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Halloween with a Toddler: Eating and Reading

I’ve never really cared too much about Halloween. I think it’s fun to get dressed up, and of course I love all the candy (who doesn’t?), but otherwise I could take it or leave it. However, now that Jona is at an age where he’s beginning to show interest in Halloween and all that goes with it, I’m getting more in the spirit than I have in years past.

Since we’re still in the process of getting unpacked, I’m not making much of an effort when it comes to Halloween decor. Nonetheless, I’ve been trying to find other ways to bring a little Halloween into our house this October.

{eating} 

{meaty eyeballs} Hoping to entice Jona to eat a meatball (a food that he once scarfed down with pleasure), I made this cute Halloween meatball recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.  I called them monster meatballs, and while he loved looking at them and talking about them, he drew the line at touching them or eating them. Aaron and I are never ones to turn down a meatball, so we enjoyed it. (Although Aaron wanted his meatballs olive, er, eyeball free.)

{reading}

{Carl’s Halloween by Alexandra Day} This beautifully illustrated book with few words tells the story of a little girl and her dog on Halloween. Jona loves looking at the pictures in this book, while I try not to be bothered by the fact that the mother in the story leaves her toddler in the hands (paws?) of a dog while she leaves the house. 

{Tacky and the Haunted Igloo by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger} Tacky the penguin and his friends make a haunted igloo for Halloween, each dressing as something that scares him (an insect, a storm, the dark). This book, although a bit long for a toddler, was fun to read and more cute than spooky.

{Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds} This was a surprise favorite for Jona. We’ve been reading Creepy Carrots every night for the past couple of weeks. It’s about a rabbit who loves to eat carrots until the carrots start following him around everywhere. Done in grayscale with pops of orange (for carrots of course), the illustrations make this book stand out. 

{There was an Old Mummy Who Swallowed a Spider by Jennifer Ward} If you’ve read There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, you’ll recognize the title of this book. With repetition, rhyme, and colorful (and not scary) pictures, this one was, predictably, a big hit.

Are you enjoying any Halloween-themed foods or books yet this month? 

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