IkeBot 3000
I don’t have photos of Dennis’ awesome sparkly flaming jumpsuit yet, but here’s a look at Isaac’s costume, the IkeBot 3000.
I know I said I was going to make him a jumpsuit, too, but it just didn’t happen. So, the day before Halloween I spent some time with some foil broiler pans and a pie tin and two sets of LED Christmas lights and some glow sticks and a whole lotta duct tape and made a robot costume.
I worked around Isaac’s quirks – you’ll notice there is no hat at all, and my hope for the tape stripes on his pants was that he would focus his need to pick at things on those and leave the main body of the costume alone. I faux-laminated the pieced paper dial on the front of the costume (yay clear contact paper) so he couldn’t mess with it. Overall, he did great, though; he was delighted with the costume and didn’t start picking bits of it off until the very end of the night.
Isaac loved trick-or-treating, and would have done so all night. He has also discovered that he loves candy with a capital L-O-V-E and would like to eat nothing but candy from now on. That’s not going to happen.
Some things I learned from this project:
- LED lights are in fact quite bright. There are 40 lights on there and you could see him from down the block. He never tried to bolt, but if he had, at least I would have had no problem finding him.
- Do. Not. design a costume for Isaac that has to go on over the head. He refused to put it on until I sliced one of the straps and put him on it sideways. Fortunately the straps were made of duct tape so this was no big deal.
- 6 AA batteries are heavy enough to make the front of the costume pitch forward; I should have shortened the straps to compensate.
In other happy Isaac news, he’s making fantastic progress with his new friend The Potty. He has also just had a growth spurt and can now reach many things he couldn’t reach before, with sometimes hilarious and sometimes frustrating/panic-inducing results. It’s never dull, anyway.
What a great costume! Ikebot 3000 is a total Halloween bit of awesomeness! You are one great Mommy Designer : )
Di
My 3 year old went as Cthulhu. Isn’t it great when you just adore the crap out of their costumes, because they’re so individualistic?
Such a wonderfully original costume!
He looks adorable! Good job, you!!
Hah, looks a lot like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume I made one year from a couple of those dimpled roasting pans. Except I fail wiring. You are awesome!
Sara, I do love that you just had that many LEDs lying around. Of course, I do too …
Sara, That is an awesome costume! I know someone else who would have loved it too. Have “Roby the Talking Robot” or the “RAL (robot assembly line)” apps come to an iphone near you?
Love Isaac’s costume and that he’s doing well. I visit you about every Christmas to see what kind of christmas decor comedy you’ve got going on, I always love that, and back in the day when I was blogging too, we were on a similar trajectory with pregnancy and all, anyway… Isaac is beautiful and I’m just popping in to say hi!
I kinda randomly wandered into your blog (funny how that happens .. ) Your amazing descriptions of your son, his behavior, likes, dislikes, vocab, play behavior, was very familiar to me. My son, now 34 years old, even LOOKED like Isaac as a toddler. Back then, not a whole lot about autism, but i now know he was on the spectrum, too. He was all about automatic doors at grocery stores; we could have pitched a tent outside. also heavy into traffic lights.
My son has made his way thru to adulthood and works, get ready, for the department of transportation in our state, fixing traffic signals. So keep the faith, and know that no one has a crystal ball to how Isaac’s story is going to play out. It sounds like he’s in the perfect place to grow as a human bean.
I’ve been a reader of your blogs since sewgeeky and have always enjoyed your posts. I am really sorry to see you disappear from the scene. What is happening with Isaac? I really miss your updates on your life and projects. I know you are busy, as talented as you are, and with Ike and Dennis to keep up with you can’t help but be busy — but please don’t forget those of us who wait to keep up with you and your wonderful family.