Day 37: Halloween

October 31, 2010

Today started out like most - all of us getting up but Jacob throwing a fit every time Fraser tried to do something. This really wears on Fraser emotionally and me as well. I don't know how to get out of it except for making the two of them spend more time together without me. If anyone has a better idea, please, let me know. It makes Fraser crabby which makes me crabby which all makes Jacob crabby. Not good. 

We'd been invited by Karen to go trick-or-treating with them tonight. Only part that was odd was that their good friends, the previous residents of our house, were also going to be there. Fraser was not thrilled. He didn't want to talk about our house and what was wrong with it. I was excited to go trick-or-treating with our neighbours.  

The day didn't feel very spirited at all. We were at odds, Jacob was crabby. We hadn't even carved our pumpkins yet! Unheard of. Around about 4 or so we started carving the pumpkins. Fastest carve job I've ever done. I didn't draw faces on paper, didn't look in a book for ideas, or ask opinions on the matter (Fraser went off to lay down for a bit); I just drew the face right on the pumpkin. Jacob wanted nothing to do with touching the pumpkin guts. We were down by 5:15 and I was rushing Jacob to get into his costume. He hadn't wanted to wear it all day or at the play date party, but I'd been psyching him up for it all evening. He was a firefighter. And when I got it on him, he was quite pleased. He enjoyed looking in the mirror at himself and practicing, "dit  deat". 

We headed to our neighbour's, met the previous tenants and all was well. Everyone was cool, there were no sermons or harping on the house, it was fine. There was delicious dinner and a bunch of kids. Finally it was time to get outside. This is definitely a good area to trick-or-treat. Lots of houses decorated, lots of lights on, lots of kids running around. It was cool. And I felt really happy hanging out with fun people. I think Fraser even had a good time. He had his ball python around his neck as his "trick". 
Jacob loved it. "In there", he would say as we passed a house that was decorated. Of course, at the door he was a bit shy and didn't always say trick-or-treat but he almost always said thank you ("wank you" - great, I know). Then he'd jump down the steps, swinging his bucket everywhere. Sometimes, there'd be a little trail of candy behind him that I'd have to pick up. 

Very fun. I love Halloween. Lots of people dressed in costumes knocking on strangers' doors to get candy - and it's not weird! I love it! It's very social feeling with all the people out at night. Good times. That made the neighbourhood feel more lively. And it was neat to look into people's homes, I'm not gonna lie. I like to see how different people decorate. 

I let Jacob have one piece of candy (although he picked nerds which meant he had about 20 pieces, but....). I could hear my mother's voice in my head the whole time: "You're giving him candy? He's only two. You guys didn't get candy until you were three!" True. But he's not going to get anymore till next year and it's not going to kill him. I had to tell her off in my head slightly but eventually, she quieted down.