Back in September, my niece told Aidan that she was having a Halloween birthday party and as part of that conversation, she must have told him that Halloween was scary, because he kept insisting that he didn't want to have anything to do with it. We skipped Halloween last year because we thought that we would be moving into our new old house that day, so he had no recollection of the holiday.

One night, my mother-in-law asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween. He gave his usual answer that Halloween was scary and then rejected all of our suggestions which included things like Peter Pan and a bat. Then, my m-i-l went into full grandma mode and suggested Buzz Lightyear. She would have never suggested a cartoon character to her own kids, they were always animals or fairytale characters, but I'm convinced that something happens to your brain when you become a grandma. Of course Aidan was very excited about the Buzz Lightyear prospect and wouldn't entertain any other suggestions.

At the time I was still very tired and a little sick from the pregnancy. The thought of making a costume, especially something as bulky and plastic as Buzz Lightyear was totally overwhelming. My niece's party was two weeks before Halloween and I was fairly relieved when he decided the weekend before that he wanted to be Spiderman. We promptly went out and bought him a $15 Spiderman costume which he wore to her party. However, afterward, he was talking about Buzz Lightyear again and the weekend before Halloween, I began to feel inspired.

So from cardboard, masking tape, paper, glue, paint, black vinyl, green fabric, white arm length gloves, a big red plastic button, a cheap ninja costume and some puppet-making experience, Buzz Lightyear emerged. Making it marked the end of several months of not feeling like myself in a way that was depressing and immobilizing. I've been saying that I hate being pregnant, but I'm finally feeling allright now and I actually forget that I am pregnant a lot. My belly is just huge, so I get surprised by my limited mobility. Thank goodness my energy and attitude are back to normal, those are much more important to me.

I plan to post a detailed description of how the costume was made, because I couldn't find such a thing when I was planning it - but I want to move this blog to Movable Type, so I'll probably do it after that's done.