King of the Castle! : Halloween 2012 = A Hole in One!

I just have to say that I always loved dressing up and trick-or-treating as a child; however, the joy I felt then is nothing compared to the joy I felt tonight while watching Jameson go door to door with so much excitement he could burst! We had some friends and family over for dinner and then we started making the rounds about 6:00. Jameson was definitely excited to get outside - his squeals and oohs and ahhhs were absolutely adorable. Braden did such a good job of leading and helping him trick or treat and Jameson did a good job of following directions. He amazed me with how well he did - he would go up to the door, wait for his turn, say "tick-o-teat" and then say thank you every single time he got a piece of candy! I was one proud Mom and I know I was grinning ear to ear the whole time. He had us all cracking up!

In typical Jameson fashion, he developed a bit of a routine after a few houses. He wanted to hold Uncle Jeremy's hand after every house. So, he would get his candy, say thank you and then immediately ask, "where Jeremy at?". He would then run down the driveway and grab Jeremy's hand and walk to the next house. At one point, he grabbed my Dad's hand and then looked up and realized it wasn't Jeremy and said, "uh-oh" and then went and found Jeremy. Hilarious. My Mom, Dad and I laughed for a good 5 minutes about it. However, after Jeremy went back to our house with Madison, Jameson gladly accepted my Dad's hand and proceeded to hold it after every house! I always took over when it was time to go up to the door, so I could help him lug his heavy bag of candy up the cement porch stairs. But, he always knew just what to do when he got to the door, so I would let him go. Hearing his little voice say tick or teat was almost too much for me to handle - definitely one of those things I want to etch in my brain and never forget!

I guess in all my bragging about how well J did, I should say that we did have one instance of a little less than stellar behavior on Jameson's behalf. HOWEVER, he just thought he was being funny and meant no harm! One of the neighbors had a big plastic ghost and Jameson proceeded to knock it down...three times! He thought it was hilarious and the guy who lived there actually thought so too...so no biggie! And, the highlight of the night was the "big guy". At one of the houses, a man dressed as a big scary guy in a suit was sitting in a lawn chair at the bottom of the steps. Looked like decoration, but when you got closer, he jumped at you. He was very good with Jameson though and didn't scare him, just talked to him and gave him candy. Jameson was super intrigued by this "big guy" and thought he was quite funny. Talked about him for the next 15 minutes as we continued to go house to house. So, we decided on the way back home, we had to stop and say hi one more time. Dad took him up to the big guy, but this time I think Jameson was a little frightened of him! But, once we put some distance between us and the big guy, he proceeded to start talking about him again and would giggle. Even as I was putting him to bed, he asked about the big guy and I told him that the big guy went night-night.

We had an amazingly wonderful Halloween from start to finish. Jameson did so well all day with me parading him all over town - work, grocery store, Starbucks. His costume was perfect and he loved wearing it. I swear he would not put down his golf clubs, which was so perfect! I just love how much he enjoyed trick or treating with Braden and am shocked he made it at least 45 minutes! He probably would have kept going, but it was getting a bit too cold. It honestly does not seem possible that he would be old enough to be able to understand what to do and actually enjoy it. But, he certainly knew what he was doing once he got the hang of it...except for the few times he invited himself into people's homes :). I am pretty sure they didn't mind though - his cuteness gets the best of you sometimes! I cannot wait for next year - just have to think of a costume that will top this year!

Videos: I apologize for the HORRIBLE camera work and my annoying voice. I was carrying around the video camera, regular camera and trying to guide a very excited 20 month old!

*Video of the "uh oh" incident, as well as one of the first stops on our journey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRW-oHwmUs8

*Probably one of my favorites because it captures his joy and excitement!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qHvz1HCWKE&feature=youtu.be

*Video of Jameson walking right into the Miller's house and good audio of him saying "tick o teat" and "where Jeremy at?" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR0WhWrhtxw

Jameson got to carve his first pumpkin with Gma Debbie, Ray and Braden. Turned out great!

Visiting MSI to show off the costume...and get some treats!

Held onto Aunt Lindsay's hand 90% of the time! The second picture is him grabbing for her hand, saying "hand!".
Then he figured out how to get to Aunt Nicole's M&Ms!