I Survived Halloween 2005

Phew. We made it. It was a fun Halloween, if a bit exhausting.

Baxter was up at the crack of dawn and had been in 3 time outs by 7:30 AM. I wish I was kidding. He had a great day at school, although I guess he was a bit excited there, as well. "He has those gorgeous green eyes," said his teacher, "and I've never seen them look more green and sparkly than they do today!" I went in at noon to help get the room ready for a little party and help the kids get into their costumes for the Halloween Parade. We sat outside in the hot midday sun and watched as each grade level marched by, showing off their Halloween attire. Baxter gradually removed each piece of his costume, he was so sweaty, and he looked totally exhausted. My parents came for the parade and for a little visit and some cupcakes back at the house afterward, which was great. I managed to get Baxter down for a good afternoon nap before trick-or-treating, and that was the key to our evening success!

We got together with some neighborhood friends and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood for a couple of hours. The kids had a wonderful time, hardly caring if anyone was home or not. It seemed that 90% of the fun was getting to run up and down strangers' staircases, which these city kids aren't allowed to do the rest of the year. When they got to a house where no one answered, they screamed, "Haunted House!! Run!!" and took off for the next one. Adorable.

I discovered that Baxter's friend Ella has very, very smart parents. They convinced their daughters to trade in some of their Halloween candy for new books. Tonight we sat down with Baxter and looked on hungrily as he willingly cut his candy stash in half - he's trading in half of his sizable candy supply for a new dinosaur toy and book. Now, if you didn't already know that we're geeks, here's the proof. How much crap will we take for this from the kids someday? "Our parents made us trade in candy for books!"

Baxter woke up this morning with a bad case of the Halloween Blues. "Is it November now?" he asked glumly, cuddled up with me in bed at 6 AM. I tried to jolly him out of his mood by reminding him that now it's his birthday month, but apparently his birthday doesn't hold a candle to Halloween anymore. He cheered up later, as he began to plan for next year's costume: "I'm going to be a Velociraptor next year! Boy, it'll be hard to find those shoes with the two spike toes! And the mask with the eye holes on the sides of the head!" I groaned inwardly and prayed that he'll have a new interest by this time next year.