This is the first Halloween where Annie really understands what is going on, and I have to tell you, the girl is obsessed. Since Heather is also nuts for All Hallows Eve, all I hear all day long is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween (thank goodness for Rigby and her lack of English skills). Bad as this Halloween fever has been, Annie’s enthusiasm shot off the chart today – so much so that it got me into one heck of a tight spot.
Annie’s favorite thing about Halloween is the costumes, and she never tires of talking about them. The funny thing, though, is that while she does like to talk about what she wants to wear, she most enjoys talking about what others should wear. She’ll sit next to me on the couch and say, apropos of nothing, “Grandma should be a turtle and Auntie Monica should be Elmo.” If I play along and say, “What do you think Uncle Kyle should be?” she will rub her chin, thinking real hard, then proclaim, “A ghost. Yeah. A ghost.” This is serious business, folks.
Almost as exciting to Annie is the idea that on Halloween night people are going to come to our house and ring our doorbell dressed in costumes.
“Kids will come here!” she says breathlessly about eighteen times a day. “And then you’ll open door! And give them candy!”
“But only if they say trick or treat,” I remind her.
“Yes! Trick or treat! And they wear costumes! And I get to see them in costumes!”
What Annie really dreams about, though, is going trick or treating herself. How amped up is she about trick or treating? Well, today she ambled over to me (wearing a skeleton costume, of course), and said, “Want to play trick or treat?”
“How do you do that?” I asked.
Annie took my hand, pulled me into the playroom, then pointed at her toy house and said, “Go inside!”
Now if you’re thinking that a six foot three, two hundred and ten pound man isn’t meant to get inside that house, you’re probably right. But after a couple minutes of begging I said, “Okay, okay, I’m going in.” Heather strolled over from another room and said, “Now this I’ve got to see.” It took some doing, but I somehow got myself inside. That’s when Annie pushed the doorbell and yelled, “Trick or treat!”
About the size of Heather’s apartment in New York
I looked around inside the play house, found a plastic hot dog, and dropped it into Annie’s pumpkin basket. She laughed, ecstatic, and handed the hot dog back to me.
“Again!”
Like being back in the womb
We repeated this game for another ten minutes before my knees were throbbing and I had to get out. The thing is, when I tried to, I discovered that I was stuck. I squirmed, trying to free myself, and Heather broke into laughter.
“I’m not going to have to call the fire department, am I?”
“Of course not,” I snapped, though for a few seconds I wasn’t so sure. Luckily for me, I did eventually get out. Not so luckily for me, the last thing Annie said before going to bed tonight was, “Play trick or treat again tomorrow, Dada? Please?”
Oy. Tomorrow, I think, is Heather’s turn to play trick or treat.
Becca Masters says:
Ha ha!! That is awesome!
Molly says:
Annie has the BEST parents!
Rachel W. says:
My thoughts exactly! You guys are so much fun
Editdebs says:
Such a good dad!
Tracy says:
Awesome story – my daughter is roughly Annie’s age, so I will be stealing the idea of practicing the trick or treating with her. I, however, will not be so brave as you, Mike, getting in the little house – I fear that I really won’t be able to get out! Hilarious!
Melli says:
Hope halloween is everything she dreams of
Steph says:
That was a tight spot! Good job, Dad.
lilcg says:
my three and a half year old still hasn’t stoppped playing the trick or treat game since LAST halloween. I kept trying to put the pumpkin bucket away and then she just turned other things–easter baskets, play tea pots, sand pails…–into trick or treat buckets
Annalisa says:
Get a roomy cardboard box and draw a house on it. Then use that to play trick or treat. Much easier to get in or out of.
If Annie asks why you’re not using her house, you can tell her “Well, when you go trick or treating, you go to somebody else’s house. If we can’t go to your house, so we have to have another person’s house”. Kid logic for the win.
I hope she does get to go trick or treat. You and Heather can take turns taking her. Our neighborhood does lots of “safe alternative” trick or treat events. There’s two different ones this year, and we’re going to both. It’s a great way for kids to see and meet other trick or treaters, and parents to mingle and commiserate about having to take the afternoon off for the kiddos.
hdj says:
You could play it at the back door.
Mommy says:
We live on a tiny street (7 houses total) and we have a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds who CANNOT. CONTAIN. THEIR. EXCITEMENT. about Halloween, so we have been “practice” Trick or Treating at each other’s houses for a few days already. Our neighbors are awesome and everyone is playing along, which I think is great, especially for the little ones who are a little nervous about going. The funny thing is none of us have candy yet, so we have had to get creative about what we give out. So far my son has gotten an apple, a toothbrush, a fortune cookie, a few hand-made drawings and a (clean) baby sock. He is most excited about the sock because “we can use it for the baby!”. Lol. Kids are so much fun!! It seriously might blow his mind when he realizes that on actual Halloween we get to other people’s houses AND eat candy.
Annie is a doll, and you and Heather are amazing parents. She will treasure these memories (and this blog, documenting it all) forever.
Happy Halloween, Spohr family!!
Skye says:
The caption about Heather’s NYC apartment made me laugh!
Maybe you can convince Annie to be the one in the house, and you and Heather can take turns trick-or-treating? One person could change into a new costume in the other room while the other person gets candy (or hot dogs, haha) and that way she can see a bunch of costumes! (You might not own lots of adult-sized costumes, but I’m sure you guys can come up with something creative!)