This Halloween has been especially trying for me. Dallas is in a stage where he is scared of pretty much everything. The Halloween decorations all over our neighborhood didn't help anything. A house down the street from us had two blowup Halloween decorations in the yard: a giant pirate ship manned by skeletons and a giant treasure chest with a skeleton that popped out like a jack-in-the-box. Dallas was so freaked by the whole scene that I have spent the last week driving out of my way just so we don't have to pass "the chest guy" in the car. The chest guy has haunted my poor boy's days and nights. He talks about the chest guy all the time. Seriously, all day. If he hates the darn thing so much, why does he play it over and over in his head? Who knows.
Surprisingly, Halloween night went pretty well. It started off a bit bumpy because Lottie refused to eat dinner due to sheer and utter excitement. She couldn't focus on anything other than the promise of trick-or-treating. The lack of food in her system caused a few meltdowns before her costume was even on. Thankfully, she was able to pull it together and get her Jessie groove back. Dallas got dressed with no problem, unless you count the fact that he changed his mind about his costume on an hourly basis. Fireman. Pirate. Fireman. Pirate. Pirate, for sure. Definitely fireman. He finally picked pirate, and he was ready to go with his hook and sword.
We trolled our street as it started to get dark outside. At first, Lottie wanted either Trevor or me to go up to the doors with her, but that ended quickly. She was a real pro, striding confidently from house to house with one mission on her mind: more candy. She chastised the rest of us for not walking fast enough. "Quickly, you guys! Quickly!" She was so grown-up: confident and independent. It was so gratifying and heartbreaking all at the same time. Dallas was a little more timid, but he was beyond sweet. He very politely spoke to everyone we saw, he thanked the people who gave him candy, and he even told most of them he'd see them again soon. He was quick to reassure people who greeted him as if he were a pirate, "I'm just pretending. It's really me, Dallas!" He begged to go to a house that had an inflatable haunted house in front of it: the whole love/hate thing rearing its ugly head. I eventually agreed to take him to see the spooky house, and he just stood in front of it for a long time. He didn't want to walk through the inflatable, so we walked around it together. I was proud of his attempt at bravery even though it must have cost him dearly to be within two feet of something that scared him so much.
The evening started off bumpy and ended with two tired kids who were past their bedtimes. But they had fun, and that's all that really matters. Of course, now we have to deal with the loads and loads of candy, but that's another blog...
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