Halloween

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. There's been a lot going on (including, as many of you know, the passing of my mom, Carroll Ann). Anyway, here is my report on Halloween:

The weekend before Halloween, Eric and I took Danny to a Halloween carnival nearby. He went on the merry-go-round (although he wouldn't ride on a horse). Then we went into the petting zoo and met some goats and sheep. Daniel didn't really like the goats, and wouldn't pet them. But he did work up the courage to pet the sheep, and say "Baaaa" to them.

Eric and I also thought it would be fun to carve a jack-o-lantern with Daniel. I have fond memories of doing this every year when we were kids, and wanted to pass that tradition on. Turns out Danny had very little interest in the whole pumpkin-carving thing this year. I thought he would like pulling the "guts" out of the pumpkin, but he didn't like the slimy feel. He just wanted to wash his hands! We actually used one of those carving kits that comes with patterns. And even though we chose one of the easiest patterns, it took a long time. We had to finish it after Danny went to bed.

I also took Daniel to a couple of costume stores, and he was pretty much non-plussed until he saw a duck costume. He grabbed the package and started "quack quack"-ing. So I figured he wanted to be a duck. I was not about to spend 40 bucks on a toddler costume, so I bought a cute one off e-Bay.

I tried it on Daniel several days before Halloween, and he screamed bloody murder. So when the Big Day came, and I had to bring a costume to daycare, I decided not to try the duck there. Instead, I took Jeanie's advice and put him in his Dodgers onesie, plopped my Dodgers cap on his head, and called him a baseball player. (Of course, he wouldn't wear the cap, either.)

Daniel has quite the social life; several friends wanted to trick-or-treat with him. Our neighborhood has morphed from being almost totally elderly people, to having lots of families with young children. So a few friends came over to our house for pizza and trick-or-treating. Daniel's best friend from daycare (Nara) and her parents came over, as well as his friends "Big" Daniel and Aaron and their parents. (Aaron came home from Guatemala on the same flight as our Danny.)

I tried the duck costume again, but there was more screaming. It broke my heart, but I had to let Danny trick-or-treat as a baseball player. Oh well! I couldn't believe how quickly the kids figured out what to do. We just went up and down our street for about a half hour, and that was enough. At the first house, Daniel got a Hershey bar in his pumpkin pail. Then at the next house, he tried to give his Hershey bar to the homeowner. He finally got the concept that people wanted to put candy in his pail. Whenever he was allowed to choose his own candy, Eric would tell him "Go for the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!" So now Dad has a collection of Reese's in the freezer. When we got home, Daniel took each piece of candy out of his pumpkin one by one, and took it over to show Grandpa Bernie.

FYI, Danny didn't actually eat the candy. (As far as I know, he's never had candy, and he's not much of a sweets lover anyway.) But the candy DID provide lots of entertainment for a couple of days. He took the candy out of his pail, lined it up, put it back in, transported it to another room, took the candy out, and on and on. After a day or two, he didn't even notice when I took the candy away. ; )








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