It’s Halloween night and we are back from Trick or Treating. TheMonk and Swee’Pea have been going through their tote-pumpkins to see what sugary goodness they procured and begging to eat them. Luckily, they are distracted because our doorbell keeps ringing with little devils, princesses and ladybugs.

For a while, I let TheMonk and Swee’Pea hand out the candy to their peers as they come to the door. I stop doing this, however, when I notice that for every piece of candy TheMonk gives out, he takes two from our bowl and quietly drops them into his own bucket nearby. “I’m gonna have to watch that guy.” I think to myself.

And it’s lucky I was watching because soon enough TheMonk starts transferring some of his loot into the seat compartment of the Tigger riding toy. It is clear that he’s stashing the candy for future use. This becomes even clearer when he takes a handful of Swee’Pea’s candy and moves quickly to a storage container in our playroom, opens the door, and quickly shoves the loot inside while closing the door behind him. The only reason he doesn’t get away with this is because Swee’Pea thinks he’s stealing her loot and cries out at the injustice. She doesn’t realize TheMonk was trying to help her out. Oh well. Her loss. He still has his stash in the Tigger Car.

After we put the kids to bed, I go back downstairs and recover all the candy. I pull out all the candy in the Tigger Car as well as Swee’Pea’s stash and put them away for parental control.

The next morning, we head downstairs for breakfast. TheMonk, in a very unusual move, announces he’s done with breakfast before he eats all his food. After I clean him up and release him from his chair, he runs straight over to the Tigger Car and pulls up the seat in anticipation of seeing all that wonderful candy.

The look on his face, when he realized his dream had been dashed, was priceless. He looked like someone had shot his dog. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes, lips quivering and said to me…

“Candy? Candy’s all gone?”

“Yep.” I reply, while trying to refrain from smiling. “Candy’s all gone.”

And with that, his shoulders dropped, his head drooped and he shuffled away to contemplate life without so much candy.