Trick or Treat

| November 1, 2012

This Halloween was the first when we could actually get Sam to say Trick or Treat when she went door to door.  Well, sort of.  She went running around the house yelling it, and said it all the way down the block, but when she actually got to someone’s house, she would be shy and not say anything.  A few times I got her to say it, and she would say thank you if I prompted her, so that is something.  Sam was so excited — the entire day she was bouncing off the walls and kept saying every five minutes, “I’m ready!!” even though it was way too early and not even dark out.  Finally, at a little before trick or treat time, we gave in and dressed her in her costume and went out.

Before we stopped in next door to our neighbor Joe and Debbie’s house, we took an official Halloween portrait in front of their decorations.  Joe and Debbie gave her lots and lots of goodies (as usual) and then we were on our way!

Mark took her out first while I waited at home for the trick or treaters.  Then it was my turn to take Sam out.  We went to one neighbor’s house and he was sitting outside holding a bowl of candy all dressed up like a Frankenstein monster.  I swear, I thought it was a dummy he was so still.  We took our candy from his bowl and when we turned to leave, a group of kids about 7 or 8 years old went up to him and we heard screaming!  He had jumped up at them and scared them to death!  I am so glad he was smart enough to not to that to Sam (I will have to thank him later….) but Sam thought it was pretty funny that the kids got spooked.  She kept saying, “That was scary!” but with a little grin on her face.  I am sure she would not have thought it was amusing if it happened to her!

After a while, Sam starting asking me why we were going to another house. I told her it was so she could get more candy and she replied, “But my bucket is full!”  Boy, has she got a lot to learn about Halloween greed!  She asked me to hold her bucket since it was getting heavy and we eventually headed home.  Time to count the loot!

Sam always likes to dump everything out to see what she got.  She had to show Mark every single piece one by one.  “I got this…and I got this…and I got this…”

She was one happy little frog!

We took her out of her costume and I tried to get her to go to bed. It had been a long day and she was exhausted.  She wouldn’t put her pajamas on because, in her words, the trick or treaters were still coming!  I guess they aren’t allowed to see her in her pajamas…Actually, it was fine keeping her up because she had so much fun giving candy to all the older kids who came later.  I think she enjoyed it as much as trick or treating. She would carefully put a piece in every bag and if I tried to take the candy from her, or put it back in the bowl, she got very possessive.  She kept telling me I could go in the kitchen because she could do the candy all by herself.

I really was never a big Halloween fan once I passed the costume years but seeing how much fun Sam has, and how cute she looks in her costume every year, makes it a pretty darn good holiday.