Halloween 2014

I've never been big on Halloween and dressing up. As a kid, my mom made me some pretty cool costumes which I'd wear to the school parade, then by nightfall, change my mind and end up in he old standby ballerina tutu. That had to have happened at least four or five years in a row. My poor mother...slaving over costumes that only saw the light of day for a matter of minutes.

 I love you mom.

            

                             My UCDavis Aggie & tow truck driver 

This year was my kid's first Halloween in the states. My sister sent Sal a construction worker outfit (which he insisted was a tow truck driver outfit) a week or two ago.I made plans to drive to one of my BFF's in Vegas to spend Halloween with her family. At the last minute, Carla's illness had me cancelling our trip.  Sal started his preschool program on Halloween, so there was a silver lining to our missed trip. As he bounded out of class with a paper bag of trick or treat goodies, I admit to having the thought go through my head of, "good, now I don't have to take him out tonight." 

Terrible, right?

                  

But as the afternoon went on, he kept talking about "trick and treatsing" and I decided to take him over to our neighborhood. He trick and treatsed at four or five houses at dusk, with our neighbor's teenage daughter joining us for the walk. He was one of the first trick or treaters for most houses, so he was greeted by barking dogs (who had not yet been out out back) more often than not. Have I mentioned that Sal is not a fan of dogs? Uhm, yeah. He bolted from the first house and the lady had to come all the way to the street to offer him candy. 

Scarred for life. Or, until the next house.

That's when my son learned about doorbells.

                     

                               Trick of treating at the house his dad grew up in

He would get on his tip toes to press the doorbell, his hat would fall off, and he'd be busy collecting it and balancing his pumpkin bucket when the door opened. It was pretty darn cute....and if the door didn't open right away, he would say, "oh, they busy." and proceed to push it two, three and four times in a row. 

Sorry, neighbors!

                      

All in all, I'm glad we went out. I need to remember to see life through my kids eyes more often. It was truly a treat to watch Sal experience this childhood right of passage into Halloween.