So we get up, as usual, and I get the kids dressed and into the car for various schools, as usual, and I’m on my way to preschool with Gabe, as usual, when something strikes me in the back of the unconsciousness and says, “Dummy! Class party!” and I suddenly remembered that Gabe’s school Halloween party had gotten switched to yesterday.
So we ran back home, and I gathered the parts of the almost finished bat costume and crammed him into it as best and as quickly as I could. Of course, I could only find two safety pins in the house, so I wound up sewing the wings onto his coat with a few stitches instead. Gabe expressed his panic by grabbing at and fiddling with everything in sight as I worked.
Then we ran to the school, and he frantically flapped his wings as we dashed through the doors and into the gym, where the kids were lined up and getting ready to start singing. I have to say, he was the most serious and determined-looking little bat I’ve ever seen in my life.
After they sang, I went on a run. Came back, just in time to see Gabe happily finishing off his day with a (repeat, apparently) performance of “Spooky Walk,” which is sort of like the echo song “Going on a Bear Hunt,” but with a Halloween theme.
He was loving the song so much that he was threatening to melt down because it was time to go and they couldn’t do it again, so I got the publisher name and promised to try to find it at home. (Foreshadowing!)
Hopped in the car, grabbed lunch, and dashed off to a new-to-me running store for new shoes. They wound up being closed, so I hit a different nearby store instead and came away with these. Drove back to town, grabbed some Halloween-related crap at a store and came home in time to meet Sam. Homework, dinner, Bible studying, and then I searched for and found Gabe’s song!
EXCEPT…the moment I started playing it, he scampered up the stairs in terror and refused to come back down. I tried to coax him down, and I stopped the song, but then he got mad and demanded that I play it again. You know, while he sat at the top of the stairs, as far as he could get from the computer and still hear it. 
Sam, meanwhile, was listening to it and getting paler and paler and more nervous-looking, until I informed him that a class of three and four-year-olds had been enjoying it. At that point, he decided (to at least pretend) that he wasn’t afraid. 
Gabe came down after about three repetitions, and then we had to hear it even more. At this point, I have the chant memorized and it won’t leave my head, and it’s still two days to Halloween. Whee!
Today is Sam’s school party, and then our church party. It’s the longest-seeming Halloween season I’ve ever experienced, I think. Somebody rescue me?
The beginning? With the guy asking, “Would you like to take a spooky walk with me,” is scary enough in itself. I’m totally going to see if my easily spooked 6-year-old can take it.
The “slimy cave” part makes me think of Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka.