Dragon tales

Once he figured out that dressing up in a silly little costume meant lots and lots of free candy, Riley decided Halloween was his new favorite holiday. Of course, since he pretty much slept through both Christmas and Halloween last year, I guess this Halloween was the first real holiday he has been old enough to enjoy.
Riley was a little dragon this Halloween. Sam was pretty unexcited that I was making his very masculine son dress up in a purple costume that slightly resembled Barney the Dinosaur. The costume was so cute though that I couldn't resist getting it (and besides that it was on sale).
I was pretty worried that Riley would end up refusing to wear the dragon suit, since he hates hoods or hats of any kind. So I decided to have a few "dress rehearsals" for the big occasion. I put Riley's costume on him a few times before trick-or-treating so he could get used to it. I know, it sounds kind of dumb, but I figured if we had bought a costume, he darn well better wear it.
At first, he hated it. But then I put the hood on my head and growled at him and chased him around for a little bit. He thought that was pretty funny. Then, whenever he saw his costume, he'd point at it and say "Vaca." That's Spanish for cow. Sam taught it to Riley, and it quickly became his favorite word. But since he can't say any other animal name except dog, "Vaca" quickly became a generic word for animals of any kind.
Anyway, once he figured out that costume made him look like a little animal, he decided wearing it wasn't so bad after all. Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun--Plus, since Sam and I are the responsible parents that we obviously are---we couldn't possibly let Riley eat all of that Halloween booty by Himself. I