Trick-or-Treat

Halloween started with a bang. Literally, Charlie banged his mouth on the windowsill. He hit it so hard that his tooth actually chipped the paint and left an impression in the wood. Shortly after that, Nick left to play football with some friends. Daddy leaving coupled with a sore mouth was more than Charlie could handle, and he never really recovered.

We had been invited to a Halloween celebration at 11:00 by our friends, The Jordans, and I decided that we definitely needed to get out of the house. I proceeded to get both of us ready, which took extra long with a super unhappy Charlie in tow. I tried letting him watch his favorite Elmo clip on YouTube, playing some music, and just about every other trick in my mommy bag, but nothing seemed to be working. I thought maybe he was tired, so I put him in his crib to see if a little alone time would help. For ten minutes, he just babbled to himself in his crib as I finished getting ready. Perfect, all he needed was a little time to himself to calm down. I went in to get him from his crib, and he seemed to be happy. He ran out of his room as I collected his diaper and shoes. As I approached our bedroom, I heard Samson yelp followed quickly by Charlie screaming.

I knew immediately that Samson had bitten Charlie before I even got into the bedroom. He has never done it before, but Charlie has been soooo mean to Samson lately. He hits, pinches, pushes, pokes, and sits on Samson all of the time. He knows not to do it, but he continues to abuse the poor dog. Sure enough, Charlie came running towards me, tears in his eyes, holding his little hand out for me to see. Samson was laying on his doggie bed and looked absolutely terrified. Samson hit his breaking point, and I am hoping Charlie has learned not to mess with the poor dog any more. Charlie's pinkie finger had little teeth marks in it, but he was fine. I think it scared him more than anything else. Samson on the other hand may not be okay. He has been yelping when Nick and I touch him and threw up this afternoon. He seems to be better tonight, but I am worried that Charlie sat on him and broke rib or something...lovely. You may think I am a bad mother for being more concerned about the dog than I am about Charlie, but you haven't seen what this kid does to Samson. It was just a matter of time before Samson fought back.

Anyway, after that incident, I did not have the energy to meet up with the Jordans. Instead, Charlie watched a little TV while I did some deep breathing and prayed for a fresh start after nap time.

Nick got home right around the same time that Charlie woke up, and I had high hopes for a better afternoon. We headed over to our friends' house to watch the GA vs. FL game before trick-or-treating. Charlie was in a great mood and even got to play outside in the leaves with some of the boys. My nerves had recovered, and at 6:00 we headed home to get Charlie in his costume and get ready for trick-or treating.

Charlie did not protest putting on his Elmo costume at all, and I was so excited to take him out. I had Nick take out his red wagon so that he wouldn't have to walk. This was a fatal error. Mr. Independent did not want to ride in the wagon. No, he wanted to pull the wagon. That was not easy with cars and kids everywhere, so I decided the wagon had to go. This sent Elmo into a fit. He stood on the sidewalk and screamed at us. Our neighbor came out of his house because he heard him crying from inside. I am not proud of what I did next, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?. I gave Charlie an M&M to make him happy. Yes, I am the mom who bribes her child with candy. What can I say...it had been a long day. The M&Ms seemed to do the trick and we managed to make it to a few houses without anymore tears.

Once we got home, Charlie seemed to perk up and enjoyed watching the kids come to our house to trick-or-treat. He looked super cute in his Halloween skeleton PJ's from Grandma, and we managed to get some cute pictures of him playing in them before bed time.

Hopefully, next year our Halloween will be a little bit calmer and less eventful! We hope that you and your family had a very Happy Halloween!!!