Trick-or-Treating with Dad

I just wanted to blog Alex's first time trick-or-treating. A few of the dad's in the ward all with little girls of about the same age went out while the mom's maned the candy. At the first house we went to, Alex was sort of giving the questioning look she sometimes gives. What were we doing at this stranger's house? There were several kids at the same door. They all said "Trick-or-treat!", got their candy, and left. I helped her raise up her little pumpkin and she was given some candy too. She looked into the pumpkin to see what was now in there, and then looked up quizzically at the person. I told her to say thanks, which she did ("Tanku") and we held hands to the next house. The little girls were all alone this time. We knocked on the door, said trick-or-treat, and the lady put a piece of candy in each of their pumpkins.

That's when I saw the light go on in her eyes.

She got it. She knew exactly what the heck all these kids were doing all over the neighborhood, and I think I could almost see her tallying up in a flash the sheer enormity of the number of houses she could see. I don't know how she knew so fast, but I know that she knew. She turned to me and said two of the ten words she knows in the most serious and heartfelt manner I can describe: "Dad! GO!"

She practically leaped off the porch, and RAN to the next house. Now, she can climb stairs, but she usually uses her hands. At the next porch, she one-stepped the porch, pounded on the door with her little open fist, dug her hand into the bowl when it was lowered down to her, threw some candy into her pumpkin, and repeated the previous words of encouragement: "Dad! GO!"

That's how it went. We pretty much left all the other kids in the dust except for one. If she wasn't telling me to go, she was grabbing my hand to run with her(actually, I think she was just using me for balance so she could go faster). She only let me carry her if I was slightly jogging, otherwise she wanted me to let her down so she could run. I manged to get her to say a quick "tanku" to a few people, usually after she was already off the porch and on to the next house. Sometimes she would grab a piece for her one friend who was keeping up with her, throw it in her bag, then grab one for herself. If other kids were there, she would squirm to the front and then squirm back out of the pack after she collected her treat.

We hit several blocks in the space of just over an hour, and by then she was cold and boggery, but very content. The only thing slowing her down was the weight of that pumpkin, so we emptied it out at the house and she took off with Mel. I understand that she ran out of steam soon after, but I have to say, nothing brings a smile to my face these days than thinking of hers and recalling the plea, "Dad! GO!"