Halloween 2012

The kids have had two other Halloweens, but this was the first year that they got reeeeeally into it.

 

No, I didn't make those costumes. I've been asked that a lot, but as I've honestly replied every time, I ordered the darn things from Target, didn't even go to the store.

 

 

My mom got some great pictures tonight like the two above.  She and my dad came by to pass out candy while Mike and I took the kids around. 

Garden gnomes!

 



  

About a month ago I bought some Halloween and Thanksgiving books through a book order at the kids' child care center.  At that point the words "pumpkin,"monster,"trick-or-treat," and "costumes" were hardly in Michael and Sophie's vocabularies, but that has certainly changed.  While they have enjoyed all the books, one is a stand-out as a new bedtime favorite: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.  I did worry during our first reading of it that the story might be too spooky for my 2.5-year-olds, but they handle it well and love all the "CLOMP CLOMP"s and "WIGGLE WIGGLE"s.

A little game also develped in recent weeks that began with Michael pushing one of his trucks and Sophie running to the lap of the nearest grown-up saying "I'm sceeeaaard!" smiling all the while.  It has evolved into an elaborate game of peek-a-boo in which the "Michael monster" or "Sophie monster" hides in the playroom making monster noises (which to them is yelling "Heh!") and crawling out on hands-and-knees to a "scared" (giggling) sibling.  They swap roles seemlessly, and the routine goes on for quite a while.  I don't want them having nightmares or anything, but I think it's healthy to explore fear a little bit.  And what better time of year?

For the last week or so we've been practicing trick-or-treating.  When the time came to actually trick-or-treat tonight, Sophie was vibrating with excitement.  We went to less than a dozen houses, and I was worried our girl wasn't going to take well to heading home (Michael was getting sleepy and cold), but it turned out that passing out candy was just as exciting to these two as any other part of this event.  They ran those pointy-toed shoes to the door for every bunch of kids that arrived after we returned and got a big kick out of dropping candy into all those pillowcases and grocery bags.

I see you eyeing my pumpkin...

 

Fortunately Sophie and Michael are still pretty clueless about candy, and I don't intend for that to change this year.  They enjoyed sorting their loot tonight, but when Sophie peeled the wrapper off a Snickers, clearly just for the enjoyment of peeling a wrapper, she happily handed the chocolate over.  Candy just wasn't the point this year.

 

Seeing Michael and Sophie engage in these traditions and fill with joy again and again has made me pretty eager for Christmas this year.  They're going to love all that hooplah!