Last night was Halloween, so we did the obligatory trick or treating. We weren’t going to go, but Finn’s preschool class had talked about it, so he wanted to “go to Halloween.” Thanks, Mrs. Jessica. Thanks for that. (but really, thanks! He even told me, “I knew the police officer and the fireman, but I didn’t know the other peoples’ names, so you need to check my candy to make sure it’s safe.”) I wasn’t sure how Colin would do, so those situations have stressed me out in the past. Recently, I’ve been more relaxed about events like this. If he does okay, GREAT! If he doesn’t, then we will just cut his evening short and head home.
Of course Finley walked up to everyone and said, “trick or treat!” Colin is nonverbal, so he didn’t say anything. I helped him lift up his bag for people to put candy in it. The first man put candy in his bag, and Colin leaned in and looked, like, “what is this?!” By the third person, he was jumping up and down with excitement when the candy was dropped in his bag. And of course he had to take a peek each time. I was so proud of him!
My philosophy has changed over the years. When the boys were tiny (and only a year and six days apart), I didn’t want to do things if it was going to be hard, too much work, or potentially stressful (for him and myself). Now, I realize that we need to do these things. If he never gets to go trick or treating, how will he learn? If we had not gone last night, the boys would have missed out on that whole Halloween tradition. Not only that, but I would have missed out on seeing the joy on their faces as they received and ate alllllll that candy (that we checked for safety first! Thanks again, Mrs. Jessica).