Halloween is an absolute blast with a preschool-aged child, and of course with a baby who you can dress up with no complaints and full compliance, no matter how ridiculous you make her look. The preschool age lends itself well to attending multiple Halloween festivities, because each additional opportunity for Gavin to wear his costume is a complete win for him.
We hit up the Monster Mash at the zoo - rain cleared just in time to make for a lovely evening strolling through the critters and trick or treating; went to the neighborhood Halloween party with 20+ equally excited kiddos dressed in a variety of fun costumes, playing games and eating lots of treats; and then the big Halloween events...
I took a half-day off work to attend Gavin's school Halloween party. So much fun. This year, the kids trick-or-treated through every classroom. Gavin came home with a half bag of treats! We made a mummy candle holder and enjoyed a nice Halloween story. When we arrived home, the pre-made spider web (and olive spiders) pizza was ready to bake and eat for our second annual Halloween themed dinner. Last year was fish sticks and pirate food (Gavin was Captain Hook). With a Spider-man costume this year, the web pizza seemed a good fit. It was a hit!
As the week progressed, the Halloween day forecast got more dreadful by the day - rain, then rain with wind, then rain with wind and thunderstorms. Honestly, it ended up being okay. It rained, though lightly at most points. And the temps were mild. Winds didn't pick up until much later in the night. We had a fun time trick-or-treating with the neighbor kids and parents. Just enough houses in our neighborhood and the adjoining hood. About an hour and we were home.
It's fun for me to think back to the previous years' Halloween festivities. This was the first year that Gavin was able to run up to the doors without me, along with his little friends, say "trick or treat" and "thank you" on his own, not cutting in front of other kiddos, taking just one piece of candy. I just stood in the street with the other parents watching. The past three years of trick or treating involved me (or Brad, or both) walking up to the door with him. When he was 20 months old, it was toddling and tripping along the way, going to just a few close houses. Then at two, he had the whole process down and improved his efficiency and speed, and we made it through half our neighborhood. At three, he would walk up by himself, just me lagging behind. This year, he was nearly full-on independent. I suppose the next step will come with him trick or treating by himself with just friends (though I think and hope this is several years off).
Isla and Brad hung out at home with Grandma Shirley, passing out candy to the remaining five or so kids in our neighborhood - most came earlier when we left as a group and Gavin was able to pass out treats to them. He took great pride in this. He's really beginning to make some wonderful friends in our "new" (I still call it new) neighborhood.
This week, our wee little one turned five months! Gosh, time is just flying with her. She is laughing more, playing with her feet lots, rolling from tummy to back (not quite from back to tummy yet), sitting well with support, babbling more and more, blowing lots of bubbles, DROOLING, and in the early stages of teething. I think she may be just like brother and pop her bottom two front teeth out right around six months old. That's right around the corner - whoa, teeth and solid foods. We're in no hurry to start solids, so will wait until six months old to start some cereal. Isla is a very efficient, fast breast feeder. We're definitely in that very easy stage of feeding. She is sleeping until around 5am each morning, up for a quick feeding, after going to bed around 7:30pm. Then up around 7am for a quick feeding before I leave for work. She weighs around 14 and a half pounds, tracking bigger than our skinny little Gavin at that age! And she's just a joy!
Here are a bunch of Halloween photos of our Spider-man and Minnie Mouse - I just love this holiday so couldn't resist snapping lots of pics.
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