Trick-Or-Treat!

Eli absolutely loved practicing that all week! He learned how to say "tick-oh-teet" and "pank ou" (after he received a treat). We loaded the kids up in the stroller and went to the start of the neighborhood parade at 5PM. Of course, Eli opted to ride in BOB, rather than walk with the other kids. He also found a leftover granola bar in his BOB pocket, so he snacked while we walked. Maddux rode right along side of him in the stroller, sporting the frog costume her brother wore his first year. When we finished the parade (at the pool house), there was pizza and drinks for everyone. Eli enjoyed two pieces of pizza (yes...even though he had just eaten a granola bar! Remember what his teacher said!) We then drove the kids back to house to light the jack-o-lanterns (gack-oh-lee-ners) and put out the candy before we started our trick-or-treat adventure. Eli was oh-so excited to light the gack-oh-leen-ers, for which he chose the faces for me to carve ('cwy' faces, according to him).

Our first stop was the retired couple next door. They've taken quite a liking to the kids, and Eli likes them right back. Even more so now because they bought him a special bag of colored goldfish crackers (his favorite 'treat'). We then went to a few more houses, one being our other next door neighbor. Their beagle was outside and Eli sought her out immediately. She is very easy-going and tolerant of kids, which is good because Eli took quite some time petting her and pointing out her facial features (ears, mouth, nose). He then stood up and said "all done doggie", which meant he was done with this game: time to move on to the next house.

We pushed the double BOB as we walked, since Eli often preferred getting a ride in between the houses. After every trick-or-treat I'd ask him if he wanted to go back in the BOB to go home or if he wanted to go to another house to trick-or-treat. His response was "house" every time. We finally pulled the plug around 7:50, as it was getting late and we'd avoided meltdowns from both kids so far (Maddux was still awake and happy); we didn't want to push our luck. Eli honestly had no interest in the candy other than looking at the wrappers and packaging, much like last year. So one more Halloween down with no candy consumed: Victory!!