Butterfly Boy and Halloween fun

For the last two years during Halloween, we mostly did any pumpkin decorating or Halloween festivities for ourselves since Micah was too young to "get it". This year, however, was so much more about what Micah wanted. And boy did he know what he wanted! I was truly blown away by how dedicated he was and how much conviction he had with his answers to my Halloween planning questions. He was certain that he wanted a silly pumpkin with teeth when carving a jack-o-lantern, not a sad, or mad, or happy, or surprised pumpkin. Daddy finally did the carving, but Micah watched on with intense interest and was very pleased with the end result. He especially enjoyed going outside to look at the candle in the pumpkin. What he wasn't too fond of was touching the pumpkin pulp. For some reason, he let Mommy sift out all the seeds for roasting all by herself. 

Micah may have known what kind of pumpkin he wanted, but I was even more struck by his resolve for what to be for Halloween. I asked him about a month before and he said he wanted to be a butterfly. Throughout October, I probably asked him what he wanted to be about a hundred times or more (ok, maybe more like twenty, but it was a lot!) and each time he replied butterfly! Sometimes, I'd ask if he wanted to be something else and when he responded yes, I'd say…"do you want to be that or a butterfly?" The answer was without fail, butterfly!  I even took him costume shopping with me and held up several cute options that I knew he would like, yet when asked if he wanted to be this or a butterfly, there was no doubt in his mind! So, butterfly it was! I found a cute set of wings at Value Village for about $3 and then used some dollar store pipe cleaners, headband, and ping pong balls to create antenna. He pretty much loved it. 

Until he didn't. Until about five minutes after wearing the butterfly costume on Halloween afternoon. After all that, he wasn't even going to be a butterfly! Well, as toddlers can be somewhat fickle, I had anticipated this and had about three other costumes at the ready. So, we loaded up the car dressed as Nemo. Shark bait ooo lala! Shark bait ooo lala! 

Our wonderful friends, the Collins' family, invited us to celebrate Halloween with them and a few other families. It was just perfect. There were kids of all ages, yummy chili, tons of healthy finger foods, and just the cutest holiday themed touches. My friend Erin is a masterful hostess! 

Photo by the amazing mother of this amazing snuggle buddy. Find her at Abeille Photography

Photo by my friend Dannie at Abeille Photography

Finally after a bunch of time spent chatting with friends over an adult beverage or two and the kids running around in and out of the playroom, all five families packed up and headed out to Trick-or-Treat the neighborhood. Micah even got excited about his butterfly costume again, so we costume changed again before heading out. Oh boy do the Collins' live in one amazing neighborhood to Trick-or-Treat in! Some of the houses went all out with decorations, loud scary music, and fog machines. I was starting to get pretty nervous about how Micah would react for his first true Trick-or-Treat, but he shook off the timid shy thing after the first three houses and lit up with pure joy for the rest of the night! He thought the scary stuff was pretty funny and didn't get spooked at all. I held his hand for the first few houses and then let Daddy walk with him so that I could get in some amazing baby snuggles from my girlfriend Dannie's son! 

I was a little bit nervous wondering how it would go afterwards, envisioning temper tantrum city with the late night and lots of candy at his finger tips, yet to my surprise, Micah did great! Instead of wanting to eat the candy, he had a blast just taking it out of his bag and putting it back in, analyzing the look of it all, asking "what's that, Mommy?" to every piece, and counting it all. 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10! (not one to one matching and we start at 2, but still pretty impressive, right teacher friends?!)

Oh Halloween, I have always enjoyed you, but this year was something truly special. May we never forget these looks of discovery and pure joy on our toddlers face. And may we always help to add a sense of magic to many, many days.