Halloween

Eddie had a lot of fun at Halloween yesterday. In the morning, he went to a Halloween magic show at the library, and he played really nicely with the littler babies, giving them toys and things. He must have learned from his cousin Tony last week!

For the evening he was dressed as a professor, with suspenders, a tweed jacket, and a pipe. He spent the afternoon hanging out with Luke, who was a kangaroo, then sent out to the big parade. It was really crowded with little kids and their keepers dressed as all sorts of things. He stared and stared at everything. He liked some of the house decorations--people had moving statues, giant spiders that dropped out of a tree to ambush you, and lots of jack-o-lanterns. For some reason, he always pronounces pumpkin as "mambit" or something (sounds like "rabbit"), but he's very consistent, so we know what he's talking about.

He did a little trick-or-treating, too. I've been trying to coach him to say "trick or treat" but I'm not sure he said anything recognizable. But he would take the offered candy, then put it in his bag. If he had several pieces, he would put them in one by one, often trading them between hands to prepare them. He would take a long time to accept candy, often checking the offerer's face while slowly extending his hand and closing his grasp.

We stopped by the fire station, where Eddie got to ring the bell on the fire truck. It was really loud, and he wasn't sure he wanted to do it again! When he saw Luke doing it, though, he had to give it another try.

At home, he unwrapped one of his lollipops (on his own initiative) and started sucking away! He worked on it for quite a while, and finished most of it. Baby's first candy! We started playing some spooky Halloween music, and he really got into it. He laughed along with creepy laughter and shrieked at appropriate moments.

Then Nonno showed up! Eddie was delighted after he got over his surprise. Or maybe he was embarrassed to be seen with candy drool all over his face. We went out again a little bit with Nonno and got in line to go through a haunted tent set up in the training field. We got to the front of the line, and had to wait a while. Eddie stared at a guy dressed as a ghoul by the entrance, and a creepy moving statue. He seemed uncertain. Then he saw a vampire through the gate, and said "No." That settled it--this was not his scene! So we went home.

Eddie had fun seeing everybody act all crazy! I think he started to get the idea that it's a celebration of the spooky, eery, and scary. Or maybe he just likes the candy.

Holding hands with a pumpkin

The day after