Halloween 2009

It's Halloween again, a time where all children enjoy dressing up. Unless that child's name is Luca.



Hmm, I've screwed up the order of my photo's. The next one was supposed to be a picture of Luca in a different Halloween outfit. However, while we're here this is a picture of the pumpkin pie I baked on Sunday. I'd never made it before, and indeed wasn't even sure if it was a main course or dessert! (Yes, I now know it's a surprisingly delicious dessert!)




OK, looks like we're getting back to the correct order. Here's Luca in his devil outfit. Do you notice my hand in the picture? Jelly sweet related bribery was the only means we had at our disposal to allow us to take a picture without witnessing incessant tantrumming!



Ah - this one should have been before the pumpkin pie picture, and would have described why I even attempted to make the pie in the first place. With it being All Hallows Eve I carved a pumpkin head for Luca's amusement. A very frustrated hour later I had it finished and lit it up inside for full effect. "Put the lights back on Daddy" called a distinctly underwhelmed Luca.

With this blogs timeline making as much sense as "Pulp Fiction", we're now transported back to Saturday morning. Luca and I had a few errands to run in Aberdeen, so left the house at a rather unhealthily early hour and made our way Eastwards in "Daddy's noo cah" This photo was taken at the end of the morning at Codona's Fairground. This is Luca's "speed freak" face.

And, um, very interestingly, here's Luca on the same ride, just from a different angle. I'm his Dad and even I find this picture a bit dull.

OK, that's enough now.

Thankfully here we are at a new location, the Pirate Island Crazy Golf Centre. Did we have a go? For £10 each armed with the knowledge that Luca would lose complete interest by the second hole?

No.

This picture was taken a little earlier the same morning outside Aberdeen Central Library. He loves it here and excitedly runs to the children's book section the second we get inside. "Come on Daddy" he calls" "We go see Luca's books". I can be a little mean sometimes though (I do this in the pretence of teaching him patience) and often insist on visiting another section first. He'll dance around my legs, plead and run down the hall in the forlorn hope that I'll follow him and take him to where he wants to be. "In a minute Luca" I quietly tell him as his dancing surprisingly recreates a short legged (and ever more manic) version of the Lambada.

Sorry, poor show again on the photo's. Allied to the many (pointless) duplicate pictures taken I missed photo opportunities beside a concrete lion sculpture ("No like it Daddy, Luca's scared"), in Marks and Spencers returning Carole's faulty coat ("No lady, that's Luca's coat), in my favourite music shop ("We buy this Daddy?" as he hands me a particularly cheesy girlband pop album), in the comic shop ("It's Spiderman!") and at the outdoor market ("Daddy, it's fish! Luca get the fish - oh no it's slippy!").

I'm lost as to what order I should report events in, so will continue to write in this obliquely nonsensical style (a la Dan Brown). Our doorbell was surprisingly quiet on Saturday as only two little girls came trick or treating. The disappointment was hardly massive though as since I've been enjoying many a mini Curly Wurly.

I almost neglected to mention our new door sign. Our front door is now proudly adorned with sign bearing the words "Luca's House". His reign as owner and ruler of the world (in his mind) has to start somewhere.

**Useless fact of the day - The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays dates back to the Middle Ages and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2)**