Halloween Report

My daughter has found her holiday! Some people go overboard at Christmas, thoroughly enjoying the festivities and decorations and the experience of giving (I am guilty of this). Others revel in Thanksgiving and the enormous feast that accompanies it. Still others find Easter and the dawn of spring to be the quintessential holiday. Not Sophie. Not my little sugar fiend. Yesterday, Sophie stumbled upon the day she was born to celebrate. She discovered her calling last night, trolling the neighborhood dressed in her own odd creation. My little dragon princess jonesing for her sugar high. That's right...she's a Halloween girl all the way.

I wish you all could have seen her last night. She was a ball of boundless energy. Unwavering enthusiasm. As the other kids were beginning to slow down and tire out at the end of the second block, Sophie was actually sprinting from house to house collecting her buckets of goodies. She was the first one at each door, beaming as she watched those sugary confections drop into her purple, witch-emblazoned, trick-or-treating bucket. She was yelling at the others, "Come on guys!" She was happily chattering the entire way. You could practically see the gears cranking in her head as she tried to decide what she would eat first. The look of sheer delight in her eyes was contagious....and a tiny bit frightening. She was a Halloween phenom. A trick-or-treating savant!

Nicholas, on the other hand...while he enjoyed trick-or-treating....was not quite as overwhelmingly enthusiastic as his twin sister. He was the last one at every door, often lagging a full house behind the rest of our gang. He slowly plodded up to each door, his Luigi hat askew, his costume hanging on his tiny little frame. He refused to say "trick-or-treat" because, he explained, he simply did not want to. He merely stood there silently until the person handed him his candy. When given the option of choosing his own candy, he took his sweet time perusing through the candy bowl for something that piqued his interest. I am sure the poor people who said to him, "Go ahead, pick whatever you want," quickly regretted those words. When he finally happened upon a confection he approved of, he would turn to me and ask, "What is this?" just to make sure. He would then nod, drop the candy into his bucket, and say, "Yes. I like Noids (aka Nerds...or whatever the candy of choice was)." As he turned to leave, he would squeak a sober little "thank you." Apparently, Halloween is serious business. He had no time to for gleeful skipping and rousing sprints, as his sister did. No, he was a slow plodder. A solemn and serious trick-or-treater.

When we finally arrived back at our house and shuffled the kids in the door, Sophie and Lucas immediately bounded to the kitchen table and poured out the contents of their buckets. Sophie was like a crack addict....lovingly caressing her haul for the evening. She was literally shuddering with anticipation when we told her she couldn't eat anything until we inspected her candy. Nicholas, on the other hand, took his time removing his shoes and putting them by the front door, gingerly placing his Luigi hat in is bedroom, and straightening out his beloved costume. When he completed his detailed post-trick-or-treating ritual, he joined Sophie and Lucas at the table. As we were sitting there inspecting their candy, we noticed that Nicholas had more candy in his bucket than anyone else....even more than his freakishly enthusiastic sister. My sister Jennifer and I came to the only conclusion we could think of for this strange anomaly. We concluded that people must have assumed Nicholas was "special." With his constant adjusting of his costume, his crooked hat, his silent blank stares, and his slow plodding, I can understand that assumption. People probably felt sorry for the poor slow child being left behind by the rest of his group and, as such, rewarded his dawdling with a few extra pieces of candy. Nicholas is far from mentally challenged or "slow", regardless of initial appearances. But you know...it worked for him last night. So I say, work that "special" look, buddy! Get that candy! Plod along at your usual snail's pace...use that vacant, gaping-mouth stare to your advantage...whatever works! Sadly, I am not above exploiting my children for candy. Especially for Hot Tamales, which my children conveniently do not care for. Yumyumyum.

On a related note, I have NO CLUE where Sophie gets her fiendish sugar addiction.