Halloween 2016
Greetings to everyone.
Above you can see Xavier's pumpkin he carved last Friday (right) lit up as well as our big one we carved yesterday (left).
Several weeks ago, Rebecca took Xavier shopping for a Halloween costume. He chose what he calls a dinosaur.
So excited to wear his costume, he put it on as soon as he got home. He ran around in it until bed time, chasing Mommy and Daddy around the house and going "Roar!" Not surprisingly, one of the books we read before bed time was How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight.
After school the next day, he came home and (after a nap) put on his suit again. He would tell us (in his endearing three year old playful lilt) when we roared at him: "You not the dinosaur. I am the dinosaur."
After a few days, Xavier forgot about the costume.
Then, his Tuesday/Thursday class had their Halloween party, and they all wore their costumes—all except Xavier. He was too shy to put it on; I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to talk him into it. In the end, he just wanted to carry it.
At the end of the day, however, when we went to pick him up, he was once more the dinosaur. His teacher said he wanted to put it on about an hour after class started.
Sunday afternoon (yesterday), after Xavier's nap, we carved the last two pumpkins. Rather than carve out the castle on a hill (Xavier's choice) Dad spent so much time drawing out, Xavier used the saw tool and cut all over the place on the pumpkin. The result might be called the Colorado Chain Saw Pumpkin Slaughter. This likely due to Dad being distracted with carving his own pumpkin this time and not hovering over Xavier to help him cut along the Sharpie lines.
After finishing the two pumpkins and eating dinner, we went to a local church's Trunk or Treat event. It literally was trunk or treat. The middle of the parking lot was reserved and people dressed up their cars and trucks with Halloween themes. Kids wondered the lot "trick or treating" the cars. Some of the cars had games to play in order to win a candy treat, others had elaborate visuals. One car let kids roast marshmallows and build a Smore.
Xavier was shy the first quarter trip around the loop. Carried by Dad, he hid his face in Dad's shoulder. He got some candy in his bag, and with coaching said "thank you." Then, he came out of his shell. It might have been the "Finding Dory" themed car (yes, the car was dressed to look like Dory).
Xavier walked up and, with coaching, said "trick or treat". This he repeated until the big Noah's Ark themed truck.
After trick or treating the back of the truck, there was set up a little boat big enough for three or four kids Xavier's size to play in. We went back to that boat three times—it's all Xavier wanted to do after discovering it.
This is Xavier's first real Halloween, as he understood enough to take part in the festivities. He still has not fully realized he has a stash of candy yet (unless he is reminded). We're going to keep that tradition alive for as long as we can.
Happy Halloween 2016!