Halloween

On Halloween, I took Phoebe to school by bike. It was a complicated morning because Dave had to be at the airport extremely early for a work trip to Nashville. So that we wouldn’t have to drive him at 3:00 a.m., he drove to one of the Boulder Park ‘N Rides and took the bus to the airport. I picked up the car by bike on my way into work.

When we pulled up to daycare, I got Phoebe out and took out her lion costume, which I’d managed to finish at midnight the night before. (I’d been away in Chicago for a work trip the previous week.) I ended up not making the pants, since Phoebe has a pair of corduroys the right color. It was a good thing, because the top came down almost to her ankles! I tried to convince her to put it on before we went into school. She vehemently resisted. I begged. She cried. Finally I just yanked it on and marched her into class, where she immediately felt happier. A few of her classmates had on their costumes. She waited for her teacher to admire her before asking to take it off.

I left work a little early to pick Phoebe up in time to go over to the Brinkmans’ before trick-or-treating. They wanted to go while it was still light. Phoebe had worn her costume for a little while at school so they could take photos, so she was more used to it. We put it on and got ready to go out with the group of kids: Ben and Annika, who are Pastor Sara’s 5-year-old twins; Jade, who’s 3; and John and Thomas Brinkman, who are 3.5 and 1.5 respectively. I put some Halloween face makeup on Phoebe’s nose, but she had no idea what I was doing. I had brought her a cat bag to carry around, although I figured I’d end up carrying it myself.

On the contrary! Phoebe figured out how to trick-or-treat within minutes. She insisted on carrying the bag herself, and she followed the older, (much) faster kids with aplomb. She was able to take the candy from people and put it in the bag herself. She wanted to go to every house, even those with no light on. I had a hard time capturing a photo of her smiling, because she was so intent on the chaos of the other kids and trick-or-treating. She had such a good time!

After trick-or-treating we all got back together at the Brinkmans’ for Emily’s famous chili and some very impressive pumpkin-themed rice krispy treats. Back in the house, I had Phoebe go look at her nose in the mirror. She was totally shocked. Since then, she’s been saying “hat, coat, nose!” every time we talk about Halloween and her lion costume. It was a very successful evening, although we really missed having Dave there.