halloween

it was your first halloween to REALLY trick-or-treat. we took you last year, but you were only 10 months old and only had a month of walking under your belt, so i basically carried you and broke my back...and honestly? i don;t remember much about that night other htan how heavy you were and how hot your costume was against my skin.

this year, however, you were cinderella. and absolutely stunningly beautiful.
your cousin, vail was also cinderella. she is 8. you are just shy of being 2. ya'll were so stinking adorable it hurt my feelings.

before it was time to trick or treat, vail already got into her costume and insisted you get into yours and ya'll played outside of nana and papaw's house for a bit. you wanted to ride the electric car papaw bought you, so we went around the block with you on that.

the entire time we were walking around the block, you would drive the car about 10 feet, jump off and run back to all of us demanding that vail give you "kenny". you had chocolate drool dripping down your chin, a fistful of m&m's, and a newfound obsession: sugar.

by the time trick-or-treating began, you were 100% obsessed with candy. it was like watching a zombie movie where they zombies only have eyes for people's brains. you were that zombie. the brains were chocolate.

each house we went to you would be about 20 ft behind vail. the concept confused you completely, bc as you were getting to the front door, she would turn to walk away from the house, and you would follow, so one of us would have to run behind you and shove you to the strangers door to get your treat.

sometimes you would say your version of "trick or treat!" but it was more like "red tree!". sometimes you would say "thank you", sometimes "you're welcome", and sometimes you wouldn't say anything at all. EVERY time, however, you tried to walk into the stranger's home. typically after ignoring their hands reaching out with handfuls of candy, grabbing a fistful out of their bucket and then walking by them as though you were home.

it was simultaneously embarrassing, and hilarious.

after about 4 blocks of walking, you were, by then, LITERALLY a zombie. and you spent most of your time dragging that incredibly heavy bag of candy behind you on the sidewalk. i tried to help. don't think i MADE you carry around 10 lbs of sugar. you did that to yourself. because every time i offered to help you would yell "no!" and run forward.

that's when i got smart. you were getting slower and slower while walking and i was getting more an more anxious to get you home and in bed, so i would ask you about every 3 steps if i could cary your "purse" (as you called it) for you. this made you run. i am so smart.

so. i think the night was all in all a success. i got a boatload of candy, you got a few pieces, and a newfound love of the holiday.

however, i am worried a bit about the repercussions ofleatting you to take candy from people you don't know and then spending the other 364 days of the year teaching you how dangerous it is to take candy from strangers.