Trick or Treat

We knew Louis would love Halloween. Any holiday focused on people handing out food and giving him the chance to say "Thank you" was bound to be a success.



Still, I did have a twinge of worry after a conversation I had with Louis on Friday.

"You're going to be a train engineer on Halloween!" I said.

"Yes," Louis said happily. "Drive steam engine!"

Gulp.

Halloween morning I explained that he wouldn't actually get to be a train engineer. He would merely dress up as  a train engineer. And, I hurried to add, there would be candy. Lots and lots of candy.


Then we practiced saying "trick or treat." We talked about how people would hand him candy. How he would take just one piece. How he would say thank you. And we described how other children would be dressed in costumes. By the time we had talked ourselves through everything, Louis couldn't wait to get going.



So off we went.

Just as he did on his seventh day in the U.S. when we handed him Christmas gifts to unwrap, Louis caught on quickly to this new tradition.

Did he say "Trick or treat"? Not outside the dining room table practice sessions.

Did he look like an almost-3-year-old dressed as a train engineer? Absolutely.

Did he walk happily from house to house (until he got tired and wanted to be carried)? Oh, yes.

 Did he come home with candy in his pumpkin bucket? More than he'll ever eat.

Was he happy and tired at the end of the night? Of course.

After each house, Louis would say, "More Halloween!" or "Try this one!" and point to the next house. He loved the pumpkins--even when he said they were "scary"--and he liked seeing the other children. For our son who loves little exchanges between people--high fives and fist-bump explosions and anything involving food--Halloween seemed like a terrific way to spend an evening.

He got to ring Grandpa's ghost doorbell.

One neighbor gave him a special Halloween flashlight--just what any good engineer needs.

When he trotted happily back inside at the end of the evening, Grandpa was only too happy to drop everything and help him open a box of Milk Duds. And any good grandfather samples one or two to make sure it's a good batch.

And Baba had to inspect the candy, of course.

After all, when Baba and Mama were little, people used to X-ray their children's candy before they could eat it. (And then the Bean Bear used to stop by, but that's a really long story, and I'm betting he didn't make it to your house every Halloween the way he came to mine.)

Fortunately, some of the treats were slightly healthier.

And Louis was just thrilled with the sheer quantity of goodies.

.

No, Louis didn't actually get to be a train engineer.

But as he sat at home, counting his pieces of candy--and he loves to count, though he refuses to acknowledge 16 and gets a bit lost in the late 20s--we didn't hear him complain.

But then, it was a bit hard to hear anything over the noise of the candy falling in and out of the bucket.

Yes, this first Halloween with Louis was a real treat.