Roar. (and other Hallowe'en excerpts)

To her teacher, Ms. Veronique: I'm a dragon! Roar.

To mama, after each and every house visited: Are we going home now mama? Because I don't want to go home yet.

To the nice lady who gave her THREE chocolate bars: I got a sucker at another house.

To mama, regarding her limitations as a dragon: I'm a dragon. Actually, I'm a kid dressed as a dragon. So I don't have a fiery mouth. Actually, I have a drooly mouth. See? That's drool. There's no fire in there.

To the nice lady who asked her if she could fly: Actually, I can't fly. I have arms, see? And I can flap them (flaps arms), but I can't fly. 

I suppose that candy is an excellent educator, because she learned her lines in no time flat once she understood the reward involved. 

Door opens: "Trick or Treat!"

Candy dispensed: sticks head in bag to inspect "Thank you!"

Final greeting: turns around while walking away "Happy Hallowe'en!"

Of course, her performance began to suffer after the first hour, leading to embarrassing mix-ups like saying "Have fun!" instead of "Trick or Treat!", reaching directly into bowls of candy rather than graciously accepting what was being handed to her, and needing a little prompting for the "Thank you!". But that's what happens when dragons get tired. This was also added to the repertoire when fatigue set in:

After final greeting: "Mama, please carry this. (holds out bag) Dada, please carry me. (holds out arms)

Also, and this is how we finally decided how much trick-or-treating is enough for a 2 3/4 year old: "Mama, are we going home now? Because I want to go home. I have enough candy now."

We had a pretty fantastic time this Hallowe'en. And not only was there no squabbling over how much candy dragons are allowed to eat before bedtime, but she didn't even seem to notice that she hadn't eaten the caramel apple that mama had slaved over for dessert. In fact, it was that one blue sucker, the very first piece of candy she got, that she kept talking about and insisted on eating when she got home. That's it. But don't worry. That's where mama and dada come in.

There you have it. We might be the only parents on the planet who didn't have a sugar-induced monster of a time getting their kidlets to sleep last night. She did stay up for an hour picking boogers and asking for kleenex, but I don't think that Hallowe'en can be blamed for that.