Andrew thought I was kidding when I announced it was time to take Oliver trick-or-treating. Here in the Denver area, there are set trick-or-treating hours (this year, 6pm to 8pm), so I was ready to go promptly at 6pm. I assured him that our endeavor was for the experience and not the actual loot. He caved and had the most fun of all of us.
We slid Oliver into his hamburger costume from Aunt Julie. Yes, he was a scarecrow at his birthday party (that costume was made by my mom and my sister-in-law, Erin). I think it's OK for little kids to have two costumes! Anyway, we dressed Oliver in the hamburger costume and headed to the end of our block to Orlando's house. His porch light was off, and Andrew insisted that meant there was no candy at his house. I'd never heard that before in my life, but I agreed to skip his house. So, Oliver's first trick-or-treat was actually at a neighbor's whom we're not very familiar with. She was very sweet, though, and held out the bowl for Oliver to take a piece. Oliver started to reach in and then got shy. He took a piece when she handed it directly to him. From there, we went to Shawna's house (Owen's mommy!), and she held out the bowl for Oliver, too. Again, he didn't feel brave enough to reach in.
After Shawna's house, I wanted to go to Chris's place, but he wasn't home. So, we went to our other next door neighbor's house. This time, the bowl wasn't offered to Oliver, and I think that made him want it more. Our next stop was at our neighbor, the teacher's place. She was loud and friendly and put a few pieces in Oliver's jack-o-lantern pail. Then, Oliver pratically leapt out of my arms to get at her bowl of candy. He reached in and emerged with a Twix bar! He promptly started gnawing at it, wrapper and all.
That was the extent of Oliver's trick-or-treating. We went home and gave him half of a fun-sized Kit-Kat (he really went to town on the thing and loved it), and then Andrew removed the almonds from a fun-sized Almond Joy and gave that to Oliver, too. It wasn't long before Oliver was motoring around the house, shrieking and laughing at nothing, banging cabinets and shaking toys. He couldn't sit still! It was hilarious. Finally, worried that he'd crash off of the sugar rush, I decided to feed him some jarred baby turkey food. He wolfed down the food, but then he threw up some of it near the end. My mother-in-law, Colleen, told me Andrew always threw up from sweets when he was younger. Still, it broke my heart. Poor little guy. He didn't seem to mind too much, though. At 7:30pm, he crashed out and is still sleeping now (minus a 4am feeding).
In other news, Andrew and I finally had our first trick-or-treaters! In 2007, we house-sat. In 2008, I bought tons of candy at our apartment, but no one came. In 2009, we were at the hospital having Oliver. So our first trick-or-treater was highly anticipated. At 5:45pm, we were outside talking with some of the neighbors, and we spotted a dad walking with a girl dressed up as Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas. Andrew and I were so excited, we ran to our house and stood in front of the screen door. A few minutes passed before she walked up, looked at us, and held out her bucket. There was no, "Trick-or-treat!" Boo.
Andrew was the funniest candy distributer, I must say. The next group of kids came by, and they mumbled, "trick or treat." Andrew demanded more enthusiasm, and they started all exclaiming, "TRICK OR TREAT!" It was very cute. He also liked to guess what everyone was dressed up as. Some kids were funny: "I'm not a fairy! I'm Tinker Bell!" Other kids were confused, like the boy whom Andrew guessed was a character in Mortal Combat. He stared at him blankly and said, "I'm a dead ninja." My favorite part of the night was when a girl (approximately 12) came by dressed as "nerdy mustard," and announced to her fellow trick-or-treaters that Andrew was "the guy from Pineapple Express!" She was referring to Seth Rogan. Andrew was not dressed up. Hahahahaha.
We slid Oliver into his hamburger costume from Aunt Julie. Yes, he was a scarecrow at his birthday party (that costume was made by my mom and my sister-in-law, Erin). I think it's OK for little kids to have two costumes! Anyway, we dressed Oliver in the hamburger costume and headed to the end of our block to Orlando's house. His porch light was off, and Andrew insisted that meant there was no candy at his house. I'd never heard that before in my life, but I agreed to skip his house. So, Oliver's first trick-or-treat was actually at a neighbor's whom we're not very familiar with. She was very sweet, though, and held out the bowl for Oliver to take a piece. Oliver started to reach in and then got shy. He took a piece when she handed it directly to him. From there, we went to Shawna's house (Owen's mommy!), and she held out the bowl for Oliver, too. Again, he didn't feel brave enough to reach in.
After Shawna's house, I wanted to go to Chris's place, but he wasn't home. So, we went to our other next door neighbor's house. This time, the bowl wasn't offered to Oliver, and I think that made him want it more. Our next stop was at our neighbor, the teacher's place. She was loud and friendly and put a few pieces in Oliver's jack-o-lantern pail. Then, Oliver pratically leapt out of my arms to get at her bowl of candy. He reached in and emerged with a Twix bar! He promptly started gnawing at it, wrapper and all.
That was the extent of Oliver's trick-or-treating. We went home and gave him half of a fun-sized Kit-Kat (he really went to town on the thing and loved it), and then Andrew removed the almonds from a fun-sized Almond Joy and gave that to Oliver, too. It wasn't long before Oliver was motoring around the house, shrieking and laughing at nothing, banging cabinets and shaking toys. He couldn't sit still! It was hilarious. Finally, worried that he'd crash off of the sugar rush, I decided to feed him some jarred baby turkey food. He wolfed down the food, but then he threw up some of it near the end. My mother-in-law, Colleen, told me Andrew always threw up from sweets when he was younger. Still, it broke my heart. Poor little guy. He didn't seem to mind too much, though. At 7:30pm, he crashed out and is still sleeping now (minus a 4am feeding).
In other news, Andrew and I finally had our first trick-or-treaters! In 2007, we house-sat. In 2008, I bought tons of candy at our apartment, but no one came. In 2009, we were at the hospital having Oliver. So our first trick-or-treater was highly anticipated. At 5:45pm, we were outside talking with some of the neighbors, and we spotted a dad walking with a girl dressed up as Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas. Andrew and I were so excited, we ran to our house and stood in front of the screen door. A few minutes passed before she walked up, looked at us, and held out her bucket. There was no, "Trick-or-treat!" Boo.
Andrew was the funniest candy distributer, I must say. The next group of kids came by, and they mumbled, "trick or treat." Andrew demanded more enthusiasm, and they started all exclaiming, "TRICK OR TREAT!" It was very cute. He also liked to guess what everyone was dressed up as. Some kids were funny: "I'm not a fairy! I'm Tinker Bell!" Other kids were confused, like the boy whom Andrew guessed was a character in Mortal Combat. He stared at him blankly and said, "I'm a dead ninja." My favorite part of the night was when a girl (approximately 12) came by dressed as "nerdy mustard," and announced to her fellow trick-or-treaters that Andrew was "the guy from Pineapple Express!" She was referring to Seth Rogan. Andrew was not dressed up. Hahahahaha.
In other news, my mom only got six trick-or-treaters this year! I blame it on the growing sentiment among over-protective parents that Halloween is somehow evil or wrong. I'd like to quickly point out that Halloween is celebrated in the States in conjuction with All Souls' Day, and almost all organized sects of Christianity don't condemn the holiday. It's harmless fun, a day when people can laugh at death rather than be afraid or sad by it. Besides, there's nothing better to a kid than choosing a costume (we'd decide months beforehand) and then getting to go door-to-door to get bags full of candy. So relax, don't be so uptight, and let your kids enjoy the holiday for what it really is.
Happy Halloween!
