A Very Happy Halloween

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays and I've always wanted to pay back the kindness of my childhood neighbors by being one of the houses with the "good candy". It's always chocolate and it's always fine to grab as much as you want. And if you're shy, you're encouraged to get more or I'll put a handful in your bag.

So even without a kid I've always enjoyed this holiday immensely. Last year ds had fun handing out candy, but we didn't venture out of the house. This year he wore his Spider-Man costume for the first time on Sunday when we went to a party. He loved it so much. It is a very fetching costume with big puffy pecs, deltoids, biceps and abs. People at the party thought he must be getting to the gym quite a lot. He wouldn't take it off until bedtime and then asked for it first thing Monday morning and wore it all day. He didn't ask for it Tuesday or Wednesday, but when I asked him if he would like to put it on after we had dinner to go trick or treating he said, "I want to put it on NOW!" So we got to eat dinner with Spidey.

We planned just to hit a few of our neighbors' homes, thinking that he probably wouldn't really get the concept of trick or treating. He was happy to see our friends, and seemed surprised and pleased that he was getting candy from them, but also seemed happy enough with the idea that we were heading back home...until he saw a group of his young friends making their way down the street. He is especially enamored of a 3 year old boy and quickly fell in with him, racing to the doors, and quickly learning to say "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" and, if given the opportunity to choose the candy, expressing his preference for the "orange one." (Okay, so that happened only after Mommy provided the prompts, since Reese's cups were her favorite candy most in evidence that evening.)

And as a final treat, we were invited to another (previously unknown-to-us) neighbor's home to watch movies al fresco. They had set up a movie screen on their front lawn and were showing the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Nightmare Before Christmas. The older kids gathered inside for a massive candy swap, but ds and I were very happy to cuddle up on a blanket to watch the shows. Ds couldn't get over it, he was so happy, saying, "Mommy, we're watching movies *outside*!" So, a very happy Halloween.