About two weeks ago, Eddie was sitting on the couch next to me and randomly spouted āTrick-or-Treat.ā Amazed, I ran to the kitchen, found him a piece of candy, and handed it over. As you might expect, this happened four more times in less than two minutes. It seemed Eddie was getting the concept of Halloween. Then, I had to tell him candy was āall doneā and as you can imagine, he really didnāt like that answer.
Since then, we have heard him try ātrick-or-treatā a few more times, but unless candy quickly appeared in his hand, he gave up the request. Tonight, we were really playing up the whole concept of Halloween and trying to teach Eddie how much fun it was. This required lots of candy placed in his hot little hands, and lots of candy eaten by him. When we finally got all dressed up to head out-of-doors, Iām sure Eddie was wondering what was about to happen, but due to his sugar-high probably didnāt care.
What I quickly realized, is that Halloween resembles most speech therapy sessions with Eddie. If he verbally makes a request, we fulfill it as fast as possible so he sees a connection. This tactic can turn ugly fast on Halloween and also can end in Eddie having quite the stomach ache. He quickly understood that ātrick-or-treatā would result in candy. However, he has no patience and demanded that any candy he received be eaten immediately.
Due to his urgent desire for chocolate, he would sit back in the stroller and gobble up his candy within seconds. After two houses, we decided he didnāt need to go to as many doors as his sisters. He was really happy to relax, listen to some music, and breathe in the night air. Of course, when I decided to let him venture up to another home, they handed him a king-sized candy bar. Trying to pry that out of his hands was quite a feat that pretty much ended his night. I refused to let him finish it, and he refused to be happy after I took it.
Once we got home, the group of kids we were trick-or-treating with all pitched in a couple pieces of their candy for a āstashā for Eddie. They werenāt going to miss two pieces and they were happy to share with their buddy. It also made me happy to see this āstashā of chocolate instead of the cheap rejects that could have ended up in Eddieās pile. In the end, we successfully made it through another holiday, with Eddie participating, and enjoying the finer aspects. In the case of Halloween, that means chocolate.