A November Post (that's actually about Halloween)

Ethan "helped" me carve a pumpkin. His version of helping was digging around in the bowl with his shovel after I scooped out the pumpkin guts. As I predicted, he wanted nothing to do with the scooping process. He was, however, super into playing with the shovel. He was not so into sharing the shovel with me so that I didn't have to use my hands.
Ethan: 1, Mama: 0


Ethan also "helped" me with the actual carving process. Sort of. He really wanted to use the sharp, serrated tools, but with some slight of hand and clever distraction tactics (and a little bit of bold-faced lying), I convinced him that the sharp tools were boring, and that this dull plastic punch was where it's at.
Ethan: 1, Mama: 1


I agonized for weeks and weeks over what to do for Ethan's costume. I was looking for a robot, but struck out on all of my searches. I thought about making a robot costume, but that plan had two fatal flaws: 1) All of my ideas involved things like dryer vent hose for arms and cardboard boxes for the body, which Ethan would probably not keep on (if he even let me put them on in the first place), and 2) As much as I love being crafty, I'm crazy busy right now and simply didn't have enough time. Ethan took matters into his own hands by choosing his Tigger costume on an unrelated outing to Babies R Us. He saw it, shouted, "Tigger!!!" and gave it lots of hugs and kisses. Problem solved. Win-win.
Ethan: 2, Mama: 2


After suiting up in both costume and glow bracelets, we headed out to score some free candy. Our neighborhood was filled with trick-or-treaters, and Ethan seemed confused by all of the ninjas, princesses, and pirates walking down the street. With a bit of hesitation, we were able to get him to walk up to doors, though he usually asked me to knock on them.


Can you see the hesitation on his face? I blame it on the Grim Reaper door knocker that had flashing red eyes and an evil "Mwah ha ha" kind of laugh that we encountered at the first house. Towards the end of our night, Ethan insisted on riding on my back, burying his head in my shoulders whenever a door would open. He'd quickly become brave when he caught sight of the candy bowl, and would dart his hand out to grab some goodies.


We had to work on the "thank you" response to being given a treat - he wanted to eat his candy right away and defaulted to excited shouts of, "Open! Open!" followed quickly by a singsongy, "Bye!" to the person/creature at the door. Learning a lesson from countless other "firsts" we decided to head home while we were still on top (and tantrum-free), and turned around after about five or six houses. Our Tigger became very ♫ Bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! ♫ after we let him finish all of his non-peanut butter, non-choking hazard pieces of candy before going to bed. And after he went to bed, I may or may not have finished the ones deemed too hazardous for toddler consumption. We both came out on top in the candy department.
Ethan: 3, Mama: 3
By all accounts, Halloween was officially a success.