Happy Halloween (A few days late!)

Happy Halloween, even though it's a few days late! I blame that tardiness of this post purely on the sugar high it has taken me several days to come down from. Between snacking on the candy we bought for trick or treater's, the candy L got from going house to house, and all the treats the students and parents at my school brought round, it is pretty amazing I didn't go into a sugar coma and/or gain fifty pounds. That last point is still up for debate, since I haven't stepped on a scale yet.

But, oh my, did we have a wonderful Halloween. I know you have all been waiting in suspense (right? right?) so I won't keep you in the dark any longer: L dressed up as a lion. Correction: L dressed up as the world's cutest, most cuddly, most adorable lion ever. I know you may think I am being biased since he is my baby, but he was pretty darn squeezable in that costume.

Last year at Halloween L was only about 6 weeks old, and so while we reveled in carving pumpkins and taking pictures of him in his fuzzy Halloween sleeper and pumpkin hat, and handing out candy to trick or treater's and just the awe of it being his first Halloween, we were also still well entrenched in the feelings of "oh my God, we have a six week old baby and what the heck are we suppose to be doing and who decided that we were capable of this?". So last year truly is kind of a blur, a sleep deprived, over the moon happy and euphoric, not quite sure what we are doing, blur.

But this year? This year was all about making memories. This year Landon was by our side as we carved pumpkins, trying to eat the pieces that came out and running up and down the driveway. This year he was equally confused and excited by his lion costume. This year he is walking so we actually took up and down the street of our neighborhood, walking him to the front doors and helping him ring door bells. Mommy took care of saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" for him, but my boy gave every house his famous smile. He was never scared, just curious, and with mommy and daddy by his side he was totally ready for his adventure.

This year hit home for me. This is it. This is my wonderful and amazing life from now on. I have a baby who will one day become a child who I will make (buy?) costumes for every year so he can trick or treat. As he gets older he will get more and more excited about the prospect of candy. He will want to choose his own costumes, maybe a rockstar or an athlete, and the day will come where I will no longer get to choose his costume, and the one he chooses probably won't be a cute and cuddly animal. He will one day have siblings that he will take trick or treating, he may be the ones holding their hands instead of mom and dad. He will probably one day complain about having to take his siblings trick or treating. And one day, hopefully way down the line, trick or treating will no longer be "cool". And my baby will no longer be baby. And I will sob uncontrollably in bed for days. No, I'm kidding about that. (Sorta). But that day will come and then I will remember the things I did and S did when we were in high school and celebrated Halloween in a totally different way then the innocence of going door to door asking for candy. And I will worry, and probably be overprotective and will eventually have to let my little (big?) boy go out into the world and pray that while I know we all make mistakes we have done a good job with him and he will make good decisions.

Thank GOD those days are at least 15 years away. (Right? If the kids are starting getting into trouble younger these days, please don't tell me. I quite enjoy my bubble).

So for now, we relish in the present. We soak in the baby giggles that come with realizing hands are covered by mittens that look like paws, and the confusion of having something pulled over your head that seems to have a mane attached to it. We sit back and enjoy the fact that despite the strangeness of  walking the streets at night, surrounded by loud and sometimes rowdy strangers and having all the houses decorated with skeletons and tombstones and flashing light, it never even occurred to L to be scared, because we were with him. What an amazing feeling to know that you hold the key of someones very sense of well being.

We had a great second (how weird is that, it is already his second Halloween) Halloween with our boy, and it made me so excited for everything to come. I can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, two more holidays that he was around for last year, but that he will really experience this year. and I am excited for all those Halloweens to come, even the ones where I will worry and fret and hope he is not getting into any trouble.

Happy Halloween everyone, hope yours was as wonderful as ours!