Halloween Comes Early

“Look a ghost!” said the Bean.

It was the first of October and the Bean had seen his first Halloween decoration, a small ghost on the front of a house in our neighborhood.

“Daddy, we need to put our ghost in front of the garage,” the Bean said later that day. “The one that says ‘woooo’.”

I was kind of impressed that a year later, the Bean had remembered that decoration. It was one of those $19.99 specials they sell at Target that makes a "spooky" howl through a tinny speaker. Last Halloween, it completely captivated the Bean. It looked like this year was to be no exception.

Last year was the year that Halloween really clicked for the Bean. He picked out what he wanted to be (a cat) and was exciting to wear his costume. He also fully understood the glory that is trick-or-treating, and ventured up to doorways alone, while I watched from the sidewalk.

So even though Halloween was four weeks away, and even though it was 85 degrees outside (stupid global warming), the Bean and I went outside to the shed, dug out the box of decorations and set up the house. Well in a more accurate way, I decorated while he watched, the whole time asking me dozens of questions that I could not answer. (“Why does the skeleton have green eyes? Why is that [severed] foot all red? Where did the guy with the red foot's body go?”) Afterward, the Bean inspected my work and deemed it spooky enough. He especially liked the ghost that went “woooo”.

We are now officially the first house on the street, probably in the whole neighborhood, to have our decorations up. It’s as if my front yard is a giant neon sign that says a little boy lives here and he is very excited about Halloween.