Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Oh what a sticky mess we weave...

When we let a 2 year old carve a pumpkin!

Last night my husband, myself and my daughter carved pumpkins. She has been obsessed with her pumpkin ever since we hauled it from the pumpkin patch. It's just a little bitty thing but she was able to carry it and that made her so happy.

Everyday, as she walked down the steps, I would hear "my pumpkin!"

And my response would always be "yes dear, it is your pumpkin."

So last night we decide it is time. After getting the dining room ready for mass mayhem. I set about cutting the tops off those pumpkins. As soon as the knife went into the first pumpkin, my daughter started crying. Here I am with my hand on the knife, feeling like a mass murderer, as my daughter cried "my pumpkin" in that shaky 2 year old voice, followed by crocodile tears sliding down her cheek. Could she have made me feel any worse, I think not. But I had to finish what I started...

Just about the time I was ready to give up and give in to those tears, the top popped of the first pumpkin and my daughter's widened in disbelief at all the gooey yucky guts. Not only did she get to play in the mess, but her daddy was ready to play in it with her.

The smile split her face as she reached into her pumpkin and degutted the poor thing. For the next 1/2 hour we scraped, gutted, and drew on our pumpkins. Tentatively I took out the knife to make the face, I looked up at my daughter, but thankfully there were no crocodile tears. A sence of relief filled me. We carved the rest of the pumpkins, then paraded them out to the front porch. We took a long time lighting and admiring our work. My daughter rearranged the pumpkins many times, and of course they are now all her pumpkins! But she is happy.

A round of photos quickly ensued. Hey, we had to mark this big day somehow. We ended our special night by watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

As we get older we start to appreciate those moments of glee in a child. I look at my daughter, seeing how amazed she is by the world around her and I smile.

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