Trick or Treat!

We anticipated that Fletcher might not be willing to wear his lion costume, so we had a back-up plan: Christopher Atkins in "The Blue Lagoon".

• 

We failed to anticipate, however, that a shell necklace would make him so very unhappy.

So we joined the parade in a neighborhood near ours in comfy brown pants, an inside-out UT t-shirt, eyeliner whiskers, and a leonine head of hair.

Our friend Simon was dressed as a sheep. Christie and I thought it would be cute to have a "the lion and the lamb" photo, but Simon didn't think much of our idea.

 Who knew that eyeliner whiskers would be so very scary?

Sadly, we decided that it would be best if we cut our visit with Simon short.

 This is what Fletcher would have looked like in his costume. Cute, yes? I confess that
I carried the costume jacket slung over my arm for most of the trick or treating, just in case he
had a change of heart. Also, I wanted to make it clear to the other parents that I was not a very
bad mother who had denied her dear little boy a costume.

 

Fletcher really got into trick or treating, even though he didn't realize that he was being given candy.

 We stopped to talk with friends and he grew tired of our dawdling.

 Back at home, we snacked on cheesy crackers while waiting for the few trick or treaters that come through our neighborhood.

I wish this picture adequately captured the fierce intensity with which he waited for a group of kids to approach our door. It was as if he'd been training for this moment, this one chance to hand out candy to strangers, all his young life. He was as focused as I've ever seen him. I think you can see how tightly he was clutching the skittles; he was practically vibrating.