Friday, November 1, 2013

This is Halloween

We had a lovely Halloween.  Leo was Doc McStuffins and Zoe was his sidekick, Lambie.  I wrote a bit about my thoughts on Leo dressing as Doc McStuffins (from the Disney Channel show) over at VillageQ - but as I suspected, we didn't encounter even a raised eyebrow.  It's just another reminder of how much I love this community.  I know how lucky we are to live in a progressive, urban, tight-knit community where we know (and love) so many of our neighbors.  The only questions we got were from a few people who weren't familiar with the show(gotta love that there are a lot of TV-free people in our circles, as well).  

We marched in the neighborhood parade and trick or treated along the route.  The parade is a great neighborhood event.  Families gather with their children and march through the neighborhood admiring each other's costumes and chatting. Some homes along the route give out candy - those people are usually seated on their porch/stoop with a bowl of treats while the kids line up for a turn. Of course it does make for a lot of trick-or-treater traffic jams at each home, but it's very social and fun.  None of the kids seem to mind waiting a few minutes for each piece of candy.


Both Leo and Zoe trick or treated and they both LOVED it.  Last year was Leo's first year going door to door and he got a kick out of it then, but this year he really was bowled over with the excitement of it all.  And with Zoe wanting to do everything her big brother does, I knew it was hopeless to try and distract her from the candy collecting.  


The only blip on the radar of a fantastic Halloween was when Leo had a moment of costume remorse.  He saw a group of kids dressed as superheroes and he suddenly wished he'd dressed as one as well.  jb held him and reassured him that 1. his costume is awesome and 2. he can totally dress up as a superhero next year - or heck tomorrow!  He wasn't entirely convinced but got back to collecting candy (priorities!).  After a few houses we ran into another kid dressed as Doc McStuffins, and his face lit up.  Then we saw another, and another...and he was excited about his costume again and regained the bounce in his step and air of pride he'd had earlier.  Seems like the momentary regret had nothing to do with gender, but rather not fitting in.  Though, I suppose sometimes gender worries have everything to with fitting in.  The important thing is he bounced back quite quickly.


I'd tried to avoid any costume regret by doing a costume trial run at home a few days earlier.  Leo tried on his costume (which I pieced together with pieces from the thrift store - why yes, that is medical tape as stripes on his turtleneck, and that is a men's button down shirt I shortened and took in as a lab coat...)  Leo was thrilled with the costume.  I also had a Frankenstein's monster costume for Zoe - and she HATED it.  Which is a damn shame because she looked adorable and does this "rawr" thing that would have MADE the costume.  Alas, kids have their own ideas about things, so we were left scrambling for a costume - enter, Leo's suggestion of Lambie.


Funnily enough, though I didn't have any issue with Leo choosing Doc for his costume, my initial reaction to the Lambie costume idea was "Ack, it's so....pink."  I gently suggested to Leo that perhaps Zoe could be Stuffie, or Hallie the Hippo...but no, he insisted on Lambie.  And I'm glad he did, because she was adorable toddling from door to door in her little lamb ears.

Halloween parade emptying into the block party
At the end of the Halloween parade route there is a block party with tables of (more) treats provided by local businesses and neighbors.  That block is usually packed and I've never actually gotten close to the tables, but jb will duck in and bring back a cookie or a cupcake for us.  


After we mingled and talked with our neighbors (many of whom we've known since Leo was a newborn through breastfeeding meetings or play groups - it's so neat to watch the group of kids grow up) we trick or treated our way back home and ate some dinner before diving into the candy bags.  




It was awesome to watch him spread the candy out and sort it and see his eyes grow wide.  Of course he's still learning the different kinds of candies - so he doesn't know what he likes and is sometimes disappointed with a treat choice.  But he is so excited to try all these new and strange confections.  During trick or treating he equated color with better treats, so there isn't as much chocolate as I'd hoped for and there are a WHOLE LOT of Kit Kats.  Darn that red wrapper.  Meh.  Well, as jb reminds me, I can go buy candy anytime I want.  It's just not the same!

Halloween 2013 at our house has been a success.  How was yours?

1 comment:

  1. Ack, so cute - I love family costumes that go together. I wish I'd taken the time to do something clever for a babywearing costume.


    It's so true - Going out to buy candy just isn't the same. Plus, on Halloween I feel guilt-free enjoying Butterfingers. We don't buy Nestle but it would be rude to be picky when people are handing it out for free!

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