First Hallowe'en

Officially this would be her second Hallowe'en, but her first was uneventful. Last year, she was only eight months old, and we hadn't made any plans for the evening. Then we received an invitation to dinner, and some brief trick-or-treating with our friend's then 4-year-old daughter. We accepted the invitation, but did not purchase any costumes for the occasion. However, for the trick-or treating, I dressed the baby in her cold-weather outfit that resembled a teddy-bear. I placed her in my front-facing baby-carrier, and we ventured out in near-freezing weather. At the time, she loved the front-facing carrier, but we rarely went our after dusk. She lasted all of 5 minutes. And so ended her first Hallowe'en experience.

This year was a different story. We received a similar invitation for dinner and trick-or-treating. At 20-months-old, I did not think that she was quite ready for trick-or-treating. Alas, I think she knew something was in the air, or perhaps she fed off of our energy...but for only the second time in her life, she did not take a nap during the day. At the last minute, I decided to purchase a half-off costume at Toys-R-us that we could easily adjust and that would fit nicely over a snow suit. Almost daily, she plays with her Thomas-the-Train train set, so as soon as I saw the train costume, I decided that perhaps we could give this trick-or-treating thing a try after all. The suit in question was James the Train, no doubt one of Thomas's friends. The package read "up to 6 years of age". I assumed it would be a little on the long side, but nothing a pair of scissors couldn't rectify. Here is a photo taken at our friend's house just prior to departing for trick-or-treating:

CC as James the Train

She did surprisingly well for her first real trick-or-treating experience. She held her 5-year-old friend's hand the entire time, and actually did most of the directing, pulling her new friend here and there. Here is a photo of our daughter with her regally-dressed friend walking the streets in search of well-lit, decorated houses:

CC with her friend the Snow-Fairy

Initially she was reluctant to approach people's homes, but she very quickly got the hang of it. Although I held her pumpkin-shaped candy receptacle for the first few houses we visited, by the end, she was expertly holding it out for her prizes. She lasted almost an hour. Here is a photo of her candy stash (minus a few items that her parents ate):

CC's first Hallowe'en loot

The stash has significantly lessened since, mostly thanks to her parents. But we wouldn't be good parents if we allowed her to eat all of her candy...