Almost Top Banana

This past weekend we spent the afternoon enjoying Gabriel and Joel's first Pumpkin Festival experience. The weather, while predicted to be overcast and chilly, was actually blue skies and warm, and the crowd was bigger than I'd ever seen. Gabriel had his first bite of pumpkin pie (and subsequently his first diaper of pumpkin pie) and Joel was able to see first hand what a costume contest was all about.

As kids, we entered with somewhat elaborate costumes and even managed to take home the coveted Grand Prize ribbon as the HMB Keystone Cops! This being Gabriel's 2nd Halloween, I wanted to continue the practice of making his costume, and now that we're back in the bay area I thought it would be fun to start the tradition of entering him in the Pumpkin Festival contest. Plus it was a good excuse to see Uncle Mikey and Aunt Alena.

My plan was to make him a sock monkey and convince Joel to be a Sock Banana.

I bought 2 pairs of socks (most monkeys require 1 pair) and went to work creating the jumpsuit. I was surprised how quickly it took shape (especially since I have no idea how to sew) but when it came time for a fitting there was a bit of a problem...

This kid is way bigger than I realized. How did this happen? It has been months since I cut out lard and bananas from his diet and yet he's somehow managed to quadruple in size right before my eyes.

I can't believe how much he has grown in just one year...

With the sock monkey costume now a certified bust, I resorted to plan B...for Banana. Using three t-shirts and a pair of socks, I whipped together the yellow ensemble in the car on the way the festival. Once we arrived, it was clear his costume was the most amateur of them all, but I was still proud to have made him something--and 100% recycled too!

Standing among a sea of super hero toddlers and pumpkin babies he entered the 0-3 age group. He even managed to resemble a banana for about 3 seconds--the longest he would allow his hat to stay on his head...and apparently that was all the time it took for him to claim Third Place!

We're very proud of our little banana...and hope to have a picture of him actually in his costume by halloween.