M. was very excited for Halloween. We got the girls’ costumes about a month ago, and anytime we mentioned Halloween, M. would shout, “I’m going to be a GOOD witch!” Clarifying the good part was very important. She was literally shaking with anticipation last night, when we finally put the costume on and prepared to hit the streets. When other kids would come to the door, she would try to help give them candy, but would get a little too wound up and would just shout, “Happy Halloween! Take two pieces!” Then she would stand in the way of the door still quivering as she watched the kids walk away.
Our little fairy, C., wasn’t much more help. She stood in the doorway and stared at the kids, too. I don’t think she understood why all these kids were coming to our door and taking our candy. Each time she saw the candy bowl, she smacked her lips and said, “Mmmmmm!” We bought a scary witch that shrieks out various saying when you approach it to hang on the front door. When I leaned in to move the girls, that set the witch off, which they loved but always scared the kids who were walking away. </p><p style=”font-family:Helvetica Neue;”>Eventually we made our rounds through the neighborhood. Coolest treats were the Halloween colored Play Dough one family was handing out to all the little kids. The girls loved that. When we got home and let the girls have a Tootsie Roll pop each, it became a big game to keep them from chasing each other while they still had the suckers in their mouths. Pretty much everything in their paths got covered with sticky slobber, but they seemed to have fun.

M. got to double her fun today at pre-school. Since it is All Saints Day, the kids were supposed to dress as the saint they are named after. As far as we know, there is no Saint M., so we picked Saint Margaret since it’s kind of close and one of her aunt’s has that as a middle name. The kids were supposed to know a few things about their saint to share with the class. We’ve been practicing all week, “I’m Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland. I feed the poor.” I was at Gymboree with C., but S. reported that M. did pretty good. She had to go first, and perhaps was intimidated by all the parents that were in the chapel. She got through the Saint Margaret and Queen of Scotland part fine. But, she left out the feeding the poor part. Her teacher asked her, “Do you feed the poor?” and M. responded, “Yeah!” “Can you say it?” “Yeah!” Oh well, they got the point. And other than a few kids who clearly practiced for a month, S. said most of the other kids were about as smooth in their efforts.
Happy Halloween and All Saints Day! And to my Mexican friends, Feliz Dia de los Muertos.