Halloween- The Scariest Night of the Year

Posted on 31. Oct, 2007 by Jillian in Glycogen Storage Disease

Most people associate the “scary” side of Halloween with freaky masks and haunted houses. For us, it’s ALL the candy. Last year, we simply avoided Halloween. We let the kids dress up, took them to Grammy’s house for a bit, and came home. Nothing uncontrollable. After the GSD conference, we realized that we need to go to greater lengths to help our children feel they are having as “normal” a childhood as possible.

It started yesterday when a note was sent home from school encouraging parents to send sugary store bought cookies and snacks to school to share. We were just to avoid nuts and peanuts in case anyone was allergic. Ok, I know this shouldn’t have ticked me off, but in the spirit of blog honesty I stewed about it all night. I’d asked what kind of treats were coming to school the next day so I could prepare an equivalent, but unfortunately the teacher couldn’t tell me since most parents didn’t know until they frantically drove to the store an hour before the party started. Fortunately Mark and Ethan had made sugar-free cookies with Grammy earlier, and I begrudgingly opened my favorite GSD friendly-ish cookbook to make cupcakes, a known favorite of parties. I of course was out of eggs so I ran to the store. I got home in just enough time to make the cupcakes and (big surprise) I’d turned to the wrong cupcake recipe, and the one I really wanted didn’t call for eggs. Irrelevant fact, but it helps explain my panicked state. So, bake the cupcakes and… they’re flat. For some reason they didn’t “poof” like they usually do. Suddenly grateful that I’m not allowed to bring the class any homemade snacks, off to the party I run.

Mark and I had a great time making a pumpkin and decorating a candy bag for his “Harvest Festival”. Then comes the candy part. Only a parent of a GSD kid can understand the adrenaline rush that comes when there are bowls of free candy placed around a room full of Kindergarteners, and your kid is one of them. Mark’s teacher was very considerate, and placed bowls of pencils and stickers throughout the room as well as the candy. She asked how I wanted him to participate, and I took a deep breath and let him dance around the room with all of the other kids to collect candy that he’s going to trade for popcorn, play-doh, or an annoying equivalent. He had a blast, which makes it worth it.

Afterwards, the kids sat down to eat their other store-bought goodies. I let Mark keep a couple of wrapped snickers on his plate as long as he didn’t touch them, while I stood guard to make sure he kept his word. He had the coolest of all the cookies- being bat shaped instead of pumpkin, and the flat chocolate cupcakes actually matched the circular brownies better than if I’d intentionally done it. Now I can call them “inspired” instead of blaming the chef.

I avoided any opened “bad for you” food, but I got chatting with the school nurse who will not be at the school again until next August (AAHHHHHHHH!- I just fixed that!), and there were some unfriendly chips placed lovingly on his plate by another mom. Mark was gracious enough to let me eat them instead. His favorite part was brandishing his Crystal Lite while everyone else had to drink yucky apple juice.

It began again when we went to our church trunk-or-treat. My friend offered to walk in front of us with toys instead of candy for the boys to trick-or-treat for, but we got there late, and I didn’t see her so we just decided to avoid anymore conflicts and go inside for some games.

It was my worst nightmare. I should start by saying that our 4 and 5 year olds had a great time, without any “bad for you” incidents that couldn’t be handled with a little bargaining power. The 20 month old toddler was a different story. “Here little boy, play a game, get some candy. Let me open that for you…” The 10 month old “baby” weighs over 26 pounds and can crawl really well, but not walk. So, I’m lugging around something that weighs roughly 1/4 as much as I do while chasing after a surprisingly athletic toddler that can dodge under chairs and tables for stray half-eaten Lollypops and donuts. Not to mention the fact that there were several other Batman clones just about his size trying to trick me into chasing them. Oh, and don’t forget the guilt of not getting Mark and Ethan on tape wrapped up as mummies because I was attempting to keep Jonny from plunging his entire body in the fishing pond. Who’s bitter? In short, I defy any masked villain to haunt my dreams. I have conquered true terror tonight.
To end on a positive note, all of the kids had the time of their lives. We even met an ewok that matched my Jedi masters. And, we had a very fun candy and stress free Halloween party at Grammy’s house the night before where we ate GSD friendly foods, played games, and danced with glow in the dark bracelets until the cows came home.