Why Purim Scared Me

This was our first Purim since YS was diagnosed with his peanut allergy. I grew up thinking that Purim was a fun, carefree, silly holiday with a lot of meaning and ritual. I now know that Purim is a scary holiday with hidden dangers around every corner. Prepping for the holiday this year not only involved ordering costumes, making mishloach manot, and arranging plans for the festive meal, but it also required me to have several role-playing sessions with my 3.5 year-old, during which time I pretended to hand him a treat and required him to practice bringing it to me and asking permission before eating it. I must say, I play a very convincing 3 year-old girl; raising my voice thirteen octaves really helps. In any case, even after practicing and lecturing, I still felt like I had to watch YS like a hawk the whole day. Our Purim this year was wonderful and fun, and it involved attending three different parties and receiving a dozen or so gift baskets from friends in our community. While I feel so fortunate to be the recipient of such lovely generosity, it meant I was sorting through food and standing guard over YS all day. Luckily, there were plenty of nut-free treats for him to enjoy, so he didn't protest when I told him he couldn't sample certain foods. The only close call of the day actually involved AM, who has not yet been diagnosed with an allergy (but his genealogy and eczema make me suspect he may eventually receive the same diagnosis as his big brother). He happily enjoyed a hazelnut cookie, after which I stared at him from about two inches away from his face for five minutes until I was convinced he wasn't going to react. Let me tell you: those were a LONG five minutes. B"H the day was free from medical emergencies and therefore a huge success. YS was remarkably well-behaved the whole day, played nicely with kids from several different families, graciously thanked his hosts and hostesses, and cheerfully wore his dinosaur costume all day. AM made me happy by wearing his scarecrow hat long enough for me to snap some cute photographs, and then he ate his way through the day at each house we visited. For a tiny little guy, he can really put it away.

Now that Purim is over, Pesach season has officially begun (at least in my head). I have already filled a few Pampers boxes with food I found on sale two weeks ago, and soon I will outline my to-do lists for the next four weeks. Pretty soon the "I will not let Pesach make me crazy. I will not let Pesach make me crazy. I will not let Pesach make me crazy." mantras will begin. Whatever it takes!

Finally, I am proud/shocked/amazed to announce that I made a home-cooked, well-balanced, relatively healthy and delicious dinner...on a TUESDAY!!!! The planets must be out of line. Brown rice with cheddar and veggies and baked tilapia. Mmmm...

Purim Planning 2011

Thanks to Adar Bet, I have been able to procrastinate in my Purim planning this year. In fact, I had kind of skipped over it in my head, skipping happily over costumes and graggers and mishloach manot and moving straight to Pesach stressing. However, once I got recruited to help plan the shul's annual Purim fundraiser, I realized it was time to stop dragging my heels and start preparing!

Even though I'm sure I could put my creative thinking cap on and make a costume from scratch, I honestly just don't have the time, energy, or desire right now. Maybe another year. Maybe. So instead, I will be relying on costumes made by someone else, preferably ones that will be able to withstand multiple uses. I'm already anticipating that YS will need to wear his at school, at shul Saturday night, to shul Sunday morning, and to the seuda Sunday afternoon. That requires a lot of endurance, and a made-by-me costume just isn't going to do.

I've gotten lucky the past few Purims. Thanks to recycled costumes from cousins, I haven't actually had to buy a costume until this year. I tried hitting the stores post-Halloween to get some good deals, but as soon as the clock struck midnight and the calendar changed to November, the costumes were off of the shelves and put away until next year. So, I am actually sucking it up and spending money on store-bought costumes, because sometimes I'm allowed to be lazy and do it the easy way.

Did I say easy way? In my head, this is how my planned conversation with YS was going to go:

Me: Do you want to be a dinosaur for Purim?
YS: Yes! I do! I will happily wear my costume to all events and won't complain a bit.

In reality, the conversations (yes, there were several) went like this:

Me: What do you want to be for Purim?
YS: A moon! And you will be night. And AM will be the stars. And Abba will be the sun.

Will a moon costume be easy to buy online? No? VETO! Try again.

Me: Since "Dinosaur Train" is your new favorite show, do you want to be a dinosaur for Purim?
YS: No. I want to be a window.

VETO! A window? Seriously? While I was happy that he wasn't begging to be a super hero like most boys in his class, I was a bit perplexed at his choice of costumes. Try again.




I sat at the computer for a LONG time and looked through my options on the Toys R Us website. I decided on a cute scarecrow for AM. I figured he'll look adorable even if he refuses to wear the hat.





For YS, I narrowed it down to a few good options and revisited the subject with him.

Me: Do you want to be a dinosaur or a blue crayon for Purim? Blue is your favorite color!
YS: A blue crayon!
Me: Ok, great! You'll be a blue crayon and AM will be a scarecrow.
YS: I want to be a scarecrow! I'll be a blue crayon next year.

So we sat together at the computer and looked for a 4T scarecrow costume, but alas, there was nothing in a reasonable price range. Finally, I pulled up the list of 4T boys costumes and let him scroll through. In the end, this is what we ordered:

Thank you Toysrus.com for making my life easier. Now I just have to pray that they fit and he doesn't change his mind in the next three weeks. Hahahaha. Yeah right. Let's just say I won't be cutting off any tags until Purim night!