We had another wonderful and memorable Halloween. The month of October in our home was filled with decorations, coloring books, stories, snacks, and anything else Halloween. The kids definitely got into it, but they sure haven't outgrown their fear of all the not-so-kid-friendly Halloween things (scary decorations, spooky stories, freaky costumes, etc.). In fact, my two favorite stories from the past month involve their sweet innocence being challenged by all that Halloween has to offer.
The first was when Caleb came home from preschool complaining about kids telling scary stories. In my former-teacher/mom mode, I kind of just listened to his complaint and brushed it off as no big deal. He, however, came home the next time complaining about it and so I told him he needed to either ask his friends to tell less scary stories or just go find other kids to play with. He reported back the following day that "that didn't work and he couldn't just walk away because it was happening at carpet time". When I told him that he needed to express his concern to his teachers, he responded that he "couldn't because they are on the phone." Again, in my former-teacher mode I know that the reality of what happens at school is often faaaar different from how kids explain it to their parents (as if your teachers are really chatting on the phone for 2.5 hours while you preschoolers run wild....ok, buddy). So, the next option was to make sure Caleb brought it up to his teachers by having him talk to them before class started. When he went to school the following day, he marched right in and with all his 4-year-old confidence, he told his teacher that he doesn't like scary stories and he wants his friends to stop telling them. Now, I know that he can't always have things the way he wants, his teachers would never allow other kids to intentionally frighten him, and kids will keep telling stories regardless of what my sweet, innocent boy wants....but I'm still quite proud of how he handled the problem he was faced with.
The other story highlighting the innocence that I never want my kiddos to lose comes from Halloween day. The kids were all dressed and ready to head out for trick-or-treating. Leah was waiting outside staring at our pumpkins by the front door. She had her back to the sidewalk behind her and didn't hear the trick-or-treaters approaching our front door. When she looked up, there were three pre-teen boys dressed head-to-toe in black with white "scream" masks on. To say they looked frightening is an understatement. To a little two year old girl who wasn't expecting to see anything when she turned around, they were the scariest thing she'd ever seen. I can completely understand why she screamed loud enough to surely be heard down the street. She followed her screams with tears, hyperventilating, and a sprint through the front door and into the kitchen faster than the gold medalists in the summer olympics. We managed to pull her back outside several minutes later to start trick-or-treating, but it wasn't until about 10 houses in that she finally let her daddy put her down to start getting candy.
I know I can't shelter them forever and their innocence will be lost with each passing year....but for now, I'll cling to it as long as I can. These are my babies and sometimes I just want to keep them that way!
Anyhow, the rest of our Halloween festivities can be summed up with pictures:
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