About the only thing that wasn't "Halloween-y" yesterday was our Chinese class. But we even managed to give that a tinge of the holiday: Sis wanted to give her Laoshi one of our decorated cookies. She chose a pumpkin that I had iced and sprinkled with orange sugar. We carefully put it in a box, but Sis didn't deliver it. Bud did, by rushing up to the teacher and laying it at her feet.
Sis also wanted to give cookies to Mama's friends at her office. So, again, we packaged up the remaining pumpkins and cats and took them with us. They were, however, promptly forgotten in the car when we arrived during the hustle to get into costumes and find Mama. They've got this trick-or-treating this down. Sis would approach each waiting employee scanning their hands and offices for the telltale container of treats. If they greeted her but did not seem to have candy, Sis would wait a minute looking and then start to move on. And when she did find candy she'd carefully choose a Tootsie Roll--"long chocolate"--or, if none, something fruity. Then she stand patiently a little bit longer, hoping, waiting for them to offer her a second piece; most did. The girl is good.
She was not, however, amused that most of them didn't recognize that she was a vet. They just saw the white coat and stethoscope and assumed "doctor." Come on, people, what three-year old likes doctors? They give shots, take strep tests, and do other icky things. It's not a status-thing for a preschooler. And she was carrying a bunny. But most of the time, the bunny was covering the part of her coat that said, "Dr. Sis, Vet." So, eventually, she moved the bunny to the other side and would pre-empt people incorrectly guessing by pointing out her name, "This is how you can tell."
Bud, as a Yankee baseball player, got a lot of snickers from the considerable number of Red Sox fans (thank heavens neither was in the series), which he didn't understand. I don't think he even knows there are other teams! But most nodded in approval of the kid in the hat with the jersey and bat. Yep, bat. We armed him. And he actually turned any number of times too sharply and bonked Sis on the head (it was a padded kids' bat). He had insisted we bring his ball, too, so someone would play ball with him. The veil between reality and fantasy was very thin for him. He was more shy about marching up to the candy-giver and had to be encouraged, especially if there were scary decorations nearby. But we got him to laugh, finally, at a skeleton by calling it "silly old bones" (I told Mama it was a Red Sox.)
He was the one who wanted to eat the candy. Now. And so we finally parked in Mama's cubicle and poured out the candy on the floor, retrieving any they couldn't eat (and they had gotten good at knowing which one had nuts so there weren't too many for us to confiscate). Sis immediately gravitated to the candy corn, that iconic Halloween candy, saying, "I've never had these before." The girl likes new experiences. And then she worked her way through some Milk Duds (thumbs down), those light-colored, round candies in a roll (sweeties? Sweet Tarts? I like them enough but can't remember what they are called). Bud wanted candy corn too but didn't have any, so he ate some Runts (?), the little hard candy fruits. And some Twizzlers. And a lollipop. And a watermelon Jolly Rancher. That's when Mama went to the car to retrieve the cookies.
And then we had the classic dash to the bathroom. Bud decided he needed to go. And I had no idea where it was, so with him in tow and Sis running behind (after going back for her bunny), I was accosting employees to give me directions, which is harder than it sounds because it was through a warren of cubbies, across a pedestrian bridge, into another warren of cubbies, and then a turn and . . . well, I'm not great with directions and had to ask at each turn. But we made it in time! Whew. Mama found us in the bathroom and then we went to deliver cookies before we left. Everyone was game to select one and ooh and aah in front of the kids, for which I was very grateful. Sis and Bud, but especially Sis whose generous idea it was, were so proud.
And so was I.
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