Halloween 2009

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. And Margaret is definitely starting to grasp the gestalt of the event. First, she's becoming a real afficianado of the costume shtick. This year, she was a cowgirl, something that she quickly latched onto after I suggested it as an alternative to "princess" which was her initial preference. (My other suggestion - "astronaut" - was quickly shot down.) The cowgirl outfit, and Margaret's determined insistence on it, was almost a disaster when we had problems finding the necessary gear, but I think that everything worked out fine in the end.

Second, she definitely understands the candy aspect of the event. In earlier years, she understood that she was getting "stuff," but didn't really understand exactly what she was getting. But now she knows - candy. And she asks for it a lot. We severely ration her intake, but also managed to recycle a lot of the candy that she received by giving it out to our own visitors. Still, between trick-or-treating at both school and home, she got quite a haul. (By the way, if it sounds "cheap" or "shady" to give out Margaret's candy to kids who come to our house, you have to understand the volume of trick-or-treaters that we get. Even if it was raining and our street was pretty lame this year, both of which kept the crowds down a bit, we still went through five big bags of candy.)

Teddy, on the other hand, was his usual grumpy self. He's definitely in the "no, I don't like that" stage. Given that he complains about just about everything, it's not surprising that he wasn't too keen on his costume. "I don't like it," he would whine. "I want to take it off, Papa." We managed to keep his costume on for a while at school and also got him to wear it while he headed around the neighborhood. He spent some time on the front stoop with me and Maddie where he was quite happy to wear his costume and hand out candy. Of course, he sucked on a couple of lollipops while we sat there, so it's not surprising that he was a happy little camper.

Oh yeah, Teddy was the same dinosaur/dragon thing that Margaret was last year. So my "hand me down" strategy has worked for at least one more year. And although an astronaut would have been ideal for the boy next year, some of the cowgirl stuff should be easily translated into a cowboy outfit. So look forward to "Cowboy Teddy" pictures next year. Unless, of course, Teddy decides that he wants to be something else. And is really as stubborn as he appears to be.

Of course, the high point of the weekend was the visit of Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dave from Illinois. Halloween is always lots of fun, but both of the kids were so happy to have their grandparents around. As were their parents - the kids are amazingly easy to deal with when there's someone else around to watch them.