Oops ... I Did It Again ...

My little pumpkin picking a pumpkin.

No, I'm not purposely quoting Britney Spears. I was just going to say that I did it again ... I let a whole month go by with only 1 post. I really don't intend to let that happen. I often have a few idea for posts, but then I can't decide which one to do first, so I don't post any of my ideas and decide I'll do it another day. All of a sudden, another day means a month later and all of the ideas I had have either long past or I try to cram them all into one post. I'm going to try to do better this month. TRY being the operative word. I'm just going to post about one little thing today and then hopefully another in a day or two!

So, my topic for today .... Halloween.

A little pre-'trick-or-treat' meal - with duck feet, OF COURSE!

Emma dressed up as a duck this year. I have to say, I've never seen anything quite as cute as Emma dressed as a duck!

Okay, Mom, let's get this show on the road!

I picked the duck costume because one of Emma's first and favorite words is/was 'duck', or 'guk' as she says. I've begun, as have her grandmothers, to buy her cute little rubber duckies when I see them. Her bathroom has a little bit of a duck theme, or will, if I ever get around to re-doing her bathroom. And, on a trip to Babies 'R Us with Grandma Jane, in search of a Halloween costume, we found a display of stuffed ducks. I gave one to Emma simply to show her a duck, not thinking about the ramifications of my actions. Of course, Emma would not give the duck up and my mom decided she would just buy her the duck. It is even in her crib right now as she takes a nap.

I had seen a cute little yellow tutu online and thought I would try to make one and pair it with a yellow hoodie to create her ducky look. I'd searched for a pre-made duck or even a cute pattern, but didn't find any that I liked because I tend to be extremely picky about things that don't really warrant picky-ness. (Sorry I don't think that's really even a word.) About a month or so ago, though, I stumbled upon a very cute duck costume at Target and so, realizing I had better ways to spend my time than making a tutu, I bought it. I also discovered a pair of orange and white striped pants in the infant section of Target and thought they would be perfect! (They only had 3-6 months, but as you can see in the pictures below, anything bigger would have fallen off.)

I knew she wouldn't wear the hood with the beak attached.

Emma thought it was hilarious that I would even TRY to get her to wear the hood.

If you know Emma, you know she doesn't really like anything on her head except the occasional backwards baseball cap and only when she puts in on herself. So I made her a little headband - she doesn't seem to mind hair accessories too much - to complete her little ducky outfit.

Ahh, much better. I look so much more like a girl now, too.

It was our first Halloween in a real neighborhood and I was excited that we might have more than 3 Trick-Or-Treaters this year! A little before 5 on Friday night (our town's designated trick or treat night), I put Emma in her costume, put her pink bunny ears and a pink fleece on myself, and prepared for my doorbell to ring.

I don't think it rang once until 5:30 or 5:45 when our neighbors came over for a few treats and to see their favorite 15-month old neighbor. Emma loved seeing them in their costumes, but they were soon on their way in search of more loot. Not another ring until after 6. So much for an exciting night!

Emma spent the time waiting for the door bell to ring reading her books.

Yea! The door bell finally rang!

Luckily, traffic did pick up. Jeremy finally came home from work and took over the job of candy distribution while I took Emma trick-or-treating.

Now, taking a 15-month old trick-or-treating is not an easy task. I was looking forward to the fact that she had learned to walk before Halloween, but did not take into account that she doesn't walk up sloped brick walkways or cement stairs very well, nor am I all that excited about letting her try. She still falls a lot on our flat hardwood floors. So I carried her up to each door. It is also awkward when you get to said door, have to squat down so your adorable little duck can stand there holding her pumpkin bucket to look like a legitimate trick-or-treater though she has no idea what the purpose of any of this is, and have to ask your little one to say 'Trick-Or-Treat' as if she will actually utter those words, fully knowing she will not. Then you stand there wondering what these new neighbors, who you've barely met, are thinking about the candy they are putting in the pumpkin. It's either one of two things, neither of which are very good:

1. Obviously, this baby is not going to eat the candy so let's not pretend that the parent is taking the kid trick-or-treating so she can eat the candy, OR

2. I can't believe this parent lets her baby eat M&M's and Reese's Peanut Butter cups!

What? I'm supposed to carry the pumpkin with me to each house? And then what?

Okay, I'm hoping they really weren't thinking either of those things and were instead just awed by her cuteness!

We only went to 4 houses. On our way to number 5, Emma spotted the VERY large inflated Grim Reaper that arched over the sidewalk. She started crying as soon as she saw it, so I took that as my cue to head home. We had already visited the houses of anyone we kind of knew so there was no real reason to continue.

Back at home, Emma was happy to empty her bucket and examine all her loot. I felt a bit bad that she was so excited about stuff she wasn't going to eat, but then I realized she didn't know that any of it was edible anyway. She became especially attached to a mini bag of M&M's. She seemed to want me to open it, but she's never seen a bag of M&M's, so I'm quite sure she just liked the sound it made and wanted to know what was rattling inside. I will admit though, there are still a few pieces of her candy left and I almost want to hide them so that Jeremy won't eat the last of her winnings eventhough I know I'm not going to be giving any of it to her. How weird is that! The things I am sentimental over!

Hmm ... should I eat this shiny gold wrapper or this clear skinny wrapper?


Look at all this stuff I found in my pumpkin! What is it? Mommy and Daddy sure seem to like it! Maybe next year they'll share it with me instead eating it all themselves.

In the end, we had a ton of surprisingly polite trick-or-treaters. We almost ran out of candy, though I thought I'd gotten an excessive amount, but Jeremy, for some reason, doubted that I would buy enough and picked up an extra bag on his way home. The extra bag got us through the night and even left us with a few extra pieces!

Now it's time to get the house in shape for Thanksgiving and Christmas! I think it's going to be 2010 before I know it!