Halloween started off really well. R and I each had a big pumpkin to carve, and we had a little pumpkin for Julia. Little Miss enjoyed helping to clean the seeds and guts out of the pumpkins; she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. In fact, she loved it. She did get quite peeved when she wasn't allowed to work with any of the sharp implements to carve the pumpkins.
Then, our friend and neighbor, Elizabeth (Julia's Tia), came up to go trick-or-treating with Julia and me. R stayed home to man the door at home. Julia was very shy at the first house, and afterwards, we ran into some older neighborhood kids dressed in scary masks. After that, Julia was even less interested in the second house. By the third house, she flat out refused to play along. She wanted to hold tightly to me, and she became more and more terrified.
Elizabeth recommended we head to her house to visit, as Julia is very comfortable there and could see "Uncle" Mark. It took Julia a little while to warm up, but going to Elizabeth and Mark's house was a great move. She was soon hippity-hopping around (video to come soon) and doing her best to impress their teenaged son. After our visit, it was clear that we should go straight home instead of visiting more houses.
I think it was a combination of seeing the scary costumes and being out in the dark, but trick-or-treating was not fun for Julia this year. As R put her to bed, she talked to him about the "scary monsters." I was concerned she would have nightmares, but she slept through the night. The next morning, she was back to her happy self.
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| Papa's pumpkin |
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| Julia with Mommy's pumpkin |
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| Julia with Mommy's pumpkin |
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| Kangaroos like lollipops. |
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| Julia and her baby |
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| Julia and Mommy |
