Friday, November 2, 2007

Already a day late

It's the theme for my life. I'm going to do the "blog post a day for November" thing, but I decide on Nov 2 to start. Ah well... you know what they say.
So here's my Nov 1 post - seems like someone with kids could come up with something the day after Halloween.

It was actually better than I expected. Lance had school that day, so a full day of Superman and candy was bound to have a bad ending. But when I picked him up, he had had a good day, even after getting PUNCHED by another boy. Seems they were breaking each other's Lego ships, and the other boy just had it. But the important thing here--Lance didn't hit him back! (Oh, and he wasn't hurt either). We rejoice over small things in this family.

After a crazy dinner and donning of costumes, Anakin Skywalker (that's Darth Vader pre-dark side for those of you uninformed) and Yoda were ready to go...


Luckily, I have angels for in-laws, and they volunteered to stay late after watching Audrey all day. So they made us dinner, and Grandma stayed to answer the door while we all went trick or treating.

Lance loved it, as usual. Audrey did well for about 30 minutes, seemed intrigued with the "putting things in my bucket" business, but didn't really get the candy part except some mild interest in a lollipop.

Lance and Pat went out for another hour after Audrey went to bed, bringing home a ridiculous amount of candy. Somehow my Jedi mind trick worked, and I was able to get him to trade all but 15 or so pieces of candy in for a trip to the toy store. Another Halloween miracle.

The funniest part came when Lance came home and was getting ready for bed. He LOVES answering the door, but (eerily like his mother as a young trick-or-treater) only if he can be in CONTROL!

So I've compiled Lance's List of Halloween Non-negotiables:
  • Lance must answer the door.
  • Lance must hold the candy bowl. (unfortunately for the trick-or-treaters, this was about 18 inches too low for most of them)
  • Lance must CHOOSE the candy for them. Mommy must keep her hands out of the bowl.
  • Lance gets to say Happy Halloween and make any comments or ask any questions about their costumes.
  • Lance must say Good Night and close the door.
  • If Lance sees any more kids coming up the driveway, he must wait with the door open, depriving them of the opportunity to ring another doorbell.
Sigh. I have a picture of myself at about age 8, sitting outside in my nightgown and coat, with the candy bowl and a book. Mom wanted to stop answering the door, but I insisted on giving out the rest of the candy.

Word has it from Pittsburgh that my sister's baby Maggie (18 months old) insisted on giving out the candy herself too, and wouldn't even let Mom sit on the same front step.

Control runs deep in our veins...

Happy Halloween - may the Force be with you as you try to keep from eating the leftover candy. Ours went to school with Daddy.

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