Aftermath

Here is Anselm's haul, which he laid out, sorted and documented with a long series of photographs this morning. He identified three candy items which he would like to eat, and a candy ring that he wants to give to Eliot so when she sucks her thumb, it actually tastes good-- the idea delighted him. But his favorite item, and Eliot's, was a little blue flashlight. We devised a sharing scheme whereby Anselm got it for 5 minutes and Eliot got 1 minute. It worked fine-- we did maybe two rounds before it fell off the radar. I think Eliot has forgotten about her own bag, but requested one of the small pile of left-over Kit-Kats. She also wanted to "borrow" one of Anselm's candies. I said no, and she had tears and a flash of anger, and a time-out. I never understood time-outs before, but they really work for Eliot. She sits on her bed, pulls herself together and in three minutes is ready to apologise and be nice. I am really hoping that we can vanish away most of the candy. True to form, Anselm never got around to choosing one to eat today. He offered to Eliot, "I'll teach you how to save! Then you will have them for a long, long time." In his case, til I throw them away sometime after Christmas.

Eliot's summary verdict on Halloween-- "Can we have another candy party today? What's it called again?".