His generic, blue superhero outfit has already debuted on this blog, but here are more photos anyway:
We did a jack-o-lantern, with real candles. Mary's design. It did not last 'til morning. Even as a kid I never understood the glee of destruction, and I have to say I was a bit sad to see that it had become the target of hell-raising activity. We put some work into it, and it was August's first pumpkin.
The next neighborhood over from ours is Beacon Hill. Mary and I lived there when we first moved to Boston. The residents there take full advantage of their picturesque 19th century buildings to create a safe, welcoming trick-or-treating destination for the area's youth, and they really do it up well! We always wander through to look at the spectacle (even before we had August), and we did so again last night.
We were wandering around when I decided I would quite like a bit of candy. It crossed my mind that the only way I was going to get any candy was to have August - probably too young for the task - do the trick-or-treating on my behalf.
I'm only a little ashamed to admit that this was the motivation behind August's very first trick-or-treat episode.
We approached one of the quieter door-fronts, me holding August. I had coached him on saying "trick or treat", but the best we could hope for was just "treat". Even with coaching, he wouldn't say it... he was shy! Presented with a bowl of goodies, I hoped he would choose the Kit Kat bar, for that was what I craved! But he didn't understand that he was being offered something to take. The residents were of course very charmed by August, and very patient. It probably took him close to a minute before I finally snagged a Kit Kat on August's behalf, and left after a few attempts to get August to say "thank you" (unsuccessful).
Having nabbed the candy, August and I repaired to a dark, Beacon Hill stoop, to have privacy to immediately enjoy our hard-won prize. August is not at all familiar with candy, so he got just two little morsels. His selfish Dad gobbled the rest. But what little he did get was much enjoyed, and I was presented with both the word and sign for "more!" (exclamation point was evident in his signing).
So we did it again. Again, August needed help actually grabbing the goods. But once he had it, he went straight for the nearest stoop where he expected a repeat performance - instant gratification. He got it!
He was enjoying this novel activity, but after two treats, Mary and I got worried that he might make himself a little sick if he kept eating candy. But the third house had bags of pretzels as an option, so once more we immediately sat down to enjoy the fruits of our labor!
By now August was getting more confident grabbing the candy. Still not great at saying "thank you", but he's little enough and cute enough to get away with it, especially if Dad appears to be nudging hard enough! Now that we weren't immediately eating candy, August decided he at least wanted to hold and play with the candy he was receiving. That lasted a few houses, but before long, he was handing-over the candy to Mommy for safekeeping, and focused entirely on the very American past-time of acquisition for its own sake.
By the last house of the evening, he was approaching on his own, in his little cape, and mutting "treat" ("cheech!"), not quite loud enough for residents to hear him, but I was proud of his progress. He was taking candy (not grabbing!) and, if not saying "thank you", then at least bestowing a delighted and delightful grin on his hosts!
In the space of 30 minutes he went from not understanding why he wanted the candy, to enjoying the candy itself, to fetishing the candy won, to the pursuit of the candy for its own sake. Not sure how I feel about that. Never want to read more into a thing than one should, but I wonder if he didn't mature out of a little innocence last night. I was proud of him for growing in confidence and understanding during the course of the evening, but a little sad, also, at his having seemed to change so much right before my eyes.
We didn't even set out to do any trick-or-treating. Really interesting evening!
(Our place)
Update:
Mary has a different take on August's progression through the evening. She thinks his motivation wasn't the pure acquisition of candy goods, but rather the social interaction of the trick-or-treat event... seeing the people and being seen by them... having a chance to make a choice and reach into a bowl, etc. I don't disagree with Mary's analysis, I'm sure she's right. But it doesn't make as interesting a blog post that way!
