Halloween 2011

Well, it was our first big Halloween... here's how it went.

We missed our church party, but went to our friend's, but Reid still didn't like it much... partly cuz of the costume drama.  We made this super cool Mater costume last year, but then Reid got super sick on Halloween, so we didn't use it.  He didn't even want to put it on.  Then about a month ago, we got it out and he drove Mater all over the house.  "Sweet!" I thought, "my kid actually likes the costume this year."  So we thought we try it again.  No, he didn't want to use it.  So we carried it around and trunk-or-treated at the church party.

Since that didn't go well, the day before Halloween we got out Reid's Halloween bucket and had him go "trick or treating" to each of us, so he could practice and get excited.  Well, he asked about it for the next 24 hours!

On actually Halloween was a Fall Festival for little kids at a local park.  I wasn't about to carry Mater, a baby and a sad toddler, so I put on some hole-y jeans and a flannel shirt and Reid's tool bet and called it good for the morning.  He ran around and had a blast... feeding a lion, putting into a nelephants trunk, and riding on the hay ride ("tractor ride").  Went to lunch with friends and came home and napped.  

I was foolishly still hopeful that Mater would be selected for the evening, but NOPE, he wasn't.  So we grabbed the tool belt and he was ready.  Our neighbors invited us to go with them, and I thought that would be better for him to see how it worked with other kids.  They had a blast.  Reid loved having other "guys" (non-adults) to follow.  He would say "ick o TREAT"... always screaming the treat part... it was hilarious.  He was also very good to say "thank you" and sometimes even a "bye" or "see you later".  He was the hit of the night.  He also got very excited about the moon, and saying hi to fellow trick or treaters that passed us.

Unfortunately, after the first scary house (and it was actually scary), he required mom to go with him up to the door from then on.  For the first few houses after a scary house, he would ask, "Scary?" and we would all reassure him it was ok.  I never made him go up to the door at the scary houses, but he still knew if it was a scary house just by passing it.  And some houses that weren't scary, but had Halloween sounds, still made him very cautious.

About halfway through the night he started slowing down, I finally figured out it was because his candy bucket was too heavy!  I started carrying it for him in between houses, and then he perked right back up.  But by the end, my neighbors, Reid, and I were all tired.  Matt stayed home with Weston and the dogs to hand out candy.  Weston was a champ and slept the whole time, doorbells and all, can't say the same for the dogs.  :)

When we got home, he asked for some nerds, which he loved and milk duds, which didn't last, and a lollipop.  Then he happily sat down watched Thomas while I got Weston to bed, and then he went to bed quite easily.

It was such a fun time for us to see Reid as he's growing up, interacting and participating more.  We had a great Halloween!