The Halloween That Really Wasn't

I was visiting some of my favorite blogs on Monday and started noticing that most of them were related to Halloween. Except since most of my favorite blogs are about special needs, the titles went a little something like this:

"Having a Merry But Modified Halloween"

"Getting the Candy Without the Costume: AJ's Guide to All Things Halloween"

"Trick or Treating: A 673 Step Process"

"Disinterested Halloweener"

Do you see the common theme?

Halloween is just another one of those events that many of our special needs children either struggle to participate in or simply don't care two beans worth about.

Lily falls into the "don't care two beans worth about" category.  She doesn't care at all about wearing a costume and I'm not sure she really even notices that others are around her are dressed a tad bit unusual. The candy doesn't even really hold that much of an attraction for her.

Except for this year.

At the request of some of the parents, the Bird's school had a Trick or Treat practice run.  The therapists told me it took Lily all of about two seconds to understand that if she knocked on a door and pushed the "Trick or Treat" button on her iPod Touch, she would get some candy.

Guess who spent the rest of the morning "practicing" for Trick or Treat?

That girl is a fast learner when she wants to be.

Of course, this happens to be the first Halloween on our crazy new diet so I sent just a small handful of dark chocolate "M&M's" for the therapists to give her.  Not only do I need to limit the amount she eats because of the sugar content, I also have to limit the amount because of the expense.  Those special candies can only be purchased in the bulk bins at Whole Foods, also known as Whole Paycheck.

Anyway, we spent Saturday morning at a very special place.  Two churches (ours and another local one) that both have special needs ministries got together and hosted a Fall Festival just for special needs families.

Here's Lily arriving to check in on the fun:

Notice she is sans costume but that's how she rolls.  She's never been one to do something just because everyone else is!  She's also doing some serious toe walking...

The first thing the Bird checked out was the bounce house.

Which is funny because I don't think any of the kids were actually bouncing in there.  Lily did some cute little cheerleader kind of jumping and then was content to try and walk on the bumpy surface, stopping for frequent breaks.

Then we were off to ride the train.

This is what happens when Mama is the shortest member of the family - she has to ride all the kiddie rides because she's the only one who even remotely fits in them anymore.

Next was lunch, graciously provided to all the families for absolutely not one penny.  As in, completely free.  

This was by far and large Lily's favorite event of the day.

I even brought her a little something sweet to eat.

If you look closely in her left hand, you can see a round cookie/candy type thing.  This is another one of my kitchen experiments - a cross between a no-bake cookie and a rice krispie treat.  I don't really think they're all that great but Lily likes them so score one for Mom.

And that, my friends, is the complete and sum total of Lily's Halloween fun this year.  We didn't even attempt anything on the actual night.

But someone else in the family did.

This is my middle daughter, Reagan, and her good friend, Megan. 

They managed to get dressed up and convince the neighbors yet another year that they are still young enough to knock on doors and get free candy.

I informed Reagan, aka "Spiderman", that this will be her last year of Trick or Treating.  I think 15 is past the prime candy time.

How much you want to bet she'll be volunteering to take Lily trick or treating next year, whether or not the Bird wants to go?