Transcript: Celebrating Halloween with Infants and Toddlers

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Parent Savers
Celebrating Halloween with Infants and Toddlers

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Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.
[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Halloween is one of the special holidays that most new parents love to celebrate with their kids. After all, who can resist new born babies dressed up as pea pods or pumpkins? So what are your favourite costume ideas for little ones and what can you do to celebrate the holidays before your kids are ready to trick or treat? We’ve got some great ideas in this spooktacular episode of parent savers.

[Theme Music/Intro]

SUNNY GAULT: Welcome to Parent Savers, broadcasting from the birth education center of San Diego. Parent Savers is your online on the go support group for parents with infants and toddlers. And I am your guest host Sunny Gault.

Thanks again to all of our loyal listeners who join us every time a new episode is released. And for those of you who continue these conversations with us on Facebook and Twitter, we love getting to know you guys online.

If you want to get more parent savers content be sure to join our special club. Also check out our parent saver’s apps so you can listen to all of our episodes wherever you go. Okay, before we get started, I want to toss things over to Colina our producer whose going to tell us a little bit more about our virtual panellist program. Colina

COLINA CAROTHERS: Alright thank you Sunny. So if you are joining us here again or maybe for the first time, we like to remind you that you can join us online. Get a little bit of the action. You can follow us on our Twitter or Facebook or #parentsaversvp. We love to hear your questions and get you on the conversation.

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so let’s meet everyone that is joining us here in the studio. You guys have probably heard me before even though I’m guest hosting today. So, I’m Sunny. I’m the owner of new mommy media which produces Parent Savers, Preggie Pals, Twin Talks and The Boob Group. I have four children. My oldest is four and that’s a boy, his name is Sayer. My middle guy is Urban, he’s two years old and then I have identical twin girls Ainsley and Addison who are ten months old.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Hi, I’m Stephanie Glover I’m actually the host of Preggie Pals and I’m sitting in as a panellist today. I’m 32 and I have two children. Gretchen is three and Lydia is thirteen months.

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Hi everyone my name is Christine Payvon. I am thirty three years old. My current job title is full time stay at home mom. And active volunteer in various moms groups around town. I have two children, my daughter Zoe just turned three last week and my son Brady is ten months

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, and Colina

COLINA CAROTHERS: Alright so again, I’m Colina. I am the producer of this show, Parent Savers. I have one son, he is sixteen months old, his name is Adam and I am twenty six years old.

SUNNY GAULT: Awesome. Wow you admitted how old you are. Well you’re still young. You know, you’re still young. Okay ladies, well thanks for joining us. We’ll be right back

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: Hey parent savers, I’m Johner Riehl, founder of www.familyfriendlyvideogames.com and I’m here to talk about helpful apps for new parents.

Today I want to talk to you about a great app called Bug Games from Busy Bees Studios. This was designed with toddlers in mind. And it’s a great app because once toddlers are playing, there’s no links for them to click or places for them to exit the app or solicitations to buy anything else.

So in Bug Games there are four different mini-games that are themed on bugs or insects or flowers to focus on the areas of music, phonics, puzzles and counting. Our family’s favourite is the music horn where the little bugs line up and all sing a song like London Bridge or Hot Cross Buns and they can hear or sing the whole song or kids can tap one at a time and all sing like “hot cross buns, hot cross buns” And if you don’t know the songs by heart you definitely will after your kids play Bug Games a little bit.

It’s a great app for toddlers. Bug Games is ninety nine cents. You can check it out and find a link to download it on this week’s episode page on www.parentsavers.com and make sure to listen to more episodes of parent savers for more great app recommendations for new parents.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright so today we have a special holiday episode of parent savers. We are talking about Halloween and fun ways to celebrate if you have little ones who aren’t ready for those haunted houses and all that yummy Halloween candy. So, parents here in the studio, all you lovely mommas, at what point did you really get in to Halloween with your kids?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I mean I noticed that last Halloween, so she was two

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But she got it like she really like to learning how to say Trick or Treat and go up to the door and of course she wanted to eat the candies too. The first year you know it was for us, we ate her candy which really worked out

SUNNY GAULT: Right

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But I think last year she was getting in to it and this year she’s been talking about it before. You know she knows it’s coming

SUNNY GAULT: Did you prep her?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: We had to about costume selections and she knows it’s coming up and then she was like “Oh! for halloween” like “I’m going to dress up, I’m going to go trick or treat” so now she’s excited for it

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So, kind of that progression I guess

SUNNY GAULT: What do you think Christine?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yeah same thing, our daughters are just a few weeks apart in age and you know, yeah, the first you know the first year it was for us. And then last year she started to understand and want to, you know she selected her costume and then this year she was really, you know excited about picking the costume and I would say, you know my husband is super in to Halloween so he’s so excited. They’re like doing, they’re doing decorations together and we’re going to pumpkin patch and you know he takes her trick or treating in like forty houses, it’s this whole ordeal

SUNNY GAULT: Colina what about you and Adam?

COLINA CAROTHERS: So, this is only Adam’s second Halloween and he’s still pretty on the young side because he’s not even two yet so last year like we got the costume and we took pictures and did all the like cutesies stuff but we didn’t even go out trick or treating we were too tired we’re still in that like new parent fog I think. It was, it had been a while but, we’re like, “no” we’re just going to go to bed. This is cool. And so we didn’t really do anything last year for the actual holiday.

This year we’re trying to decide, there’s a couple of different things going on so we even like spend with family we might do some actual trick or treating but we’ll see because he’s not nowhere near eating the candy but I know my husband really wants the candy. So we might do some trick or treating for him

SUNNY GAULT: Did you guys see that, I don’t usually watch Jimmy Kimmel, but he had that segment on last year I don’t know if he does it every year. But he encouraged the people that you know his audience or whatever that watch the show to kind of pull a little joke on their kids and to video tape it. And the joke was, so the day after your kid’s get all these Halloween candy right? You hide it in the morning right? And you go to your kid and you say “mommy or daddy, we ate all of your Halloween candy” and this is all on video right? And you wait for their reaction? And “oh my gosh!” some of the people that send it was hysterical like heard the kids just screaming at their parents like “it’s not fair! You’re not nice!” And “How could you do this to me?” and all these kind of stuff.

And then of course you know immediately they’re like “no, we’re just kidding, we’re just kidding” but and I think parents especially when you have like new you know infants and toddlers, it’s kind of a weird stage because you know they’re not necessarily ready for that, because Halloween’s scary right? And the last thing you want to do is scare the bejeebes out of your kid. And so it was like, it’s this weird time where you’re expected to do stuff but your kid doesn’t really know what’s going on.

They’re probably going to sleep through half the stuff anyways as if they’re really young you know. So it’s kind of a weird time. I want to talk about costumes, so you know we are talking about you know the beginning of the show scary mommy and Anna and Elsa, and Snow White and all these stuff.

What are some of your favourite costumes either, and I’m talking about just babies now so either something that you have used on your own kids or that you’ve seen, because you know you always get good ideas when you’re actually trick or treating or you’re going some of these eventually like “oh that would have been so cool I didn’t think about that” so what comes to mind when you think of like costumes for babies that you think are just really cool?

COLINA CAROTHERS: I think it cracks me up when instead of like the [inaudible] pea in the pod or like the pumpkin and like the things you always see. When parents do something that’s would be typically more for like an adult costume on a little baby cause it’s just so funny. Like you see them dressed up as some like adult, like a little baby Dr. Who or like you know something that’s out there but it’s just cause their tiny so it’s cute and it’s hilarious. I don’t know.

We were looking at pictures online and my husband now has got in his head that he wants to dress our son like Chuckie. Because he’s got the hair already and he’s the right size. And we saw a picture of these two little toddlers and it was Chuckie and the Bride of Chuckie. These two little kids, and could you imagine them running around, people just like, would freak out. They would freak out because they’re tiny, like they’re the right size. So, I mean that’s come through the conversation “oh I’m going to go hop on board on that one” but those kind of things crack me up

SUNNY GAULT: I saw a picture online when I was doing research on the show and it was a little kid that his parents made them look like elderly like really old and instead because he was just at that walking age and they made like his pushing thing look like an old walker so he could go around and still be able to walk. I mean if you think about it kind of ingenious because you know he is really helping the kid with some developmental skills. But it was just so funny but that goes along with what you’re saying. It was like totally switching the thing and making it an older thing. What do you guys think as far as costumes go for babies?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: There was one I wanted to do but I ended up having girls and I still wanted to do it and everyone talked me out of it. But if you’ve seen Adam’s Family Values that second movie where they have the baby Pubert that has the moustache. I wanted one of my girls to be Pubert and my child to have the moustache on.

SUNNY GAULT: But it never happened

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You know everyone talked me out of it but now like we’re done and I should’ve

SUNNY GAULT: What did you do with your girls when they were younger?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Someone bought a ladybug costume for her as a gift and then it got recycled so those were like both of their first costumes and they just slept I think my first had a blow out in it, and then it was on, I have took a picture and it was [inaudible]

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yeah, and it doesn’t last

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Then it made another round the second time so yeah

CHRISTINE PAYVON: You know my daughter Zoe was also a lady bug for her first Halloween and she slept through all the pictures. You know she was like

SUNNY GAULT: She was a sleepy lady bug

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yes she was like a month and a half old she just passed out. And then my husband was like can we reuse that for Brady, I’m like “no” he’s a little boy, I’m not putting him in a lady bug costume. He’s getting his own. I don’t know what that is yet if anyone has an idea. . .

SUNNY GAULT: Yoda would be a funny one too

COLINA CAROTHERS: Especially if you have a baby carrier and then you do lay Yoda on the back

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yeah

COLINA CAROTHERS: I’ve seen that

SUNNY GAULT: Oh you have seen that

COLINA CAROTHERS: I’ve seen that online

SUNNY GAULT: It’s just from my own noggin. But that would be good like you could be Luke Skywalker and then have Yoda on your back

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Well yeah the ones incorporating the baby carriers are really funny

SUNNY GAULT: Those are genius

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You can even just always like dad could do the hang over, you know baby [inaudible] because it’s easy. Or I’ve seen one where it’s like a mom and then the babies are in its popcorn like movie theatre popcorn or something like

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Like the little bow tie on and everything and

SUNNY GAULT: Oh that is so cute. Yeah you have pinterest has a lot of good idea on that. Just kind of. So okay so, switching, I know babies are the really cute ones that we really get in to, any ideas for infants and toddlers. So the thing that I have found with having you know a two year old and a four year old is that they could destroy it very easily. They may not stay on all that long just because you know they get tired and whatever.

So I like to choose costumes that are simple last year, okay this was a really cool thing my mom did and I don’t think she realized how helpful it was going to be. So you guys know toy story and buzz and woody so I’ve got two little boys and this is really even before they’re really in to toy story. And she got pajamas or actually pajamas that it’s top and bottom and my younger son’s, or my two year old was Buzz and then my older son was Woody. And they loved it.

It was brand new, you know for last Halloween and it became their favourite pajama that they wanted to wear all the time and they literally wore the crap out of these stuff you know. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve washed it. But I love costumes that you can use and reuse and that’s kind of one of my tips because I like to do that. And they don’t even know it’s really a costume because it’s just, it’s comfortable because it’s pajamas right?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Well Chris and I were just talking about this this morning and we’re trading notes about Halloween and Gretchen was Minnie mouse last year and I bought it in a pretty big size so it’s still fair and it’s been her like her play wear ever since

SUNNY GAULT: See yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And so, and I know she’ll be able to wear it for like another year and so she saw what we purchased for her this year but I’ve kind of snucked it back into the closet because otherwise it will become dress up. But I think that’s one of the beauty of like the little girls who like princess stuff. Is it then just gets thrown in to their dress up and you get to just use it year round and so

SUNNY GAULT: Okay so. I did find some tips online. If you guys are whether you’re looking for costumes or if you want to be a little bit more savvy I guess and make your own costumes. Here are just a couple of tips for creating costumes for Halloween. Some things to keep in mind. Choose flame resistant fabric, there’s a lot of lanterns and stuff out and I don’t think you want. Who knows what you, I always get nervous when my kids go up to the door because I’m like “don’t knock any lanterns over or anything” so that’s something to look for.

Inspect costumes carefully for choking or obviously some sort of strangulation kind of hazards. Buttons, rhinestone strings. Another thing to go along with this is if you’re taking other kids out with you that you know could choke like younger kids. Keep in mind something could fall off your older kids costumes and your younger kids could kind of pick it up.

Steer clear of itchy fabrics, anyone made that mistake. I can remember when I was little my mom dressed me in some stuff that was very itchy and “I don’t like it that much” If you’re going to be outside after dark, both you and your child should wear bright colored costumes or add reflective tape to your outfits. And you have those glow sticks, doesn’t anyone use those? I love those things. And then finally skip the face masks. Most babies, and I think kids too.

I think we can add kids in general that most kids will become annoyed with them. Instead use non-toxic face paint or coordinating hat that can be just as cute. Anybody else have any safety tips when you guys have gone out and about doesn’t have to be trick or treat or just anything

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Well I guess maybe for Southern California, and this is regional, but sometimes it’s still hot and it’s overheating your child because the Halloween costumes are designed for cold weather

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So if you’re somewhere where it’s warm because we faced that last, I remember two years ago, she was dressed as a pig and it was fitting trust me. . .

COLINA CAROTHERS: We had that last year

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah and we couldn’t really like alter it much. It was like either on and then she was hot and then I wished I had changed her out of it. So I guess just making sure it’s temperature appropriate

SUNNY GAULT: I think that’s a really good tip, really good. Okay, so we’ve got some things special that we’re going to do. We want to see photos of your kiddos in costumes. So we know you’re going to be posting stuff to Facebook anyways because that’s what any normal parent does nowadays, to take your pictures and then you want everyone to see and you upload it to Facebook.

Be sure to, when you do that, tag parent savers and if you do so during October of 2014, we’re going to give you a free one month subscription to the parent savers club. And that’s where you can get extra episodes, bonus content, transcripts and some special discounts as well. So be sure to do that. Upload your photos. Tag parents savers, and it’s not even of you know something that we’re going to just pick one. It’s anyone that does this. So you cannot lose with this.

Alright when we come back we are going to talk about trick or treating and some other fun activities you could do with your little ones. We’ll be right back.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Welcome back, today we’re talking about celebrating Halloween with your kiddos. Okay so were going to talk about trick or treating for just this second. For those of you who, I don’t know, you may have older kids or maybe it’s just you and your baby. Did you try to take your baby and I’m considering babies to be, I don’t know, where are they? Six months, and I know you can define babies a bunch of different things, but I’m thinking of like maybe eight months and under. Did anyone tried to take their baby out trick or treating whether it was your first baby, second, anything like that, and what happened if you did? Colina you’re giving me a weird face did you do it?

COLINA CAROTHERS: No we didn’t

SUNNY GAULT: You didn’t do it

COLINA CAROTHERS: No, I did end up going out. He was like five months, almost six months at that time. And I guess I, we just did keep pictures and stuff and then go to bed

CHRISTINE PAYVON: We didn’t. We waited until she could actually walk around

SUNNY GAULT: See you guys are smart

STEPHANIE GLOVER: We didn’t with my first but I guess my second, yes. Because we had all . . .

SUNNY GAULT: kind of have to tag along

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah

SUNNY GAULT: Right

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But she was very new and she was just in the carrier and asleep the whole time so

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. And we’re on the position that sure that’s really weird because you know the four year old and two year old I feel confident can kind of because the two year olds were really two and a half. So like I’m pretty confident that they can kind of do stuff but, if my husband and I both want to go which we do because we want to experience them kind of also help out in case one can has a meltdown. Then we going to have to take the twins and so now I’m in kind of a weird position last year I went and I was, so I was very pregnant and with my twins. And I got some really weird looks and I’m kind of like that

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You thought that it was a costume

SUNNY GAULT: No they didn’t - I don’t think of that as a costume. No. but it was kind of like that when the senior in high school tries to get candy by going to the doors you could see that they were looking at me like you know. And this is the weird thing, so we had our stroller, okay and a lot of the homes had these stairs.

They were no ramps right to get to the front door. And you know sometimes my boys they want to go to the door or they were too tired or whatever and we’re still trying to trick or treat and get home and whatever. So I would have to go to the door and I wasn’t in costume at all but I have like my kids bags and then you know they got to give me this weird look and I’m like “no, no, no, no” they’re down there, they’re down there”

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Like I’m pregnant and I’m hungry. [laughing] I’m eating for three

COLINA CAROTHERS: Trick or treat inside there didn’t you notice?

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. No but I did. I got a lot of weird looks. In the beginning with my kiddos my older boys I don’t think we really did that much. We benefited more from trying to do stuff inside the house while trick or treating was going on. Did you guys do that, like as far as letting your kids pass out candy or be part of that experience?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: So last year my husband took Zoe out for maybe an hour and a half. They went all around the neighbourhood and I, I stayed back because I was very pregnant, I handed out candy. And then when they came back we let her hand out candy and she thought that was really cool.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

CHRISTINE PAYVON: You know she was two and she loved opening the door and talking, you know, here you go. You know and she was saying trick or treat while she was handing the candy out. You know it was weird, taught her how to say that, “trick or treat” you know. It was pretty cute

SUNNY GAULT: So if you’re not into the trick or treat type thing. That’s not something you think your kid is ready for because it can be very scary and I know a lot of the houses and our development really do go all out their strobe lights, their spiders, there’s like neon whatever. Oh we got this great house; oh this is nice tip for parents. I love the houses that actually do nice stuff for the parents. So like there’s this one house where a lot of people kind of congregate outside because they have like apple cider and then spiked apple cider for the parents

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Oh wow

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

COLINA CAROTHERS: That is cool

SUNNY GAULT: Yes. And I’ve been to houses to actually my husband and I did this one year, we offered Jell-O shots to the parents. Because I really do think if you’re going around and most people aren’t driving. Most people, this is like a gated area too, but there are like a hundred and twenty some homes and we all have kids right? So, I like the houses that do something kind of cool like that for the parents because it makes it a little more bearable. Everyone’s out pushing strollers and stuff

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And it starts I think more conversation that lets you meet people within your community a little bit more

SUNNY GAULT: It does

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Encouraging like to stop and have a drink or you know so, I think that’s a great idea

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, yeah. Just has a little bit more to it. Okay so for those of you again, what I was trying to say is for those of you who aren’t doing the trick or treating kind of thing, what other fun activities have you done with your kids to help celebrate? Again especially in that time period where they may not be ready for the big stuff yet, what have you guys done?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: I think I mentioned earlier you know we do the pumpkin patch every year. You know we don’t do it on Halloween per se but in that month of October or that Halloween month. And it’s great. We’ve done that since she was a baby. And you know, and now that she’s old enough and she really loves it. She gets to pick out her pumpkin and you know they get to go on a hay ride and pet some animals. I mean, we’re lucky we have some really cool pumpkin patches here. But even a year or two ago, we didn’t feel like driving all the way out to, you know an hour away. So we just went to the pumpkin station in Michigan Valley and guess what? She loved it.

SUNNY GAULT: You have to explain. What’s a pumpkin station?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: So it’s like a pumpkin patch but they show up in you know the parking lots of malls and various places and so they have them all around San Diego usually in the parking lot of a mall. But it’s a great alternative, it’s usually free or really low cost to get in. and then they have rides and they’ve got, they usually have a little petting zoo there and they can pick out a pumpkin. And it’s just nice because you can always find them close to your house. And the kids, the kids don’t really know the difference especially when they’re little. And they’re still having fun in having that experience and you know, if you don’t have it in you to drive an hour and a half away and wait in line. It’s a nice alternative

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. Did you guys carve pumpkins or do anything, anything like that, what about you Colina?

COLINA CAROTHERS: Yeah we did, we like carving pumpkins and we actually did some really cute pictures of my son in the pumpkin. We got like the biggest one you can find at grocery store and so we let him help like squish around and all the guts when we were getting the stuff out. He thought it was amazing; he’s like splatting it on the newspaper and like smearing it around.

So, that part was really fun for him, that was something that he could do at, you know, six months old. And then the other thing I was going to say too is you know the alternatives to trick or treating I know we didn’t get to do it last year but we’ll probably going to do it this year. And there are still moms that just get together and they do a non-candy trick or treat.

So they all bring light snacks or little things for the kids and they like go to a park or something and they do their own little like thing. And we’ve done that at church too they call them trunk or treats. And you all back your car up to like the side walk around the building. And you open up your trunk and you decorate it. And the kids go from car to car in like enclosed space. So it’s in a parking lot and they just kind of have a little, you can just let them loose and you know they’re going to be like, contained.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh I like that

COLINA CAROTHERS: So that’s another thing. And you can do that with friends. I’m sure if you had enough people; you can like organize a little trunk or treat and do something like that too. So, alternative to being out in the neighbourhood if it’s too like freaky.

SUNNY GAULT: Right

STEPHANIE GLOVER: or do it yeah, during the day

SUNNY GAULT: Because that seems be the big thing too especially when you have little kids is that by the time I mean even with a nap in the middle of the day, by the time it gets, you know if it’s dark outside they’re going to start to get sleepy usually and at least my kids did. And so trying, and trick or treat doesn’t really start till that time. And then by the time you get a stroller out and everything it gets, it’s you know, kind of late. Did anyone try, you see this advertised a lot around Halloween but the like restaurants or plaza areas will have stores that kind of do their own little, you know like the stores have their own candies so you go to this like outdoor plaza or something like that

CHRISTINE PAYVON: You know sometimes some of the malls do that. I haven’t done it personally. But some people like it because it’s usually during daytime hours and then it’s also inside

COLINA CAROTHERS: Yeah I used to work at the mall in Escondido. And they did that so on each floor of the Macy’s that I was working at. There was someone in-charge of like having the ball and the kids would come in their little costumes and they trick or treat to the stores and it was really cute and again like daytime you don’t have to worry about them wanting to go to bed and stuff. And it’s air conditioned

SUNNY GAULT: That’s what Stephanie’s point about it. Possibly being hot

COLINA CAROTHERS: Right

SUNNY GAULT: Where do you live? Yeah, Absolutely! Alright! Any other tips? Thoughts, ideas? You guys excited for Halloween this year?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yes

SUNNY GAULT: Are you? Yeah? You have to be Christine because your husband

CHRISTINE PAYVON: He’s so in to it. I mean we have like two or three huge boxes just of Halloween decorations

SUNNY GAULT: Oh they’re not up yet are they?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: No, he’s going to put them up tomorrow. He’s like, he can’t even wait until October first. He was like too excited. And but what’s really fun is he’s recruited Zoe to be his like Halloween assistant. And so, now I don’t have to be the Halloween assistant. And he’s gotten her equally as excited. And so now she’s super in to like, okay he puts all these pumpkin lights outside our house and all these every, you know, all these big decorations out front

SUNNY GAULT: Right

CHRISTINE PAYVON: And she’s

COLINA CAROTHERS: What a fun tradition

SUNNY GAULT: It is. I love that

CHRISTINE PAYVON: It’s their thing and now they do it together. And she gets so excited

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That’s so cute

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yeah

SUNNY GAULT: That’s a great idea. Alright ladies, well thank you so much for joining us today. Again, as we mentioned before be sure when you upload your photos to Facebook to tag parent savers and that is for October 2014. So if you’re listening it’s a year from now, not then. But you have to do it before the end of October 2014. This conversation continues for members of our parent savers club. After the show our parents will confess the biggest mistakes they’ve made with their little ones during Halloween. For more information about the parent savers club, visit www.newmommymedia.com

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: A question from one of our listeners in Twitter, Blair from Canada asks: what do toddlers about two years old drink besides milk and water? I’m afraid to get in to the realm of juice but maybe it’s not as bad as I think

FREDERICK JOHNSON: Hi this is Dr. Frederick Johnson calling in Blair. Juices aren’t so bad. The problems with juices are generally that they’re high in sugar and kids tend to get too much of them because they’re sweet. What might be a reasonable alternative if you want is you can make a baby smoothie which will include things like yoghurt, fresh fruit blended up and see if your toddler would like that. Otherwise juices aren’t so bad but you probably only need about six to eight ounces in a day if that much. So, hope that answers all your questions and I’ll talk to everyone later. Ba-bye.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Parent Savers.
Don’t forget to check out our sister shows:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed and
• Twin Talks for parents of multiple kids.

This is Parent Savers empowering new parents.

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This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com .

[00:27:40]
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Episode Transcript

Parent Savers
Celebrating Halloween with Infants and Toddlers

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.
[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Halloween is one of the special holidays that most new parents love to celebrate with their kids. After all, who can resist new born babies dressed up as pea pods or pumpkins? So what are your favourite costume ideas for little ones and what can you do to celebrate the holidays before your kids are ready to trick or treat? We’ve got some great ideas in this spooktacular episode of parent savers.

[Theme Music/Intro]

SUNNY GAULT: Welcome to Parent Savers, broadcasting from the birth education center of San Diego. Parent Savers is your online on the go support group for parents with infants and toddlers. And I am your guest host Sunny Gault.

Thanks again to all of our loyal listeners who join us every time a new episode is released. And for those of you who continue these conversations with us on Facebook and Twitter, we love getting to know you guys online.

If you want to get more parent savers content be sure to join our special club. Also check out our parent saver’s apps so you can listen to all of our episodes wherever you go. Okay, before we get started, I want to toss things over to Colina our producer whose going to tell us a little bit more about our virtual panellist program. Colina

COLINA CAROTHERS: Alright thank you Sunny. So if you are joining us here again or maybe for the first time, we like to remind you that you can join us online. Get a little bit of the action. You can follow us on our Twitter or Facebook or #parentsaversvp. We love to hear your questions and get you on the conversation.

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so let’s meet everyone that is joining us here in the studio. You guys have probably heard me before even though I’m guest hosting today. So, I’m Sunny. I’m the owner of new mommy media which produces Parent Savers, Preggie Pals, Twin Talks and The Boob Group. I have four children. My oldest is four and that’s a boy, his name is Sayer. My middle guy is Urban, he’s two years old and then I have identical twin girls Ainsley and Addison who are ten months old.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Hi, I’m Stephanie Glover I’m actually the host of Preggie Pals and I’m sitting in as a panellist today. I’m 32 and I have two children. Gretchen is three and Lydia is thirteen months.

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Hi everyone my name is Christine Payvon. I am thirty three years old. My current job title is full time stay at home mom. And active volunteer in various moms groups around town. I have two children, my daughter Zoe just turned three last week and my son Brady is ten months

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, and Colina

COLINA CAROTHERS: Alright so again, I’m Colina. I am the producer of this show, Parent Savers. I have one son, he is sixteen months old, his name is Adam and I am twenty six years old.

SUNNY GAULT: Awesome. Wow you admitted how old you are. Well you’re still young. You know, you’re still young. Okay ladies, well thanks for joining us. We’ll be right back

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: Hey parent savers, I’m Johner Riehl, founder of www.familyfriendlyvideogames.com and I’m here to talk about helpful apps for new parents.

Today I want to talk to you about a great app called Bug Games from Busy Bees Studios. This was designed with toddlers in mind. And it’s a great app because once toddlers are playing, there’s no links for them to click or places for them to exit the app or solicitations to buy anything else.

So in Bug Games there are four different mini-games that are themed on bugs or insects or flowers to focus on the areas of music, phonics, puzzles and counting. Our family’s favourite is the music horn where the little bugs line up and all sing a song like London Bridge or Hot Cross Buns and they can hear or sing the whole song or kids can tap one at a time and all sing like “hot cross buns, hot cross buns” And if you don’t know the songs by heart you definitely will after your kids play Bug Games a little bit.

It’s a great app for toddlers. Bug Games is ninety nine cents. You can check it out and find a link to download it on this week’s episode page on www.parentsavers.com and make sure to listen to more episodes of parent savers for more great app recommendations for new parents.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright so today we have a special holiday episode of parent savers. We are talking about Halloween and fun ways to celebrate if you have little ones who aren’t ready for those haunted houses and all that yummy Halloween candy. So, parents here in the studio, all you lovely mommas, at what point did you really get in to Halloween with your kids?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I mean I noticed that last Halloween, so she was two

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But she got it like she really like to learning how to say Trick or Treat and go up to the door and of course she wanted to eat the candies too. The first year you know it was for us, we ate her candy which really worked out

SUNNY GAULT: Right

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But I think last year she was getting in to it and this year she’s been talking about it before. You know she knows it’s coming

SUNNY GAULT: Did you prep her?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: We had to about costume selections and she knows it’s coming up and then she was like “Oh! for halloween” like “I’m going to dress up, I’m going to go trick or treat” so now she’s excited for it

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So, kind of that progression I guess

SUNNY GAULT: What do you think Christine?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yeah same thing, our daughters are just a few weeks apart in age and you know, yeah, the first you know the first year it was for us. And then last year she started to understand and want to, you know she selected her costume and then this year she was really, you know excited about picking the costume and I would say, you know my husband is super in to Halloween so he’s so excited. They’re like doing, they’re doing decorations together and we’re going to pumpkin patch and you know he takes her trick or treating in like forty houses, it’s this whole ordeal

SUNNY GAULT: Colina what about you and Adam?

COLINA CAROTHERS: So, this is only Adam’s second Halloween and he’s still pretty on the young side because he’s not even two yet so last year like we got the costume and we took pictures and did all the like cutesies stuff but we didn’t even go out trick or treating we were too tired we’re still in that like new parent fog I think. It was, it had been a while but, we’re like, “no” we’re just going to go to bed. This is cool. And so we didn’t really do anything last year for the actual holiday.

This year we’re trying to decide, there’s a couple of different things going on so we even like spend with family we might do some actual trick or treating but we’ll see because he’s not nowhere near eating the candy but I know my husband really wants the candy. So we might do some trick or treating for him

SUNNY GAULT: Did you guys see that, I don’t usually watch Jimmy Kimmel, but he had that segment on last year I don’t know if he does it every year. But he encouraged the people that you know his audience or whatever that watch the show to kind of pull a little joke on their kids and to video tape it. And the joke was, so the day after your kid’s get all these Halloween candy right? You hide it in the morning right? And you go to your kid and you say “mommy or daddy, we ate all of your Halloween candy” and this is all on video right? And you wait for their reaction? And “oh my gosh!” some of the people that send it was hysterical like heard the kids just screaming at their parents like “it’s not fair! You’re not nice!” And “How could you do this to me?” and all these kind of stuff.

And then of course you know immediately they’re like “no, we’re just kidding, we’re just kidding” but and I think parents especially when you have like new you know infants and toddlers, it’s kind of a weird stage because you know they’re not necessarily ready for that, because Halloween’s scary right? And the last thing you want to do is scare the bejeebes out of your kid. And so it was like, it’s this weird time where you’re expected to do stuff but your kid doesn’t really know what’s going on.

They’re probably going to sleep through half the stuff anyways as if they’re really young you know. So it’s kind of a weird time. I want to talk about costumes, so you know we are talking about you know the beginning of the show scary mommy and Anna and Elsa, and Snow White and all these stuff.

What are some of your favourite costumes either, and I’m talking about just babies now so either something that you have used on your own kids or that you’ve seen, because you know you always get good ideas when you’re actually trick or treating or you’re going some of these eventually like “oh that would have been so cool I didn’t think about that” so what comes to mind when you think of like costumes for babies that you think are just really cool?

COLINA CAROTHERS: I think it cracks me up when instead of like the [inaudible] pea in the pod or like the pumpkin and like the things you always see. When parents do something that’s would be typically more for like an adult costume on a little baby cause it’s just so funny. Like you see them dressed up as some like adult, like a little baby Dr. Who or like you know something that’s out there but it’s just cause their tiny so it’s cute and it’s hilarious. I don’t know.

We were looking at pictures online and my husband now has got in his head that he wants to dress our son like Chuckie. Because he’s got the hair already and he’s the right size. And we saw a picture of these two little toddlers and it was Chuckie and the Bride of Chuckie. These two little kids, and could you imagine them running around, people just like, would freak out. They would freak out because they’re tiny, like they’re the right size. So, I mean that’s come through the conversation “oh I’m going to go hop on board on that one” but those kind of things crack me up

SUNNY GAULT: I saw a picture online when I was doing research on the show and it was a little kid that his parents made them look like elderly like really old and instead because he was just at that walking age and they made like his pushing thing look like an old walker so he could go around and still be able to walk. I mean if you think about it kind of ingenious because you know he is really helping the kid with some developmental skills. But it was just so funny but that goes along with what you’re saying. It was like totally switching the thing and making it an older thing. What do you guys think as far as costumes go for babies?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: There was one I wanted to do but I ended up having girls and I still wanted to do it and everyone talked me out of it. But if you’ve seen Adam’s Family Values that second movie where they have the baby Pubert that has the moustache. I wanted one of my girls to be Pubert and my child to have the moustache on.

SUNNY GAULT: But it never happened

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You know everyone talked me out of it but now like we’re done and I should’ve

SUNNY GAULT: What did you do with your girls when they were younger?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Someone bought a ladybug costume for her as a gift and then it got recycled so those were like both of their first costumes and they just slept I think my first had a blow out in it, and then it was on, I have took a picture and it was [inaudible]

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yeah, and it doesn’t last

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Then it made another round the second time so yeah

CHRISTINE PAYVON: You know my daughter Zoe was also a lady bug for her first Halloween and she slept through all the pictures. You know she was like

SUNNY GAULT: She was a sleepy lady bug

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yes she was like a month and a half old she just passed out. And then my husband was like can we reuse that for Brady, I’m like “no” he’s a little boy, I’m not putting him in a lady bug costume. He’s getting his own. I don’t know what that is yet if anyone has an idea. . .

SUNNY GAULT: Yoda would be a funny one too

COLINA CAROTHERS: Especially if you have a baby carrier and then you do lay Yoda on the back

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yeah

COLINA CAROTHERS: I’ve seen that

SUNNY GAULT: Oh you have seen that

COLINA CAROTHERS: I’ve seen that online

SUNNY GAULT: It’s just from my own noggin. But that would be good like you could be Luke Skywalker and then have Yoda on your back

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Well yeah the ones incorporating the baby carriers are really funny

SUNNY GAULT: Those are genius

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You can even just always like dad could do the hang over, you know baby [inaudible] because it’s easy. Or I’ve seen one where it’s like a mom and then the babies are in its popcorn like movie theatre popcorn or something like

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Like the little bow tie on and everything and

SUNNY GAULT: Oh that is so cute. Yeah you have pinterest has a lot of good idea on that. Just kind of. So okay so, switching, I know babies are the really cute ones that we really get in to, any ideas for infants and toddlers. So the thing that I have found with having you know a two year old and a four year old is that they could destroy it very easily. They may not stay on all that long just because you know they get tired and whatever.

So I like to choose costumes that are simple last year, okay this was a really cool thing my mom did and I don’t think she realized how helpful it was going to be. So you guys know toy story and buzz and woody so I’ve got two little boys and this is really even before they’re really in to toy story. And she got pajamas or actually pajamas that it’s top and bottom and my younger son’s, or my two year old was Buzz and then my older son was Woody. And they loved it.

It was brand new, you know for last Halloween and it became their favourite pajama that they wanted to wear all the time and they literally wore the crap out of these stuff you know. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve washed it. But I love costumes that you can use and reuse and that’s kind of one of my tips because I like to do that. And they don’t even know it’s really a costume because it’s just, it’s comfortable because it’s pajamas right?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Well Chris and I were just talking about this this morning and we’re trading notes about Halloween and Gretchen was Minnie mouse last year and I bought it in a pretty big size so it’s still fair and it’s been her like her play wear ever since

SUNNY GAULT: See yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And so, and I know she’ll be able to wear it for like another year and so she saw what we purchased for her this year but I’ve kind of snucked it back into the closet because otherwise it will become dress up. But I think that’s one of the beauty of like the little girls who like princess stuff. Is it then just gets thrown in to their dress up and you get to just use it year round and so

SUNNY GAULT: Okay so. I did find some tips online. If you guys are whether you’re looking for costumes or if you want to be a little bit more savvy I guess and make your own costumes. Here are just a couple of tips for creating costumes for Halloween. Some things to keep in mind. Choose flame resistant fabric, there’s a lot of lanterns and stuff out and I don’t think you want. Who knows what you, I always get nervous when my kids go up to the door because I’m like “don’t knock any lanterns over or anything” so that’s something to look for.

Inspect costumes carefully for choking or obviously some sort of strangulation kind of hazards. Buttons, rhinestone strings. Another thing to go along with this is if you’re taking other kids out with you that you know could choke like younger kids. Keep in mind something could fall off your older kids costumes and your younger kids could kind of pick it up.

Steer clear of itchy fabrics, anyone made that mistake. I can remember when I was little my mom dressed me in some stuff that was very itchy and “I don’t like it that much” If you’re going to be outside after dark, both you and your child should wear bright colored costumes or add reflective tape to your outfits. And you have those glow sticks, doesn’t anyone use those? I love those things. And then finally skip the face masks. Most babies, and I think kids too.

I think we can add kids in general that most kids will become annoyed with them. Instead use non-toxic face paint or coordinating hat that can be just as cute. Anybody else have any safety tips when you guys have gone out and about doesn’t have to be trick or treat or just anything

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Well I guess maybe for Southern California, and this is regional, but sometimes it’s still hot and it’s overheating your child because the Halloween costumes are designed for cold weather

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So if you’re somewhere where it’s warm because we faced that last, I remember two years ago, she was dressed as a pig and it was fitting trust me. . .

COLINA CAROTHERS: We had that last year

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah and we couldn’t really like alter it much. It was like either on and then she was hot and then I wished I had changed her out of it. So I guess just making sure it’s temperature appropriate

SUNNY GAULT: I think that’s a really good tip, really good. Okay, so we’ve got some things special that we’re going to do. We want to see photos of your kiddos in costumes. So we know you’re going to be posting stuff to Facebook anyways because that’s what any normal parent does nowadays, to take your pictures and then you want everyone to see and you upload it to Facebook.

Be sure to, when you do that, tag parent savers and if you do so during October of 2014, we’re going to give you a free one month subscription to the parent savers club. And that’s where you can get extra episodes, bonus content, transcripts and some special discounts as well. So be sure to do that. Upload your photos. Tag parents savers, and it’s not even of you know something that we’re going to just pick one. It’s anyone that does this. So you cannot lose with this.

Alright when we come back we are going to talk about trick or treating and some other fun activities you could do with your little ones. We’ll be right back.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Welcome back, today we’re talking about celebrating Halloween with your kiddos. Okay so were going to talk about trick or treating for just this second. For those of you who, I don’t know, you may have older kids or maybe it’s just you and your baby. Did you try to take your baby and I’m considering babies to be, I don’t know, where are they? Six months, and I know you can define babies a bunch of different things, but I’m thinking of like maybe eight months and under. Did anyone tried to take their baby out trick or treating whether it was your first baby, second, anything like that, and what happened if you did? Colina you’re giving me a weird face did you do it?

COLINA CAROTHERS: No we didn’t

SUNNY GAULT: You didn’t do it

COLINA CAROTHERS: No, I did end up going out. He was like five months, almost six months at that time. And I guess I, we just did keep pictures and stuff and then go to bed

CHRISTINE PAYVON: We didn’t. We waited until she could actually walk around

SUNNY GAULT: See you guys are smart

STEPHANIE GLOVER: We didn’t with my first but I guess my second, yes. Because we had all . . .

SUNNY GAULT: kind of have to tag along

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah

SUNNY GAULT: Right

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But she was very new and she was just in the carrier and asleep the whole time so

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. And we’re on the position that sure that’s really weird because you know the four year old and two year old I feel confident can kind of because the two year olds were really two and a half. So like I’m pretty confident that they can kind of do stuff but, if my husband and I both want to go which we do because we want to experience them kind of also help out in case one can has a meltdown. Then we going to have to take the twins and so now I’m in kind of a weird position last year I went and I was, so I was very pregnant and with my twins. And I got some really weird looks and I’m kind of like that

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You thought that it was a costume

SUNNY GAULT: No they didn’t - I don’t think of that as a costume. No. but it was kind of like that when the senior in high school tries to get candy by going to the doors you could see that they were looking at me like you know. And this is the weird thing, so we had our stroller, okay and a lot of the homes had these stairs.

They were no ramps right to get to the front door. And you know sometimes my boys they want to go to the door or they were too tired or whatever and we’re still trying to trick or treat and get home and whatever. So I would have to go to the door and I wasn’t in costume at all but I have like my kids bags and then you know they got to give me this weird look and I’m like “no, no, no, no” they’re down there, they’re down there”

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Like I’m pregnant and I’m hungry. [laughing] I’m eating for three

COLINA CAROTHERS: Trick or treat inside there didn’t you notice?

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. No but I did. I got a lot of weird looks. In the beginning with my kiddos my older boys I don’t think we really did that much. We benefited more from trying to do stuff inside the house while trick or treating was going on. Did you guys do that, like as far as letting your kids pass out candy or be part of that experience?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: So last year my husband took Zoe out for maybe an hour and a half. They went all around the neighbourhood and I, I stayed back because I was very pregnant, I handed out candy. And then when they came back we let her hand out candy and she thought that was really cool.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

CHRISTINE PAYVON: You know she was two and she loved opening the door and talking, you know, here you go. You know and she was saying trick or treat while she was handing the candy out. You know it was weird, taught her how to say that, “trick or treat” you know. It was pretty cute

SUNNY GAULT: So if you’re not into the trick or treat type thing. That’s not something you think your kid is ready for because it can be very scary and I know a lot of the houses and our development really do go all out their strobe lights, their spiders, there’s like neon whatever. Oh we got this great house; oh this is nice tip for parents. I love the houses that actually do nice stuff for the parents. So like there’s this one house where a lot of people kind of congregate outside because they have like apple cider and then spiked apple cider for the parents

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Oh wow

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

COLINA CAROTHERS: That is cool

SUNNY GAULT: Yes. And I’ve been to houses to actually my husband and I did this one year, we offered Jell-O shots to the parents. Because I really do think if you’re going around and most people aren’t driving. Most people, this is like a gated area too, but there are like a hundred and twenty some homes and we all have kids right? So, I like the houses that do something kind of cool like that for the parents because it makes it a little more bearable. Everyone’s out pushing strollers and stuff

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And it starts I think more conversation that lets you meet people within your community a little bit more

SUNNY GAULT: It does

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Encouraging like to stop and have a drink or you know so, I think that’s a great idea

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, yeah. Just has a little bit more to it. Okay so for those of you again, what I was trying to say is for those of you who aren’t doing the trick or treating kind of thing, what other fun activities have you done with your kids to help celebrate? Again especially in that time period where they may not be ready for the big stuff yet, what have you guys done?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: I think I mentioned earlier you know we do the pumpkin patch every year. You know we don’t do it on Halloween per se but in that month of October or that Halloween month. And it’s great. We’ve done that since she was a baby. And you know, and now that she’s old enough and she really loves it. She gets to pick out her pumpkin and you know they get to go on a hay ride and pet some animals. I mean, we’re lucky we have some really cool pumpkin patches here. But even a year or two ago, we didn’t feel like driving all the way out to, you know an hour away. So we just went to the pumpkin station in Michigan Valley and guess what? She loved it.

SUNNY GAULT: You have to explain. What’s a pumpkin station?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: So it’s like a pumpkin patch but they show up in you know the parking lots of malls and various places and so they have them all around San Diego usually in the parking lot of a mall. But it’s a great alternative, it’s usually free or really low cost to get in. and then they have rides and they’ve got, they usually have a little petting zoo there and they can pick out a pumpkin. And it’s just nice because you can always find them close to your house. And the kids, the kids don’t really know the difference especially when they’re little. And they’re still having fun in having that experience and you know, if you don’t have it in you to drive an hour and a half away and wait in line. It’s a nice alternative

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. Did you guys carve pumpkins or do anything, anything like that, what about you Colina?

COLINA CAROTHERS: Yeah we did, we like carving pumpkins and we actually did some really cute pictures of my son in the pumpkin. We got like the biggest one you can find at grocery store and so we let him help like squish around and all the guts when we were getting the stuff out. He thought it was amazing; he’s like splatting it on the newspaper and like smearing it around.

So, that part was really fun for him, that was something that he could do at, you know, six months old. And then the other thing I was going to say too is you know the alternatives to trick or treating I know we didn’t get to do it last year but we’ll probably going to do it this year. And there are still moms that just get together and they do a non-candy trick or treat.

So they all bring light snacks or little things for the kids and they like go to a park or something and they do their own little like thing. And we’ve done that at church too they call them trunk or treats. And you all back your car up to like the side walk around the building. And you open up your trunk and you decorate it. And the kids go from car to car in like enclosed space. So it’s in a parking lot and they just kind of have a little, you can just let them loose and you know they’re going to be like, contained.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh I like that

COLINA CAROTHERS: So that’s another thing. And you can do that with friends. I’m sure if you had enough people; you can like organize a little trunk or treat and do something like that too. So, alternative to being out in the neighbourhood if it’s too like freaky.

SUNNY GAULT: Right

STEPHANIE GLOVER: or do it yeah, during the day

SUNNY GAULT: Because that seems be the big thing too especially when you have little kids is that by the time I mean even with a nap in the middle of the day, by the time it gets, you know if it’s dark outside they’re going to start to get sleepy usually and at least my kids did. And so trying, and trick or treat doesn’t really start till that time. And then by the time you get a stroller out and everything it gets, it’s you know, kind of late. Did anyone try, you see this advertised a lot around Halloween but the like restaurants or plaza areas will have stores that kind of do their own little, you know like the stores have their own candies so you go to this like outdoor plaza or something like that

CHRISTINE PAYVON: You know sometimes some of the malls do that. I haven’t done it personally. But some people like it because it’s usually during daytime hours and then it’s also inside

COLINA CAROTHERS: Yeah I used to work at the mall in Escondido. And they did that so on each floor of the Macy’s that I was working at. There was someone in-charge of like having the ball and the kids would come in their little costumes and they trick or treat to the stores and it was really cute and again like daytime you don’t have to worry about them wanting to go to bed and stuff. And it’s air conditioned

SUNNY GAULT: That’s what Stephanie’s point about it. Possibly being hot

COLINA CAROTHERS: Right

SUNNY GAULT: Where do you live? Yeah, Absolutely! Alright! Any other tips? Thoughts, ideas? You guys excited for Halloween this year?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yes

SUNNY GAULT: Are you? Yeah? You have to be Christine because your husband

CHRISTINE PAYVON: He’s so in to it. I mean we have like two or three huge boxes just of Halloween decorations

SUNNY GAULT: Oh they’re not up yet are they?

CHRISTINE PAYVON: No, he’s going to put them up tomorrow. He’s like, he can’t even wait until October first. He was like too excited. And but what’s really fun is he’s recruited Zoe to be his like Halloween assistant. And so, now I don’t have to be the Halloween assistant. And he’s gotten her equally as excited. And so now she’s super in to like, okay he puts all these pumpkin lights outside our house and all these every, you know, all these big decorations out front

SUNNY GAULT: Right

CHRISTINE PAYVON: And she’s

COLINA CAROTHERS: What a fun tradition

SUNNY GAULT: It is. I love that

CHRISTINE PAYVON: It’s their thing and now they do it together. And she gets so excited

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That’s so cute

CHRISTINE PAYVON: Yeah

SUNNY GAULT: That’s a great idea. Alright ladies, well thank you so much for joining us today. Again, as we mentioned before be sure when you upload your photos to Facebook to tag parent savers and that is for October 2014. So if you’re listening it’s a year from now, not then. But you have to do it before the end of October 2014. This conversation continues for members of our parent savers club. After the show our parents will confess the biggest mistakes they’ve made with their little ones during Halloween. For more information about the parent savers club, visit www.newmommymedia.com

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: A question from one of our listeners in Twitter, Blair from Canada asks: what do toddlers about two years old drink besides milk and water? I’m afraid to get in to the realm of juice but maybe it’s not as bad as I think

FREDERICK JOHNSON: Hi this is Dr. Frederick Johnson calling in Blair. Juices aren’t so bad. The problems with juices are generally that they’re high in sugar and kids tend to get too much of them because they’re sweet. What might be a reasonable alternative if you want is you can make a baby smoothie which will include things like yoghurt, fresh fruit blended up and see if your toddler would like that. Otherwise juices aren’t so bad but you probably only need about six to eight ounces in a day if that much. So, hope that answers all your questions and I’ll talk to everyone later. Ba-bye.

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SUNNY GAULT: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Parent Savers.
Don’t forget to check out our sister shows:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed and
• Twin Talks for parents of multiple kids.

This is Parent Savers empowering new parents.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com .

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