On Alex’s first Halloween we spent the day traveling from Pittsburgh to Boston. I put him in a costume because, well, why not? Who doesn’t love a tiny little person dressed up as a penguin to amuse his mother?:

For his second Halloween, we went to exactly one house for Trick or Treating, two doors down from us. The very nice woman giving away candy on her porch handed Alex a chocolate bar that he promptly handed right back, walking away from her.

This year we had a slightly more exciting Halloween.

At 4:30 in the evening, one hour before Trick or Treating started, Zach, Alex, and I drove to the Halloween store near our house. We looked through the toddler costumes and found exactly one that would work. Most of them were, well, nasty. Or just insanely expensive.

Once we procured Alex’s Halloween costume, we met up with a friend and did a bit of Trick or Treating. Nothing wrong with letting your toddler take candy from a complete stranger, right?

Needless to say, he loved it. While he only said, “Twick oh tweat” once or twice, he said “Tank yoooo!” every.single.time. Even if his thank you was so quiet that only a fly on his nose could hear it, and often was said as we were a few steps away from the intended recipient, I still count it as a parenting success.

And, besides, he looked pretty darned cute as a vampire.

Alex and “MARKY!” matched, which was a lovely surprise to the evening: