enjoying a cookie

mom, can we go home now?

we stopped at dede's office after so he & his bekir dede could see him in costume.  finally, emre was happy again.

happy halloween!