Halloween

For our Halloween anniversary, we celebrated a day early and had a Friday "date night". We ate at a nice little Mexican restaurant in the Marina, and then just walked around window shopping. It was quiet and stress-free. We hadn't seen each other much since he was out of town for most of the week prior. It was a nice way to get caught up. It's very odd to think that I've now been with him for over half my lifetime. I can't imagine any it other way. We are so lucky to have found each other early in life. Now we are raising a little boy together who is the very embodiment of our love. It's awesome, though challenging with the ups and downs. Parenting is hard on even the best relationships, but we seem to be making it through pretty well.


Of course on the actual Halloween, we dressed Dexter up in his Super Tiger costume complete with cape, mask and cuffs. We took him to our favorite trick-or-treating spot in our old neighborhood. On the way, we hooked up with our neighbors and their 2 year old daughter, Ella, who was dressed as a penguin. They were very cute together and it was both of theirs' first time really going trick-or-treating. We had to coax them a little to begin with, but after a couple of houses they were old pros. Ella was hilarious because she had no qualms about taking as much candy as she could hold! Dexter was a little more timid and bashful, but he gradually was okay with approaching new people and wouldn't try to hide his face if someone said something to him.

Belvedere street is about 4 blocks long and closed off to traffic. There are thousands of people that go trick-or-treating there, so the residents go all out with decorations and performances. Dexter took candy from all kinds - from a vampire in a coffin to a jack-o-lantern with a disembodied voice. He talked about the jack-o-lantern for days afterward saying "The jack-o-lantern talked to me!" It was so cute, but he was one brave little dude for going and getting candy from the jack-o-lantern all by himself. It even creeped me out. I didn't see anyone else (adults included) go in there and come out with any candy because they were all too scared.

I had bought Dexter a tiny $1 candy pail because I didn't think he'd be up for trick-or-treating as much as he did. Most of the candy pails are just absurdly huge - like backpack-sized bags as tall as Dexter stands! Unfortunately, his candy pail wasn't big enough and he had to dump it into the diaper bag not once, but two times because he got so much candy.

We almost made the whole 4 blocks up and 4 blocks back route, but about 2 blocks from the end the little tummy bun decided I should be too hungry to wait until the end. We went to the same sushi restaurant we went to last year after going trick-or-treating. I am eating sushi this time around even if it's not recommended for pregnant women. I just stick to mostly cooked rolls with one order of nigiri to minimize any risk. I don't think it's any riskier than eating a deli sandwich though, and it's better for me. It was a nice dinner to wrap-up the night out.

Dexter was really good Halloween night. He was very cute, sweet, and polite. He told almost everyone "thank-you" for the candy and he didn't throw any major tantrums. He walked or hopped like Tigger most of the way. I'm amazed at how far he can walk. We don't even use a stroller anymore because he can keep up with us (or aggravate us with dawdling). The best trick we've found is teaching him "Red Light, Green Light" so he can run ahead of us. If he gets too far we yell "Red light!" and he stops within a couple feet and stays until we say "Green light" and he's off again. An urban kid necessity for making safety a fun game. I'm a proud mom of a Super Tiger!