Boo

Well, Halloween is over. I had to tell Mazin we couldn't trick or treat again until next year--a concept he neither understood nor agreed with. Why wouldn't you do that every day? (Well, let's see: diabetes, hyperactivity disorder...) John and I really had a good time trolling Bristol village with Mazin. Even though I have no interest in the candy and even less interest in having Mazin eat it, I found myself caught up in the excitement. He was out for a good hour and a half and amassed way more candy than he will eat. In fact, we let him have about a dozen pieces last night and this morning I told him it was all gone. (I am quite sure that trick won't fly next year.) I found myself strategizing for Mazin last night: let's go up side streets where few people go--they'll give out better candy there. Sure enough, he got big handfuls in those neglected neighborhoods, and even scored a big bag of goldfish at one house! I felt 12 again, all greedy and crafty. It was cool to see Mazin's reaction to the whole scene. He loved all the costumes and being out on the street at night, in the dark. He even said, "I like being out in the night with you guys." It's true, that is something he never gets to do. He was a red dragon, and stopped quite often in front of a stranger to give his scariest roar. He'd walk up to a house and say, "Trick or treat, give me something good to eat." (We encouraged him to leave off the "smell my feet" part.) He wanted to eat each piece of candy immediately upon receiving it, which worked fine until he got a couple of lollipops in succession. Then mom and dad had to hold the half-licked suckers while he unwrapped the M&Ms. Yeah, it got a little sticky. At about 8:00, the sugar crash hit and he became a zombie. He had a restless night of sleep and when I asked him at 3 a.m. if his tummy hurt, he nodded yes. Ah, Halloween! It's so commercialized and oh so sugarized... but it's still fun.