Are We Not Men?
One of the reasons I got to choose the theme for Wombat's forthcoming First Birthday Extravaganza is because Simon got to choose his first Halloween costume. (The other reason I'm in charge of the party is because I'm his mommy, dammit.) And because we're a theatrical kind of family who dresses in costume throughout the year for no particular reason other than that it's Tuesday, we knew we wanted to do something a little more than your standard-issue jack-o-lantern or store-bought overstuffed elephant, and we also knew that it won't be long before he's choosing his own costumes (ohpleasegod don't let it be Hannah Montana), so Simon was dead-set on having this year's outfit be something he likes, babies and mommies be damned.
And so, I give you...
Mark Mothersbaugh--musician, artist, performer and, most famously, member of the new wave band Devo. (He did the score for Rushmore and some incidentals for PeeWee's Playhouse and the music for my favorite video game, "Crash Bandicoot," and he has a drawing segment on Yo Gabba Gabba. He's one of those people you know, even if you don't know you know him (you know?).)
We actually started thinking about Wombat's Halloween costume at this time last year, and at one point we had a long list of options, among them baby Frankenfurter, Dirty Sanchez, Roo to my Kanga, an organ-grinder monkey avec fez who solicits not candy but cash, and of course Wombat dressed as Linus dressed as Patrick dressed as Sassy dressed as the letter C, which stands for "concept". (Too cerebral?) In the end, I'm not sure why Devo won out over everything else, but I suspect it had to do with what quickly became Simon's manly I-must-conquer-it obsession to construct the perfect "energy dome" hat. (I'm trying to convince him to put up a tutorial on Flickr since we couldn't find any good ones out there and his final product is pretty sweet. Also, it's always nice to share tips and tricks you learn from a project like this, like, say, did you know that spraypaint will dissolve dried caulk and turn your almost-finished Devo hat into a pile of sludge?)
Wombat obviously doesn't care about the costume and doesn't get why we're making him look like a crazy Lego overlord wearing a half-shirt, but this year (at least) the costuming process was less about him than about Simon and me really digging our heels into this whole parenting thing. For several nights over the past week, we'd put the kid to bed and then get to work on his costume. Simon would be out on the porch at midnight freezing his butt off while carving and gluing and taping and painting the hat while I was upstairs in the sewing room freezing my butt off and cursing the gods and ultimately constructing some perfectly passable tiny yellow pants (following Jessica's great instructions) and a tiny yellow shirt (following no pattern at all, hence the bare midriff; he's Sexy Devo!) for my tiny little son. When eventually our fingers would reach non-operational numbness, we'd rendezvous in a nice warm bed and relate our progress to the other in giggle-whispers like ten-year-olds at a sleepover. This is definitely the fun side of not getting any sleep because you have a baby.
Speaking of...you guys, I heard the craziest thing the other day. Do you know that once you're a parent you have to BE Santa? Dudes, I know. Spread the word.
That may be the best baby Halloween costume I've ever seen.
(We also used the Mark Mothersbaugh Canon from The Royal Tenenbaums for our "walk down the aisle" music at our wedding.)
I knew that you guys of everyone we know would appreciate this the most.
Oh, I love it so much! He looks adorable and he'll be WAY impressed with you guys when he looks back on these photos when he's older. Wombat is far too cool for some silly pumpkin outfit!
(I also may have teared up a little at the image of you guys working on the costume together. JUST MAY HAVE!)
That first picture is just full of win, all while perfectly showcasing the hat AND the pants!
Love. LOVE.
I tried to show this to my husband, and he didn't get the reference. (we're 30! How could he not know Devo? Sometimes I think his school really did just lock the mathletes in the basement until graduation.)
So I showed him the video on YouTube... and then he needed me to explain the video. Still searching for an answer on that one.
I cannot get over how more and more handsome he grows by the day!
Oh fun! He - Mark not Wombat - also did the music for Rugrats. The once famed Nickelodeon cartoon from way back when Nickelodeon played good shit.
I've always wanted to get a whippet dog and name it Devo.
Also, your son is the cutest.
OMG, the belly. And Santa is you? No, sillybean, he's real and takes cara stuff for you. Fie you thinking you have more to do! North Pole and such!
Do you know 'Whip it' is almost an Aussie anthem, its played ALL the time over here. Funny, but true. And so I love that my husband, who has almost no popular culture references at all, saw Wombat in his outfit over my shoulder and said Devo?!? Love it!
I've delegated Santa onto the daddy of this family. My family didn't believe in Santa so I'm not really qualified. Nor interested, to tell the truth. My brother thought the UPS man brought presents and I'm ok with my son thinking the same thing.
Hee! Very cute. And look at you, sewing clothes! You will have to let me know when you're planning to have Wombat's party so I can schedule our holiday party around it. I'd love to have you guys there this year if at all possible!
BEST.IDEA. EVER. Love it!!!
How cool is it that Wombat gets to be all "I was the dude from DEVO for my first Halloween. What were you? Like, a BUMBLE BEE or something? Pshaw."
This is SO VERY AWESOME.
Also, I had no idea Mark Mothersbaugh was in Devo. Huh. Not only is Wombat's costume cute, it EDUCATES.
As a thirty-one-year fan of Devo, I salute you.
awesome costume. And for the record you don't have to be Santa if your child is terrified of Santa the crazy old man wanting to break into your house and leave you things, "Because we don't take things from Strangers Mommy!"
Oh how I loved that Giggles was such an intelligent child that could interact with us with such communications skills at such an early age-we gave up Santa when she was 3 because if not I don't think we could have survived.
You have to give directions on making the awesome hat because I think that might be my costume for next year. So great!
Fantastic and mysterious: how in the world does it adhere to his head?
GLUE! Okay, not really. The inside is made of foam that was carved out to fit his head.
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