2nd Halloween

Last year, she was a lady bug. This year, she is a Disney character. Everyone asked where we got Sydney's costume. I haven't a clue. Tracie found it and bought it about 2 weeks before Halloween. We were all gripped with anticipation for the big day.

And so October 31, 2007, came along on a Wednesday. My company closed at 3:00 for everyone to get home early enough to prepare for trick-or-treaters. The first knock on the door started around 5:30 that afternoon. Tracie couldn't stand it anymore. She had to dress Sydney up right away. The Halloween excitement monster had gripped Tracie with both talons. Up the stairs she bounded as I handed out my first handful of candies.

A few minutes later, down the stairs came Minnie Mouse.


Sydney loved her sparkly bright yellow high-heeled shoes. She couldn't get enough of them. With her chin up and her chest out, she paraded around the house in her outfit, clip clopping all the while. I wanted to keep the baby inside the house but Tracie wouldn't hear of it. I MUST take her trick-or-treating. After a feeble attempt at logic, I caved and led the baby outside with her little pumpkin bag.

Now the concept of trick-or-treating isn't terribly difficult. You walk up to a house or a person, you say "trick or treat", you get candy, you thank them, and you go to the next house. Simple enough, right? Oh, no. Not with Sydney. One has to remember that this is a little girl who does not like to be touched by anyone who is not Mommy or Daddy. Most of the neighbors and their kids have congregated at the intersection to our left. To our right is the empty cul-de-sac. As we went up our driveway, I steered Sydney towards the crowd at the intersection. She immediately made a bee line ... for the abandoned cul-de-sac (sigh). She sped up as I tried to catch up. For a 19-month old who had hardly ever walked in heels, she was fast. I caught up with her a couple of driveways later only because she spotted a tennis ball lying by the curb and decided that this would be her treat.

I managed to walk her back up the street with the tennis ball in hand while I carried the goody bag. At this point, we managed one whole candy bar in the bag, courtesy of Mommy. Sydney just wanted to walk smack down the middle of the street and throw the ball ahead of her to pick up a few feet later. I was determined to teach her the fine art of trick-or-treating. Some of the neighbors had set up camp at the end of their driveways along the street. I steered her towards a middle-aged lady who had spotted Sydney a few seconds before and was ooh'ing and ahh'ing at her cuteness. This was an easy target. We would surely get a lot of attention and goodies. But Sydney was steadfast in her principles - No strangers would ever invade her royal highness' personal space. She quickly disappeared behind me and peeked around me to survey the situation. As the lady approached us with a candy bar, I felt Sydney's nails dug into my thighs. I believed she drew blood. She was dragging me into the comfort zone in the middle of the road. I was both watching for cars coming towards us and trying not to step on Sydney. The lady was in hot pursuit, determined to give Sydney the candy and get a better look at her. I managed a wry smile and offered the goodie bag for her to place the candy. As we hurried away, I mustered up a rather weak "Thank you. She is a bit shy." Another lady spotted Sydney and wanted to pinch her cheeks. She yelled: "Oh, how adorable. Can I hold her?" as she was rapidly closing in. Yeah, right. Does a cat like water? Sydney juked and darted past the lady as she was about to bend over to pick the baby up. I could have sworn I saw Sydney struck the Heisman-trophy pose in slow motion for a bried second. She left us both in her dust.

One by one, kids and adults chased Sydney to give her candy as she zig-zagged past the crowd, darting from one side of the street to the other and back again. The whole idea of trick-or-treating turned into a "toss the candy at Sydney's bag and watch her run" game. It was like watching a crowd of people herding cats or trying to catch a greased piglet at a fair. No one was going to catch her. It was mayhem. Mercifully, we got past the hoard of neighbors at the intersection and took a breather in front of someone's house with no one around. Sydney looked around nervously before settling down in the grass. She had worn the heels of her beautiful shoes down to a nub trying to get away. It sort of reminded me of a celebrity dodging the papparazzi.

At this point, she had had enough. She ripped her little Minnie Mouse ears off and handed them to me. My poor baby. Wouldn't you know it, she sauntered up to the door of the house and acted like she was trick-or-treating. She tapped on the glass door and peered inside. I was laughing at the irony of it. She finally caught on to the idea, but it was on her terms. She was trick-or-treating at a house without people. There would be no invasion of her personal space.

I carried my weary Minnie Mouse all the way home, making sure no one would catch up with us. When we got home, I retold the ordeal to Tracie and got a good laugh out of it. We inspected the goodie bag to see what was the damage. Five, count 'em, five whole pieces of candy after an hour. We might need therapy for Sydney after this. But she was cute, she loved her shoes, I had fun, and Tracie was happy that the baby went out trick-or-treating. That was all that mattered. Can't wait 'til next year. Muhahahahaha!!!!