Halloween part 4

We had no idea what to expect this Halloween. I had never had to entertain a toddler without the help of a handful of older siblings to take them trick or treating. Times are different now... We don't have a tight knit family community that we grew up in to parade her around. She's the first grandchild, so there are no older cousins or siblings to drag her around establishing old traditions in a new generation. It's too dangerous and kind of pointless (given that she doesn't eat candy) to take her door to door in our neighborhood. Our experiences proved to be very unhelpful...

We spent a lot of time trying to find something to do for Halloween. We researched and investigated festivals, parties, pumpkin patches (a rare find in Florida), and kid-friendly events. Unfortunately, kid-friendly does not mean toddler friendly. We wanted to find things that would be fun for her but festive and different from the day to day. At first we had a hard time finding something suitable. Then, as Halloween drew near, the calendar began to fill up with plenty of (what seemed like) fun things to do.

First, a small festival in the Soho area of town. It was crowded and the parent-to-kid ratio was in favor of parents socializing and drinking expensive coffee. While older kids ran amuck (I hope someone gets the Hocus Pocus reference), the younger bunch stood in a long line to have their picture taken with clowns on stilts. There was a toy store, filled to the brim with toddlers playing with a train set in the back. A perfect place to let Lilli enjoy some freedom and finally be allowed to interact with her surroundings instead of just being a spectator. She had enough of being carried and swung her legs around to get down, booting a poor little girl in the head. After ensuring the little girl was unharmed, Lilli toddled over to play area. Parents hoovered over their little ones, watching warily as the kids attempted to share (and by share I mean steal each other's objects). One mother took her baby away when the crowd go too much, mumbling something about her child not being a stable walker yet. I could swear she gave me a dirty look...

Then, when the crowd started to clear, Lilli was left with a little boy and his fancy-pants parents. They commented about Lilli's candy corn hat, to which I responded with the story of how she wouldn't take it off in the store. Then I made my social-economic mistake "It was a dollar at Target! How could I say no?!" So proud of my find... Well... this is Soho... Dollar deals are not nearly as impressive to the fancy-pants as it would be to a typical mom. After a polite/mocking smile, they quickly engaged in a private conversation about the expensive gifts they planned to buy their toddler. We made one last loop around the festival and hit the road... without a single picture and feeling a little out of our element.

Next, The Boo Fest at a farm about a half an hour from our house. We thought it'd be fun for her to see a farm. Some cows, horses, maybe a field of pumpkins or other vegetation. It had to be better than the Soho fest... Well, they had pumpkins...



After the farm-bust we had planned to take her to a party at Gymboree. The Pumpkin Patch Party was an hour and a half of toddler madness.



Lilli got to decorate a pumpkin and show off her dancing skills. She hammed it up when the entire room of parents watched this tiny girl dance like a pro. She rolled around, went up and down slides, climbed over and under and through, and even got to eat a sugar cookie at a big kid table with the rest of the kids.





Finally! Something that she could enjoy without being carted around and held back from interacting because of rough kids and engrossed parents not paying attention to their own kids, let alone mine. The parents were understanding of "toddler sharing" and the kids not really getting the concept of personal space. There were no awkward situations, no one smiling politely, we hardly felt out of place at all.


Most importantly, she had a great time.



"Indie Song of the Entry"

All Nothing by The Good China