Trick or Treat
Halloween was so much more fun than I expected, and I was thinking it would be fun.
I remember Halloween 2002. I was working late as was my normal practice. Randy came by my office and bugged me to leave with him earlier than I was ready to because we had to go to Kroger's and buy candy. For what, I asked, Trick or Treat? Like, I didn't want to be bothered. Halloween was really not my favorite.
Here we are in 2005. WHOOHOO Halloween! I couldn't wait to get Myles in his costume before we went to our regular Monday library day. I sang my new usual song while I showered, "Today is Library Day. I'm so excited." When we got to the library, the Lap Sit was just getting out, so we saw the infants in their costumes. A LOT of pumpkins, let me tell you.
Toddler Time was all about 5 Little Pumpkins and Halloween costumes. No princesses, but a lot of furry animals. One boy did come as Thomas, too. This same boy, Albert, always has a Thomas shirt on or a Thomas back pack, all of which Myles seriously covets.
After that we went to Crispian's school for their annual Halloween parade. There were quite a few princesses in this parade, but a bit of fun variety, too. Ninjas/generic masked martial arts characters were oddly popular as well, among boys and some girls, too. I didn't realize these kids were old enough to watch Crouching Tiger or Hero.
Crispian of course went as Big Ben
Myles loved the parade. Check out my Itsy Bitsy Spider.
After school the boys and I returned to the house to eat dinner and wait for Kate and Crispian's friend Kurtis who was coming to our neighborhood for Trick or Treat. There is a running joke that gets circulated on the email forwards about Halloween Costumes in Pennsylvania needing to be large enough to fit a snowsuit under it. Fortunately, the weather was mild enough here that costumes alone were fine in the afternoon, and just an extra layer of clothes in the evening was all that was needed. I had to take Myles' costume off to put his PJ's and a sweatshirt on him as that extra layer and he was asserting himself not to put the costume back on until right before Trick or Treat ("No" is his answer to EVERYTHING right now). I ran into our next door neighbor as we were both fetching Halloween things from our cars and she asked what Myles was going to be, and I had told her that he had been the Itsy Bitsy Spider all day, but at the rate were were going he was going to be Trick or Treating as a little boy in his PJ's if I couldn't get the costume back on.
Once Kurtis got there in his costume and Myles saw further preparations toward Halloween fun (some decorating outside on our stoop, the other boys getting their costumes together, and the bowl of CANDY), he was back to being a spider. Right before they went Trick or Treating, Crispian and Kurtis took a second to pose.
Unfortunately in this picture you can't see the cool flashing light mouthguard Crispian had. I got some video of it, though.
Myles stayed with me to help give out candy. At first, when our street was mostly deserted, I had a very hard time keeping him from eating the candy himself. At first the major obstacle was that he couldn't unwrap them. It didn't take too long after he got tired of my saying no that he figured out how to unwrap Kisses himself.
It also didn't take long for Myles to get into the spirit of giving candy. As possessive as he can be, he also really gets into sharing. He also likes to have tasks, so putting candy in other kids bags was pretty cool. Myles was particularly generous to one little girl that lives across the street. He kept giving her bags of M&M's while her dad introduced himself. I think she ended up with three or four. Since I am keeping an informal count, I saw a lot fewer princesses than I had at Crispian's school. I wonder if there might not be some relationship between a family's affluence and princess costumes. There were still princesses, including two of the girls next door, but a lot more variety. My favorite girl's costume was a Troy Polamalu. I am sure there are Steelers-haters out there that could have a field day with that.
As I said, Myles absolutely loved giving out candy. At one point when it got slow, he stood at our stoop and starting yelling, "Hey Kids!!! Hey Kids!!! More KIDS!!!" And when that wasn't working, he even begged, "More Kids, please!!!"
He was having so much fun that he was initially reluctant to leave our post and trick our treat when Kate and the 2 other boys returned trick-or-treated-out. But as he started to get candy....it was a whole 'nuther story. We couldn't get to the houses fast enough for him. Not only the houses, but the borough fire department drove around the streets giving out candy from the fire trucks. Now that was cool. I had never heard of that before, but apparently it was common, because unlike any other day when the sight of flashing lights would cause groups of kids to scatter, it actually drew them in. From where I was sitting, when I first saw this and didn't know what was going on, it looked like something out of a science fiction movie. All of the sudden, the firetruck would appear, lights flashing, and all of the kids on the street would turn and go towards the lights.
And since this is Pittsburgh, what would any even be without alcohol? One wonderful house we hit had treats for the grown-ups, too: Dixie cups of wine. I love this country.
When Myles was done, I suggested to him that he should take some candy next door to Lucy, one of the 4 girls in that house that is also close to Myles in age. He agreed and grabbed 2 bags of M&M's. He gave them to Lucy, who so graciously thanked him. She sat next to him on their steps and said, "Yeah Myles, I love you, too." It was so cute as they sat there banging the backs of the heels on the steps together.
And one thing I paid particular attention to after having read various complaints and diatribes on some of the Catholic blogs was the extent and timing of the Halloween decorations. I noticed in my neighborhood that while many of my neighbors do decorate for Halloween with lights and skeletons and big blow-up pumpkins and monsters, the bulk of the decorating did not happen until Saturday or Sunday. Some people were partly decorated for a week or two, with only some pumpkins and fake cobwebs in their shrubs, but they didn't have the really big stuff up until this weekend. I further noticed that most of them were down already this morning. A few years ago I would have rolled my eyes at the decorations, grateful for how brief a time they were up. But now, I realize how much the kids really do like them. But I am still happy they aren't up as long as Christmas lights :-)
I remember Halloween 2002. I was working late as was my normal practice. Randy came by my office and bugged me to leave with him earlier than I was ready to because we had to go to Kroger's and buy candy. For what, I asked, Trick or Treat? Like, I didn't want to be bothered. Halloween was really not my favorite.
Here we are in 2005. WHOOHOO Halloween! I couldn't wait to get Myles in his costume before we went to our regular Monday library day. I sang my new usual song while I showered, "Today is Library Day. I'm so excited." When we got to the library, the Lap Sit was just getting out, so we saw the infants in their costumes. A LOT of pumpkins, let me tell you.
Toddler Time was all about 5 Little Pumpkins and Halloween costumes. No princesses, but a lot of furry animals. One boy did come as Thomas, too. This same boy, Albert, always has a Thomas shirt on or a Thomas back pack, all of which Myles seriously covets.
After that we went to Crispian's school for their annual Halloween parade. There were quite a few princesses in this parade, but a bit of fun variety, too. Ninjas/generic masked martial arts characters were oddly popular as well, among boys and some girls, too. I didn't realize these kids were old enough to watch Crouching Tiger or Hero.
Crispian of course went as Big Ben
Myles loved the parade. Check out my Itsy Bitsy Spider.
After school the boys and I returned to the house to eat dinner and wait for Kate and Crispian's friend Kurtis who was coming to our neighborhood for Trick or Treat. There is a running joke that gets circulated on the email forwards about Halloween Costumes in Pennsylvania needing to be large enough to fit a snowsuit under it. Fortunately, the weather was mild enough here that costumes alone were fine in the afternoon, and just an extra layer of clothes in the evening was all that was needed. I had to take Myles' costume off to put his PJ's and a sweatshirt on him as that extra layer and he was asserting himself not to put the costume back on until right before Trick or Treat ("No" is his answer to EVERYTHING right now). I ran into our next door neighbor as we were both fetching Halloween things from our cars and she asked what Myles was going to be, and I had told her that he had been the Itsy Bitsy Spider all day, but at the rate were were going he was going to be Trick or Treating as a little boy in his PJ's if I couldn't get the costume back on.
Once Kurtis got there in his costume and Myles saw further preparations toward Halloween fun (some decorating outside on our stoop, the other boys getting their costumes together, and the bowl of CANDY), he was back to being a spider. Right before they went Trick or Treating, Crispian and Kurtis took a second to pose.
Unfortunately in this picture you can't see the cool flashing light mouthguard Crispian had. I got some video of it, though.Myles stayed with me to help give out candy. At first, when our street was mostly deserted, I had a very hard time keeping him from eating the candy himself. At first the major obstacle was that he couldn't unwrap them. It didn't take too long after he got tired of my saying no that he figured out how to unwrap Kisses himself.
It also didn't take long for Myles to get into the spirit of giving candy. As possessive as he can be, he also really gets into sharing. He also likes to have tasks, so putting candy in other kids bags was pretty cool. Myles was particularly generous to one little girl that lives across the street. He kept giving her bags of M&M's while her dad introduced himself. I think she ended up with three or four. Since I am keeping an informal count, I saw a lot fewer princesses than I had at Crispian's school. I wonder if there might not be some relationship between a family's affluence and princess costumes. There were still princesses, including two of the girls next door, but a lot more variety. My favorite girl's costume was a Troy Polamalu. I am sure there are Steelers-haters out there that could have a field day with that.
As I said, Myles absolutely loved giving out candy. At one point when it got slow, he stood at our stoop and starting yelling, "Hey Kids!!! Hey Kids!!! More KIDS!!!" And when that wasn't working, he even begged, "More Kids, please!!!"
He was having so much fun that he was initially reluctant to leave our post and trick our treat when Kate and the 2 other boys returned trick-or-treated-out. But as he started to get candy....it was a whole 'nuther story. We couldn't get to the houses fast enough for him. Not only the houses, but the borough fire department drove around the streets giving out candy from the fire trucks. Now that was cool. I had never heard of that before, but apparently it was common, because unlike any other day when the sight of flashing lights would cause groups of kids to scatter, it actually drew them in. From where I was sitting, when I first saw this and didn't know what was going on, it looked like something out of a science fiction movie. All of the sudden, the firetruck would appear, lights flashing, and all of the kids on the street would turn and go towards the lights.
And since this is Pittsburgh, what would any even be without alcohol? One wonderful house we hit had treats for the grown-ups, too: Dixie cups of wine. I love this country.
When Myles was done, I suggested to him that he should take some candy next door to Lucy, one of the 4 girls in that house that is also close to Myles in age. He agreed and grabbed 2 bags of M&M's. He gave them to Lucy, who so graciously thanked him. She sat next to him on their steps and said, "Yeah Myles, I love you, too." It was so cute as they sat there banging the backs of the heels on the steps together.
And one thing I paid particular attention to after having read various complaints and diatribes on some of the Catholic blogs was the extent and timing of the Halloween decorations. I noticed in my neighborhood that while many of my neighbors do decorate for Halloween with lights and skeletons and big blow-up pumpkins and monsters, the bulk of the decorating did not happen until Saturday or Sunday. Some people were partly decorated for a week or two, with only some pumpkins and fake cobwebs in their shrubs, but they didn't have the really big stuff up until this weekend. I further noticed that most of them were down already this morning. A few years ago I would have rolled my eyes at the decorations, grateful for how brief a time they were up. But now, I realize how much the kids really do like them. But I am still happy they aren't up as long as Christmas lights :-)
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