If you thought that my sparse-as-of-late blogging would skip a full post of Henry as a member of the animal kingdom--think again.

When contemplating his Halloween costume, James had many ideas that were instantly rejected because they were, though witty, not adorable, and this might be my last year to have full sartorial control of his costume. There was no other option than a precious furry creature, which led me down a rabbit hole of animal googling, as some fauna just lend themselves better to costumes than others. Why, for example, are so many penguin costumes inclusive of a tophat and bowtie? Why has no one designed a squirrel costume as adorable as the tree rat itself? Why must all the lamb costumes be so feminine?  These burning questions, coupled with Henry’s ability to produce one animal noise of “RAWR!,” and a failure to find a good dinosaur costume, led us to this little lion:I want to just eat him up.

The costume was on the tad small side, and he was initially not a fan of the hat, but the masses at last Friday night’s Hilloween distracted him until he forgot.James’ brother Thomas was in town, and truly a good sport about tagging along for Hilloween, which is really just a giant mob of parents taking too many pictures of their adorable offspring, most of whom this year were dressed like the cast of Moana, which a strong showing of animals, superheroes, and at least 6 Maxes from Where the Wild Things Are.Very concerned about the escaped balloons floating away, and very, VERY enthusiastic when given his own balloon. On Tuesday night we headed out for trick-or-treating, though Henry’s highlight was probably playing in the car while we waited for our group to meet up. This is far and away his favorite pastime at the moment, as he yells “CAR!!!” and runs over to it whenever we go outside. He also tries to walk up to any car we pass, get the door open, and get inside, but we are trying to quietly discourage that. Endearing at age 1, less so age 18.
The Pretzel Bakery gives out free pretzels to kids in costume, and unlike last year, I actually had to let Henry eat his instead of snagging it for myself. I did exact a 50% tax any Reese’s he got, biting it in half before handing him a nibble, so the evening was still good to me. Plus, the people on Capitol Hill, especially East Capitol Street go ALL OUT for Halloween. One house had turned their whole courtyard into Wonderland, complete with a full cast of characters in costume and a lavish Mad Hatter’s tea party spread. I was impressed.

We have Reformation Day party this weekend, but while it isn’t technically a costume affair… I can’t promise that I will be able to resist trotting out that tiny lion suit one last time.