TRICKERTREAT!!

We took Ilyana out trick-or treating on Friday night. We weren't sure how she would take it- she's a pretty brave little girl, so we weren't too worried that she would be afraid of the costumes or decorations, but I wasn't sure if we'd be able to get her to go up to houses and say "Trick or Treat" or "Happy Halloween" and I didn't know if she would understand the whole getting-of-the-candy thing.

So first, we went to this place called the Powerhouse Mall. It's basically a small indoor mall, probably about 20 stores in all, but each year they do a Halloween trick-or-treat where the employees will dress up and stand outside their stores passing out candy. When we heard about it, we figured it would be a good place to start, since it's inside and not too huge, and we'd be able to get her used to the idea before possibly venturing outside to trick-or-treat.

When we arrived, things were not looking up. The woman at the Yankee Candle outside the mall tried giving her candy, and Illy didn't want to take it, didn't want to talk to her, and was having a meltdown because (a) she didn't want to wear her hood, which had the kitty ears and whiskers on it; and (b) she saw another girl with the same princess treat bucket as her and forgot I was carrying hers. She ran up to the other girl, hysterically screaming "Mine! mine!" I hurriedly exlplained that I had hers, and the other little girl just had the same one... I was thinking, uh-oh, this is NOT going to be good.

Of course, in the middle of said meltdown and pulling at kitty ears in anger, I ran into my boss outside the mall. We were able to distract her from the kitty ear situation for just long enough to get her to smile for a pic and say hi to my boss' daughter, who she goes to daycare with, before she got angry and wanted to go inside.

This is Illy in her kitty costume and my boss' daughter in her adorable witch temptress costume frolicking in the background.


This is the picture we got her to smile for... And it's before the hood was rejected for the night, so it's one of the best!

Then we went inside. She refused to say any of the obligatory Halloween phrases at first. One of the nice employees gave her a blow pop anyway, and I think she thought that was it. She started running past all the other stores, clinging to her "poppy" for dear life! Some people tried to stop her and give her more candy, but I think she thought if she got something else, she'd have to trade in her poppy, because she was not having any of that! Whenever someone tried to hand her something, she'd go "NO! Mine!" and hold the poppy to her chest.

This is, apparently, the best *poppy* that was EVER made. She is not giving it up.


Luckily, there was another little boy who happened to come up to one of the stores at the same time as us. He said his little "trick or treat" and they gave him candy, and it was as if a light had gone on in her head. She immediately went "TRICKERTREAT!" and was given candy by the employee, which she tossed into her bucket like good little kitties do.

YAY!

Trick or treat success has been attained!

After that, she was a little more into it.

Me and the girl in the Powerhouse Mall. Trick or treat, here we come!


Not exactly sure what she was doing here, but it's cute nonetheless. Notice the absence of hood.


Hey Momma! I trickertreatin'. Like my poppy?

Then we decided to grab a bite to eat and go downtown for some real, outdoor trick or treating. The candy at the mall was just not enough to suppress our sweet tooth. Oh, what, you really thought it was all gonna be for her?!? Pshaw. As if. What does an 18 month old need with all that candy, anyway?! But don't worry. We'll share some of it with her. And we won't eat her poppys. Pinky promise.

I'm kicking myself now, wishing I had gotten more shots of the outside trick or treating. But it was getting a little crazy. We didn't really want to let her walk because the roads we were on weren't shut down, so there was still the occasional car, and also... she walks slow. lol. So, Will ended up carrying her most of the way (I offered to help, but she wanted Dada...) which left me carrying coats, purse, trick or treat goody bag and camera in between houses. So you can see why I was a little frazzled. But still. No excuse. I coulda done better. Here's what I got:

Mmmmm.... Poppy.



Random scream blow up guy I saw at someone's house and thought was cool. Now, though, I'm thinking it's a little creepy?



She's looking at the other kids, going "Suckerrrs! My Dad CARRIES me AND I get the candy. What?! I know, I'm the coolest."


Okay, so I took this pic with the night setting on my camera, which apparently is only supposed to be used with a tripod, because the shutter is open for longer, which causes the above blurring if you or your subject moves at all. Who knew? I'm still figuring this cam out. In any case, I liked the result even with the blurring. I thought it gave the pic a little bit of cool movement. You might not agree. Whatevs. It's a pic of her and some cute little fairy girl she was fascinated by on the street.

All in all, I would say trick or treating was a success. After initial worry on my part and anger on her part, and after finally giving in and allowing her to NOT wear the kitty hood (after she yanked on it incessantly, saying "ouch ouch"), she was good. She had fun. She liked seeing the other kids in their costumes and thought the decorations were funny. She even attempted to say Happy Halloween to some people, although it came out as "Happy happy." I think they got the point, though. And she learned what trick or treat is- and the merits of dressing up in a ridiculous getup in return for a free sugar high.

Poor Dada, though. His arms were practically falling off for the next two days after carrying her around all night. This little girl just isn't so *little* anymore.

*sigh* Why do they have to ever get big?