Bodie's new phrase is "I no like it." He uses this handy little expression with almost everything in his terrible two lifestyle. His big brothers give him plenty of reasons to say "I no like it", and when he's sitting in his highchair at suppertime you'd think that phrase completes his entire vocabulary.

Lately his "I no likes" are mostly concerning the scary stuff associated with Halloween. He sees spooky stuff on the tv, even on Noggin, and he gets a little unnerved. "I no like it, show."  All of us boys have skeleton shirts, and even those creep him out. He sees bones on a shirt and says "I no like it, shirt." I don't know why he's being such a scaredy cat. He gets the theme of Halloween, I suppose, and he's not liking it.

With our house all decked out in Halloween decor, hopefully he'll get over his apprehensions and enjoy this time of year a little more. Sara's started a little Halloween village with a spooky candy shop, creepy trees and a haunted mansion, Bodie won't go near it. "I no like it, spooky" he says.

We told him we would be going to the Pumpkin Patch to get some pumpkins, and he said with enthusiasm "YES!" However, when we got there, it was more of the same. "I no like it, punka patch." He refused to go near the pumpkins! Just like every other family in America, we were trying to pose the kids amongst the pumpkins and hay bales, but our littlest model was heartily rejecting the idea. "I no like it, punkas!" He was literally afraid to go near them. Eventually I got him to sit on my knee for a second, then it was back to clinging to his mama's pant leg. The look on his face was "Why are you doing this to me?" And the look on my face was "How can this be? My son is a wuss?"

Bodie was once our most fearless child (see Crash Test Bodie, January '10) but this year's Halloween stuff has shaken his confidence. He's still pretty reckless on his trike and as a climber, but he manages now to keep his face nearly bruise free.

Even as I type these words, Bodie is standing next to me looking at the photo on the screen saying "Oh no daddy, no sit punkas." This was last weekend, and apparantly he's still traumatized.

Gavin and Garrett were having a ball, shooting pictures with their little mickey mouse cameras and rating the pumpkins as ovals or circles. Nonetheless, the pumpkin patch excursion was getting pretty stressful for the two year old. Garrett, our most tactful and diplomatic child, came up with a great idea. "Let's give Bodie a baby punkin to hold, and he won't be scared of it." What do you know, it worked! "Baby punka?" Bodie said, still not sure of himself. He took it in his hands and eyed it hesitantly, and Sara snapped a few quick photos.

He slightly warmed up to the patch after that, but he still wasn't thrilled about it. I don't know what made him fear all those pumpkins. I just hope he doesn't chicken out when it's time to trick-or-treat.

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.