Trick or Treat, the 2007 installment

Trootree. That's Williamese for "trick or treat." It sounds very similar to his word for "choo choo." An alternate pronunciation is "tricktroo." But in context, you can tell exactly what it means. It helps when he's either dumping handfuls of miniature candy bars in your lap or holding his trick or treat pumpkin up and gesturing to the front door.

Yes, William had a terrific time last night. Althought I don't know: Mark and David and Diane and I may have had just as much fun as William. I was so impatient for the afternoon to end so the evening--and the fun--could begin; it was like being a small child all over again! Diane manned the front door while the boys and I hit the sidewalks for some hard-core trick or treating. We let William see the first few children to come to our door, as the sun was setting, and then we quickly stuffed him into in his frog costume and went outside.










































Our street looked like a Hollywood vision of Halloween. The sunset was a blaze of orange and pink to the west, and as the streetlamps flickered on, the tots in their bright costumes began to toddle down the sidewalks with their parents in tow. At first, it was just a few, and then the numbers began to grow. And we added to them.

















Our goal was to take William to about six houses, and we ended up hitting about eight. He toddled along gleefully in his frog outfit, swinging his pumpkin and pointing to all the lighted pumpkins he saw.
















All our neighbors graciously cooed over William and his costume, and one man even invited him to pet his (small) dog. One lady leaned over and let William select all the candy he wanted from her overflowing bowl, which he loved. He has no concept of candy, but he loves to put things in and take things out, so that was right up his alley. We had to tell him to stop and say "thank you."
















And several times, he did manage a very polite "dank yu," so we were proud. He cried and turned away from only one house, but the rest of the time, he was giggly and happy. I think he got a big kick out of being outside after dark as all these other children were milling around. And of course, he loooooved seeing all the pumpkins. It was not uncommon for him to struggle up the steps to a house and coo "puh!" to the pumpkins while the amused homeowner held out his bowl of candy and waited for him to discover it. I guess that's the Halloween equivalent to the baby who excitedly plays with the wrapping paper and empty box but ignores the toy on Christmas.




















Then, it was time to go home. William was so excited to see his grandmother greet him at the door with a big bucket of candy! He started immediately grabbing handfuls of her candy and putting them in his little pumpkin. Put in, take out. Put in, take out. Put in, take out. You know the drill. The rest of the night, he delighted in moving candy from one source to another, particularly to a person, namely his Uncle Mark. If you sat down long enough, William would toddle over to you and hand you a Butterfinger or some Starburst and then wander off to make sure all his other patrons were taken care of. Before long, everyone had a lapful of candy, which is usually when William would start taking the candy back. It's all about the putting in and taking out at this age.

William also handed out candy a few times--for real. We had a group of small children ring our doorbell not long after we arrived home, and William was clutching a tiny Snickers bar in each hand ( purloined from our stash ). I guided him to the open door and asked him to put the candy bars in the little girl's pumpkin, and he did! It was so cute that I'm afraid just describing it doesn't do it much justice. Just take my word for it.




















And after that, there was no stopping him. He kept a close watch on the front door, and every time he saw a batch of children stomping up the front yard, he made a mad dash for the door. David said that he was still hopefully watching the front door and saying "trootree?" this morning. Now, how do you explain to a toddler than Halloween only comes once a year and that he won't get to trick or treat or hand out candy again for 365 more days?