First Halloween

Technically, this was G’s 3rd Halloween. But, getting put in a funny pair of jammies and stuffing your face with candy doesn’t really count.

This was the first one where she understood the ritual and the festivities. I wasn’t sure how it would play out with the heat and the cold, a big fleece suit, shyness and strangers…but who was I kidding? It could only end one possible way – G passed out exhausted like a post-binge crank fiend after a sugar-infused marathon around the neighborhood.

Even though it was about 80 degrees in the morning, she couldn’t wait to wear her costume to daycare.

She kept complaining whenever the hood fell off “I wanna wear my dragon head!”

Beckie and I both worked to get home early, psyched for G’s first Halloween. In the past I’ve been so disinterested, and generally annoyed by the kids (cause I hate kids, for the record) but knowing how much fun she would have and how much fun we would have together I found myself looking forward to it all week. A good buzz from a work happy hour, plus a few Butterfingers, and we rolled just before 6.

It took a few reps for G to get the hang of things, a few tentatitve greetings at the door, a few confused moments wondering what to do next. Her hesitation did not last long.

We brought the stroller, but for nearly an hour she just ran from house to house, thrilled with the next opportunity to show her pumpkin.

then she settled into her survival pace, getting rides in the stroller, having us hold the pumpkin, and empty it of all the heavy candy, rallying at each stop to run up the driveway and shake her moneymaker at the front door. She got very cool, very confident, very hungry.

Down the home stretch, she kept picking lollipops and immediately eating them, desperate for a sugar fix. Then she’d stagger back to the stroller, we’d ask her if she was ready to go home, and she’d say “wanna trick or treat this house“. The crash happened just as we arrived home.

She managed to collect almost 7 lbs of candy. That is over 20,000 calories, enough to keep a t.Human alive for probably 3 weeks.