Now that the boys are in a bunk bed, bedtime is a little easier. It is a lot more fun now. For some reason they both get pretty wound up right before bed, but reading a book with them can usually get them to settle down. While the top bunk officially started out as Gavin's, they take turns being up there. I still end up falling asleep with a book on my face on the bottom bunk with Garrett most nights.

Every now and then Gavin will have a nightmare and walk through the house looking for me, and if I'm in the bunk already, he just crawls in. He's been having more nightmares lately, and I think it could be just stress from school. He doesn't have the ability to tell me about his dreams in great detail, but I can make a few intuitive assumptions. It isn't "Where the Wild Things Are". Thank God he's over that one. He has a lot of stress in his Kindergarten life, being a child with autism in a class of 26 "neuro-typical" (normal) kids.

They are both great at sleeping. I would bet a large sum that they could sleep through a category 5 hurricane! Unlike the baby, Bodie. He wakes up at the slightest squeaky door hinge or cat meow. When he is taking a nap, the house has to be in deep silence mode - ringers off, t.v. muted, etc. When he is awake, nothing gets accomplished around here. All productivity occurs at naptime and very early morning!

I took this picture the other morning when I woke the boys up for school. I thought it was so sweet. Apparently Gavin had one of his nightmares and just crawled into the bottom bunk with his little brother during the night. Garrett doesn't realize it yet, but he'll probably be his big brother's protector throughout their lives. Gavin is lucky Garrett was born with a compassionate soul, a comforting aura, and an optimistic attitude. 

I took the boys to see 'Where the Wild Things Are'. It was a bad idea. It turned out to be way too scary for Gavin. I was more worried about Garrett, being the younger bro. The shaky camera shots, loud booming bass, and the dark undertone proved too much for Gavin's senses. He has autism, but he can handle certain situations a lot better than others. This event fell into the "others" category.

He was uneasy from the very beginning, before Max even reached the place where the wild things lived! I felt bad for him, but I wanted him to try to tough it out. He had been so excited about going to see this movie. We had watched the trailer on YouTube about a thousand times (which, by the way, barely hints at how dark and scary 75% of the movie really is) and I was sure Gavin would be fine. He wasn't fine. He clung to me like a spider monkey, his eyes wide and watery, nervously munching popcorn and asking me if there would be any more scary parts. He would say "Daddy, if there another scary part, I will never watch it!" Then, inevitably something "scary" would happen on the screen causing him to shout out "I will never watch this! I have to get out of town right now!" He was very concerned that those huge monsters might try to eat Max, which was a valid concern since that subject does come up in the book.

"Daddy, are they going to eat him up?"

"No Gav. Remember in the book he goes home to his mom and has a warm supper?"

"Okay. I will shut my eyes for the scary part," he said nervously.

Garrett was the complete opposite. He barely seemed to notice the movie at all. It was just a side show to his main event: Skittles. He has an incredible sweet tooth, and after I gave him that giant box of Skittles nothing else mattered to him. He sat in his seat slowly savoring each single Skittle, one at a time. He goes into a trance-like state when eating anything like candy or cake. In the dark of the theater, he couldn't distinguish the colors of the candy so he frequently had to ask me. It was pretty cute. His little hand would hold each piece up to me and he would whisper "Daddy, what color is this skiggle?" I had to reply "I can't see it either. Taste it to find out." So he would pop it in his mouth, then about thirty seconds later he would say "It tasted purple."

We made it nearly to the end of the movie. I really wanted Gavin to see the end, because Max does make it home safe and sound. I wanted Gavin to at least see that it was all okay in the end. However, just as Max is leaving the island to escape the monsters, he is forced to crawl into one of the (friendly) monster's mouths to escape the others - very freaky. That was the "over the top" moment for poor Gavin. He jumped out of his seat and yelped in a shaky voice "I will not stay here! I have to get out of town right now!" So he started down the dark theater steps toward the exit, and I turned to Garrett who was by now fast asleep, his tiny hand still stuffed inside the huge "Skiggle" box. I  plucked him from his seat and we made our way down the steps. Gavin was at the bottom waiting for us, his face a portrait of terror. "This is not a good movie! I will tell mama it was not for kids! I am angry at mama!" I heard chuckles from several of the other theater patrons. Gavin is always very forthright and blunt with what's on his mind. I'm glad he can express his emotions like that, especially in a high stress situation. He used to just scream and completely melt down. To me, that's another milestone.

So in the end, we escaped the monsters, nobody was eaten. Unfortunately for Gavin, the experience was absolutely spine-chilling. His greatest fears for Max actually came true. To him, the movie ended when Max was sitting inside the monster. I still want him to see how it really ends. I guess we'll get the DVD when it comes out.

The only real victim of consumption was the box of Skittles, as evidenced by the rainbow of colors all over Garrett's sticky face.

"I thought the movie was really fun," he said enthusiastically.

"What was your favorite part, Garrett?" I asked.

He looked at me like I had two heads. "The skiggles, Daddy."

Garrett accepted his spider costume without much fuss. He really wanted to be a goose. Gavin was psyched about his very traditional ghost costume. Bodie didn't have a choice, his costume was the third revolution of our hand me down skeleton. It's a classic - and it matches my glow-in-the-dark Misfits skeleton shirt!

We trick-or-treated up and down our little street, then ventured beyond into the neighborhood. There seemed to be less houses observing Halloween this year. I can see that if there aren't many kids in your life, October 31st is just the last day of the month. We only patronized the homes with spooky decor, to be sure that they were aware trick-or-treaters would be coming. Last year we hit a couple houses that had their lights on, but they had forgotten it was Halloween. I remember the shocked looks on the faces of our neighbors, then their rummaging through their kitchens for emergency treats! We ended up with a few granola bars and ziplocked oreo cookies. 

This has been a very Halloweeny week for our family. Tuesday night we went downtown to the Battleship Bash on the USS North Carolina. It's a huge (and apparantly haunted, as shown by the Ghost Hunter show) WWII battleship permanently docked on the Cape Fear river. What a setting for a Halloween bash! It was another perfect excuse to wear their costumes. Gavin was so excited to scare people, he started right away in the parking lot. Everyone we passed by would get a loud "BOO!" from him when they got close. It was so funny! "C'mon Garrett! Try to scare some people!" he said. What a hoot.

On the ship they had several spots to get candy. Our kids were really taking the scaring business seriously. The place was crawling with costumed youngsters. The highlight of the evening was the big bouncy house at the bow of the ship. We waited in line for 20 minutes. The boys had to take off their costumes and shoes to bounce in it, and Gavin was so funny about it. He was really hesitant to reveal his identity, and when he finally did he shouted out "Look everyone, I'm not a ghost! Its okay everybody, its just me! See? I was just wearing my halloween costume" He was really serious. That was the funniest thing I think he's ever done! People in line got a good chuckle out of that.

 The aquarium was a bunch of the same. Scaring, laughing, and candy looting. It was more fun for us parents because it was not as mobbed, and we could actually keep track of them while enjoying the incredible exhibits.