Best Hallowe'en EVER!

I've never had so much fun trick-or-treating. Or maybe I did when I was a kid and I just can't remember it but tonight was AWESOME. I'm still a little giddy 5 hours later. Adam has been really excited about Hallowe'en all week and the night did not disappoint. All day, he was like a kid at Christmas, so to speak, starting from the moment he got out of bed and saw his costume, which I'd laid out for him.

I had been a little nervous about how the night was going to go because Adam was being unco-operative and unpleasant when it was time to eat dinner and it looked like everything was going to be NO all night long. This despite a four-hour nap. We let him settle into playing with trains for a few minutes, which helped. I think he was just nervous. While he was distracted with the trains, I whipped his costume onto him and all of a sudden he was excited again.

For the rest of the night, Adam was at his most charming, delightful, and polite best. Which is saying something because, really, despite being 2 years old and having developed his mother's stubbornness (yes, I take full credit, er, blame) he really is a great little kid. Not only was Adam well-behaved but he was just so sweetly wide-eyed about everything. He was just as eager to talk about the jack'o'lanterns at every house as he was to collect the goodies. Perhaps the jack'o'lanterns were even better than the candy harvest. He liked to interpret the expression on each face. The vast majority were supposedly "happy," but a few were funny, and even fewer were scary. Luckily, he never caught on to any of the spookiness of Hallowe'en other than some minor trepidation when people's faces were hidden behind any kind of mask.

Naomi was her usual doll-like self. Only toward the very end of trick-or-treating did she get a little squirmy because it was time to eat. Adam was happy to call it a night because we finished at Rob and Becky's house, where he got to hang out with Clare, play with her fabulous toy collection, and munch on candy, of course.

Unfortunately, we never got a shot with the full effect. This snap is missing the conductor's hat, the orange pumpkin bucket, and the green rainboots. Ah well. Needless to say, Adam was a HUGE hit with the neighbours. His manner was adorable and OMG the JOY that spread across everyone's face upon seeing this costume. I had deliberately been avoiding any gender-connotated language but we did get a lot of compliments on the Princess Thomas costume. I had been sticking to "your costume is wonderful," and avoiding princess, beautiful, and pretty.

My theory for why Adam wanted the pink dress is sibling rivalry. I don't think Adam has even clued into pink for girls/blue for boys. But he does think that all pink clothes (even mine) belong to Naomi. And he had been asking why Naomi's shirts were called dresses. So, I speculate that he thinks she's been getting special treatment with the dresses and all manner of pink clothing. But really, who knows what's going on inside the head of a two-year-old, even if said two-year-old almost never stops talking.

Kudos to Dion for being a good sport. Thanks to Rob and Becky for hosting. Thanks to Po-Po and Gung-Gung for the Thomas costume. Thanks to Katie for lending her dress and thanks to Shana for delivering it. Thanks Naomi and Adam for the Best Hallowe'en EVER!