Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya, Tobi, Eli and Jakob

We started Halloween a day early by dressing up our little bear to attend a Halloween party at Andrej’s work. We soon realized Kaiya would be less than cooperative in getting into her attire. After lots of tears and wrangling body parts into the right, or sometimes wrong, hole, Andrej had the bright idea of finishing the process in front of a mirror so Kaiya could see how she was transforming into a bear. It worked like a charm and she calmed down and was soon pointing to herself saying, “beh, beh!” She LOVED the final accessory, a little pumpkin bag for collecting her (or our) treats. We all had a great time and the party and Kaiya loved looking at all the other little munchkins running around and dancing to the music. She scored animal crackers and play dough and of course a lot of chocolate for mom and dad.

We weren’t sure how Halloween night would actually go since Kaiya had her 15-month well baby appointment that afternoon, complete with three shots. She did fine and with a little Tylenol she was ready to suit up and enjoy another night as a bear. She loved standing watch at our door for the trick-or-treaters to come and handing out candy. However, we live at the very end of our neighborhood so we weren’t getting a lot of traffic and decided to shut down our candy operation and head out into the neighborhood ourselves.

It was really cold out so we decided to visit the few neighbors we know personally and then head back home. Kaiya figured out trick-or-treating right away and would hold out her pumpkin bag for treats then say “bye-bye” and off we would go. To be a part of the treat giving, she would often take a treat from her bag and give it to the person trying to give her candy. I’m sure next year, when she understands how wonderful chocolate is she probably won’t be so generous.

After visiting our close neighbors, Andrej wanted to go to one other house of an older man he had met while out on a walk a few weeks ago with Kaiya. This man lives more towards the middle of our neighborhood, so the closer we got to his house the atmosphere was growing. There were kids everywhere dressed in funny costumes. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. Most people were out on their porches handing out candy and so many homes were decorated. It really was a lot of fun for Kaiya and us as well. Kaiya was enjoying the scenery from high atop her daddy’s shoulders and I was truly enjoying being a parent. It was hard not to get wrapped up in the excitement.

I’m already looking forward to next year and hopefully by then Kaiya will be able to say trick-or-treat!