My (unintentional) blogging hiatus has ended. You’re welcome.

We’ve had a busy few weeks, including, but not limited to, Halloween, Leo’s baptism, my allergy testing (no allergies), my CT scan (chronic sinusitis) and the beginning of MSU hoops.  So, there.  Now you understand.  As we calm down before the holidays (sarcasm), I am BACK to the BLOG!  I can no longer keep Simon’s fans waiting.

This post will consist of exactly two things – a Halloween update, including pictures – and the confirmation that Simon’s self-esteem is fully intact.

Oh?  You want to start with that?  Ok, here you go.

I don’t read a lot of parenting stuff.  I happen to be the mom who just goes with it and hopes that instinct will be enough.  But I was listening to someone talk about self-esteem in children and thought I would ask Simon a very important question:

“Simon,” I asked, “Who is the MOST IMPORTANT person in the world?”

Without hesitation, “Me, mommy.”  And then the look…the one where he wonders if I’m losing my mind.  Excellent.  No worries about confidence with that one!

Ok, so on to Halloween.

My young Jedi really struggled with the decision of who to be.  He settled on Obi Wan Kenobi.  Out came my sewing machine.  As you can see, from a distance you can’t see the slop job I did…uh…the DAY BEFORE he needed it for his Halloween party at preschool.  Thankfully, he loved it!

The best part was that he kept telling people he was using the force to help them with everything – holding open doors, walking up steps (mainly the princesses whose dresses were long), etc.  SUCCESS.

The Jedi's trusty little monkey.

The final product

A flashback…

Last year, for MONTHS, Simon would only refer to himself as “Lava Boy.”  He wanted to be a volcano for Halloween.  So I made him a volcano Halloween costume.  I must say, for doing the whole thing by hand, it turned out pretty ok.  It took weeks, and then he only wore it for about an hour, but whatever.  (Although while wearing it, he did warn people not to touch him, so they wouldn’t be burned.) Maybe Leo will also want to be a volcano one day.  I am trying not to dwell on that.  Bottom line is that this child was obsessed with volcanoes and his alter ego super hero, “Lava Boy.”

Lava Boy

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to share with you a gem of a story from last year.  When Simon was Lava Boy.  I say that because when people would ask him his name, he would tell them it was Lava Boy.  Seriously.  Many of you may remember that.  But how many of you remember this:

“So we were in church on Sunday, and we’re greek orthodox, as you know, which means church is a very quiet, somber affair.  Being 3 in our church is challenging, but Simon usually does great!  Anyway, when we go up for communion, the priest himself physically gives the communion (and in our religion, baptism and first communion happen when we’re babies, so Simon’s been doing this forever).

I walk up with Simon, the priest says, “The servant of God (you say your name) receives the body and blood, etc. etc.”  So this time, the priest says his intro and Simon says, “it’s Lava Boy.”  I ALMOST CHOKED behind him.  The priest got this questioning look in his eyes and said “Simon” anyway, since he knows us, but when it was my turn, I could barely hold it together trying not to laugh and the poor priest looked SO CONFUSED!

It was hilarious.  And Simon just walks off like normal.  It didn’t even occur to me that he would refer to himself as Lava Boy in church and I don’t know why, because he CORRECTS EVERYONE now when they call him Simon.”

Ahhhh, the good old days.