It's a good thing we took the kiddos for their first trip to the dentist yesterday because today we ate more candy than they've had in a lifetime. More on the dentist some other time because it seems somehow inappropriate to talk positively about a profession that deems raisins too chewy and sweet on a day devoted to the consumption of much more indulgent treats.
And indulge we did. Starting at about 8:45 this morning. After testing the sweet potato bars I made for the playgroup party this morning, we kicked off the holiday with lollipops on the way to the party. Now, I want to begin this by saying we have tried to raise DD and DS in as gender neutral a way as possible, all things considered. They didn't really wear pink and blue as babes and we have all sorts of toys generally associated with each gender. We even go so far sometimes as to reverse it. That's not to say we're going to be gender-blind but we are trying to be as sensitive and stereotype free as possible. That said, DD thinks only she should have pink things and DS should have blue. This color specificity has reared its ugly head with pajamas, snack cups, and now lollipops. Because the mystery lollipop in the reddish-pink wrapper she choose today turned out to be blue. And DS had a pink one. She cried for a switch all the way to the party, eventually tossing her blue one into the nether regions of the minivan. DS was content with his and finished it before we arrived.
The party itself was a delight, with all of our little friends cheerfully arrayed in a variety of costumes. Ours were pretty much the only ones homemade. And pretty much the only ones that didn't get warned. Is that just a coincidence?
This evening was the culmination of the festivities--four parties later and it was actually Halloween! We had eaten candy all over the county, worn and not worn our costumes on several occasions, and practiced "trick or treat" and "thank you" ad infinitum. DD, warming my own heart, was eager to get dressed and go get candy, while brother took an extra 20 minutes to eat his taco dinner. While we waited for DS to finish up, DD insisted I wear my own costume as a witch (actually a Hogwarts professor, complete with my own knitted Gryffindor scarf, but few people caught on) so I donned my undergraduate graduation robes and a pointy hat. Eventually, off we went.
It only took one house for DD to have a complete grasp of the Halloween concept. She rushed up to the highly decorated door of our neighbor's house and jubilantly called "trick or treat" long before they made it to the storm door. She also proudly announced at this, and all the other houses, "we're jaguars!" Usually before being asked. Which worked fine for me--guesses such as chocolate chip cookie and puppy dog and lion were starting to demoralize me (since it was my costume design and execution).
Indeed, so well did she understand her role in the fulfillment of the holiday ritual that she was a bit dismayed when the children in the second house ran out to meet her with candy before she could say her lines. She took it anyway, though. Of course.
And where was DS in all of this? Well, he shone at the next house, on the step of our friend G. Her kids were gathering with the rest of the neighborhood gang, which we were fortuitously in time to join, and she sat on the steps with a big bowl of candy. DS siddled up to her and began to reach for the lollipop sticking out. And then he saw another and another, which he kept putting in the bag. Much to my horror. DP encouraged me to hold my tongue (after I had apologized several times and even put some of the pops back) as he literally sat down next to G, who found this hysterically funny, and began stealthily grabbing each white stick he could find. And what good eyes he has! We'd think he'd gotten them all and he'd extract another one, something like an expert player in that game with those really thin rods built into a towering pile (pick up sticks?). And he was so quiet, trying not to attract any attention. Other kids came and went but DS sat there unfazed, gathering the little lollipops unto himself. Maybe he should've been Swiper!
DD was in her element too. She got her pieces of candy, preferring the white boxes of the Junior Mints, and then checked on the other kids, "you got candy?" And she'd pass out G's, and later other people's, candy to those around her, peering into their bags to make sure everything was copacetic. She finally tired of this and rushed ahead to the next house to get more candy. It was only because she was smaller than the others and not as surefooted on steps that she wasn't the first to the door everytime.
I thought it was wonderful that our kiddos hooked up with the big group and trick or treated as a gang, even posing for pictures on the steps of one house. It reminded me of my own childhood Halloweens with all our neighborhood friends. The mild weather (at about 68F) was even the same, even if the fall colored leaves and architecture were completely different. It's a prime example of why we moved to the burbs and wanted to raise children here. I should say, though, that in my child's mind we would walk for hours and miles getting tons of candy. While my kids were the youngest and therefore turned back early tonight, the older kids still didn't get "all the way" to my house down the block, too worn out by it all. So we have lots of candy I don't like leftover. But all the playdough I bought is gone, having been extremely popular with both the toddler and teenage set.
So, we did head home early, with DD twirling her jaguar ears around as a magic wand and DS stopping by G's house to get some more lollipops. We spent the rest of the holiday on the porch with the candy spread all over the (now sticky) exercise trampoline, talking to grandparents, aunts and uncles, and hopping up every now and then to pass out candy to the visitors to our own house. DD sampled every bit of candy they got (while we quickly weeded out the ones she couldn't try, like the ones with peanuts. And our own personal favorites.) She tried Dots and Starburts, Kit Kats and M&Ms, skittles and tootsie rolls, usually taking a small bite and then putting the rest back on the trampoline. There were little colored candies everywhere. She even fed me, passing along an M&M or Skittle between her own samples. But DD was the funny one: he unwrapped every single last lollipop from G's, took various licks, often held 3 or 4 in his hands at once, and then piled them up for safe-keeping. By bath time, they'd found their way into the front of the miniature Good Humor ice cream truck scooter we have.
And despite the sugar high, the babes are in bed and DP herself snores next to me. Our black cats are safe in their room, having celebrated what we consider the official holiday of black cats everywhere with their own big bowl of wet can food. All is well.
Now if I just had one of DS's lollipops . . .
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