Candy control

Hurray, it's over. Is it just me, or are you ready to rip down all the decorations of any holiday practically the day it arrives. I think we decorated a little too early this year, only because we were having one of those days back in early October and the only distraction I could think of was "Let's get the Halloween decorations out!"

Anna had a Halloween dance-a-thon at her SK school on Friday, and then at the girls' preschool they had a party today. And tomorrow, they have their school pictures there (I'm grateful my girls didn't want to be anything that required lots of face paint or hair dye!). They were totally bouncing off the walls when they got home today and I couldn't wait to get them out trick-or-treating.

"First we say 'trick or treat,'" Avery instructed. "Then we get candy! Then we say thank you, then Mommy has to check every piece to make sure it's safe. Then we eat it all up!" This is what Avery learned at daycare. I don't think Avery actually uttered the words "trick or treat" once, but she was too cute to refuse.

But who knew that keeping them out there would be such a chore? Aren't you supposed to have to drag your kids away from trick-or-treating? We wandered around our crescent and Anna was itching — itching — to get home to hand out candy. She was actually getting upset as we got further from home and we had to negotiate it: "Ok, I'll go to three more houses, but that's it, Mommy!" Unbelievable. Avery had no problem stopping there either, thrilled with her bag of loot.

And then, for them, the fun really began. They loved shelling out candy to the kids on our front porch, while I sat back and chatted with our neighbour. Anna especially had it all down to a science, which combination of candies she'd give out to each ghoul and goblin, in which order. Avery was her trusty assistant. I remember this same thing happening last year and being so surprised at the giddy joy Anna got out of this job.

The upside is that the kids didn't get a whole lot of candy. They feel like they have a truckload, but I'm so relieved that this stash will not last long. You see, I'm the one overcome with temptation at Halloween. I insisted we didn't buy any candy until this afternoon. As a work-at-home mom, it would just sit there, calling to me all day long and I don't put up much of a fight.

Luckily, my kids have more willpower than their mom, or at least an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality to help them out, to some degree. In fact, on the weekend, my mom was here and brought them each a baggie of treats. I told Anna she could eat them, and she took everything out of the bag. Then she came back to me. "Shouldn't I just have a couple of things right now?" she asked, perplexed at the lack of guidelines around her candy consumption. "Yes," I responded. "That's probably a good idea. Good thinking."

So they've decided that they'll have a couple of treats each day, and I think by the end of the weekend, we'll be candy-free again. If I can control myself. I'll have to get Sean to hide it on me...