Happy Halloween!

All right. I know Halloween was yesterday, but we were too busy having fun for me to share last night. I know a number of children with CDG-PIGN are enthralled with Halloween, some to the point of asking about Halloween for months on end, and I believe Teddy is going to follow in their footsteps. There's something magical and inclusive about this holiday that is perfect for my little social butterfly.

Teddy absolutely loves people. If you smile at him, he believes you are his friend. He will even take strangers by the hand if they smile at him and interact with him. He's extremely curious as well and wants to check out our neighbors' houses and particularly garages when given the opportunity. 

So eager to keep up with the kids!

So a holiday where you get to meet a whole bunch of people and go right up to their houses is ideal for Teddy. We met up with one of AJ's friends in her neighborhood and started trick-or-treating with her neighborhood friends. We stayed with them for quite a while, although we kept dropping further and further behind because AJ couldn't run in his costume, and Teddy's run is a fast walk. That bummed AJ out, but Teddy had the time of his life.

When Teddy saw the front door where he was supposed to go, he made a beeline without any regard for ditches or driveways. He took the shortest path, fell quite a few times and picked himself right up to keep trucking up the house. Then he was more interested in trying to see if he could go inside the house than taking any candy. I carried his bag for him, and he managed to put a few pieces into his own bag, which is a great use of his fine motor and motor planning skills. There were a few open garages that required a bit of steering to keep Teddy from exploring, but he had such smiles and amazement on his face that he was able to go visit all these people. 

So cute and so easy to redirect to the next house!

Costumed characters can be a bit dicey for Teddy, but he was remarkably fine with everyone at Halloween. There were a few costumes that seemed to intrigue him, and none scared him. I think the fact that he had such freedom to go visit people wiped out any concerns about costumes.

I loved seeing his independence that he would walk, or run, toward houses with the other children. I imagine future costumes and years where he perhaps uses his talker to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you." Wouldn't that be amazing?

As for this year, it was perfect. We had amazing weather, the nicest I can remember in years. We spent nearly 1.5 hours trick or treating, with Teddy doing an incredible amount of walking with some breaks in his chair. Then we came home to have our neighbors over for margaritas and cookies, which seems to be the start of a new tradition. It gave the kids an hour to wind down after trick or treating and us adults the chance to socialize ... all in our house where Teddy has relatively free reign.

And what was Teddy for Halloween? If you couldn't tell from the pictures, he was a bull in a china shop. At some point, I am confident Teddy will exercise some strong opinions about Halloween costumes, but for now, he could care less. So I will continue to have my fun creating costumes that are made to suit Teddy's personality.