The Pokey Little Trick-Or-Treater

I have no clue why, but Bohdin decided that he didn't want to go out trick-or-treating this Halloween. He insisted on being the pumpkin again this year, and excitement had been building all week. One of the books Helen had picked up from the library was "The Problem with Pumpkins", a Hip and Hop Story by Barney Saltzberg. The two main characters (Hip the hippo and Hop the rabbit) argue about who will dress up as the pumpkin this year for Halloween. A cute portion of the book had them making a deal to exchange all the green M&Ms for the pumpkin rights. Later, Hip states " I was thinking...all of those green M&Ms might get lonely being away from the other colors. Do you think I could have all of your red M&Ms too? Just to make the green ones happy"! Bohdin quickly seized on this and told us that jelly beans would make the gummy worms happy, along with some other candy duos.

In a strange parallel to the story, Nyla ended up being the pumpkin this year. As Bohdin didn't want to go out, I decided to take Nyla out to earn her keep by scoring some candy for the family. For a few moments it looked like Bohdin would rally and insist on his pumpkin prerogative, but he again decided to stay home.

Despite being the pokiest trick-or-treater out there, Nyla managed to fill the bag up in a few short blocks. Even discounting the random rocks, grass, and leaves that found their way into the bag, the bag was filled in record time. Nyla has the knack for getting multiple pieces of candy at every stop. I guess there is something so fascinatingly cute about watching a 1yr old stuff candy into a bag, that person after person handed her candy until Nyla decided it was enough. Nyla would then wave bye-bye and would start to trudge off to the next house. Nyla's favorite seemed to be seeing the pets behind the glass storm doors, and to point out some of the more colorful Halloween decorations. From Nyla's perspective, Halloween seemed to be a hit.

The next morning after getting the candy home, most of the candy was exchanged by the "Candy Fairy" for some new toys.