This is one of those times where the journey was much more important than the destination. I realize that our children will have MANY more "first times" in their lives and I think it's our jobs as our parents to prepare them for those times, especially for a kid like Julian that needs to know what's going on at all times, and know what's coming next.
This past month has been a lot of fun with all the fall festivities. We took Julian to choose pumpkins, fall festivals, and the craft store, which is quite festive with all the decorations (obviously). We went talked about trick or treating and Julian even chose his costume - a ghost. I'll definitely give credit to the Little Einsteins Halloween episode where the kids go on a mission to collect treats for their Halloween party. Julian has learned quite a bit (especially about music instruments) from these shows and while we are careful to monitor how much and what he watches, we approve of this show. This episode is about these three ghosts follow them to each castle as they collect treats and in the end of the episode they have a big Halloween party. Julian LOVES this episode. He carries around the plastic pumpkin and shakes the "treats" inside (he uses whatever will make noise) and has been very excited about being a ghost.
The month has been a ton of fun preparing him for tonight. Last night, he was SO excited to go to sleep because it meant when he woke up, it would be Halloween! How would the rest of the day go?! I got pretty nervous when he wouldn't let me measure him for his ghost costume. Very creative, I bought a white sheet and cut a hole in the top for his head. (Whoop-dee-doo). I showed him the sheet, helped him hold the sheet, and even cut a little ghost costume for Dash. When we were getting ready to go to our neighborhood costume parade and potluck, would he put it on? No. He *did* carry his super awesome skeleton treat bag that Grammy bought him at Pottery Barn kids. He even tried wearing THIS on his head. Alas, his ghost was not to be. When we got to the party he really liked seeing all the other kids in their costumes but still, he did not want to wear his. He didn't even want to stay for the parade. He came, he ate, he left. What would this mean for trick or treating?
After a quick dinner at home (mainly for daddy and Dash), we grabbed his treat bag and got ready to go trick or treating. We talked about the protocol for t-or-t and he was very excited to try it out! But what about the costume? Oh no. He definitely would NOT put it on. We explained that he needed to wear a costume to trick or treat but we didn't want to punish him by not taking him if he was adamantly opposed to wearing the costume. Daddy was very quick to think of something and he suggested that maybe he could wear his trademark hat and carry his guitar to be a "rocker" and since these are his most favorite toys ever, he complied and off we went...to the house next door.
He stepped up to the house, knocked on the door, and when they came he even said "trick or treat!" He was so excited to choose a piece of candy from the bowl and said thank you when he was all done. Success! Off we went to the next house, our new awesome neighbors who have a 3-year old son and an 8-month old son. We scooped them up and "rocker" was joined by "buzz lightyear" (aka Emmett) and off we went to knock on some doors.
The boys did great. They knocked, asked politely, chose a treat, and said thank you. I think we hit up about 10 houses for treats and the boys were great at each one. The last house we stopped at there was a teenage boy standing in the shadows wearing a very scary mask and costume, holding a bowl of candy. If I didn't see him scratch his face I wouldn't have known he was there....oh gee, he was scary! Emmett got scared and Julian was very unsure, but Erica (Emmett's mom) got a lollipop from him to show them he was okay but the boys didn't bite. We asked him to take his mask off and show them it's just pretend and after that they were okay. Poor little guys....these decorations and costumes can be scary!!!
When we got home Julian ate one mini Snickers and was an angel going to bed. I think next year will be a lot more fun when he understands it better, but for now I think the evening was a total success....even if we didn't get any cute costume photos.
Happy Halloween everyone....now go brush your teeth so you don't get any cavities.
