"I have wanted to be a pirate for years," moans the three-year-old.
"That's why I'm going to be a pirate," he emphatically continues five minutes ago on October 30th, the day before Halloween.
I'm not sure if I even answered. He has changed his mind approximately 150 times this month. And the amount of time he has his heart absolutely set on a costume is drastically decreasing as we approach the holiday. Already this past hour he has been certain that he wanted to be a skeleton, Frankenstein's monster, a train engineer, and a chef.
I'm afraid both the kids are going the emergency back-up costume route this year - their suits from the wedding, borrowed capes, and vampire teeth.
And they'll like it.
Desmond decided two days before the wedding that he wanted to be Anubis (the Egyptian god of the dead.) Under limited time constraints, I did my best to hunt down an Egyptian-style jackal mask for a 6-year-old. No luck.
Halloween is feeling like a bit of an afterthought in our house this year. When I was out doing other errands, I noticed all the decorations and remembered to buy candy (swedish fish and sour patch kids). But if I had put a modicum of thought into it, I also might have come home with organic lollipops or root beer barrels or Halloween pretzels
In the elevator at Target we practiced saying, "Trick or Treat!' and "Thank You!" and not saying things like, "What's that?" "Does that have cow milk in it?" and "Can I have that one instead? I'm vegan."
And to be completely honest, do you want to know what I mostly do? With our little dudes, we trick or treat on the early side. So we come home, go through the candy, and put all the milk chocolate and gelatin bears back in the plastic pumpkin for other happy trick or treaters to enjoy. Win - win.
Then I let my kids go nuts with what's left, and it's gone in the morning.
What's your approach?
Also, if you're looking for healthier fare, here's a couple links from last year when I was slightly more on the ball. Did you see the bats up there? I hung bats last year.
