Connor's First Halloween

I've been so excited for the holiday season to start this year because we now have a little one to celebrate with. Halloween was so fun. We initially wanted to dress Connor up as Linus van Pelt or Calvin from Calvin and Hobbs. We searched everywhere for a red shirt with black stripes, but couldn't find one in a baby or toddler size. So we gave up and decided to just order a tiger costume online. He would have been a super cute Linus or Calvin, but he was an adorable tiger.

The costume arrived about a week before Halloween, and we couldn't wait so we immediately put it on Connor.

     

Oh my word was he cute! He sat on the floor for a bit checking out the costume, feeling it's texture and pulling at the fabric.

     

Connor didn't seem to mind the suit so we put the hat on him. That was a whole different story. The chin strap was just a bit on the tight side, and he immediately hated it. He tugged at it to pull it off, and when that didn't work he started crying. So we took it off for a few minutes and then tried it on again.

     

After a few tries, he still hated the hat but tolerated it enough for us to get a couple pictures of him in the whole ensemble. Over the next few days we periodically tried the hat on him (keeping the chin strap undone because it was just a bit too tight to be comfortable) and he hated it each time and pulled it off as fast as he could. We figured we'd give the hat another go when the time came. He was still adorable just in the suit.

     

Our ward didn't have a Halloween party or trunk-or-treat this year, so I search around to find some other trick-or-treat events that we could take him to. This was Connor's first Halloween so we had to do something! I discovered that the Dinosaur Park in Ogden had a Halloween Carnival trick-or-treat event the Saturday before Halloween. The carnival tickets were half the price of normal admission, so we decided to go and check it out. 

That Saturday we ran a few errands before heading to the Dinosaur Park. While we were at Walmart, Brian found a large bin full of giant character masks near the costume display. In said bin was a tiger head. He tried it on and it looked so hilarious that I had to take a picture. I just wished that we had dressed Connor up before we left so they would match. Haha! I had to try it on too because it was just so ridiculous. 

     

After a quick trip to the library to return some books, we drove over to the Dinosaur Park. We put Connor into his costume while we were still in the parking lot. It was light out and only slightly chilly when we arrived, so we took some time to snap some photos before it got dark and cold enough that Connor would need to be bundled up. He still tried to pull his tiger hat off, but we managed to get a couple pictures before he did.

     

We tried to put the hat on him one more time after we put him in his stroller, but it was a no go. So gave up and put his jacket on him and headed into the park.

     

This was our first visit to the park and we didn't know what to expect, but it ended up being pretty cool. They have large dinosaur statues scattered around with plaques nearby describing each one. Pathways winding around the area allow you to walk around and look at the dinosaurs as you wish.

There were strings of lights covering every bush, tree, and fence and various Halloween themed decorations sprinkled along the paths as well.

     

We wandered around for awhile, enjoying the lights and the dinosaurs, and sipping the hot chocolate they'd given us at the park's entrance. Workers were stationed periodically along the paths, handing out candy and narrating facts about the dinosaurs. 

As it got dark, it quickly got colder than we expected. We bundled Connor up with blankets and he even tolerated his tiger hat for awhile. It covered his ears better than the hat of his fleece jacket. 

Connor wasn't very interested in reaching into the workers' buckets to grab pieces of candy, so we grabbed it for him. He did enjoy holding and chewing on a wrapped piece of licorice as we walked around. He seemed to like looking at all the lights. Our only complaint was that the dinosaurs weren't lit up, so once it got dark you couldn't see them very well. 

At one point we found some workers holding live owls. There was a barn owl, a great horned owl, and a smaller owl of a kind I don't remember. We took Connor out of the stroller and Brian held him so they could get a closer view of the birds. They were really cool. I loved the barn owl, it was beautiful. The great horned owl was quite impressive. 

By this time it had gotten really cold and we'd seen most of the park anyways, so we headed back to the exit. We stopped briefly at the gift shop to warm up a bit before continuing on to our car. We had fun looking at all the dinosaur themed merchandise. They had some very cute stuffed dinosaurs, but we didn't buy anything. We hung out there just until we felt a little less chilled, then we made our way back to the car and headed home.

     

During the last couple of weeks Connor has started to growl. We thought it was great timing what with dressing him up as a tiger. He's had a cold and his voice was a bit hoarse for a few days, so I think that's what started it. We were able to get him to growl when we wanted by growling at him first. It's been another fun little game that we've played together. On the drive home from the Dinosaur Park, I recorded his growl. It's dark so you won't be able to see him, but you can hear his cute little tiger growl.

We carved our pumpkin the evening before Halloween. I cut the top off and Brian showed Connor the pumpkin "guts" inside.

     

He didn't know what to think. He kept reaching his hand out toward the pumpkin like he wanted to stick it inside, but then would pull his hand back when he got close to the opening. He was so serious, and we tried to coax him to reach inside and even held out handfuls of the slimy seeds for him to touch, but he wouldn't do it. 

    

Brian isn't the biggest fan of cleaning out pumpkins, so I traded him places and started to dig out all the slimy innards. Connor was so serious as he watched, and he did watch the entire process very intently, but he wouldn't take part in the process.

     

After we finished cleaning out the pumpkin, Connor sat down by the bowl of seeds. He had a very serious expression on his face as he looked back and forth from the seeds to the pumpkin. Finally, he tentatively reached into the bowl and grabbed a section of the discarded pumpkin and put it back inside the pumpkin. Haha! It made both Brian and I laugh.

    

He decided it was funny too, and he grabbed another small handful of seeds to put back in the pumpkin. It was the first time he seemed to be having any fun. 

I held Connor while Brian did the carving. Connor watched for awhile and then got bored and wiggly. I put him down on the floor and he wandered around while we finished carving our jack o'lantern.

I put Connor into his pajamas and then we showed him the finished work. He leaned over and touched the pumpkin's face, thoroughly inspecting it. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole thing.

He got excited when we handed him the box of tea light candles. He had more fun playing with those than he'd had earlier with the pumpkin.

We placed our finished jack o'lantern just outside our door and lighted the candles inside. Brian and I were both quite happy with how it turned out. We based the design on Connor, so our pumpkin got a very big and happy smile with three and an almost fourth tooth. Connor looked at the pumpkin for a minute, but was more interested in crawling around on the porch. We went inside and finished the night off by watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

On Halloween, we took Connor trick-or-treating at Brian's office in the afternoon. Matt took a family picture of us while we were still in the lab where Brian's desk is located. Then we headed up a floor for the festivities. 

     

Brian was a very proud dad, and was so excited to show Connor off to all his co-workers. They all commented about how cute Connor was and we didn't argue. After walking around to all the desks, gathering candy and chatting with everyone, we headed back down to the lab. Brian was taking the rest of the day off so he grabbed his stuff and we said goodbye to Matt and headed out.

From Brian's office, we headed to Lee's, a local grocery store. They were holding a trick-or-treating event in their store and we though it would be fun to stop by before heading home. At the entrance, they gave Connor a flashing eyeball ring that he was entranced with. He held it the entire way through the store. We put him in a cart and pushed him around to the different stations. He wanted to see what was going on and would only face forward while in the cart. I hope he never loses his curiosity. Along with a few pieces of candy, Connor got an apple, a bakery cookie, a carton of chocolate milk, string cheese, and a toothbrush. We liked that they didn't just give out candy. 

     

All of these activities occurred right during Connor's usual naptime, so he wasn't as happy and energetic as he usually is. We were surprised that he kept his tiger hat on the entire time. I don't know if it was because he'd gotten used to it or he was just too tired to care. He was starting to get grumpy when we left Lee's, so we called it a day and went home. As soon as we got home, Connor cheered up considerably.

We took his tiger hat off and let him explore the contents of his bag. He went right for his apple, pulling it out and gnawing on it. We should probably be happy that he wanted the apple first...I'm sure his preference for fruit over candy won't last as he gets older. We haven't given him any candy up to this point, but he is familiar with apples.

     

We did let him have a cherry flavored dum-dums sucker...after all it was his first Halloween. He wasn't sure about it at the first, but after a few seconds of sucking on it, got so excited. He pulled it out of his mouth, gave us the biggest smile, and then smacked his lips before tasting it again.

     

Connor was so funny eating his sucker. He would suck on it for a few seconds, pull it out, smack his lips, and let out a little shriek...and then repeat the whole process again. He stood up and started waving his arms around. I think he was a fan. The sugar must have gone straight to his system because he got very wired so quickly. It was adorable and hilarious.

     

I didn't let him eat the whole sucker, and Brian laughingly told me that I had to take it away since I was the one that had given it too him. Connor cried a bit at first after I pulled it out of his hands, but I distracted him by taking off his costume. After giving him a bottle, he crashed and took a very long nap.

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween the very first time with our little guy. I know he probably won't remember it, but we will, and it was perfect!