The Life & Times of the Halloween Kid: Three Awesome Years of Candy, Cows, and Dinosaurs
Violet's First Halloween
It’s tough for me to believe that this will be my daughter Violet’s 4th Halloween this year.
It seems like ten minutes ago my wife and I were dressing her up in the jack-o-lantern costume we had picked up for her at Walmart and taking her out on the front lawn to lay her down in the bright autumn leaves for a photo shoot!
I remember vividly the two of us oohing and ahhhing as we kept being blown away by how cute she was, how adorable she acted as she simply rolled back and forth the best she could, crunching around in her very first Halloween costume ever.
Then, in the blink of a witch’s eye, I was following my little girl down the city street in her cow costume, her new found walking skill carrying her away from me with a fearlessness that was both alarming and charming at the same time. She was my little Halloween cow, running loose through the big town.
Last year came on swiftly, too, I tell ya. Violet was finally of the age to really start to appreciate that Halloween was a time when she was going to have a blast dressing up in outfits and eating candy and coming downstairs in the morning to find our whole house decorated with big fuzzy spiders and cobwebs and pumpkins. We caved out our jack-o-lanterns on the kitchen floor and she absolutely loved it, making sure to see that her baby brother, Henry, got a good glimpse of his sister’s artistic talents.
Now, Halloween is here again and I have a little Scooby Doo in my midst. She is so excited for the big night, to dress as her favorite TV dog and holler out ‘Trick-or-Treat’ at front doors long before the residents have had a chance to open them yet.
So, in honor of my baby girl’s love affair with Halloween, I though I’d string together some of the memories she has already brought us. I’m hoping that they will remind you a lot of your little ones, and how awesome it is to see them and be with them at this time of year.
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First Fall
From the moment that the first autumn leaves of Violet's life began to change colors, she seemed to know she was in for a really special time of year.
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Bat Shirt!
On our first hikes of fall, we'd dress her up in her Halloween bat shirt just so she could show everyone that she was in the spirit of things already!
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Little Bee
I had bought her this bee costume months before she was even born, that's how excited I was to see her in it! And when Halloween was coming and she could finally fit into it...well, she did not disappoint.
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Pumpkin Kid
Of course, one costume wasn't enough for mom and dad. So, we had to get her another one, just for the 'cute' of it.
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Rolling In the Leaves
Oh man, how we were so excited that Violet seemed to enjoy being dressed in a costume. She really seemed to 'get' that we were enthralled with her.
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Unspookable
The next year, Violet was up and walking and so we took her to her first 'haunted walk' for kids. It wasn't very spooky, of course, and even me hiding and trying to frighten her a little just didn't phase her.
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My Little Cow
When we got her a cow costume, we had no idea what we were in for. Oh my.
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Cow Forever
I thought about leaving her in the cow suit forever. Or at least for a few weeks. That's how much I loved her in it.
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Cow In The City
Walking now, Violet took off down the streets of our town...a baby cow on her own in the cold dark city!
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Cow Wrangler
Eventually, I caught up with my fleeing calf. And got some of my favorite photos ever out of the deal, too.
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The T-Rex Kid
The next year, Violet was finally able to understand that Halloween could open all sorts of cool doors for her and her imagination. She picked out her own T-Rex costume at the store and refused to be away from him for any length of time.
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Jack-O-Lanterns
We carved pumpkins together for the first time ever. It was something I will never forget.
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Halloween Family
Seeing Violet's now tangible attraction to the Halloween season spread among her mom and me like wildfire. We really became a 'Halloween family' last year, because of our daughter.
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T-Rex All Day, All Night
Violet would watch TV with her costume as if he was her new best buddy. She also slept with him and tried to bathe with him, but we had to nix that idea.
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The Big Night!
That first Halloween, when she really knew that it was the big night and she just couldn't wait to get her costume on...that was such a cool evening.
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Costume Time
Just around dark, we got all suited up. Violet was so proud of her T-Rex get-up.
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Mom and Violet
Both her mom and I were in full Halloween spirit by now., We both couldn't wait to dress up with our kiddo. Mom was a cowgirl...
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...Daddy Was A Witch
I dressed as a witch, something that Violet reminded me of for the next 6 weeks after Halloween night. So, I think I did something right.
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Year Four
Now, we're almost at her fourth Halloween night. She's gonna be Scooby Doo. She's very thrilled with the spooky season again...and so naturally, so am I.
You can also find Serge on his personal blog, Thunder Pie.
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More from Serge:
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