We took Maddox trick or treating for the first time this year. I was a bit nervous about it because I wasn't sure how he would react to seeing people dressed up in funny costumes. We have reason to suspect that Maddox has a very active imagination, and I could only guess what his 1.5 year old brain would think about strange people dressed up in strange costumes. But, we did the best we could to explain to him that on Halloween people dress up and if you say "trick or treat" they give you candy! We practiced saying trick or treat, put him in his puppy costume, and set off. We went to a well known trick or treating street in the city, and arrived around 5:30 (when we knew the other toddlers and babies would be out).
Maddox and I walked hand in hand up to our first house. It was decorated and the woman handing out candy was dressed like the Bride of Frankenstein. Maddox walked up the steps (with me), said his "tick o tet", and was rewarded with a few pieces of candy. Then he looked up. And saw Bride of Frankenstein. And promptly burst into tears. It's important to mention she didn't try to scare him... he just didn't like the look of her.
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| Mama carrying baby puppy to safety after the scary encounter |
He was a bit upset by the whole thing. Luke and I tried to explain to him that the nice (scary looking) lady gave him candy! How cool! But, being that he has never had candy before, so he didn't know what it was, he wasn't that impressed. So we decided to get serious. We didn't want our child to be afraid of trick or treating. We bribed him. We broke open a small pack of M&Ms and popped one in his mouth. He stopped crying as soon as that little piece of chocolate hit his tongue. "See! That's candy! That's what you get when you say 'trick or treat'."
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| I like this candy stuff! |
"Do you want to go to say "trick or treat" at another house?" "Yeah!" So we went, hand in hand, to our next house.
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| Success! No tears! |
And our night was pretty uneventful from that point on. Maddox walked from house to house, even getting so brave as to walk up to a few without holding either mine or Luke's hand.
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| Trick or treating with Dada |
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| Look, Mama! I did it! |
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| <3 |
So, Maddox did end up enjoying trick or treating. He was very disappointed when we called it a night and headed home. And you'll be happy to know he has yet to ask for candy since Halloween. So we haven't ruined him yet!
