Halloween evening graced us with the most lovely evening. Perfect temperatures, clear skies and a gorgeous full moon. We began early in the day to prepare. I was concerned about Whittaker's anxiety levels as we approached homes with scary decorations. I've experienced a few death grips while going through the grocery stores lately as Halloween decorations have sent a pang of fear through him. I also wondered how he would handle being handed candy and then told to, 'put it a bag a save it for later.' So I decided some pre-trick or treating was needed.
Our hallway was the perfect location. He dressed. Not dressed up, but dressed, which these days is asking a lot of him. Bag in hand he knocked first on the bathroom door. Duncan answered. After coaxing him to say, 'Trick or Treat', Duncan handed him .... a pencil. He put it in the bag. We waited about 5 seconds, then I snatched it out of his bag and said, 'You didn't say thank you. Let's try the office door.' He wasn't happy. I hurried him to the door and helped him knock. Miles answered. Again I coaxed, 'Say, Trick or Treat'. Miles gave him a notebook. As he put it in his bag, he looked at me, then at Miles and said, 'Thanks?'. We then knocked on the bedroom door. Sarah answered. Without coaxing he called out, 'Trick or Treat.' Sarah gave him a pair of socks! 'Thanks'.
We repeated the process 4 or 5 more times. More pencils, some crayons, a lego man. Phase one complete. He knew to knock, say trick or treat and to say Thank you.
Phase 2. We moved on to candy. By now this trick or treating game in the hallway was great fun. He had no trouble with the candy portion. We even dumped out his bag and reused the candy a few times. I felt we were prepared. He wanted to keep playing. He played until he learned what happened when people weren't home or ran out of candy.... or as was the case for Duncan, he took advantage of being in the bathroom and couldn't answer the door.
Costumes for Halloween this year were fun to plan and prepare for. Once I decided to be Cruella De Vil, I knew I needed some puppies. One of my candidates however doesn't like to wear clothes other than of his choosing. We found a copy of the movie 101 Dalmations and allowed him to watch it repeatedly in hopes he'd find the idea of being a puppy exciting. It worked somewhat. I could get him to try on the costumes for a few minutes and then he'd whip it off. On the evenings of our four different Halloween events, I dressed him last and then we headed out the door immediately so there wouldn't be a chance to change. It worked for all but one event. We attended the local Symphony's Halloween concert with Whittaker dressed in a swimsuit and the rest of us in costumes. I carried his costume in case I could persuade him, but he's a determined young lad.
With 4 events, Costumes needed to be ready early, which makes Halloween evening simpler but the first event a scramble! Due to less time and my levels of procrastination, Duncan agreed to be a puppy, (costume already prepared) instead of a Card as he wished to be. Caleb wasn't going to attend the first until the last second so he came in his scout uniform straight from a campout... We called his costume, 'dirty, tired scout.' Sarah was prepared early and looked elegant and fantastic as always. She made her own masquerade mask and it looked great! Miles switched back and forth at events, sometimes as a detective and other times as Rumpelstiltskin's alter ego, Mr. Gold, from a tv show... obscure character, very few people knew who he was, but he did and enjoyed it anyway. Emerson had two potential outfits to wear which was fortunate since he outgrew one before Halloween.
The best costume ever was Whittaker's because it came with a leash which was 'Oh so handy!' and I think Emerson could have pulled off a pug or bulldog with his big cheeks better than a dalmatian.
If the goal was to amass an enormous amount of candy.... they succeeded. By 9 pm everyone had eaten some candy, brushed their teeth and headed to bed after a pleasant Halloween... all that is except Whittaker and I. We should have practiced putting the candy away and going to bed because it was midnight before I finally had him asleep. Great waling and weeping occurred in the hours it took to convince him that his candy would be waiting for him in the morning. We did put a large bag of candy that couldn't be eaten due to braces, nuts and ickiness out on the porch for the Candy witch and that just started a whole new level of anguish for poor Whittaker. This morning though when he discovered a new toy waiting for him on the porch, and candy was eaten for breakfast since Mummy was still half asleep at 6am, all was well with the world again!
