Hullabaloo, Take Two!

I've never been notoriously bad at remembering dates and times of events. Ever. Even when I was pregnant. Or when I was a new mom. But now? I just can't win. Earlier in the month, I missed a Sox/Yankees game because I was sure it was on Saturday. But our tickets were for Sunday. Yesterday, I was positive the Halloween Hullabaloo was at 3:00. It was at 2:00.

Today, Rob and I met up with Pete and Rebecca to go to the parade around Spy Pond. We were pretty close to on time, but we didn't see kids in costumes anywhere. I started to get a little nervous as we got closer to the park where the parade was supposed to take place. There were actually a lot of kids around, but they were all dressed in regular play clothes. Surely dressing up as a child wasn't the it costume this year... So, I called the friend who had originally told me about the parade. Somehow, I missed a key piece of information in the email she sent. I was confident that the parade started at 1:00. I should have read a little closer... I missed a zero. The start time? 10:00.

Luckily, Rebecca was quick to forgive, and we turned the wagon in the direction of Jam 'n Java for a late lunch. The boys (err... wild jungle animals) did well through lunch, Robbie perfecting his "more" and "mine" with regard to my fruit. Rebecca unknowingly demonstrated why she doesn't like to give Pete a cup to drink from with an open bottle of water of her own. I like a mom that takes the extra step to really tell a story. She looked so surprised when the water hit her face that I almost believed she didn't do it on purpose!

After lunch, it was down to East Arlington for trick-or-treating around Capitol Square. This should have been fun and easy and trouble free. But this is me we're talking about. Several blocks in to our mile walk, the boys decided they were done with the wagon. I put Robbie up on my shoulders and my glasses in the pocket of my sweatshirt. He seemed pleased with the change of pace and we continued on. After awhile he got heavy, so it was back to the wagon. And Robbie kept standing up. I turned to Rebecca and asked if it was bad that I kind of wanted him to fall out (in a safe, soft place - I'm not that hateful) to scare him into sitting. No sooner had we finished discussing that... All of a sudden, Robbie was on the ground on his back. Thank God for the lion head and piles of leaves. He was well-cushioned and unscathed. And still not afraid of standing in the wagon. About fifty yards down the road I realized my glasses were missing.

It was time to retrace our steps, so I took off with Robbie and Rebecca waited with Pete. They were nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere, and we looked the entire way back home. I have an ad up on craigslist for them... We'll see if I hear from anyone. Trick-or-treating was fun, but I'm not entirely convinced that it was worth a new pair of glasses.

We slowly (so slowly) made our way back up Mass Ave. Neither boy wanted to ride in the wagon. We let them push the wagon. We held their hands. We barely grabbed them before they ran into the street. We put them on our shoulders. And, what seemed like hours later, we finally made it back to where we started. And this is where Pete and Rebecca left us and all hell broke lose.

Robbie and I had another third of a mile to go, which can seem like eternity when you have a squirmy toddler and an increasingly heavy wagon to transport. Rob still refused to sit in the wagon like a nice lion. So I carried him the best I could. Until he threw a full-blown temper tantrum two blocks from home. We're talking a sit-down-in-the-middle-of-the-sidewalk-and-put-your-head-on-a-low-wall-and-scream-your-brains-out tantrum. And it just kept going. I couldn't even pick him up because he kept throwing himself out of my arms. And there was no way he was going to sit in the wagon.

We finally made it home, where I discovered a major culprit. Robbie was soaked up to his armpits. And did I forget to mention that he didn't nap today? So, at 4:15, Robbie went down for a nap until Justin got home at 6:15 for a little trick-or-treating. I realize the poor child has been dragged from house-to-house and business-to-business three times. But Justin never got to take him. Actually, Justin hasn't been home for Halloween since we lived in Georgia. So, a little after 7:00, the whole family headed out. Robbie and Justin, hand in hand, made their way down the street. Seeing this was worth every bit of temper tantrum.

I remember liking Halloween as a kid, but it's so much better as an adult. It's so much more fun to watch Robbie practice his roar (he kept roaring when he saw his costume this morning) and take him to different Halloween activities (especially when we have the time right). It makes me that much more excited for Christmas this year. Hopefully I'll be on time for that.