Photo by Trent, taken while hiking
at Emerald Lake in
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
03/14/2009



October 31, 2008

PICTURE OF THE DAY -- 10/31/2008

This is the season of costumes and dressup, so check this out...

Coral goes to her day program Monday through Thursday, so yesterday she dressed up for the Halloween party they had. Guess who she went as....Right! Elmo! (Just like last year!!)

After much stretching and tugging, we managed to get those Elmo slippers over her shoes (the night before, after we took them off her for the night and she could not see what we were doing). She is a stickler about things always being the same, and she just can't stand anything but the feel of sturdy shoes. Plus, she needed to bear weight for transfers, and those slippers all by themselves just don't give enough support.
(Coral is real suspicious of the flash on the camera. It is just too much like lightning for her liking! She is not at all happy about me taking her picture!)

Coral cannot bear wearing a mask or even anything that feels like a hat. Trying to do so brings on a huge gag reflex, and that leads to ... well, you get the idea. So I took an old Elmo Halloween basket and cut Elmo's face off it and made a hair ornament.There is a hair elastic stitched on behind his eyes that went around the top of her ponytail, and then a little red hair clip on each side kept it anchored.

Since Coral puts her head back a lot, we weren't always sure if Elmo was coming or going!Big Elmo and his little talking Elmo friend are shocked to see Coral looking like them!
(Check out those matching fingernails!)

I think Coral forgave me for taking her pictures, because tonight she saw these pictures on my computer and was quite thrilled about it!

9 comments:

Carol-Ann Allen said...

Jeanette, this is just hilarious! My favourite is the two Elmos looking at her! It really looks as if they are in shock!

Did she wear her shoes in bed all night?????

This was Kinza's first year not to go out -- she didn't even mention it! The youth group went bowling and so that took the focus!

We've never had a "spiritual" problem with going out on the 31st -- it has always been just good fun in this neighbourhood and one of the few times in the year when everyone on the street comes out with smiles to talk to each other!

Nancy said...

Coral looks amazing Jeanette! You did a great job. I love her t- shirt and if they made them in gramma size would have one myself.
You are truly a blessed woman of God Jeanette, and stories like this make me and Jesus smile a great wide smile.

Jeanette said...

That's a VERY good question, Carol-Ann! I did not realize how that sounded until I went back and read it after your comment! So I have changed it. No, she did not wear them to bed all night. We had such a struggle getting them onto her shoes that it would have been a disaster if she could have seen us, because she would have been able to tell that we were "doing it wrong" and would have been sure to tell us so!

We have never had a problem with going out on the 31st, either, but I can understand the viewpoint of others who may come from a different background than we do or who might be in a different type of neighborhood or who might be aware of others who might be tripped up by their observance of Halloween. It used to be something quite different when we were growing up...

Jeanette said...

Hi Nancy! I love your comments. Thanks for helping me see that those "unspiritual" things I do every day please Jesus. It is so easy for that to escape me, for some reason. I hope to meet you some day (this side of heaven, I mean). Maybe when I visit Carol-Ann next??

Renae said...

Oh, Coral looks Mah-velous, dah-ling! Did you really make that whole costume yourself? You are brilliant with the way you attached the mask to her hair. And it is so funny, how Elmo is looking backward!

So glad you took the pictures. I'd love to see Coral's face as she looks at them - I'll bet she's thrilled!

This made me smile. Big. ;-)

Jeanette said...

I'm glad you like the pictures, Renae! I nearly had a disaster on my hands because something about the flash on the camera triggers Coral's gag reflex, too, don't ask me why. She had just had her breakfast, the van was waiting to pick her up, I was snapping, and she started gagging uncontrollably. I just thought she was going to upchuck there for a minute, but I have found the way to stop it is to take my hands and rub her face firmly all over. Somehow that overrides the gagging thing, and so off she went for a happy day to be admired by all her friends!! What a girl!

Carol-Ann Allen said...

I'll have to train Bruce in gag reflex therapy and then test him to see how well he has learned! :)

Jeanette said...

Okay, Carol-Ann, do I have this right? You have the gag reflex, you want Bruce to practice up on what to do, then you will trigger said gag reflex to see if he can stop the upchuck??? Ha ha ha ha!! Oh, it just would not be worth it to me!

Carol-Ann Allen said...

I want the facial massage with big warm hands!