Trick or Treat!

This is our third Halloween as parents and for the first time we have been trick or treating! Last year he didn't get it, wouldn't wear a costume but had a good time handing out candy. This year we started early talking about costumes and Halloween and the cartoons he watches have all kinds of Halloween plots to them. So he was ready. We looked at pictures online and in circulars to find a costume he would wear. I knew it would be tricky with him being as picky about what he wears as he is. He decided early on that the only acceptable costume would be a race car. "A race cacr driver?" I asked with high hopes. But no. Race car. So I googled race car costume and the inevitable Disney pre-fab costume came up and Jackson fixed his sights and set his heart on being Lightning McQueen. Sigh.

Mommy thinks pre-fab costumes are lame and would much rather make something with card board and tempera paint, but alas, mommy has little say in what Jackson wears and if Trick or Treating was to be in our future, I knew we would have to have a pre-fab Disney Car costume. We went to a couple of stores in search of one with no luck, even scaring the crap out of Jackson by taking him into one of the only-open-during-October costume stores with scary-ass statues and latex figures and fog and scary music. Am I sadistic to take my three-year-old into such a place knowing it would probably scare him? Yeah. So what. He was mesmerized by a life-sized witch statue - so much that he put his speed racer car down on her pedestal while he studied her. When we got out to the car he got all upset because he lost his car. David went back in and found it thankfully. I guess he hadn't really meant to leave it as an offering to the witch.

So having no luck finding the foam Lightning locally, I found the best price I could online and had it priority shipped. Luckily it came in time and Jackson liked it. So we had him costumed for trick or treating. Funny that I spent a small fortune on the costume but was too cheap to spring for one of those little pumpkin candy baskets. We took his soccer ball Easter basket instead. Here he is in all his glory.


I rummaged around in the costume room at the theatre at work on Friday and found a saloon girl costume to wear. Working in the theatre has its small privileges sometimes. I don't look quite as good as Sabrina did wearing this in A Christmas Carol last year, but I am happy to fit into it anyway. And I love red.


Jackson held his daddy's hand as we walked the neighborhood begging for candy. I was so proud of the boy for speaking up each time and saying "Trick or treat" like a champ. He also said "Thank you" to each person without having to be prompted each time. I realized that it was probably easy for him because David and I said "Thank you" each time and he was following our example. I was proud none-the-less. He was a happy, polite little boy and we had fun.

One little old man who was sitting in his garage pointed out the stuffed fish on his garage wall and told Jackson to come back i a few years and he'd take him fishing. He had a little boat in the garage and pointed it out. Jackson left with us, chattering the whole time saying, "He's gonna take me fishing in his boat, daddy!" I think the old man was pleased to hear Jackson so happy about fishing.